Goldshell X5 Litecoin miner is the latest blockchain high performance computing device launched by China Huzhou Yihong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., which supports the Scrypt algorithm. It was released for presale on the official website in May, 2018 at the price of 6,299 RMB.
According to the official website, Goldshell X5 is the most powerful Scrypt miner in current market with the hashrate of up to 850 MH/s. The released parameters are as follows:
We have made evaluation on Goldshell X5 as follows.
External Appearance
Goldshell X5 adopts the design of double fans in the front and rear.
Top view: The miner includes four hashrate boards, each contains two groups of power interfaces and is controlled by the control board through four connecting cables.
Air outlet in the rear of the miner. Same fan size with other miners including Antminer, 12cm x 12cm x 3.8cm.
Same internal structure with other miners, hashrate boards are fixed by guide rails.
Dimensional parameters are shown as follows (slightly different due to manual measurement).
We have following doubts when confirming the external appearance:
- No indications of control board functions. Compared with Antminer, the indications are very clear:
- Obvious rusts on metal casing (the rusts may be aggravated if being placed in mining farm). As shown below: insert EVA pads between the hashrate boards and the casing to avoid displacement of hashrate boards.
- Main control board is only fixed by guide rails. When installing the PCBA, it is recommended to insert EVA pads on the bottom for enforcement.
Actual Operational Test
Power supply for test is provided by manufacturer, the mode is: Goldshell G1100-1800W.
Miner connection and configuration
- Connect power cord of hashrate board and control board
- Connect network cable and power cord
- Power on
- Scan out the IP address of the miner: https://www.eastshoremining.com/how-to-scan-out-the-configuration-ip-address-of-the-miner/
- Open google chrome browser and enter the miner IP, for example: 192.168.1.151
- Unlock machine and add pool information.
- Wait for successful pool connection, click Home on the left bar to view the mining status.
Miner information of Goldshell X5:
Data of The First Test
- Test computer: (Lenovo X230 laptop)
- Ambient temperature: 26℃
- Test site: 30㎡ office, single miner
After the miner is powered on with settings, check the miner’s mining data.
Online for 10 minutes (overall power: 1478W):
Online for 20 minutes (overall power: 1525W):
Online for 30 minutes:
Online for 1 hour:
The mining data was normal when the machine was online for 1 hour 46 minutes. It’s scheduled to collect data again after being online for 2 hours, however, no information was found on the mining data page:
Without changes of IP address and abnormal computer operation, such a problem occurred in three consecutive tests on the machine. During test, the noise at the air intake was about 87dB (20cm away from the fan) and the temperature at the air outlet was 42.2℃.
Data of The Fourth Test (test computer and router replaced)
- Test computer: HP ProBook4441s
- Router: TP-LINK TL-WVR1200G Enterprise
- Ambient temperature: 20℃
Start test after power-on, at power-on moment:
Online for 30 minutes:
Online for 1 hour:
Online for 1 hour and 30 minutes:
Online for 2 hours:
Online for 3 hours:
Without any operation on miner and computer, problem occurred again after being online for 3 hours and 8 minutes:
Enter IP address in the browser again to access to the miner status page:
Keep the miner working for 5 hours to collect data:
Mining information: HW error: 2.4%; Avg: 777.3MH/s
Overall power: 1525W
Noise: 88dB
Temperature at air outlet: 42℃
Abnormal data during test:
Big hashrate fluctuation (407MH/s):
and shown as follows:
Too many HW errors at a certain time:
Big difference of 4 hashrate boards under the same working condition:
External Appearance of Hardware
Hashrate Board (TOP side)
Problems:
- It’s recommended to rotate the direction of the heat sink of DC-DC chip on the hashrate board to be in consistent with the air channel of the machine.
- DC-DC loop is designed as the combination of SMD and DIP, however, the actual PCB LAYOUT package design is wrong. When DIP is adopted for capacitor package, it’s necessary to conduct insulation.
Miner Fan
Problem:
- No parameter tag on the front and back, it’s hard to confirm parameters and purchase materials for after-sales maintenance.
Summary
- The miner is only tested in air-conditioning environment of the office now. The actual working conditions of mining farm are even worse, so the miner status needs to be further tested.
- Compared with other Litecoin miners (Antminer L3 + noise about 83dB), the miner noise seems to be slightly higher.
- When the miner is moved, the shaking sound of hashrate boards can be heard. It’s recommended to insert EVA pads between the hashrate boards and the casing to absorb the vibration, then conduct the vibration drop test to confirm the firmness of the heat sink of hashrate board chip.