[Review] Spondoolies SP20 review - A Green miner with a Loud fan

[goxed]

Bought this Fractal Design Newton R3 1000W 80+ platinum value PSU, suits SP20 perfectly



The platinum PSU draws 450W for 1TH, for 0.5W/GH, it can deliver 1.2TH at 600W (need more powerful fan on SP20 to keep it cool). Cheap 80+ platinum PSU is the way to efficiency

Nice. Cost?

~230chf here in CH. https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/fractal-newton-r3-1000w-power-supply-computer-631365?tagIds=76-524

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[johnyj]

Nice. Cost?

This PSU is cheap because its fan is noisy (no PWM control, it does not run under light load, but spins up to top speed when the board is overheat). But for mining its noise is neglectable, so a perfect choice, you can find it for 200$ on Amazon

[huffdaddy5]

I'm running 2 underclocked SP20's on a Rosewill LIGHTNING 1300W 80 PLUS GOLD and I'm very impressed with the build quality. The modular cables screw on and there are a total of 8 6-pin PCI-Express connectors. I got mine at Newegg for $179.99, free shipping and a $20 rebate card. I can attest that this PSU really can run at 92% efficiency. If I go off what the SP20's say they are pulling and the power at the wall its running just shy of 93% at about an 85% load.

For those that are wondering I have a single 6-pin cable each on the top connections of each board and both lower connections share a double PCI express cable. So 6 cables total (2 doubles).

Here are some specs of the PSU
100-240V
80 PLUS Gold Certified
Modular Design
Efficiency up to 92%
140mm Silent LED Fan

Here are some stats of my 2 SP20s vs an Antminer S4.
WattsAtWall   GH/s    W/GH
1450             2000    0.725
1130             2159    0.523

[huffdaddy5]

Ok, so i decided to underclock some more. It appears that my newest SP20 underclocks and performs much better than my 1 month old SP20. I've now got my newest SP20 running a 0.597V and it shows a total of 353W on the stats, hashing at 819GH/s. My older SP20 is running at .610V (about as low as it will go) for 402W on the stats, hashing at 862GH/s. I've got both on the 1300W 80 Plus Gold Rosewill and its only pulling 781 Watts at the wall via a Kill-a-watt meter! That 1681GH/s @ 781 W for 0.464 W/GH. I'm not sure how accurate the stats page wattage is, but if its correct that means my PSU is running at 96.6% efficiency. 755W showing on stats combined and 781W at the wall.. 755/781=96.6%. Is this right?

New SP20 353W .597V 819GH ~0.44W/GH
Old SP20  402W .610V  862GH ~0.48W/GH

Combined @ Wall 781W 1681GH = 0.464W/GH

These 2 are running stacked @ 20C room temp.

[Syke]

Ok, so i decided to underclock some more. It appears that my newest SP20 underclocks and performs much better than my 1 month old SP20. I've now got my newest SP20 running a 0.597V and it shows a total of 353W on the stats, hashing at 819GH/s. My older SP20 is running at .610V (about as low as it will go) for 402W on the stats, hashing at 862GH/s. I've got both on the 1300W 80 Plus Gold Rosewill and its only pulling 781 Watts at the wall via a Kill-a-watt meter! That 1681GH/s @ 781 W for 0.464 W/GH. I'm not sure how accurate the stats page wattage is, but if its correct that means my PSU is running at 96.6% efficiency. 755W showing on stats combined and 781W at the wall.. 755/781=96.6%. Is this right?

New SP20 353W .597V 819GH ~0.44W/GH
Old SP20  402W .610V  862GH ~0.48W/GH

Combined @ Wall 781W 1681GH = 0.464W/GH

These 2 are running stacked @ 20C room temp.

That's some really impressive numbers!

[huffdaddy5]

I'm just curious what others think of this possible setup.

