Archive for the ‘Mining Hardware’ Category

BitMain Announcing the AntMiner S5 Bitcoin ASIC Miner

25, Dec 2014

bitmain-antminer-s5

Bitmain has announced their 3rd generation Bitcoin ASIC miner chip – the BM1384 in conjunction with its 9th product – the Antminer S5 and is getting ready to start shipping the device before the end of the year. The Antminer S5 is the successor of the S3 and the S1 before that, building and improving the design of the previous generation of miners offering higher performance with lower power consumption thanks to the new BM1384 ASIC chips. The Bitmain AntMiner S5 should offer 1155 GHS hashrate with 590 Watt power usage at the wall according to the specifications, though that value may vary based on the power supply that you may pair the miner with (power supply is not included). The first batch of the S5 ASIC miners costs $418 USD and should start shipping on December 27th, the second batch is slightly cheaper at $413 USD per unit and should start shipping on January 4th 2015 or a few days later.


BitMain AntMiner S5 Specifications:

– Hash Rate: 1155 GH/s ±5%
– Power Consumption: 590 W (at the wall)
– Power Efficiency: 0.51 J/GH (at the wall)
– Rated Voltage: 12V
– Dimensions: 298 mm x 137 mm x 155 mm
– Cooling: 1x 12038 fan
– Operating Conditions: 0 °C to 35 °C
– Certified By: FCC / CE
– Network Connection: Ethernet

What seems to be the most notable change in the latest design used by the S5 is the fact that now the miner has the aluminum heatsinks placed directly on top of the ASIC chips, unlike on the previous miners where they were on the back of the PCB and thus were not so effective. This new cooling design is supposed to provide the same cooling efficiency on the new miners that previous generation that had lower hashrate and power usage.

New Holiday Special Prices for Spondoolies-Tech SP20 Jackson Miners

21, Dec 2014

spondoolies-tech-promo-prices

Spondoolies-Tech has a special holiday offers for their smaller 1.7 THS Bitcoin ASIC miners targeted at home miners – the SP20 Jackson. The units are shipping from stock and a single SP20 Jackson is currently available for $659 USD, a three SP20 Nano Farm miners pack is available at $1900 USD with free shipping included (~$633.33 USD per miner) and a 15 SP20 Mini Farm miners pack is available for $7995 USD ($533 USD per miner) with free shipping. Do nnote that the SP20 Jackson miners do not come with power supply included and a good 1200W PSU is recommended for each of the miners, so you should count these as well when doing the ROI math.

Spondoolies-Tech also offers a bigger Bitcoin ASIC miners in terms of hashrate, these are the 4.9 THS SP31 Yukon available at $2595 USD and the 5.5 THS SP35 Yukon available at $2795 USD. Thse miners however are targeted at larger mining operations, though you can consider them as an alternative to the packages including multiple SP20 Jackson miners as they do come ready to be installed and used – with built-in power supplies. At the moment Spondoolies-Tech probably has the most power efficient ASIC miners that are available to order and ready to be shipped.

– To see all of the currently available offers for SHA-256 ASIC miners from Spondoolies-Tech…

BitMain Cancelling the AntMiner L1 Scrypt ASIC Miner

19, Dec 2014

bitmain-antminer-l1-scrypt-asic-miner

With the current situation on the crypto currency markets and especially the low exchange rate of the Litecoin it is no wonder that we are seeing another ASIC manufacturer cancelling their plans to release a new Scrypt ASIC Miner. The problem with these kinds of actions is that manufacturers are loosing users trust, even though they may try to compensate their customers in some way. Back when BitMain announced the pre-order for the L1, something new for them back then, we weren’t that happy and now we are also not very happy with the fact that BitMain waited up until now to announce they are cancelling the L1 when they were supposed to actually start shipping the finished product. Below you can find quoted the official announcement from BitMain about the discontinuation of Antminer L1 along with what options they offer to customers who have pre-ordered the miner:

Dear loyal customers,

The decision has been taken not to continue production of the Antminer L1

In response, all customers will be able to choose one of three options:
1) The original order value of $599 will be refunded at 105% value [$629] by bitcoin at current market rates. Customers will receive bitcoin payment.
2) The original order value of $599 will be refunded at 110% value [$659] by bitcoin at current market rates. This will be credited against any new S3/S4/C1 order placed in the web store.
3) The original order value of $599 will be credited at 115% value [$689] against an S5 order placed in the web store. This will be issued in the form of a 15 day coupon, each coupon valued [$344.5].

Please await an email info@bitmaintech.com for further instructions.

Though we are sorry that we do not deliver this time, it still turns out that buying L1 from BITMAIN is a very best way to earn more Litecoin.

Data Analysis: In the beginning of L1 sales, you only need to pay 115.86LTC to buy one L1 per the LTC/USD exchange rate 5.17 in the early September. However, you will get 193.22LTC under current LTC/USD exchange rate 3.1. And then plus extra 5% value, a total amount you get is 202.88LTC per unit. Return on investment is 75%. If you choose coupon compensation, Return on investment is 91%.

It is not very clear weather BitMain has already finished with the development and has actually produced some mining hardware or they are cancelling things before they have actually been finalized. The problem is that after ZeusMiner cancelled their Volcano miner and 3rd generation Scrypt ASICs and now the same happening with BitMain and their AntMiner L1 Scrypt ASIC things do not look that good for Litecoin and other Scrypt crypto currencies. The low exchange rate of LTC at the moment makes older Scrypt ASIC miners not very profitable to run due to their high power usage and with no newer generation more efficient miners announced to be coming soon things could get even worse.


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