Review of Avalon-4.1

[philipma1957]

I self modded this thread. Just tired of threads getting messed up with a lot of bs.

I got off to a rough start yesterday as no software sdcard was included and no controller .  I have a rasp pi and after a day of getting a blank sd card and loading an image to it. I have the avalon 4.1 running.

The old thread

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=950604.0


fast hash setting  chart



full size of hash chart



http://imageshack.com/a/img538/7002/7CzwpV.png

more full size photos

the photos  are from old thread



http://imageshack.com/a/img673/6237/ftWVU9.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img905/8046/OT8wCR.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img540/4554/boqF8A.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4287/lA4RTa.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img907/6865/FTPJbE.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img907/319/370V05.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img901/8351/YV8WJJ.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img673/5842/ecITJh.jpg

[1715374908]

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[philipma1957]

Right off the bat it is truly very quiet gear.   the current meter readings are under 53.6db


I am pulling 688 watts with stock settings.

 I used a open-wrt img

sent to me via pm by Valkir.

 I want to thank valkir and canaan -avalon 4.1 for the demo and the chance to  review this.

I did 1 change I went into the advanced settings and put volts to 7975 vs 8125

this makes the fan run at 1100 rpm db is now at  40-42db watts are at 687 on my kwatt meter

will post back later on.

[philipma1957]

Feel free to delete this if this post gets in the way of your review.

Based on your screenshot of the hash chart the hash rate is hovering right around 1 TH/s and according to your 2nd post, it is pulling ~687 watts at the wall. My calculations put this at roughly between .68 and .68 w/gh, and my understanding is that this is less efficient then even months old miners. (I promise I am not a shill)

  That is stock setting and I like you am not a shill. This is the first avalon of any kind that I have owned

I have much more to come on this unit.  Here are some screen shots in eco-mode.

 eco mode allows for  lower power

also look lower left at blue change theme it switches to the simple skin



see this the hash rate drops from 1010 to 976.  I have yet to check the watts.

 then on the simple skin advance goes to the plainer  skin in the first photo.  a lot of pages and settings to explore.

[philipma1957]

Now I am going to just let this run in eco mode.
I am running it in kanos pool.

eco mode gets 500gh at 244 watts  this is .488 watts a gh at the wall very good
 sound =39db
volts = 0.6625
freq = 12.21ghs

normal mode gets 1010gh at 687 watts  this is 0.681 watts a gh at the wall it is quiet enough to use in an office instead of a electric space heater. As an owners of s-5's and sp20s they are not as quiet as this.

sound - 45-50db depends on room temp
volts =0.8000
freq = 25.27

custom settings for volts  and freq are allowed .  

so the goal is finding the best middle numbers.

[philipma1957]

Right off the bat it is truly very quiet gear.   the current meter readings are under 53.6db

I think the most impressive thing is even at that quiet level, the chip [PCB???] temps are still only 42C! For those that noise is an issue and sensible ambient temps, you could cap the fan down at 1500rpm or so and use some of that headroom to get a much quieter unit.

I used a open-wrt img sent to me via pm by Valkir.

That's the one I sent him, it will get replaced eventually. The latest firmware (when released) can be found in the repositories which are here here.

For Pi images click through to the latest date -> pi-modelb-v2 -> latest date - sdcard-vfat-ext4.img
For WRT bins click through to the latest date -> tl-wr703n-v1 -> latest date - wr703n-v1-squashfs-factory.bin if flashing from TP-Link 'factory' firmware and squashfs-sysupgrade.bin if flashing from WRT.

I did 1 change I went into the advanced settings and put volts to 7975 vs 8125

If Auto voltage is performing as designed, it *should* have ended up at the same final voltage with 8125 as 7975. 7975 would definitely speed up that training process though.

[PS if you're thinking of making the review post by post then you might want to get in some reserved posts now, delete mine and will repost once you do. Its usually easiest just to put it on one OP though.]

I saved your post as a quote. I will delete it

[philipma1957]

saved for more photos and how to shots. I deleted two posts but saved as quotes. going to let gear run over night on eco mode

[notlist3d]

Happy to see you got one of these.  How does it seem to compare to SP20 on electric efficiency?

[Prelude]

Too bad the controller is such an issue, would be a perfect noob home miner otherwise.

[dogie]

Too bad the controller is such an issue, would be a perfect noob home miner otherwise.

