[Review] Bitmain Antminer S5 - A wonderfully modable and well performing miner

[goxed]

I did not see a voltage regulator (buck convertor). Are there any or has the design of the chip changed fundamentally?

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[BitChainLotto]

for the fan noise - try running the stock fan at 5V using one of these (or wire it yourself)
http://www.moddiy.com/product_images/j/547/T1JRxJXglbXXce7cAT_011207__14471_zoom.jpg

5V is sufficient for running at 381.25MHz/1255GH/63C/58C when drawing in air thats about 5C. In the same conditions 7V is about 30% louder and brings the temps to 57C/53C.
for room temperaure intake, 5V probably isnt suitable for running above 350MHz

How much noise is reduced with 5V ? can this controller works?

http://www.dx.com/p/12w-speed-controller-for-heatsink-cooling-fan-dc-5-12v-171354#.VKbWK9KG95M

[klondike_bar]

I did not see a voltage regulator (buck convertor). Are there any or has the design of the chip changed fundamentally?

its all in series now. 12V dived over 14 chips (plus some other components) results in about a 0.8V operating voltage (which is good for 0.5w/GH). 9v would provide about 0.6V/chip or 0.3w/GH

[klondike_bar]

for the fan noise - try running the stock fan at 5V using one of these (or wire it yourself)
[img]http://www.moddiy.com/product_images/j/547/T1JRxJXglbXXce7cAT_011207__14471_zoom.jpg

5V is sufficient for running at 381.25MHz/1255GH/63C/58C when drawing in air thats about 5C. In the same conditions 7V is about 30% louder and brings the temps to 57C/53C.
for room temperaure intake, 5V probably isnt suitable for running above 350MHz

How much noise is reduced with 5V ? can this controller works?
http://www.dx.com/p/12w-speed-controller-for-heatsink-cooling-fan-dc-5-12v-171354#.VKbWK9KG95M

problem with your link is its a 1A controller, whereas the fan is likely 1.3A rated. So if you used that controller at 5V it would run slower than allowing the fan a full 1.3A at 5V

5V is about 1/3 as loud as 12V. The noise is similar to a microwave or a window-mount A/C - not silent but at least reasonable for a spare room or a corner of the living room.

[MrTeal]

for the fan noise - try running the stock fan at 5V using one of these (or wire it yourself)
[img]http://www.moddiy.com/product_images/j/547/T1JRxJXglbXXce7cAT_011207__14471_zoom.jpg

5V is sufficient for running at 381.25MHz/1255GH/63C/58C when drawing in air thats about 5C. In the same conditions 7V is about 30% louder and brings the temps to 57C/53C.
for room temperaure intake, 5V probably isnt suitable for running above 350MHz

How much noise is reduced with 5V ? can this controller works?
http://www.dx.com/p/12w-speed-controller-for-heatsink-cooling-fan-dc-5-12v-171354#.VKbWK9KG95M

problem with your link is its a 1A controller, whereas the fan is likely 1.3A rated. So if you used that controller at 5V it would run slower than allowing the fan a full 1.3A at 5V

5V is about 1/3 as loud as 12V. The noise is similar to a microwave or a window-mount A/C - not silent but at least reasonable for a spare room or a corner of the living room.

The fan won't pull 1.3A at 5V, it'll probably pull 1/2 amp or less. How much will depend on the exact fan, but I just did a quick test on one I had laying around and it pulled 463mA @ 12V and 167mA @ 5V.

[goxed]

I did not see a voltage regulator (buck convertor). Are there any or has the design of the chip changed fundamentally?

its all in series now. 12V dived over 14 chips (plus some other components) results in about a 0.8V operating voltage (which is good for 0.5w/GH). 9v would provide about 0.6V/chip or 0.3w/GH

That's very nice, similar to the Bitfury chips. This should remove the buck-converter losses ~10-20%.

[Swimmer63]

Great review!
Care to mention what fans did you use. One looks like Cooler master, but which model?
In addition, how do you power them up. It looks like you don't power them off the miner connector itself.

Using a Thermaltake for push, and an Antec for pull (the Thermaltake fans rub up against the mounting screws when used for pull).

The Thermaltake fan has an adjustable RPM knob, and the Antec is a 3 speed adjustable fan.

Powering them via Molex adapters - Not connected to the S5 controller at all.

Antec pull fan : http://www.amazon.com/Antec-TriCool-LED-Cooling-3-Speed/dp/B00066FHEW/
Thermaltake push fan : http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Blue-Eye-Adjustable-Control-AF0026/dp/B003IWN23O/

Been using these fan as described on two of my S5's in an enclosed office closet.  Not my permanent setting, just for now.
I have each set to Freq. 318.75.  They are hashing at 1050 Gh/s with temps between 56-59.  With the fans on the same EVGA 1300 G2 it's pulling 1054w, or about 525w per miner.  Pretty happy with that.

