Mining
Compass Mining, a bitcoin mining agency, printed a weblog publish stating that Bitmain, the corporate behind the application-specific built-in circuit (ASIC) mining rig, has made adjustments to its design. The publish suggested miners to concentrate on the adjustments as Compass Mining recognized “three points” with two completely different Antminer S19 sequence mining units.
Bitcoin Miner Compass Mining Identifies 3 Points with Antminer S19 Collection
Compass Mining, a bitcoin mining firm, posted a weblog publish titled “Bitmain Modified Its ASIC Design. Miners Have to Be Prepared,” highlighting adjustments in Bitmain’s ASIC design. Compass believes bitcoin mining facility operators ought to concentrate on the adjustments, which might trigger points. For instance, the agency recognized three issues with the Antminer S19, producing 90 terahash per second (TH/s), and the S19 XP, providing 140 TH/s.
William Foxley of Compass Mining explains that the brand new machines lack a peripheral interface controller (PIC) on the ASICs, making it more durable to manage particular person hashboards in comparison with these with a PIC. The units use aluminum plating on the facet of the mining rig, which Foxley believes might contribute to overheating points. Moreover, there’s a “consolidation of all elements onto one facet of the board, inflicting an elevated likelihood of hashboard errors.”

An Antminer S19 XP with out the peripheral interface controller. Picture credit score: Compass Mining.
Foxley explains that and not using a PIC, models can not underhash on “one or two boards,” and hashboards made with aluminum plates might fail extra often in scorching climates like Texas than these made with printed circuit boards (PCBs). Moreover, Compass Mining believes non-Bitmain restore retailers might face issue changing broken chips. The operations group found these points throughout the final six months, and so they “considerably have an effect on a unit’s efficiency.”
In conclusion, Foxley notes within the weblog publish that third-party firmware might handle the PIC problem and allow a miner to run on one or two boards. Third-party firmware can even decrease particular variables to maintain the ASIC mining rig cooler. The publish suggests choosing the right environmental circumstances as one other resolution. Nonetheless, concerning the aluminum plating, Compass Mining views it as a internet destructive.
“We view the design determination to swap to aluminum-plating on hashboards as a internet destructive–one that may enhance ASIC failure and underhashing whereas rising service and upkeep prices,” Compass’s weblog publish concludes. “Paired with the dearth of a PIC and elevated issue of swapping out unhealthy chips, we encourage miners to double down on their restore recreation as they onboard subsequent technology models into their fleets.”
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