Compass Mining recently uploaded a blog post entitled “Bitmain Changed Its ASIC Design. Miners Need to Be Ready,” in which the company speaks about the changes that have been made to the design of Bitmain’s ASIC miner.
Compass feels that all who operate mining facilities should be informed of these changes, which may lead to problems. As an example, the company discovered three issues with the Antminer S19 rig, generating 90 terahash per second, and the S19 XP model, which delivers 140 terahash per second.
Compass Mining points out that the newest ASIC miners are lacking a peripheral interface controller, which makes it more difficult to control specific hashboards in comparison to those with a controller.
The new rigs have aluminum-plated sides, a fact that Compass is convinced will cause overheating issues. In addition, the firm is reporting a “consolidation of all components onto one side of the board, causing an increased chance of hashboard errors.”
Compass points out that with no peripheral interface controller, devices won’t be able to underhash on “one or two boards.” Furthermore, hashboards produced with aluminum plates may be prone to fail with greater frequency in hotter climates than those constructed with printed circuit boards.
Compass Mining went on to state that it feels that non-Bitmain repair shops might encounter difficulties when trying to replace damaged chips. Compass’s operations team observed these issues over the past six months and stated that they “significantly affect a unit’s performance.”
The firm noted that third-party firmware could be used to address the peripheral interface controller issue, enabling a mining rig to operate on one or two hashboards. Firmware could also reduce certain variables to help the rig run cooler. The blog post recommends choosing the best possible environmental setting as a second solution. With regard to the aluminum plating, the firm believes it to be detrimental, saying:
“We view the design decision to swap to aluminum plating on hashboards as a net negative–one that will increase ASIC failure and underhashing while increasing service and maintenance costs. Paired with the lack of a PIC and increased difficulty of swapping out bad chips, we encourage miners to double down on their repair game as they onboard next-generation units into their fleets.”