Its still pretty much plug and play when purchased with a preflashed Pi. Not as easy as an SP20 but compared to the Blade / Cube days its relatively straight forward.

[Prelude]

Too bad the controller is such an issue, would be a perfect noob home miner otherwise.

Its still pretty much plug and play when purchased with a preflashed Pi. Not as easy as an SP20 but compared to the Blade / Cube days its relatively straight forward.

Ah, got it. Thought it was more involved than that.

Thanks for the review, Phil. Looking forward to more stats!

[Quickseller]

I like the very quiet noise on it. This should appeal to more "home" miners which should help keep the network more decentralized.

My biggest concern though is that the "eco mode" gets roughly the same efficiency that the latest miners of Bitmain get at stock levels (plus you should be able to under clock the S5 to get even better efficiency by under clocking it) (and only marginally better then the SP30). Someone buying this has a greater chance that profitability will cease for continuing to run it "soon" which decreases the potential to achieve ROI with it.

(LOL I know you are not a shill, however you had posted that you are tired of trolls) - also a tip would be to create your OP, then make several additional posts in succession that are "reserved" that you can later edit.

edit: if the price (which I was unable to find) is low enough then it could potentially be a good deal, however it would still need to compete with the secondary market of other miners with similar efficiency

[philipma1957]

Okay real fast on eco mode it gets .488 watts a gh very good but so far eco mode locks me into 244 watts and 500gh

they should send a sd card preflashed for your rasp-pi what a p.i.t.a. to flash an sd with a mac.  gave up purchased a reader/writer for my windows 7 and flashed an sd card in under 30 minutes.  works nice with a rasp pi. setup is very easy with a rasp pi and a good sd card.

back to efficiency this is a great office miner.  it is basically silent under 40db which is no noise at all.  so if you are a free power guy but must be quiet this seems better then the s-5 or sp20.

I am running 2 s-3's in my friends office at 2.4 cents a kwatt this is a good replacement for them.

more to quick seller   the s-5 is a tweakers delight .  there are 10 or more fan setups I did mounting setups and when sidehack comes out with a voltage controller (95% or so) the s-5 will be even more tweakable then now.

This is a set it and forget (at least I hope it is) .  Once I fuck with the custom setting and figure out the best numbers to use it will sit and mine quietly for a long time. It has a place for some of us.

It is not for a 10 miner in the garage setup.  Or any bigger farm. 100 in a barn 50 in a warehouse space.

 But the guy that really needs peace and quiet this is the one. I will figure the best you can do in the next few days on the eco or custom end. Efficiency wise.

[dogie]

edit: if the price (which I was unable to find) is low enough then it could potentially be a good deal, however it would still need to compete with the secondary market of other miners with similar efficiency

https://ehash.com/product/avalon4-module-1t/

[Quickseller]

edit: if the price (which I was unable to find) is low enough then it could potentially be a good deal, however it would still need to compete with the secondary market of other miners with similar efficiency

https://ehash.com/product/avalon4-module-1t/

It looks like they are charging 2.15 BTC plus .29 BTC each shipping when buying 10, for a total of 2.44 BTC which works out to roughly $536 each when buying 10. When compared to both the SP20 and the S5 it appears to be more expensive while being less efficient.

[philipma1957]

edit: if the price (which I was unable to find) is low enough then it could potentially be a good deal, however it would still need to compete with the secondary market of other miners with similar efficiency

https://ehash.com/product/avalon4-module-1t/

It looks like they are charging 2.15 BTC plus .29 BTC each shipping when buying 10, for a total of 2.44 BTC which works out to roughly $536 each when buying 10. When compared to both the SP20 and the S5 it appears to be more expensive while being less efficient.

I have been doing settings under customs

Chip Frequency(Default: 450:390:370) >>>>>>>>>>>> 420:360:340

Chip Voltage(Default for 4.0: 8125, for 4.1: 8000) >>>>> 7400
 

this gives me : 891 gh watts are not settled give me a few minutes

my efficiency numbers are much improved  557 watts over 922 gh = 0.604 watts per gh vs 0.681 watts per gh

to really get highest gh with lowest watts will take time. 

