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

[btarunr]

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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[Fabio]

i can't wait to see miners cry out incapacitated to repay their expensive rig.

 

[arroyo]

Finally!
God bless Bitmain.

 

[jigar2speed]

AMD should make ASIC for Ethereum and Bitcoins if they want to make extra money but not let their GPUs get into this.

 

[Fabio]

AMD should make ASIC for Ethereum and Bitcoins if they want to make extra money but not let their GPUs get into this.

#PooR_BitMain?

 

[HD64G]

Good news for PC gaming for sure. But to be precise, RX580's draw at mining is varied from 90-100W when tuned properly and mining ethhash. So, not more efficient, just cheaper on initial costs. Whoever has already a mining rig doesn't lose anything by keeping it as it is and not buying that ASIC.

 

[R-T-B]

i can't wait to see miners cry out incapacitated to repay their expensive rig.

Considering the lack of hash to watt improvement vs bitcoin asics, you'll likely be sorely dissapointed.

Finally!
God bless Bitmain.

So I see your main concern was GPUs all along?

This won't solve the energy problem, even if it could replace gpus.

 

[nothappy]

My thoughts are simple :
1. order now get in july... thats in 3 moths
2. does bitmain has a good amount of those things stocked?

now its just nit picking :
If I were a millionaire that can pay, I buy those things in bulk and when they arent worth it I just put it in junk. If I was a person striving to make some cash on the side.. I cant buy those things, cause they have no resale value. I hope that small scale miners are a fraction, cause if they are the bulk of the miners...then this will only give a small relief. Why dont we help corsair buy mining GPU's from miners instead...

 

[R-T-B]

My thoughts are simple :
1. order now get in july... thats in 3 moths
2. does bitmain has a good amount of those things stocked?

now its just nit picking :
If I were a millionaire that can pay, I buy those things in bulk and when they arent worth it I just put it in junk. If I was a person striving to make some cash on the side.. I cant buy those things, cause they have no resale value. I hope that small scale miners are a fraction, cause if they are the bulk of the miners...then this will only give a small relief. Why dont we help corsair buy mining GPU's from miners instead...

You pretty much just summed up why ASICs are bad and won't solve anything... particularly these inefficient things.

None of those questions you stated have very positive answers, but you are at least asking the right questions.

Why dont we help corsair buy mining GPU's from miners instead...

Why add a middleman?

 

[dj-electric]

I would usually turn happy to news like these, but something tells me even bitmain can't kill GPU mining.

 

[Fabio]

i

Considering the lack of hash to watt improvement vs bitcoin asics, you'll likely be sorely dissapointed.



So I see your main concern was GPUs all along?

This won't solve the energy problem, even if it could replace gpus.

know, thw only way to solve problem is to rid of of the cryptosh*t.

 

[R-T-B]

I would usually turn happy to news like these, but something tells me even bitmain can't kill GPU mining.

Nope (especially not with such inefficient units). But don't worry, the market is already doing that in the short term.

Ups and downs, people.

i

know, thw only way to solve problem is to rid of of the cryptosh*t.

How... uninspired.

You know, the tech does have its uses. Well, I know it does anyways. But Proof of Work is obviously not an ideal model.

Fortunately, I refuse to believe it's the only model that can work.

 

[Fabio]

My thoughts are simple :
1. order now get in july... thats in 3 moths
2. does bitmain has a good amount of those things stocked?

now its just nit picking :
If I were a millionaire that can pay, I buy those things in bulk and when they arent worth it I just put it in junk. If I was a person striving to make some cash on the side.. I cant buy those things, cause they have no resale value. I hope that small scale miners are a fraction, cause if they are the bulk of the miners...then this will only give a small relief. Why dont we help corsair buy mining GPU's from miners instead...

today gpu too, before July will have no resell value.

 

[owen10578]

If you don't mine don't pull random numbers like "200W on typical mining load" for RX 580s. No. Only idiots run it at 200W. Competent miners will tune it and lower the voltage so 570/580 draws around 100-130W each to be even profitable. So a 6x GPU rig would match this ASIC at 180MH/s 800W easily. Only the price is great.

 

[R-T-B]

today gpu too, before July will have no resell value.

Not sure what you mean... gpus will always hold some resale value. Not that I'm selling until years end, anyway.

EDIT: Good god with the downvotes, people seemingly forget I am only mining as a research project for TPU... haters gonna hate I guess.

Nothing I said was false either.

 

[BiggieShady]

Only the price is great.

... and that little 'only' could actually mean something for the GPU prices ... assuming the makers can scale up the production on demand

 

[Xzibit]

Space savings. A single PSU.

 

[the54thvoid]

...Only the price is great.

Yes and no. The hash rate per dollar is fantastic, but with anything that comes with a low price, its overall value is increased. It has a higher hash rate than several GPU's that would cost considerably more so it is a great 'thing'. Also, its likely designed for the big mining market, not the tech-savvy, hobby guys like @R-T-B etc, who will tweak to the end of the earth for maximum efficiency. I only hope that Eth does not release code to make these redundant and force the drive back to GPU's. Perhaps it is against the law to manipulate the code to destroy another person's business?

 

[eidairaman1]

Ok so this produces 6x the amount a 580 does, looks like a specific purpose rig, 800 is still pretty steep, i guess miners dont care about the price. Now imagine if this thing was a universal asic.

I guess this uses less power than a rig with 6 580s in it.

 

[kastriot]

Time will tell what will happen, we can only read/see about it

 

[R-T-B]

Perhaps it is against the law to manipulate the code to destroy another person's business?

If that was true VertCoin ASIC producers way back when would likely have excercised that law... so doubtful.

Ok so this produces 6x the amount a 580 does, looks like a specific purpose rig, 800 is still pretty steep

Not considering the gpus it would take to get that hashrate, it isn't.

 

[Manu_PT]

This will not solve anything. Also some crypto still favour gpu, plus its resale value etc.

 

[techy1]

look: ebay sold listings RX 580 8GB
RX 580 8GB are sold for under 280$ now !!!! and sub 250-ish $ on your local "craigslist-like" adds.
so most miners just (in last 4 weeks) cashed in like -200$ or -40% loss for each card they owned (but that is not for RX 580 only - for all gpus the same proportion applies).
I cant wait the panic sales when huge EHT farms will have to go away from ETH to "whatever you smal miners now mine" coin and will obliterate those difficulties in a heartbeat.

 

[dimitrix]

Finally!
God bless Bitmain.

One day when somebody dissassemble it and found tons of GDDR and GPU IC's inside you wan't be so happy ...

 

[Basard]

Quick! Somebody figure out how we can turn this into a GPU so we can all take it from the miners! MUAHAHAHAHA!