Topic: S5 Review--Purchased (Read 2954 times)

The S5 can be very managable if the fan is driven at 5V, and can still push 1.2TH at about 600W. The SP20 is about the same volume at ~10% fan speed and can drive about 1.25TH/600W in the same ambient settings. (I dont have a killawatt, but I know its not tripping my CS650M GOLD supplies (they trip at about 625W+ on 12V))

Ok, I got my SP20 units in and they were very quick to set up and get going.

PERSONAL OPINION:  Either machine is a decent machine!!!

If sound is your deciding factor, the S5 has a little higher pitch than the SP20.  My SP20 has a dull vibration sound from the other room.  Reminds me of a washing machine noise or far off grain dryer.

By the time I played around with settings on both units, the $/gh for sound tolerance was nearly identical.  The SP20 down clocked and the S5 over clocked.  I know I won't be able to take the SP20 home because that dull sound resonates and will cause the wife to go postal.  I'm going to try and sneak the S5 units home and see if she notices.

So after all is said and done, my choice will end up being which ever one I have enough power supplies for.  I think I'm going to order more of both!

That's my big question for today.  The fan puts me off also, but until I get an SP20 in hand today to test, I really have no competitor to compare it to.  I think you are getting what you pay for with the S5.  Since the fans were louder than anticipated, I just went ahead and bumped them up to 400M and they are rocking 1.3T with around .025% HW errors.  With my two units, it was a rocky start, but I really have no complaints.

They appear cheaper made than the SP20, simply because of the flimsy plastic and no top/bottom.  But you pay less for them also.  By the time you down clock the SP20 and over clock the S5, the S5 will end up being cheaper $/gh.

Quick question would you buy it again?

I got the one for free I like it. The loud fan put me off, but after playing around with it the correct fans would make this really nice.

It's an OCZ Gold 1000w.  Don't really know too much about it.  I received it with some miners last year. It was laying here at the office and figured it had more than enough power to run one of these.  Once I get the SP20s today, I'll be moving stuff around between, Corsiar CX500, HX850, TX850 and this one.

What is the brand & type of this PSU?

Have to agree. From memory, didn't Bitmain at one stage talk about covers on the s3, how it was beneficial for air flow over the non-covered s1?

If you have a fan->molex adapter try running the fan at 7V, or even 5V (if you have cold air and <375MHz). Right now the PWM controller is way out of whack for the home user. Keeping the heatsinks at 48-52C at nearly 100% speeds is really loud when 40% speed can keep everything around 55-60C. If it was possible to implement a software control to change the PWM mode or set a fixed fan speed like on the SP20 home use would be very possible with this unit and achieve ~1100GH/550W or better at reasonable volume

nope, this user fixed it with a reboot.

Be sure to see my update to OP.  Maybe the S5 is like a fungus and grows on you over time

Personally, I would much rather pay $15-20 more for a S5 with the same form factor and dual fans as the S3.

In my opinion, the S5 looks pretty cheap without a top cover on the case and the noisy fans are a deal breaker for me.

I was optimistic about the S5 before the reviews starting coming in so I'm a bit disappointed and will probably go with more SP20s.

IMHO, the only downside of the SP20 is the noise, so if Bitmain can solve that issue with the S5 they will probably have a winner on their hands.

About the noise level. I don't want hijack the thread but can we expect a watercooled miner with the new chip? A C2?

Sell the loud s-5 at x
Sell the quiet s-5 at x + 10-15 usd

there is a set of fans that would be 10 to 15 more then you pay now for the one fan.----- i do not know what the combo is  but I improved the s-5 so much with the 2 silverstones  at a retail cost of 34 bucks give buyers the option. if you do it you will be able to pull sp20E buyers to you.

if you don't many will say your gear is too loud.

your design allowed for good noise fix at a price

the sp20 allows for a free noise improvement.  the improvement does not equal the improvement I did to the s-5 for 54 usd.

find a better fan combo offer it as an option.

how about 2 s-3 fans?

Actually probably less production of equipment and a higher BTC price would solve a lot of the issues. (Since you did say wish)

Then the equipment would be worth the price and ROI.  The doesn't matter argument doesn't work, because we are still creating noise and heat pollution, which both cost money to deal with, which eats into ROI. Example, if I have to have more air conditioning in a server room to deal with the extra heat, then that's additional cost to consider in ROI.

As you stated, everything is moving so quickly.  Equipment needs to ROI (btc to btc) in less than 120 days because after that 2 more generations of equipment have already been released leaving the current stuff worth very little in the resale market.

Just an estimated number.  not any specific brands or anything.  Also, please consider acquiring some hardware at the very last minutes with quantity can surge the material price.  Should have said per unit...

