Bitmain, the professional miner manufacturer, officially introduced Antminer A3 In January, 2018, which is a new ASIC miner based on single encryption algorithm after Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dash miner series. Since the Antminer A3 is suitable for the currency based on Blake2b algorithm, the miner fans rushed to purchase once it started to be sold on market. What’s the actual performance of Antminer A3? Let’s have a look!
Basic Parameters
| Brand | Antminer A3 |
| Hashrate | 815 GH/s (+/-5%) @ BLAKE2b |
| Power consumption | 1275w |
| Chip | BM1720 |
| Size | 321mm* 125mm* 208mm |
Unpacking Photos
Like other Antminer series, Antminer A3 is packed in five-layer industrial carton with complete logistics warehousing label, product barcode and QC label. Open the box we can find the miner is protected by EPE foams to prevent accidents during transportation.
External Appearance and Quality
Antminer A3 adopts the design of dual-fan in the front and back with three hashboards and integrated casing. The precision die-casting design and aluminum alloy material provide strong protection for the chip as well as overall heat dissipation performance.
Seen from above, we can see three hashboards, each has three PCI-E 6pin interfaces and three data cables connecting to the controller. In addition, the interface on the control board can also be seen.
On the front side, we can see the IP button, network cable socket, reset button, status indicators (Antminer A3 logo and QC label). The front fan can also be seen here for air inlet.
On the back of the miner, we can see the rear fan for air outlet.
Setting-up and Test
The test uses Antminer APW3++ power supply, which is available on EastShore. The Antpool is used as the mining pool and the installation as well as setting-up are the same as other Antminer series, please refer to our tutorial Tutorial: Antminer A3 BLAKE2b ASIC Miner for Siacoin Mining for details.
Noise and Heat
In the PPS mode of Antpool, it was tested in a 30m2 conference room with 15℃ indoor temperature. The test on heat and noise was conducted after 24 hours of operation.
The measured noise about 10cm away from the miner is about 74dB, but about 1 meter away the noise dropped to 65dB. In general, the noise of Antminer A3 is quite low, we can see that the noise reduction performance of Antminer has been greatly improved.
After 24 hours of operation, we can see the temperature of A3 hashboard is about 55℃ and the chip temperature is 80℃ on the mining status page, which are within the normal range. The rotating speed of the front and rear fans is around 4,000rpm, which is also within the normal range.
Hashrate and Power Consumption
Hashrate Curve of Antminer A3
Power Consumption of Antminer A3
The rated hashrate of Antminer A3 is 815G. According to the 24-hour test, the actual hashrate is about 824GH/s, which is 1.1% higher than the nominal value. The rated power consumption is 1275W, the actual tested value is 1316W, which is also a little higher than the nominal value. Based on the actual tested values, the power consumption for hashrate per GH is 1.61W/G.
Summary
The overall performance of Antminer A3 is quite satisfactory and the unit power consumption is as low as 1.61W/G. In long hours of operation, the hashrate remains stable with very low noise, which almost cannot be heard if the door is closed.
| Brand | Antminer A3 |
| Tested Hashrate | 824 GH/s |
| Tested Power Consumption | 1316w |
| W/GH | 1.61W/G |
Antminer A3 carries on the good quality of Bitmain products with stable operation. Once being powered on, it can start mining continuously. The installation is also very convenient for even the green hands. In addition, the decentralized cloud storage also has a huge market value in the future. As the leader of decentralized cloud storage blockchain project, SIA enjoys huge room for growth in the future. It’s a very wise choice to buy one Antminer A3 for Siacoin mining and storage!