[wireshark]

My Bitmain AntMiner S5 reviews and Noise optimization

http://www.cyber.pe.kr/2015/01/antminer-s5-reviews-and-noise.html


thank you.

[alh]

Anything in English? Are the pictures supposed to convey all your thoughts on this?

[wireshark]

I will write for a break. thank you

[Swimmer63]

My Bitmain AntMiner S5 reviews and Noise optimization

http://www.cyber.pe.kr/2015/01/antminer-s5-reviews-and-noise.html


thank you.

7 minutes is not much of a test.

[aurel57]

My Bitmain AntMiner S5 reviews and Noise optimization

http://www.cyber.pe.kr/2015/01/antminer-s5-reviews-and-noise.html


thank you.

7 minutes is not much of a test.

Agree as most have a board dropping off after a prolong amount of time...mine had one board stop hashing after 28Hrs at normal 50/49 temps. Took a while and a couple of reboots to get it going again.

[tt_1111]

Hmm, Bitmain has removed several items from the web interface I considered quite useful with the Antminer S3:

(a) Cronjobs are only available via SSH or SCP. The file is located in:
/var/spool/cron/root
If you edit it locally — i.e download it to your computer and edit it there with a text editor of your choice as vi probably isn't everybody's darling — make sure you transfer in text modus both directions.

(b) Voltage adjustment isn't public any more.
The corresponding file for the most important cgminer settings is:
/config/cgminer.conf
It's basically a JSON file now containing pools and other data as we well know it from other miners, too ... however:
The last two relevant lines in this config file read:

"bitmain-freq" : "4:312.5:0c02",
"bitmain-voltage" : ""

Due to noise issues I've taken two very silent (< 30dB) Noiseblocker fans at both ends, one drawing, one blowing (as with the Antminer S3) and underclocked the device to 312.5 MH/sec to keep temperatures at ca. 60 °C.
Okay, 4 separate units at 312.5 MH/sec — but what the heck does '0c02' mean?
And in which format should I enter the voltage — probably could be a bit below the standard 0.75V due to underclocking. But how to tell my Antminer without unwittingly bricking it?

Thanks in advance for any hints!

[tt_1111]

Regarding hash rate dropping or one board going offline I've taken a little cron job that has originally been developed due to hash rate dropping issues with several firmwares on the Antminer S3(+) that checks every 5 minutes (or as you like) whether the average hash rate is still high enough. If not, it initiates an automatic reboot without any need to babysit the device. Here it is:

Code:

#! /usr/bin/ash
mingh=790
var=$(`cgminer-api lcd | grep '\[GHSavg\]' | cut -c 16-`)
if (( $var <= mingh )); then
/sbin/reboot
fi

mingh is the minimal hash rate below which the miner should reboot.

cgminer-api delivers status infos on the momentarily state — what is shown in the web interface via Miner Status -> Summary. The output is searched for the average hash rate and cut in a way to only return the mere number. If smaller than the defined limit a reboot occurs. The double round brackets in the third to last line are inevitable to make clear we've got a math expression and not a text string.

Save it as hashcheck and upload it in text mode (Yep, that's important!) to
/user/bin
If you're a wizard in vi you can create it directly on the Antminer, too. Not my choice, to be honest.

Make it executable for everyone:
chmod 755 /user/bin/hashcheck
(or in WinSCP right click -> Properties)

Add one line to the file:
/var/spool/cron/root
namely:
5 * * * * /usr/bin/hashcheck

It should now contain 2 lines if you haven't conducted further modifications.

If you edited it locally take care using text mode for re-upping it to the Antminer.

Done.

[Swimmer63]

Hmm, Bitmain has removed several items from the web interface I considered quite useful with the Antminer S3:

(a) Cronjobs are only available via SSH or SCP. The file is located in:
/var/spool/cron/root
If you edit it locally — i.e download it to your computer and edit it there with a text editor of your choice as vi probably isn't everybody's darling — make sure you transfer in text modus both directions.

(b) Voltage adjustment isn't public any more.
The corresponding file for the most important cgminer settings is:
/config/cgminer.conf
It's basically a JSON file now containing pools and other data as we well know it from other miners, too ... however:
The last two relevant lines in this config file read:

"bitmain-freq" : "4:312.5:0c02",
"bitmain-voltage" : ""

Due to noise issues I've taken two very silent (< 30dB) Noiseblocker fans at both ends, one drawing, one blowing (as with the Antminer S3) and underclocked the device to 312.5 MH/sec to keep temperatures at ca. 60 °C.
Okay, 4 separate units at 312.5 MH/sec — but what the heck does '0c02' mean?
And in which format should I enter the voltage — probably could be a bit below the standard 0.75V due to underclocking. But how to tell my Antminer without unwittingly bricking it?

