The Antminer S9 , the most powerful and efficient miner to date was introduced not so long ago due to the fact that it gets really more challenging to make a profit as a Bitcoin miner because of the increasing difficulty to mine Bitcoins.
Thus, it created the impression that only this Bitcoin miner is still currently producing a positive ROI in today’s environment. There are a lot of positive feedbacks about this product but there are still others who have doubts. A summary of all the pros and cons are listed into one simple review.
These are things you need to know before you go all out with Antminer S9:
Excluding the electricity cost, mining pool feels or hardware expenses, the Antminer S9 can generate around 0.5 Bitcoins every month because it has a hash rate of 12.93TH/s -+ 7% (not really 14 TH/s as advertised sometimes).
Three different Bitcoin mining calculators were used to calculate and all showed the same results. You will have pure revenue of $330 every month which is equivalent to 0.5 BTC at the current exchange rate.
A least amount of energy only is being expended compared to all other miners out there, therefore making it the most efficient miner as well. Adding the electricity cost otherwise will produce around 0.33 BTC which is a little lesser.
The cost of the Antminer S9 differs depending on which store you buy. Cheapest among others at $2000, you can already have it at from eBay. A little bit pricey from Bitmain’s site which you can buy at $2400.
The highest price is offered on Amazon for as little as $2700. So I guess now you know which store you will start to look.
This miner has superior mining abilities thus making it the priciest miner on the market nowadays. Taking to account only an average cost of electricity equal to $0.1/KW, you can already equalize your investment if you mine for about 10 months – which is considered a really long time in the Bitcoin universe.
A lot can change in this circumstance though; mining difficulty can rise, exchange rate will fluctuate, hence making it hard to anticipate how long it will take to even just recover your expenses in this investment.
Take note that you still need to use hence needing to buy a PSU (power supply unit) amounting to $150 since it can’t just be plugged in any wall. APW3-12-1600-B2 is recommended by Antminer’s manufacturer which is the Bitmain, which can be found not only on their website but also in Amazon or eBay , of course with varying prices.
A video showing how to setup the miner with PSU:
Using a PSU from an old Bitcoin miner will already suffice, for example the EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 Watt GPU PSU should also work with this miner. But it is best to buy the APW3-12-1600-B2 in situations where you don’t own any PSU yet, adding it to your initial investment cost and since the price is not much more than any other old PSU available.
It would be wise to purchase the Antminer S7 (older model) instead that has about 33% of the hashing power of the S9 (at 4.73 TH/s), if you buy three second-hand ones for a lesser price rather than getting the new Antminer S9.
The older model will be at a discounted price due to lower demand compared to the new model which most people will rush to buy. A testimony from one experienced miner about the Antminer S9 is here:
My overall rating is a 3.5 since these don’t deserve a 4. These are great miners that can replace about 3 s7s. However, the miner gets way too hot over the s7s. I can easily run my 5 s7s in my garage in florida at 55% (which I have to because any higher and they make a loud whinny noise) while these are kept at 100% and still get too hot.
I can easily keep these at 100% with no whinny noise issue and are more quiet than the s7. If you do want to use the s9s then they will have to be in a much better controlled environment (which I will have to come up with) if you want to keep these lasting longer.
The Antminer S7 is less power efficient than the S9 though, so if you consider this option, be sure to calculate again its ability to make profit. Here’s a complete comparison of the Bitcoin mining hardware available.
Never forget to check the specifications of the exact miner first before buying since Bitcoin miners are delivered in batches by Bitmain. It is safe to think that every batch aren’t created equal hence having different hash rates therefore making it highly possible that you’ll buy an Antminer s9 that has a hash rate of only 11.85 TH/s and not 12.93 TH/s.
For an instance in Bitmain, the current batch of Antminer S9s available is only 11.85 TH/s; the more powerful models are sold out. But, on eBay, there are still people selling the older more powerful model.
Take note that the 11.85 TH/s models are also cheaper compared to their bigger brother so it’s not much of an issue since the price of the miner is relative to its hash rate.
The most important point is to check the EXACT specifications of the miner you’ve decided to buy which is really vital to calculate the exact ROI and when you will break even.
A 90-day warranty is given to the customers for miners bought in Bitmain but with limitations. Warranty can’t be availed for instances where the miner was overclocked(running it at a higher speed than it was designed to run), as well as using an inappropriate power supply or causing an environmental damage to it (e.g. lightning strike, corrosion due to wet environment).
Some eBay sellers however will give you a warranty so make sure to read the details on each listing careful.