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Topic: (Review/Guide) AvalonMiner 821 11.0 Th/s, 1200W Bitcoin (SHA-256) ASIC miner - page 3. (Read 2948 times)

legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Edit (February 25, 2018): This is now an old version, see the opening post for the most recent version download link.

The nicely formatted version of this review/guide is updated (February 17, 2018 version) and it is available for download.

Link:
https://mega.nz/#!Qlc0gZBK!rq7BT7MViP4vvNKsYsEXlHHHHaVKHeacxuB0aQOXrx4
member
Activity: 140
Merit: 18
Got my Avalon 821 up and running for 48 hours. Software lets me adjust voltage and with -2 the miner still runs with 11,34TH/s. Superstable:)


I think if you look at the above, you'll see that -2 on the 821 isn't the same as -2 on the 741.  Most are reporting *higher* hashrate and wattage at -2, than 1.  Makes ya wonder if they got the values reversed in their firmware...
newbie
Activity: 2
Merit: 0
Got my Avalon 821 up and running for 48 hours. Software lets me adjust voltage and with -2 the miner still runs with 11,34TH/s. Superstable:)
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Thank you, much appreciated.  Smiley

Nice to know that Blokforge orders have started shipping.
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!
Excellent review!
Got notice yesterday from Blokforge my 2x 821's are on their way via FedEx, should arrive next Tues. Good timing on that as 1 of my old s9's (b3) decided to go off line for a few hours today...
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
I don't know if this is the first, but this is one of the engineering sample units without a tech specs label printed on the miner.
mrb
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1028
Nice pics & review. Out of sheer curiosity, I wish you had taken pictures of the other side of the 2 PCBs that hold the PCIe power connectors  Smiley It looks like you might have the first 821 released to the public. Is this correct?
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Yeah, they might switch their focus into the A841 model quite soon, which will be most likely at least 13 Th/s with 1200W power consumption.

ASIC chip for the A841 model will be the same one used in the A821 (A3210).
full member
Activity: 158
Merit: 103
Seems like 821 will be EOL soon. Just received Canaan newsletter about shipping 841 in April. The performance is estimated to be 13TH and 1200 Watts.
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
The 741  got a software tweak  and the offset  improved.

Hopefully Canaan comes with a similar software tweak to improve the voltage offset effect in the A821 performance.
legendary
Activity: 4326
Merit: 8914
'The right to privacy matters'
Nice review Haggsfin, I'm a little surprised with the voltage offset results.

The 741  got a software tweak  and the offset  improved.

My guess is the 821 will be tweaked for fan and power use.


Nice gear same solid heat sinks as older models.  Price is high  but I may order  in the future.
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Thanks.

Video tutorial links updated, there are now two tutorial videos available.

*snip*

If you like a video tutorial better, there are two good A821 setup tutorial videos made official Canaan distributors Blokforge (Blokforge official channel)
and Cryptouniverse (video released in TechMagnet channel, presenter Stefan is the CTO of Cryptouniverse AG).

Blokforge tutorial video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8r0tbUmgCU
Cryptouniverse tutorial video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wa2L97ReOw
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 3
Nice review Haggsfin, I'm a little surprised with the voltage offset results.
hero member
Activity: 882
Merit: 547
BTC Mining Hardware, Trading and more
Thanks for the great report.
I hope in future Software updates the fans can be adjusted to auto mode so they do not run 100% all the time due to noise level. Or temp limits could be adjusted.

legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
extra) Testing different voltage offset values and writing down miner performance results
Note: This extra chapter is updated in February 25, 2018.
This is a second and successful attempt to test the voltage offset values.

To get the voltage offset value working, we need to put it as a Cgminer command
in the 'More Options' field found in the Cgminer configuration page.
Here is an example: "--avalon8-voltage-level-offset -2".
See more details in screenshot images below.

The original review was done with the default setting for the voltage offset, which is 0.
I will go ahead and test the miner with every available voltage offset value.

I will let the miner run for at least one hour and then I look at the results.

Just like with the previous AvalonMiner generation, it is possible to choose a value from -2 to +1 for the voltage offset.
Instead of changing the hash board frequency setting, AvalonMiner performance can only be controlled by changing the voltage offset value.

Quote from: Canaan Creative
In the Controller Dashboard, what does the Voltage Offset option do?

We added a Voltage Offset option for users because each AvalonMiner is different with each other because of the inclusion of so many high performance chips. The AvalonMiners are very sensitive with voltage, so the “Voltage Offset” option is used for tweaking the AvalonMiner’s voltage. If the miner works well, we suggest to not change the voltage.
And, the lower voltage offset, the lower power. So if the miner works well with -2, it just means the miner has better health.
Source: https://canaan.io/question/in-the-controller-dashboard-what-does-the-voltage-offset-option-do/

This time I was able to see difference in performance and power consumption value, when testing each different voltage offset value.
Power consumption was moving in about 1200 - 1300W area, and the hash rate was in 11.2 - 11.4Th/s area.

