Archive for the ‘Mining Hardware’ Category

BitMain Announcing the New AntRouter R1-LTC

27, Apr 2017

The crypto ASIC miner manufacturer BitMain has just announced a new product, this time not a high-powered new miner, but a low power WiFi router with a built-in Scrypt mining functionality. The new AntRouter R1-LTC is very similar to the already available Bitcoin oriented product AntRouter R1, but instead of an ASIC chip capable of mining BTC it contains one that is designed for mining Litecoin instead. The mining functionality is powered by the company’s BM1485 ASIC chip allowing you to mine any Scrypt-based crypto coin and not only just LTC. Of course the single Scrypt ASIC chip inside the router is not going to make you rich overnight as it mines with a hashrate of just 1.29 MHS, but still it is a nice and interesting idea for a multiple functionalities built inside a single portable device. There is no price announced yet, but the sales of the device should start tomorrow 28th of April and we are going to see the price then, though you should expect that it will be very similar to the one of the R1 BTC model that is being sold for $39 USD. Unlike the BTC WiFi router that is only for solo mining BTC, the LTC version should be able to be used for mining with just about any Scrypt pool according to BitMain, so it will be a bit more flexible and usable solution.

BitMain AntRouter R1-LTC Specifications:
– WiFi standard: 802.11g/n, 2.4G
– WiFi transmission rate: 150Mbps
– ASIC chip type: BM1485
– Hashrate of chip: 1.29MH/s
– Power consumption: 3.78W +2.9% at the wall (220VAC Power efficiency @25C ,85% conversion efficiency of built-in AC to DC power supply)
– Mining power efficiency: 2.93 J/MH +2.9% at the wall (220VAC Power efficiency @25C ,85% conversion efficiency of built-in AC to DC power supply)
– AC voltage input: 100-220V AC
– Input current: 0.2A
– USB charging port voltage: 5V
– Operating temperature: 0 – 40°C
– Storage temperature: -40 – 85°C
– Operating humidity: 5%RH-95%RH,prevent condensation
– Product dimensions: 84.5mm(L) x 56.6mm(W) x 29mm(H)
– Weight: 148 grams

Crypto Mining With Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition

24, Apr 2017

As promised last week after the official announcement we are starting a series of reviews of the new AMD Radeon RX 5×0 series of GPUs and the first card to go through is the Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition. This is one of the top models of RX 580 from Sapphire that comes with higher factory clocks compared to most other RX 580 GPUs and some nice additional extras such as spare fans. Compared to the last year’s Sapphire RX 480 NITRO+ the new RX 580 counterparts do come with higher clocks and improved cooling solution… and a bit higher price as well. The new RX 580 cards that are more like the last year’s RX 480 from Sapphire are now called PULSE and not NITRO and hopefully we are going to soon have a PULSE card to check out, but for now let us see what the NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition has to offer…

SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 8 GB Limited Edition:
– 2304 stream Processors
– 14 nm FinFET, 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN)
– 1450 MHz GPU Boost Clock
– 8192 MB GDDR5 Memory, 256 bit Memory Bus, 2000 MHz Memory Clock
– Display Outputs: 1x DL-DVI-D, 2x HDMI 2.0b, 2x DisplayPort 1.4
– All-new Dual-X 95 mm fans, two ball bearing
– Power connectors: 1x 6-pin PCI-E, 1x 8-pin PCI-E
– Power consumption: 225W
– Dual UEFI BIOS

The new larger cooler is a welcome improvement as are the the additional spare fans included in the package of the RX 580 NITRO+ LE GPUs, though the non Limited Edition RX 580 and the RX 570 NITRO+ also come with the same new cooler. Other notable difference however is the additional power connector found on the NITRO+ RX 5×0 series, they all feature a single 6-pin and a single 8-pin PCI-E power connectors. The extra power connector is needed due to the higher clocks and increased power consumption, however it can be a problem for miners willing to connect 6 of these cards with a single power supply. So do have that in mind as well as the fact that the PULSE series are with a single and not dual PCI-E power connectors.

Here is how things look according to GPU-Z for the GPU specs. The GPU clock is running perfectly fine at 1450 MHz and allows for some extra overclock to about 1500 MHz, though not much higher than that. The higher GPU clock comes with increased operating voltage of about 1.1750V and that also results in increased power usage, up to over 140W GPU only Power Draw according to GPU-Z. The video memory is running at 2000 MHz and we kind of expected to see Samsung GDDR5 memory used here, after all this is a more expensive top model from Sapphire of the new RX 580 and is also a Limited Edition one. Unfortunately Sapphire has opted to go for Hynix memory for this series and as a result you can expect not the best performance in memory intensive mining algorithms such as Ethash used by Ethereum or Equihash used by Zcash.

