Bitmain Ships Ethereum Miner Equivalent To 25 RTX 3080 GPUs

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Too little, too late

Bitmain launched its long-awaited Antminer E9 system today. The firm claims that one Antminer E9 system has the crypto-computing power to match 25 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards. That is quite an achievement, which Bitmain measures in Ethereum mining performance terms. In brief, the Antminer E9 is capable of 2,400 MH/s of ETH mining performance, white eating up to 1,920W, and its efficiency is at 0.8 J/M.

Since it first teased the Antminer E9, the specs appear to have changed somewhat, with no real explanation from Bitmain. Last April, Bitmain teased that it was about to launch a specialized Ethereum miner capable of 3,000 MH/s, using 2,556W, with an efficiency of 0.85 J/M. At the time, it boasted that it could out-mine 32 GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards. Today, the finished shipping product is said to offer a mining performance equivalent to 25 GeForce RTX 3080. However, it seems to be a little more efficient. So Bitmain might have changed the Antminer E9 specs for pricing, efficiency, or another reason - but the company didn't provide any explanations.

Bitmain's Twitter account says that the Antminer E9 should be available today. We checked the site just a couple of hours after the touted hardware sales started, but it wasn't available. It may appear on the Bitmain retail site later; however, it isn't showing when the check box shows sold-out products.

(Image credit: Bitmain)

The Antminer E9 has been through a prolonged gestation period since its teaser regarding the Ethereum targeting system in April 2021. At the time, Bitmain said it would launch "very soon," but the company seemingly encountered problems releasing the ASIC miner. Bitmain didn't share the pricing for the Antminer E9, either. Cryptocurrencies aren't such an attractive investment as they were in the pre-war, pre-double-digit inflation, pre-recession spring of 2021.

As well as the crypto crash, which has paused chiefly since mid-June, there is another significant negative to the prospect of investing in a specialized ETH miner today. The oft-delayed 'Merge' where ETH mining ends, due to the transition to a Proof of Stake (PoS) model, is firmly penciled in for August this year. Sadly, there have been multiple setbacks, so that it could suffer another delay again.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    One more reason for ETH GPU-mining to not come back.

    I wonder how much of the extra delays were due to "in-house testing" :D
    Reply
  • ezst036
    Solutions such as this should prevent or tamp down rather quickly the next mining craze, or shortly after one begins quickly draw it down to a close.

    Another mining craze is sure to happen again in the future.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    InvalidError said:
    One more reason for ETH GPU-mining to not come back.

    I wonder how much of the extra delays were due to "in-house testing" :D
    Something we actually agree on. These will kill off Ethereum GPU mining for good the way they killed off Bitcoin mining years ago. As ezst036 said, that doesn't really mark the end of all GPU mining. Something else will take Ethereum's place when the economy turns around eventually.
    Reply
  • escksu
    InvalidError said:
    One more reason for ETH GPU-mining to not come back.

    I wonder how much of the extra delays were due to "in-house testing" :D

    OK, eth GPU mining may not come back but GPU mining will still come back. Just mining other coins.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    escksu said:
    OK, eth GPU mining may not come back but GPU mining will still come back. Just mining other coins.
    Maybe, maybe not. BTC is the benchmark against which all other crypto gets compared but is too slow and expensive to do everyday transactions on. PoW in general is too slow and power-hungry for high-volume transactions and ETH going PoS will make it the likely defacto coin for everyday stuff. There won't be anywhere as much of a need for alt-coins once that happens.
    Reply
  • escksu
    InvalidError said:
    Maybe, maybe not. BTC is the benchmark against which all other crypto gets compared but is too slow and expensive to do everyday transactions on. PoW in general is too slow and power-hungry for high-volume transactions and ETH going PoS will make it the likely defacto coin for everyday stuff. There won't be anywhere as much of a need for alt-coins once that happens.

    The main purpose of pow isn't exactly for transactions, it's to mine new coins. Right now, most of the computing power is for mining new eth rather than transactions.

    Even when eth goes pos, there will be other new coins to mine. And no, eth will not become defacto coin. Eth now is used mainly for ERC20 transfers. No doubt it's the main method of transfer. But there are other methods using ftm/binance network..

    Anyone outside eth doesn't need erc20. Cross chain transfers doesn't need erc20 too.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    escksu said:
    The main purpose of pow isn't exactly for transactions, it's to mine new coins.
    Why is PoW difficulty regulated to keep average minting time in the 10-20 minutes range? Because transactions on PoW block chains aren't final until they have been rolled into a new block. On PoW crypto, mining is an integral part of transaction processing. The block coin credit is intended to be your compensation lottery for contributing your resources to processing people's power-hungry transactions.

    You don't mine for coins, you mine to keep the network alive. The network gives you coins for keeping it alive as it would collapse into nothingness without people dumping 100+TWh/year into it for a chance at winning the compensation lottery.
    Reply