Wednesday, April 4th 2018

Bitmain Intros Antminer E3 for Ethereum, GPU Prices Could Finally Cool Down

It was only a matter of time before ASICs turned the tide on GPU-accelerated crypto-currency mining. Bitmain announced the Antminer E3, an ASIC miner purpose-built for Ethereum mining. Priced at $800 (or less than the price of an AMD Radeon RX 580 in January), this ASIC draws about 800W of power, and offers a hash-rate of 180 MH/s. To put that into perspective, an RX 580 only has about 30 MH/s, and draws around 200W at typical mining load. Bitmain has begun accepting orders for the Antminer E3, with shipping to commence in July. At its price, no GPU in the market can match the economics of this ASIC, and hence, VGA prices could begin to cool down, and GPU miners could find it hard to hodl on to their overpriced VGAs.
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77 Comments on Bitmain Intros Antminer E3 for Ethereum, GPU Prices Could Finally Cool Down

#26
Caring1
The price seems a bit steep compared the the Asics I used in the past for Bitcoin mining, I'm sure I paid around AU $200 per unit and they did 110MH/s.
Posted on Reply
#27
BiggieShady
I wonder is it possible to undervolt and overclock this miner ... one of those may be golden sample, stock settings may not be most efficient for all samples
Caring1I'm sure I paid around AU $200 per unit and they did 110MH/s.
I'm sure it has to be considered as relative to network difficulty for that time
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#28
trog100
some gpu mining facts.. my 8 x 1070 mining rig does 240 mhs and pulls 1000 watts from the wall..

so.. it all comes down to purchase costs.. but and there is a big but here.. we are told $800 dollars.. one thing is for sure that 800 dollars will suffer the same fate as the theoretical price of a gpu...

for these thing to replace gpu mining it will take an awful lot of them.. would be miners assuming demand is still there will pay whatever it takes to get their hands on one.. and for sure it wont be 800 f-cking dollars.. he he

trog
Posted on Reply
#29
Moofachuka
We'll see when next gen gpu come out... I bet next gen gpu mines similar to this thing and have a resale value.
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#30
madness777
Do you people realize that you won't be able to mine ethereum at some point in the future?
Of course other coins will emerge and could potentially be even better than ETH is right now.
I remember the time I started building rigs, when no one would bat-an-eye when you mentioned mining ~2016 when ETH was only 4$.
This dude was pumping out over 7ETH/day with all his RIGs. Damn those were the good times.

I can't imagine this being the saving grace for GPU supply/stock. It all depends on the godfather that is the BTC price.
Everyone losing their shit when BTC dropped to 1/3. I personally felt it, not only with profitability but also with my work, no one's interested in investing into Hardware, had no work for over a month.
Kinda sucks, I liked it better when it was blooming.
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#31
trog100
madness777Do you people realize that you won't be able to mine ethereum at some point in the future?
Of course other coins will emerge and could potentially be even better than ETH is right now.
I remember the time I started building rigs, when no one would bat-an-eye when you mentioned mining ~2016 when ETH was only 4$.
This dude was pumping out over 7ETH/day with all his RIGs. Damn those were the good times.

I can't imagine this being the saving grace for GPU supply/stock. It all depends on the godfather that is the BTC price.
Everyone losing their shit when BTC dropped to 1/3. I personally felt it, not only with profitability but also with my work, no one's interested in investing into Hardware, had no work for over a month.
Kinda sucks, I liked it better when it was blooming.
for what its worth the almost fixed link between the bitcoin price and other alt coins prices seems to have broken.. bitcoin is holding up better than the others..

and again some more facts.. i am currently mining with 10 x 1070 cards.. just over 300 mhs in total.. they are currently producing a fraction over 10 us dollars per day in total.. mining eth.. genuinely not really worth running them..

the prices of gpus are dropping sightly but not as much as they should be.. nobody in their right mind is buying them solely to mine with.. whats holding the price up where it is i dont know..

trog
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#32
ppn
Miners will buy both asics and cards, nothing changes, 12/16nm to 10nm gives 35% power reduction, 7nm to 10nm another 40%, video cards will dissipate 40 watts instead of today's 100 watts.
Posted on Reply
#33
chaosmassive
what make ethereum different from bitcoin is that it supposed to be ASIC resistant (at least that what I read on ethereum 'ads' )
but since ASIC for Ethereum finally make appearance,
now it is matter of time before the difficulty skyrocket so high that its not longer feasible to mine on GPU.
and gamer now could make liquid cooler out of GPU hoarders's tears
Posted on Reply
#34
Athlonite
hmmm seems that GPU mining via an AMD RX580 is more efficient than the Ant miner V3
RX580 200W \ 30MHs = 6.6MHs per Watt
ANT V3 800W \ 180MHs = 4.4MHs per Watt
maybe if it did more per Watt it'd be a better deal
ppnMiners will buy both asics and cards, nothing changes, 12/16nm to 10nm gives 35% power reduction, 7nm to 10nm another 40%, video cards will dissipate 40 watts instead of today's 100 watts.
Nope they wont you just see more cores at a smaller nm requiring just as much energy use as they do today
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#35
dj-electric
Again, miners configure RX 580s to run at 100-130W typically when mining. NOT 200W

