Review of the Hotmine X5 Upgrade Kit for Antminer S1/S3/S5

Check out this blog post on Steemit: https://steemit.com/review/@hagssfin/review-guide-hotmine-x5-upgrade-kit-for-antminer-s1-s3-s5 You can download a nicely formatted version from February 17, 2018, here: https://mega.nz/#!c0FhDK6Y!pTfZtThRodoOKWTxeF9R1yd3ee4J4f6We0uGF6nLcrY All rights to the images belong to Hotmine. So, I’m talking about the Hotmine X5 upgrade kit for Antminer S5, which includes two hash boards and a controller board. Hotmine is based in Kiev, Ukraine. Check them out: http://hotmine.io/ And their products page: http://hotmine.io/#products This kit features a 16nm ASIC chip developed by Bitfury, specifically the Bitfury BF16BTC8162. It might also go by the name Bitfury BF8162C16, which could be a different revision or just marketing talk. More info on Bitfury: http://bitfury.com/ You can also mix in parts from Antminer S1 or S3 like the frame, heat sinks, and fan, but make sure to get the Beaglebone Black or Antminer BB board separately as it’s needed for the controller board. Don’t forget you’ll also need some screws and other mechanical parts for the controller board. I’m working on figuring that out. I’ve got an Antminer S1 just sitting on my shelf, so I picked up the BB board from a user named Mammon here. As for the tech specs: The kit arrived pretty fast from Ukraine to Finland through Ukrposhta. I ended up paying 0.45 BTC for everything, shipping included (this was back on April 6, 2017). Here are some pics of the X5 upgrade kit parts alongside my Antminer S1 parts. You can click on the images to see them up close.

You can click these pictures invidually to show a high resolution version of the picture located in a Imgur.com picture album. April 07, 2017 update I did some assembling today though I'm still waiting for the BB board (for the controller) to arrive. I used some thermal paste I had left and installed heat sinks and frame parts. Applying thermal paste. (click to open a bigger picture) Hash board with heat sink installed. (click to open a bigger picture) Both hash boards, two cooling fans (in a push-pull configuration) and frame parts installed. (click to open a bigger picture) When installing a heat sink to the hash board, screws must be very carefully and evenly cross tightened. You don't want it to go "taco". April 10, 2017 update part 1 If you have a empty micro SD card you want to do following things after which you have a working Hotmine firmware: 1. Download ’Tools and Instructions to Image SD card’ and follow the instructions. Download link mirror #1 (Bitmain.com): https://shop.bitmain.com/support.htm?pid=007201604120945219855QObfk20066C Download link mirror #2 (Mega.nz cloud): https://mega.nz/#!4lVkUYDT!3D_hQKJC6ScoZtqK2NX8uttP3TIVV1lavIcWFUPC1cY 2. Unzip the X5 firmware tar.gz archive and copy files to the BtmBoot section of the SD card. X5 firmware (March 23, 2017): https://mega.nz/#!xtVmwJgS!RBtNcPpBahclSH0joGfiXGcXbIBSvbUwvrqrc41nR-w 3. Delete the old .dtb file and your BtmBoot section with files in there should then look like in this screenshot: Screenshot. (click to open a bigger picture) 4. Edit the uEnv.txt file with code shown highlighted in the previous screenshot image. 5. Put the micro SD card to the BB board and you are good to go.

April 10, 2017 update part 2 Today I received the BB board in today's mail, and it was time to move on with this build.   BB board attached to the controller board. (click to open a bigger picture) I made a support bracket for the controller by using parts that I was able to find in my everything-box  . It consists of two PC case PCI-slot covers, some screws and other stuff. Pictures will tell more about the details. Controller support bracket. (click to open a bigger picture) Controller board with the BB board installed on the miner and connected. (click to open a bigger picture) This is how the finished miner looks like  . (click to open a bigger picture) And here is the test setup. Test setup running. (click to open a bigger picture) After some testing I decided to change fans and these type fans are nice and quiet ones that I use now. Front fan.                                          Rear fan (found in a old Dell pc, connector modified for right pin order). (click to open a bigger picture)                     (click to open a bigger picture) Here are some performance results after one and half hour of mining with the quiet fans -setup. Miner status screenshot. (click to open a bigger picture) There is some difference in the temperature when comparing the two hash boards. It is most likely because I used to different kind of thermal pastes in different boards and there is some performance difference. So far I'm pretty happy with this miner and I've been wanting to do this kind of an upgrade for the good old S1 for a long time!   If you got any questions, feel free to drop them in this thread. I will try to give my best answer. How to order? You can make the order by contacting Hotmine using their contact form available at the website. See more details at the website. Hotmine: http://hotmine.io/ Hotmine contact form: http://hotmine.io/#contact

Sweet!   Will be nice to see how it goes. Almost makes me regret giving most of my s1's to sidehack for parts... Looking at the pics looks like there is no buck regulator and the string(s) are directly fed by the PSU. Effective but of course now the only way to control the chips Vcore is by adjusting the PSU itself (not that most intended users would/could). Only real downside is that if thin PCIe cables are used the chips just have to live with the reduced voltage out of them.

Nice, hardware porn

I have 2 S3s dusting in the shelves. Let see how this goes.

I'm wondering why don't they sell it to broad masses of S1/S3/S5 owners? I am trying not to buy several X6 upgrade kits - still no result (may be they will say something before the end of this week, if not - I buy Avalon741). And I have not yet heard that someone bought these upgrade kits...

Yeah, I've only seen two of these kits: yours (X6 kit) and mine   They do have a lot of potential customers. I bet there is a lot of people who still have old Antminers.

I sent an e-mail to them with exactly the same words! Looks like they just have no interest in such business...

Wonder if they'd do a group buy or a bulk buy to a reseller. Also I have a half-dozen or so S5 controllers if anyone does get their hands on one of these and wants a brain for it.

I'd definitely be interested in a group buy!!!

I'm still waiting for the BB board but I did something today, see the 2nd message in this thread.

I emailed twice for purchase but no reply. I'm in if they can deliver.

At least you could send them an email. I couldn't get their web form to work. Pressed the button and nothing happened. No error message. No confirmation. Nuthin. Seems like this has a lot of potential, but only if we can communicate with them, and if they are really making and selling the upgrade kits. Anyway, here's hoping they're really doing this. The more alternatives we have to Bitmain the better, especially with all the recent hullabaloo.

Hey everyone.  Wanted to let you know that I received a response from hotmine! They basically asked me: 1) How many & which kit do I want 2) My address HagssFIN I assume since you obviously have a kit, you can vouch that this is a stand-up company?

Anyone in the US who gets one of these for an S5, I'll buy the old hashboards off ya.

I'm in US.  Trying to get 3x kits, so may have 6 hashboards.  We shall see - PM me.

NY here I want one $480

Nice review. I have some S5s with dead Hash boards if you want them for kit work. Can send a big box.

Yes I can confirm that I had a smooth deal with Hotmine and mr. E. Turanov for this X5 kit. This is a good kit for those with needed DIY skills for the upgrade. As soon as I get the BB board and get this running I can have my final words on this. Thanks, but I'm not planning to do a business on this.