30amp 240V PDU (7200W max capacity) ($150)
4 x 1600W Rosewill 80 Silver w/ 16 PCI-E connectors ($1060)
16 x SP20 underclocked at 0.6V pulling 350W each ($7500) (15xMini-Farm + 1) (~800GH/s per underclocked SP20)

Run 4 SP20 on 1 1600W PSU using 1400W.

4 PSUs sucking 1400W each consumes 5600W total which puts only 77% load on the breaker.

Primary question is do you think 4 underclocked SP20s (350W ea.) running off 16 x PCI-E connectors on 1 PSU is too much for a PSU?

This would make a 12.8TH farm for $8710 w/ 0.47W/GH efficiency w/ a cost of $680/TH.

The PSU is the Rosewill HERCULES-1600 1600W 80 PLUS SILVER http://amzn.com/B00A940V1K

[huffdaddy5]

Another possibility would be to use the EVGA SUPERNOVA 1600W Platinum and connect 3 - SP20 with a slight bump on the overclock up to 500W each.

30amp 240V PDU (7200W max capacity) ($150)
5 x EVGA Supernova 1600W Platinum w/ 14 PCI-E connectors ($1665)
15 x SP20 underclocked at 0.621V pulling 500W each ($7000) (15xMini-Farm) (~1TH per SP20 underclocked)

Run 3 SP20 on 1 1600W PSU using 1500W.

5 PSUs sucking 1500W each consumes 7500W total which puts 83% load on the breaker.

This would make a 15TH farm for $8815 running at 0.50W/GH efficiency for a total farm cost of $587/TH

EVGA Supernova 1600W @ $333
http://amzn.com/B00NJG61JQ

[Syke]

Running the SP20s that slow is an expensive option.

[johnyj]

I too think that running SP20 at its lowest settings might not be an optimal choice

Although the efficiency is impressive at 0.6V or less, it also reduce the hardware investment return. This is especially true when difficulty is starting to rise again. You race against the diminishing return of the mining rigs. After one year of operation, there will be future miners with newer process (16nm FinFet like knc claimed?) coming up, then all it matters are how much coins were digged out by then

I hope that SP20 can run at least 6 months before the next major technology advance wave hit the scene

[huffdaddy5]

How about this for an optional fan setup for 4 SP20s. Use a 14" 12V Radiator fan that pulls 2000cfm and mount it to a custom box made to hold 4 SP20 miners? The fan pulls up to 120W depending on how much voltage you send to it. The box would be made to hold miners 2 on top and 2 on bottom and just remove the stock fans completely? It would certainly pull enough air. The box would be made to only allow airflow through the miners? Could also be an option for 4 antiminer s5's as well.

PROCOMP 14" INCH ELECTRIC COOLING AUTOMOTIVE RADIATOR FAN 12 VOLT ($30 including shipping)
http://amzn.com/B003U7UR3A

[lulu2003]

This would make a 15TH farm for $8815 running at 0.50W/GH efficiency for a total farm cost of $587/TH

operating three SP31 would be much easier... 

[huffdaddy5]

This would make a 15TH farm for $8815 running at 0.50W/GH efficiency for a total farm cost of $587/TH

operating three SP31 would be much easier...  

It would certainly be easier but they would use 9000W vs only 7500W.

I also see my math was off on that one as 7500W would be too much for a 240V 30amp breaker...

[johnyj]

Unfortunately my apartment does not have a garage that can allow me to install extra circuit capacities, modern apartment are designed to be green with less electricity capacity (and also higher electricity cost because the electricity source is green). It costs me $0.2 per kwh, the only thing I can do is to squeeze enough hash power into 2 KW maximum load. I must be able to cook/wash cloth/dry hair etc without worrying about triggering the circuit breaker. And constant high load on wires could cause fire 

[pieran]

My two sp20 came in today (really, really fast shipment, thank you!) and running fine.