Best power efficiency results were achieved with the voltage offset value -2.

Please notice that these power consumption results are measured power at wall,
so the power supply power efficiency also has an effect in the result.

Voltage offset value    Hash rate (Th/s)    Power consumption (W)    Power efficiency (J per Gh/s)    
-2  11.2311950.1064
-1  11.2112220.1090
0  11.3612490.1099
+1  11.3912950.1137


Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is -2. Click for a bigger version.

Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is -1. Click for a bigger version.


Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is 0. Click for a bigger version.


Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is +1. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is -2. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is -1. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is 0. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is +1. Click for a bigger version.

Note: This failed attempt in February 13, 2018 to test different voltage offset values was failed, because the A821 did not actually apply the voltage offset value setting set in the cgminer configuration page. After good discussions in this thread I realised that we need to add the voltage offset value manually as a cgminer command in the 'More Options' field to get it to work properly. Thanks to lrowland21093 & akadamson for pointing this out.  Smiley

Failed attempt, February 13, 2018 - Testing different voltage offset values and writing down miner performance results

The original review was done with the default setting for the voltage offset, which is 0.
I will go ahead and test the miner with every available voltage offset value.

I will let the miner run for at least one hour and then I look at the results.

Just like with the previous AvalonMiner generation, it is possible to choose a value from -2 to +1 for the voltage offset.
Instead of changing the hash board frequency setting, AvalonMiner performance can only be controlled by changing the voltage offset value.

Quote from: Canaan Creative
In the Controller Dashboard, what does the Voltage Offset option do?

We added a Voltage Offset option for users because each AvalonMiner is different with each other because of the inclusion of so many high performance chips. The AvalonMiners are very sensitive with voltage, so the “Voltage Offset” option is used for tweaking the AvalonMiner’s voltage. If the miner works well, we suggest to not change the voltage.
And, the lower voltage offset, the lower power. So if the miner works well with -2, it just means the miner has better health.
Source: https://canaan.io/question/in-the-controller-dashboard-what-does-the-voltage-offset-option-do/

I got kind of mixed results after I had tested the performance with each voltage offset value.
Changing the voltage offset value did not have such a huge effect on the AvalonMiner 821 power consumption or performance.

This is different from what we have seen with previous AvalonMiner generations.
With previous generations the highest voltage offset value has resulted the highest hash rate and highest power consumption.
And the lowest voltage offset value has resulted lowest hash rate and lowest power consumption.

Hash rate was little different with each voltage offset value, while the power consumption remained about the same all the time.
Best hashrate and efficiency results were achieved with voltage offset value -2.

Voltage offset value    Hash rate (Th/s)    Power consumption (W)    Power efficiency (J per Gh/s)    
-2  11.5012810.1114
-1  11.44 12780.1117
0  11.3712780.1124
+1  11.3812770.1122

Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is -2. Click for a bigger version.

Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is -1. Click for a bigger version.


Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is 0. Click for a bigger version.


Cgminer status page view and Cgminer configuration page view, when the voltage offset value is +1. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is -2. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is -1. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is 0. Click for a bigger version.


Power consumption measurement, when the voltage offset value is +1. Click for a bigger version.
legendary
Activity: 4326
Merit: 8914
'The right to privacy matters'
Nice review.

So you tested at 0 offset correct?

does this gear offer

+1
0
-1
-2

options as did the 721 and 741?


I am curious  to see if the -2 and or -1 offset  get us to .1 at the wall or even 0.098 at the wall

.11  at the wall is pretty much equal to or better then an s-9


Alas the price point is very high I may not order any.

35000 usd for 10 units  delivered in march  is far too much money for me.
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
@ Logan4el
I might look into it later.


I tried my best using my Microsoft Word skills and I made an nicely formatted version of this review/guide,
which is more pleasing to eyes and can be printed to paper easily if needed.

Link is available in the opening post.
Quote from: HagssFIN
Nicely formatted version (.pdf document) available for download here (Mega.nz cloud service):
https://mega.nz/#!BldBUbDS!FKIiC2S38XPVIibSpdadhBv0K_K8lJrCGO_3c_w3m-Y
full member
Activity: 158
Merit: 103
Might be interesting to see if it works with voltage offset +1 and what is the hashrate and power consumption.
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Thank you for review. Why your fan is running at 100% with such a low temperatures 27 / 75 ?
Thanks for the comment. It is just because of the way Canaan has programmed the fan control algorithm in the firmware.
full member
Activity: 158
Merit: 103
Thank you for review. Why your fan is running at 100% with such a low temperatures 27 / 75 ?
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