Now off to the benchmarks with some popular algorithms used by the most profitable to mine crypto currencies at the moment. Starting with Ethereum (ETH) mining using the latest Claymore Dual ETH miner version 9.2 and we are getting just about 22.5 MHS from the Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition. This is with the stock settings, no memory modifications and is definitely a disappointing result, though considering that the memory used was Hynix at 2000 MHz it seems that the default memory timings are pretty relaxed in order to keep the hgiher operating frequency. Again going for Samsung memory on this Limited Edition model is a must do thing in our opinion, so we are wondering why Sapphire didn’t do just that…

We can see similar not so great result for mining ZEC using the latest Claymore ZCash AMD GPU Miner 12.4, but this is to be expected since the Equihash algorithm is also more memory intensive. The average hashrate we are getting for ZCash (ZEC) mining with this video card is about 296 H/s. The reason for the lower hashrate than what we have seen from some lower clocked RX 480 GPUs is again most likely the Hynix memory, but also the new driver that AMD has released with support for the RX 500 series might be responsible for the not so good mining hashrates and the official AMD Radeon Crimson ReLive Edition 17.4.3 driver for the RX 500 series is a WHQL one and may not be the best performing one for crypto currency mining.

Some more benchmark results at stock settings:
– Decred (DCR): 1.220 GHS
– CryptoNight (XMR): 600 H/s
– LBRY (LBC): 0.165 GHS
– Pascal (PASC): 0.830 GHS
– X11Ghost (SIB): 8.2 MHS

As far as optimizations go, you can play around with the memory straps and get better results. Furthermore reducing the GPU frequency from the default high value will also allow you to lower the voltage and achieve significantly lower power usage, especially if optimizing for ETH, though ZEC should also be fine with a bit higher voltage. Some people also report that the RX 580 LE card can run just fine on a single 8-pin PCI-E power, though should you try that make sure you have optimized the frequency and voltages of the GPU first in order to avoid overloading the power line…

As a conclusion we can say that the Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition video cards although seemingly attractive for miners have been clearly designed for gamers and they will do pretty good for gaming with the higher operating clocks. Miners may also like the larger cooler and the extra fans in the package, but the two power connectors and the increased power usage is not something that is so great. At stock settings the RX 580 LE is a bit disappointing in terms of performance, though with some tweaking you can probably get better performance and low power usage. Then again you should be able to achieve the same result with a cheaper RX 580 or even RX 570 after you tweak the memory straps, reduce the clock speeds and operating voltages. So out of the box this is good for gamers, with some tweaking it can still become a miner friendly video card, though you should be careful what you do but the higher price of this particular model may make it not as attractive for miners as for example the GPUs from Sapphire’s PULSE series.

– More information about Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition…

Bitmain to Launch New AntMiner L3+ Scrypt ASIC

11, Apr 2017

The crypto currency mining ASIC maker Bitmain is getting ready to launch a new Scrypt ASIC miner with shipping expected to start a bit later this month. The new device capable of mining Litecoin (LTC) and other Scrypt-based crypto currencies is called AntMiner L3+ and should be capable of delivering a hashrate of 504 MHS with a power usage of 800W. With the recent jump in interest and the price of Litecoin we are seeing a bit of a revival of the interest in Scrypt-based coins and this is apparently also the reason why Bitmain has prepared a new more powerful device.

The new Antminer L3+ is essentially double the performance and power usage of the regular AntMiner L3 model announced earlier this year. It offers essentially doubled performance by doubling the number of BM1485 ASIC chips from the 144 units in the L3 to 288 in the new L3+. The English website of Bitmain still hasn’t got the product listed, but their Chinese one has the device already listed with a price of 1.686 BTC per L3+ device that does not include a power supply. The shipping should start sometime in between April 15th and April 20th based on the data on the website. Early May deliveries (May 1st – May 10th) are also possible with a lower price of 1.261 BTC per L3+ device.

Bitmain AntMiner L3+ Scrypt ASIC Specifications:
– Scrypt mining hashrate: 504 MHS
– Power consumption: 800W ± 10% (at the wall, with Bitmain’s APW3-1600 PSU, 93% efficiency, 25°C ambient temperature))
– Power efficiency: 1.6J/MH ± 10% (at the wall, AC / DC efficiency of 93%, 25°C ambient temperature)
– Rated voltage: 11.6 ~ 13.0V
– Chip Type: BM1485
– Chip quantity per unit: 288 chips
– Number of boards in the whole machine: 4 pcs
– External dimensions: 352 mm (L) * 130 mm (W) * 187.5 mm (H)
– Machine weight (without packaging): 4.4kg
– Operating temperature: 0°C to 40°C
– Operating Humidity: 5% RH-95% RH, non-condensing
– Network connection: Ethernet
– Noise level: 75dB


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