Antminer R4 is a type of silent bitcoin miner with high hashrate released by Bitmain. With Bitmain’s 16nm BM1387 bitcoin mining chip, it is produced by the TSMC with the 16nm FinFET technology. The power consumption is 0.098j/GHS and each R4 miner contains 126 BM1387 chips.
Unpacking Photos
Antminer R4 is packed in five-layer carton with complete logistics warehousing label, product barcode, QC label and brand logo. Open the box we can find the miner is protected and supported by EPE foams. The carton seems very spacious and the length, width and height are 61CM*21.5CM*34CM.
The miner is suspended and packaged in a bubble bag with one user manual (A4 size) inside.
The side of the miner looks like a brick.
On the top are the controllers and warning signs.
On the front side, the network cable interface of controller and power interface of two hashboard are on the left side while the cooling fan is on the right side.
The air duct of Antminer R4 adopts the design of left-right layout and the air is taken in from the right fan. The chassis where the fans are located is fully hollowed for good protection.
From the air outlet on the left, we can see two hashboards and heat sinks for the chip.
The rear and bottom of the miner
The controller adopts new customized chip to further improve performance.
The air duct and cooling fans of Antminer R4 conform to the brand-new design concept of the Antminer series. The air duct is changed from the traditional front-rear layout to the left-right layout, which greatly shortens the air passage (changing from the length distance to the width distance).
The new design concept is also embodied on the cooling fans, which are changed from the original 12cm ones to the cross-flow ones similar to that of the air-conditioner.
The physical parameters are shown as follows.
Installation and Setting-up
Before installation of Antminer R4, carefully check whether the heat sink has fallen. The installation and setting of Antminer R4 are not complicated. Please refer to the tutorial for details: Tutorial: Antminer R4 Bitcoin Miner 16nm Quiet Asic Miner
Performance Test
Antminer APW3-12-1600-B2 power supply (1600w GOLD) is adopted for the test. The indoor noise during this test is about 39dBa and the indoor temperature is about 28℃.
Run for more than one week at the default 600M frequency, the average hashrate is about 8.6-8.7T and the hashrate curve is stable without obvious fluctuations.
The tested power consumption is 973w.
Overclocking test, frequency is set at 650M
The tested hashrate is about 9.3-9.4T
The tested power consumption is 1057w.
In terms of temperature, the temperature tested on chassis surface is 32℃ by default.
Temperature at heat sink is 54℃.
Temperature at air inlet is 30.6℃
Temperature at air outlet is 38.1℃.
In terms of noise, Great Wall Dragon 1000W silent power supply is used for the test.
The miner automatically starts to detect the fan when being powered on. The fan runs at top speed then and the measured noise is about 59dB and the process lasts about 3 seconds.
In normal running, the tested noise is 53-54dBa about 20cm away from the miner.
The tested noise is 50dB about 1m away from the miner.
Summary
- Long-term running is stable with certain space for overclocking.
- Good noise control. The tested noise is only about 53-54dBa at indoor temperature of 28℃ and default frequency. If the indoor temperature is lower, the noise will also be lower correspondingly.
- The height is only 10cm, so it can be placed horizontally or vertically according to actual demands.
- In terms of chassis design, it’s too troublesome to change the fans.
- Use it as electric heater in winter?