Cryptocurrency miner manufacturers are under pressure to develop higher-performing and efficient Bitcoin mining rigs before the halving in May 2020. With this in mind recently, China-based manufacturing giants Canaan Creative and Bitmain Technologies announced new ASIC mining rigs to an eager market that will process roughly 58-73 terahash per second (TH/s). By introducing these more efficient mining rigs, Bitcoin mining will become more difficult and less profitable for individual miners operating older units.
Bitmain’s new Antminers
At the World Digital Mining Summit (WDMS), Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu announced the S17+ and T17+ mining machines. The company declares that the new ASICs feature improvements to energy efficiency and hash rate. The new ASICs have some of the best-advertised performance specifications.
The Antminer S17+ hash rate is 73 TH/s and operates with a power efficiency of 40 J/TH + 10%. The T17+ has a hash rate of 64 TH/s and power efficiency of 50 J/TH + 10%.
The statement highlights the dual tube heat dissipation technology featured in the new machines. Bitmain claims that “the space between the air inlet to the air outlet has been reduced by 50%” to improve both heat dissipation and fan noise. The S17+ costs around $2,833, and the company says units will ship the first week of December. The T17+ lower end model pre-order prices are $1,802 per unit and are expected to ship also in early December.
In September, Bitmain also released the Antminer S17e (64 TH/s, 45 J/TH) and T17e (53 TH/s, 55 J/TH).
Canaan’s new Avalon Miners
At Poolin’s recent mining summit in Chengdu, China, Canaan Creative previewed two new Avalon Miner models, the A1146 and the A1166 series. Unlike Bitmain’s new Antminers, Avalon Miner A1146 and A1166 are not yet available for purchase by the public on the company’s website. According to Canaan Sales Director Chen Feng, the A11 models are currently only available to some big buyers for fear of a delivery delay.
Pleasant noise😄 from super miner mechine A1166! #Avalonminer11 #A11 #A1166 #BTC #bitcoinmining #blockchain pic.twitter.com/GaLMQgW3k6
— Canaan Inc. (@canaanio) October 13, 2019
Canaan has not yet revealed prices. The Avalon Miner A1146 and A1166 will use chips based on an advanced production process.
The Avalon Miner A1146 series processes at 58-61TH/s with an energy efficiency of about 56 Watts per TH. The total power absorbed by this model should be almost 3300 Watts per hour. The Avalon Miner A1166 series processes at 70 TH/s with the same consumption, reaching an efficiency of 47 watts per terahash.
Canaan also recently launched its 1066 models, which claim to process 50TH/s and pull 3,250 watts from the wall. The pre-ordered 1066 models will ship in November, according to the website, and cost $1,390 per unit.
Older miners profitability dropping
Advancements made in mining, increase the complexity of mining the goal of this being to ensure that the block’s discovery rate remains constant. The never-ending cycle of computational power advancement, followed by the increased complexity of calculation required for Bitcoin mining, forces miners, unable to move the more advanced hardware out of the picture.
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