Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining has published a blog post claiming that Bitmain, developer of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining rigs, has made changes to its design. Published because Compass Mining has identified “three issues” with two different Antminer S19 series mining devices, the post advises miners to be aware of the changes.
Bitcoin miner Compass Mining confirms three issues with Antminer S19 series
Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining posted ablog post titled “Bitmain Changed Its ASIC Design”titled “Miners Need to Be Ready”
which highlights Bitmain’s ASIC design Compass believes that operators of bitcoin mining facilities need to be aware of this change, which could cause problems. For example, the Antminer S19 delivers 90 terahashes per second (TH/s) and the S19 XP delivers 140 terahashes per second, and three problems have been identified.
William Foxley of Compass Mining explained that the new machines do not have a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) in the ASIC, making it more difficult to control individual hashboards compared to machines with a PIC. He explains that the new machine does not have a PIC (Peripheral Interface Controller) in its ASIC, making it more difficult to control individual hashboards compared to machines with PICs. In addition, the sides of the mining rigs are aluminum plated, which Foxley believes can cause overheating problems. In addition, “all the components are concentrated on one side of the board, which increases the potential for hashboard errors.”
Foxley says that without PICs, “one or two boards” cannot underhash, and hashboards made of aluminum plates are hotter than those made of printed circuit boards (PCBs), such as Texas Compass Mining explains that hashboards made of aluminum may fail more frequently in a climate of Additionally, Compass Mining believes that repair shops outside of Bitmain may have difficulty replacing damaged chips. The operations team has discovered these problems within the past six months, and they “significantly affect the performance of the units.”
In conclusion, Foxley noted in a blog post that third-party firmware can address the PIC issue and get Minor up and running on one or two boards. Third-party firmware can also lower certain variables to keep ASIC mining rigs cooler. The post suggests that another solution is to select optimal environmental conditions. For aluminum plating, however, Compass Mining sees a net negative.
“We see the design decision to change hashboards to aluminum plating as a net negative that will increase ASIC failures and under-hashing, and increase service and maintenance costs.” The Compass blog post concludes.” Combined with the lack of PICs and the increased difficulty of replacing bad chips, we encourage miners to double down on the repair game when they mount next-generation units in their fleets.”
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Compass Mining.
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