This ant miner seems very unattractive
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#36
iO
Even if prices will go down its only going to be temporary until the scrambling around ends and miners agree which coin to mine next...
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#37
hat
Enthusiast
It's a pretty crappy miner in today's, uh, mining economy. That hashrate is currently only good for about $6/day, before paying for the electricity. I expect most to stay away from it, unless they really believe there will be another massive upswing in crypto. ETH price would have to explode for this to be any good.
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#38
Ubersonic
Fabioi can't wait to see miners cry out incapacitated to repay their expensive rig.
I have some bad news for you, there's dozens of different mining algorithms (and hundreds of coins that use them) and this machine only works with one. It's not going to have any effect on GPU mining.
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#39
iO
dj-electricAgain, miners configure RX 580s to run at 100-130W typically when mining. NOT 200W

This ant miner seems very unattractive
Kinda but you cant get 6x 580s at current prices plus CPU, mobo, RAM, PSU, risers etc for 800 bucks...
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#40
Ubersonic
Athlonitehmmm seems that GPU mining via an AMD RX580 is more efficient than the Ant miner V3
RX580 200W \ 30MHs = 6.6MHs per Watt
ANT V3 800W \ 180MHs = 4.4MHs per Watt
You're calculating Watts per MH there, not MH per watt. The Antminer is more efficient.
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#41
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
I'd rather just collect empty bottles and cans than waste my money for toy money.
Posted on Reply
#42
dj-electric
Question - how easy the people responsible for ETH can change the code so this antminer could become a brick?
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#43
Th3pwn3r
dj-electricI would usually turn happy to news like these, but something tells me even bitmain can't kill GPU mining.
I think you're right. Why would you buy a one trick pony when you can buy a GPU?
Posted on Reply
#44
dozenfury
Definitely interesting. Rumors had this priced in the $2500-$3000 range a couple of weeks ago, so 180 Mh/s for $800 is a pretty major game changer. If the difficulty spike and dropping coin prices weren't enough to kill Eth mining, this will be.

The big catch in this that hasn't really been mentioned is that this is limited to only the Ethash algorithm. I haven't mined Eth for probably a year since there have been more profitable gpu coins to mine out there. So it's not really like this replaces 180 Mh/s of mining with AMD or NV gpus, where a person can pick the most profitable algorithm/coin to mine at any given time. It's Ethash only and if that algo and coins in it aren't doing well you're up a creek. That's why I switch between 5 or 6 algos/coins depending which is the most profitable at any given time. And once these are out in a few months what's left of profits for any Ethash coins will plummet like a rock.
Posted on Reply
#45
ironcerealbox
Athlonitehmmm seems that GPU mining via an AMD RX580 is more efficient than the Ant miner V3
RX580 200W \ 30MHs = 6.6MHs per Watt
ANT V3 800W \ 180MHs = 4.4MHs per Watt
maybe if it did more per Watt it'd be a better deal


Nope they wont you just see more cores at a smaller nm requiring just as much energy use as they do today
O.o Dooooooooooooooooooooood...
Nah, if Watts/MegaHash is what you are trying to calculate, then higher is worse. However, if you meant MegaHash/Watt, then flip your original ratios (then higher MH/W is better).
Posted on Reply
#46
HD64G
ironcerealboxo_O Dooooooooooooooooooooood...
Nah, if Watts/MegaHash is what you are trying to calculate, then higher is worse. However, if you meant MegaHash/Watt, then flip your original ratios (then higher MH/W is better).
Both of you are wrong in your calculations as an optimised RX580 when mining ethash draws only 90-100W. So, the GPUs remain more efficient (+30%) and can be resold easily when mining loses its interest. Those ASICs are good only for whoever wants fast profits from mining for 3-6 months and has big money to burn. In the long run, efficiency and zero resale value doesn't add up to make those systems desirable enough.
Posted on Reply
#47
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
UbersonicI have some bad news for you, there's dozens of different mining algorithms (and hundreds of coins that use them) and this machine only works with one. It's not going to have any effect on GPU mining.
Probably able to be updated as different digitalcoins emerge
Posted on Reply
#48
Fabio
HD64GBoth of you are wrong in your calculations as an optimised RX580 when mining ethash draws only 90-100W. So, the GPUs remain more efficient (+30%) and can be resold easily when mining loses its interest. Those ASICs are good only for whoever wants fast profits from mining for 3-6 months and has big money to burn. In the long run, efficiency and zero resale value doesn't add up to make those systems desirable enough.
resolded easily? sure, but before new gpu came out this summer. After they are just old gen abused gpu... worthless imho
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#49
Supercrit
Fabioresolded easily? sure, but before new gpu came out this summer. After they are just old gen abused gpu... worthless imho
Hate crypto at your heart's content, but an used GPU is worth more than an obsolete ASIC which is effectively 0. Even broken GPUs can be sold for quite some bucks on ebay.
Posted on Reply
#50
Fabio
SupercritHate crypto at your heart's content, but an used GPU is worth more than an obsolete ASIC which is effectively 0.
yes, that's true, indeed. but, what's the point of buying 5, 6 7 hundred dollars gpu, place them to mine and wait 12-16 months before see them repaied? with the risk of lose money indeed, because a gpu can break before roi, a psu of the rig can break, a board can brake. Just a problem and you lose al the little profit... there are smartest way to use money other then mine, today.
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