Just gathering feedbacks for the future consideration.  Home Miner, warehouse miners, and Farm miners may have different needs and wants.  Trying to listen rather than here it is approach!  

Something is off with your estimate, are you telling me that you would pay the same as retail for a mass order of fans from a OEM order?  I'd guess a large order in the 1,000's like you would, would probably be closer to $4 each than $30-40 a pair.

what would be the ROI Expectation? 

Would you rather pay $15-$20 extra per fan or "doesn't matter the noise or heat but has to ROI" model?

Why does it even need these ultra loud fans?

Look at my SP20 thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.9931911

At 1130 GH/s, I'm able to cool it just fine with a nearly silent $10 Cooler Master fan.

Honestly, and this would probably go for the SP20 as well, I would like to see something along the lines of quieter fans.  Quiet enough the units could be sitting out in a 23c room and still not be stressed.  The current efficiency levels we are seeing are fine.  Not necessarily a lower price, but a price based upon typical user settings and not on highest possible hashrates at optimal output settings (SP-T) .

I probably have 4-5kw available at home for mining.  Currently I don't think I could take advantage of the units at stock due to noise and a wife.  I know the easy option, but it costs way more than the miners

Finally, the switch from shipping included to an additional charge really mucks up the calculations for true cost of ownership.  So far I am satisfied with my purchase of the S5 units.  After 2 hrs, they are right on spec and 0.0% & .0004% error rates.  Would I buy more?  I'll know tomorrow after the SP20 units arrive.

Thanks for listening.

S5 "office" edition vs S5 "commercial" edition?

Seriously, I am surprised that nobody had thought about giving us the quieter miner. As Phil had posted , you can get MUCH quieter at the same or even slightly higher hash. I would vote for the same price, but market will be larger.

two quieter fans for the same price with a bottom (at least) and top cover would be nice.

now you have seen the S5 naked

From the consumer point of view, what would you expect from S5 or wish for?

(Not including lower price...)

Would you rather pay $15-20 more on quieter fans (same hashing power but better fan or fans?

Yes they were.  And I've updated the original post to say a reboot seemed to have solved the issue.  Thanks for the concern.  Both units appear to be operating as expected, just not as quiet as hoped for and not a clear choice over the SP20 so far.

Would you please make sure all 4 PCI-E power cords are connected to the miner from 1 PSU?

So out of 3 5 reviews 2 were duds?

UPDATE:  After a few hours of mining, I couldn't resist playing. I decided to crank open a window and let some winter air in and up the settings to 400M.  After 13min, here's what I was looking at:

Here's where I'm at with the 400 setting after 13min. Temp has been holding steady, but unit is in a room with the window partially open and 24F outside. Don't want to push further today as I am getting ready to leave the office.


Elapsed   GH/S(5s)   GH/S(avg)   
13m52s
                1,490.62    1,368.15

Hardware errors are running about .025%  I don't have a watts meter to tell how much it's pulling, but I really am impressed with the idea it can go much higher than it being marketed as 1,155gh.  +1 to Bitman for the marketing and over delivering on hashing speed.  I can honestly say now that I am happy with the machine even though it is too loud.  More tomorrow when I check it against an SP20.


Original Post
Ok, this is my first review of the S5.

1. First Impression:  Lighter than other units when unpacking from box.  Good packaging.

2. DHCP worked without a hitch.

3.
Not real happy seeing only 6 chips on first row of each blade at start up.

Here's after 5 Minutes:


Even less happy.  Stopping now to set up my second unit.  I'll keep updating, but so far not thrilled.  This is a single rail 1000w psu.  I'm going to set the second unit up using two CX500 psus.

Second unit setup was just as simple, but with no hashing issues at stock.  It was noted though that both units show the first sequence of chips on both boards as being only 6 instead of the normal eight. After counting, these are 60 chip boards.

After 5 minutes with the second unit, it is averaging 1158gh/s with temps of 47 & 48.  Well within specs.  Now off to see if any work can fix the first unit. Be back soon.

A nice reboot seemed to fix the chip issues with the first S5 unit.  After 5 minutes, it seems to be right in line with the second unit.

So now after having both units up and running, I'll leave them at stock for a bit and report back as to what CKPool is showing for stats.  In the meantime, a couple more observations:

First, as others have pointed out, the sides are a flimsy plastic and there will be no stacking of these units.  Second, the noise level is somewhat disappointing.  You won't want to be in the same room as these.  And it goes without saying, these put out a lot of heat.

So overall, my first introduction to the S5 is average.  No real highs or lows.  If you want something to just plug in, set and forget, it appears to do a good job. My SP20 units arrive tomorrow, so I'll compare the two and be able to give an opinion as to which I prefer.  After some of the other reviews, I'd say that neither unit is really a true 'home' miner.