Thanks in advance for any hints!

Can I ask what fans you used and what your hashrate is at 312.5 MH/sec?

[bitsolutions]

Regarding hash rate dropping or one board going offline I've taken a little cron job that has originally been developed due to hash rate dropping issues with several firmwares on the Antminer S3(+) that checks every 5 minutes (or as you like) whether the average hash rate is still high enough. If not, it initiates an automatic reboot without any need to babysit the device. Here it is:

Code:

#! /usr/bin/ash
mingh=790
var=$(`cgminer-api lcd | grep '\[GHSavg\]' | cut -c 16-`)
if (( $var <= mingh )); then
/sbin/reboot
fi

mingh is the minimal hash rate below which the miner should reboot.

cgminer-api delivers status infos on the momentarily state — what is shown in the web interface via Miner Status -> Summary. The output is searched for the average hash rate and cut in a way to only return the mere number. If smaller than the defined limit a reboot occurs. The double round brackets in the third to last line are inevitable to make clear we've got a math expression and not a text string.

Save it as hashcheck and upload it in text mode (Yep, that's important!) to
/user/bin
If you're a wizard in vi you can create it directly on the Antminer, too. Not my choice, to be honest.

Make it executable for everyone:
chmod 755 /user/bin/hashcheck
(or in WinSCP right click -> Properties)

Add one line to the file:
/var/spool/cron/root
namely:
5 * * * * /usr/bin/hashcheck

It should now contain 2 lines if you haven't conducted further modifications.

If you edited it locally take care using text mode for re-upping it to the Antminer.

Done.

How were you able to save this? AFAIK the only folder you can write persistent changes to is /config everything else gets deleted on reboot. S3 wouldn't have this issue since it uses OpenWRT's overlayfs.

[tt_1111]

Sure!

The blowing one is a Noiseblocker NB-eLoop BP12.
The drawing one is a Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-P.

Both you can find e.g. at:
http://www.blacknoise.com/site/en/products/noiseblocker-it-fans.php

The BGears B-Blaster 120mm or B-PWM 120 mm fans are even stronger
(~100 CFM) and a bit louder (~35-37dB). See:
http://bgears.com/b-pwm.html
However it seems a bit hard to purchase them in Europe, possibly an
overseas order is needed and would take two or more weeks to arrive.

Hash rate at 312.5 MHz is at about 1 TH/sec — both Antminer webinterface
and pool statistics agree about that.

The temperature of both chains is at about 60°C, which is stated as a kind
of limit for longevity at the very first page of this AMS5 thread.

Has anyone at all substantiated the 50°C for 'best hashing' mentioned at the same place?

Can I ask what fans you used and what your hashrate is at 312.5 MH/sec?

[tt_1111]

Uuups - that means the miner rewrites its whole system besides the config folder from scratch on every reboot, probably using the latest firmware image!? Holy BS ...
Just performed a reboot and you're right, the files are gone resp. the cron reset. Damn!

Sorry, I definitely wasn't aware of that. Then the only chance would be patching the firmware image before uploading it. Cocksure beyond my scope.

How were you able to save this? AFAIK the only folder you can write persistent changes to is /config everything else gets deleted on reboot. S3 wouldn't have this issue since it uses OpenWRT's overlayfs.

[bitsolutions]

Uuups - that means the miner rewrites its whole system besides the config folder from scratch on every reboot, probably using the latest firmware image!? Holy BS ...
Just performed a reboot and you're right, the files are gone resp. the cron reset. Damn!

Sorry, I definitely wasn't aware of that. Then the only chance would be patching the firmware image before uploading it. Cocksure beyond my scope.

How were you able to save this? AFAIK the only folder you can write persistent changes to is /config everything else gets deleted on reboot. S3 wouldn't have this issue since it uses OpenWRT's overlayfs.

AFAIK it doesn't rewrite the image....its just a ramfs which of course would not store anything to the flash memory permenantly. Its done like this to reduce flash IO in order to prevent disk corruption. This is an issue on S2 S4 C1 and S5. S1 and S3 use OpenWRT so they have overlayfs which makes this a non-issue.

[TheCrownedPixel]

I know this post is old, I am new to overlocking too.

I just picked up 4 of these miners very loud, so will be getting replacement fans.

I have free electricity, does anyone have a guide to how to best overclock these miners? Do I just turn the frequency up? What is the safest level to do so?

Thank you.