  922gh at 0.604 watts and 40db-42db  has real value for an office setup.   please be patience  with me as I am not familiar with avalon.

my 420:360:340 = freq 23.44 which runs at 0.7375 volts

[philipma1957]

@ Quickseller

please read my thread above you.  my style is post and then alter post with more info.  you are too fast. I dropped watts per gh from 0.681 to 0.604

so far stock freq   and  a few  custom freq  this chart will be slow to develop maybe 3 days time



450:390:370 = 25.27  and 0.681 watts   per gh  volts get stable at 0.7775 volts

420:360:340 = 23.44  and  0.604 watts per gh   volts get stable at 0.7375 volts--------this seems to be best for now it is late will set this for the night



410:350:330 = 22.83  not stable with 0.72 volts will try again with 0.7300 volts

410:350:330 = 22.83  and  0.618 watts per gh   volts get stable at  0.7250 volts
400:340:320 = 22.22  and  0.631 watts per gh   volts get stable at  0.7125 volts

[Blazed]

Really glad to see Phil doing another review. Personally I hope every manufacturer sends Phil a unit moving forward. I have pointed countless people to his SP20 thread. I would like to get one of these since they are silent, but the price is just ridiculous.

Also feel free to delete my comment 

[philipma1957]

Really glad to see Phil doing another review. Personally I hope every manufacturer sends Phil a unit moving forward. I have pointed countless people to his SP20 thread. I would like to get one of these since they are silent, but the price is just ridiculous.

they are not geared for your setup. these are an under 10 miner setup where power is cheap and silence is the biggest concern.

no mods needed to be really quiet.

I am going to do more test with freq guesses and volt guesses I will fill a chart out for people to use on the custom spot

[Quickseller]

edit: if the price (which I was unable to find) is low enough then it could potentially be a good deal, however it would still need to compete with the secondary market of other miners with similar efficiency

https://ehash.com/product/avalon4-module-1t/

It looks like they are charging 2.15 BTC plus .29 BTC each shipping when buying 10, for a total of 2.44 BTC which works out to roughly $536 each when buying 10. When compared to both the SP20 and the S5 it appears to be more expensive while being less efficient.

I have been doing settings under customs

Chip Frequency(Default: 450:390:370) >>>>>>>>>>>> 420:360:340

Chip Voltage(Default for 4.0: 8125, for 4.1: 8000) >>>>> 7400
 

this gives me : 891 gh watts are not settled give me a few minutes

my efficiency numbers are much improved  557 watts over 922 gh = 0.604 watts per gh vs 0.681 watts per gh

to really get highest gh with lowest watts will take time. 

  922gh at 0.604 watts and 40db-42db  has real value for an office setup.   please be patience  with me as I am not familiar with avalon.

my 420:360:340 = freq 23.44 which runs at 0.7375 volts

This setting is a lot better then the stock setting as it improves efficiency enormously. The hash rate decreases roughly 9% (some of which could be short term variance) while the w/gh declines ~11.4%. If I were running this myself then I would stick to this setting until profitability at these settings were to cease then switch to "eco" settings.

@ Quickseller

please read my thread above you.  my style is post and then alter post with more info.  you are too fast. I dropped watts per gh from 0.681 to 0.604

so far stock freq   and 1 custom freq

450:390:370 = 25.27  and 0.681 watts volts get stable at 0.7775
420:360:340=  23.44  and  0.604 watts volts get stable at 0.7375
410:350:330 = 22.83

LOL sorry

Really glad to see Phil doing another review. Personally I hope every manufacturer sends Phil a unit moving forward. I have pointed countless people to his SP20 thread. I would like to get one of these since they are silent, but the price is just ridiculous.

Also feel free to delete my comment 

His reviews tend to have the most relevant information while a lot of other reviews tend to have a lot of "fluff" with unimportant information

no mods needed to be really quiet.

This is probably a huge plus for the avalon 4. From what I hear the SP20 is very loud, and the S5's I had in my apartment were really too loud, I would wake up almost every morning around an hour before I had to because of the loud noise

[jimrome]

they should send a sd card preflashed for your rasp-pi what a p.i.t.a. to flash an sd with a mac.  gave up purchased a reader/writer for my windows 7 and flashed an sd card in under 30 minutes.

 

Not a "p.i.t.a." unless you're doing it wrong. For future reference: sudo dd if=/path/to/file of=/dev/rdiskX bs=2M

http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup#Using_command_line_tools_.281.29