I ran it at default settings to get a feeling for it and with stock settings some ASICs reach 120c with fan at 90%. Ambient temperature is around 15c.
Trying to undervolt now to keep all ASICs at 115c max. Isn´t it possible to operate at around 1600 GH/s without overheating?

[MrTeal]

How about this for an optional fan setup for 4 SP20s. Use a 14" 12V Radiator fan that pulls 2000cfm and mount it to a custom box made to hold 4 SP20 miners? The fan pulls up to 120W depending on how much voltage you send to it. The box would be made to hold miners 2 on top and 2 on bottom and just remove the stock fans completely? It would certainly pull enough air. The box would be made to only allow airflow through the miners? Could also be an option for 4 antiminer s5's as well.

PROCOMP 14" INCH ELECTRIC COOLING AUTOMOTIVE RADIATOR FAN 12 VOLT ($30 including shipping)
http://amzn.com/B003U7UR3A

Are you wanting to control the voltage to adjust fan speed in real time? If not, I have a few of these and they work great.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_416724-11292-SFC1-500B_0__?productId=4755301&Ntt=high+velocity+fan&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dhigh%2Bvelocity%2Bfan&facetInfo=
They move a ton of air, have a (manual) speed control switch, and it would be a lot simpler to interface than trying to PWM a big 10A fan.

[johnyj]

Just received a couple of Gentle Typhoon AP-31 (5400RPM) for testing, this is a high-air-flow fan for 120x25 size, it performs almost identical to Delta AFC1212DE at 20% speed

 

[aclass]

waiting for the results as i have a few AFC1212DE and i was thinking about replacing the stock fan with one of them

Just received a couple of Gentle Typhoon AP-31 (5400RPM) for testing, this is a high-air-flow fan for 120x25 size, it performs almost identical to Delta AFC1212DE at 20% speed

 

[johnyj]

waiting for the results as i have a few AFC1212DE and i was thinking about replacing the stock fan with one of them

Just received a couple of Gentle Typhoon AP-31 (5400RPM) for testing, this is a high-air-flow fan for 120x25 size, it performs almost identical to Delta AFC1212DE at 20% speed

 

It seems that AFC1212DE have two version, one is 1.6A and one is 3A, I'm running the 3A version and it is 54dB at 20% speed with grille off

I'm waiting for some AFB1212SHE delivery, might be a little bit quieter. I think 120mm fan's limitation is around 100CFM (50CFM under load), anything beyond that will sounds like a vacuum cleaner thus not suitable for home running

The strange thing with SP20 is that when the temperature is low (DC module below 50 degree and ASIC runs low frequency), it tends to drop the frequency after a while, means it has an optimal operating temperature of at least 60 degrees, this seems to be true also for knc's miners, it actually works better when the ambient temperature is higher. This is against my previous knowledge of electronics 

[Newar]

[...] it actually works better when the ambient temperature is higher. This is against my previous knowledge of electronics 

Not an electronic expert here, but batteries work better when warm as well. I think it may be that the materials which are used to make electronics have their specific characteristics, and an "temperature window" where they work best. Above and below not so much.

[johnyj]

[...] it actually works better when the ambient temperature is higher. This is against my previous knowledge of electronics  

Not an electronic expert here, but batteries work better when warm as well. I think it may be that the materials which are used to make electronics have their specific characteristics, and an "temperature window" where they work best. Above and below not so much.

Why many guys seek extremely low temp just to raise the overclock potential, using even liquid nitrogen?

I have tested several times, at 0.61V, with a high speed delta fan, the highest achievable frequency is 700hz. With a slower fan GT1850 , that speed will jump to 740HZ. Since the efficiency is only related to voltage, I would like to keep the voltage as low as possible while pushing the frequency as high as possible. It seems that I can only achieve that with a slow and quiet fan GT1850 

In traditional overclock, at a given voltage, to achieve higher frequency, you need better cooling. In GPU mining, ambient temp can go as low as -20c without any drop in performance. But SP20 will just die if the ambient temp drops below 0c degree