Underclocking is the new Overclocking!
Hi.
The ASIC.TO Firmware is finally ready to Autotune..
I have had an advanced copy of it running on this 104TH S19J Pro for a few days now
and I have some numbers I would like to share.
I used to try to see how hard and fast I could make these machines run - but that was in
another life when mining bitcoins at home afforded first class flights, steak dinners,
and tailored shirts.
Now Im wearing the same thing I wore to the gym - and driving a used Fiat500 because of
its high fuel efficiency..
SPEEEEAKING of efficiency.
The underclock.
Bitmain released their own under clock a month ago, allowing you to run your machines on
less power and at a lower terahash speed, resulting in more terahashes per watt.
I think it landed down around 23 watts per terahash..
Thats amazing!
But what if you wanted to push that even further?
With this new version of the ASIC.TO firmware, you can choose just how low you want
to go - and once you’ve made that choice, the firmware will get to work optimizing your
particular board for that speed/power combo.
The reason auto tuning is a thing and the reason why its necessary with these particular
machines comes down to a term people use called “The Silicone Lottery.”
Basically, to simplify - when a company stamps out computer chips on to a huge wafer - MICROSCOPIC
inconsistencies in the materials will be present.
Were talking like down to the atomic scale.
an extra micron or two of wafer material will mean the difference between a chip that can
pump out 500mhz at 12.4 volts before causing errors or one that can squeeze it up to 525mhz
at the same 12.4 volts.
(im pulling all of those numbers out of the air and Im probably off by some order of magnitude,
but thats the jist of how this works)
And since an S19j pro is comprised of HUNDREDS of these chips - those tiny differences in
the possible performance of your particular machine is kind of down to chance.
Each chip will have an EVER so slightly different ability to run a certain way.
When youre using stock firmware, they play it safe - and just keep all the voltage settings
for the whole board the same and within a “safe” range for all chips so that your
machine definitely wont be spitting out errors or overheating with the stock fans or sucking
up more power than advertised.
But we dont care about safety.. we’re hacking the system..
We’re looking under the hood and seeing how we can force air into the engine to get
more horses out of the same cylinder boar.
-. Shit, these machines only cost as much as a nice sound system now, rather than a
reasonable used car like before - so lets find out what they can do!
This same principal, and this same firmware works to OVERclock a machine as it does to
under clock it..
It will carefully dial up one chip set at a time until it starts
to fail, and push the ones with a stronger genetic ability to work harder.
Like airborne school!
Also - once you’ve chosen a preset to have your machine run at, and then you’ve run
the autotune - which takes anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to do its thing, the firmware will
remember what its learned, so if you switch from one setting to another, it wont have
to re-auto-tune each tune, each time.
(this is the first time Ive ever spoken the phrase reautotune on the internet).
So lets install this thing and run it, and see what happens.
Oh and also, the secret hacker guy who I routinely grant access to control my computer in the
middle of the night while going through the research for this process, dont try that at
home, says that with larger customers - they DO have a way to install this onto AM Logic
boards - and to prove that, he installed it onto my AM Logic board - and more than likely
stole access to my HBO max account to watch The Last of Us.
This year, I am most interested in the UNDERclock.
The reason for this is efficiency leads to profit.
Its true, you get less terahashes when you run your machine under clocked, but with cheap
hardware - you can run more machines, more efficiently, and end up with more bitcoins
for less US Dollars, per dollar, per month.
Fact check me.
So first Im trying out the just a little lower than stock option of 96 tera hash.
My warehouse power is currently at 203 volts, its three phase power, the weird american
power..
And Its pulling…
12.1 amps.. thats 2456 watts for 95 TH, which is 25.85 watts per tera hash..
Better than stock, but we can do better than that; Im putting it on the 76 TH setting..
This machine is now running at 76 Terahash, and pulling 8.6 amps off the line.
, which means were using ABOUT 1745 watts to get these 76Terahashes.
Because of the cool weather, this fan is running super low and only pulling 40 watts, what
a joy, so the calculation works out to 1785 watts divided by 76 terahash for 23.4 watts
per terahash!
Running the numbers for the stock S19J Pro 3068 watts for 104TH puts your machine at
29.5 watts per terahash..
6.1 watts more for each terahash..
Every 100TH is 610 EXTRA watts for the same bitcoins. 610 watts is enough to run THREE
overclocked 3080GPUS!!
So you could fund the power loss on your GPU speculation for free, just by installing firmware!
This number is significant because that is about the same efficiency that the newer 140xp
runs at.
Which MEANS, and stay with me here - for every two s19j pros you own - you can install this
and they become one s19 xp!
You might think, well why would I want to exchange 200TH for 140TH - because youre mining
at home, and you LOSE dollars on your 200TH, and pretty much break even on your 140TH..
Not to mention, running these machines at a lighter load, and these fans at a slower
speed, will result in a MUCH longer life.
In reality, all bitcoin mining, now, is a race towards efficiency.
If you only cared about raw BTC numbers, then get your hands on a hundred S9’s and overclock
them as high as they’ll go - you’ll just pay so much more in electricity that you’ll
be better off just buying coins unless the price of bitcoin hits that 100k mark.
Running the S19j Pro at S19XP efficiency is significant.
Especially since were in winter now and you can actually use the heat at home.
That double duty saves you money, which in turn, a guy could argue, makes you money!
And you can guess what this means for S19XP machines if you happen to have your hands
on some of those..
I dont, but my internet buddy and large immersion cooling miner, Taylor, does.
I asked him to run an XP underclocked to see what the efficiency would be on it and he
managed to shove that machine down to 19 watts per terahash..
Personally I thought it would go lower since that thing on stock is literally 40% more
efficient, so Im guessing future updates to this firmware will allow better performance
out of those more expensive machines…
MARK.
But for now, for the s19j pros, this makes a ton of sense.
It makes mining at home profitable all the way up to a power price of 13 and a half cents
per kilowatt!
Looking at you, Arizona.
To get this overclock, I have links in the description of where to find it - and if you’ve
never installed this particular firmware before, make sure to follow the instructions on this
video here, because you have to flash an SD card rather than simply copy files onto an
SD card.
ALSO, for reasons I still dont understand, when you install a firmware onto an S19 with
a microSD card - you will need a SMALL capacity card.
I have a link to an 8GB microsd down below, theyre only like 8 bucks.
If and when the price of Bitcoin goes back up - we can start to talk about the benefits
of burning your S19 candle at both ends, but in reality, and ESPECIALLY while hardware
prices are extremely low, (if you want to buy bitcoin miners, I have a safe place, link
in the description and pinned comment, Musk Miners, tell them I sent you) it makes the
most sense to buy lots of machines now, run them on the lowest speed, lowest power setting
possible, and profit.
Or does it make more sense to burn money, overclock everything, and gather as many BTCs
as possible before the halving?
Math is hard.
You know what, you should take yourself out to a really nice, like hardy lunch today..
Go get that five guys - you can totally make up for it later by snacking less or going
for a long walk with your wife or friends or dog or alone.
Dont forget, ANDY says bitcoin will be 6 figures in 2025, and as far as I know, hes never lied
to any of us…
HELLOO ANNNNNNNNNNDYYYYY