Best Bitcoin Miner: Antminer S5 Review (Part 2)

In the first part of this review, we introduced the appearance, usage, technical details, mining performance of Antminer S5 at the default frequency of 350M, temperature and noise at default settings, etc. Next, in the (middle) part, we will test the overclocking performance of the Antminer S5. In the (previous) part, I mentioned that when the default frequency is 350M, there are only 14 HW hardware errors after running for 24 hours, and the HD error rate is only 0.0001%. At that time, I predicted that the Antminer S5 should have good overclocking capabilities, and the test results also confirmed my guess, so please read on!

Like the Antminer S3+, Antminer directly provides frequency selection options in the control interface tab. There is no need to modify the configuration file like Antminer S1 and S3, which is much more convenient. Moreover, this time Bitmain has provided up to 57 frequency options for the first time, giving everyone ample overclocking/underclocking space. When I opened the drop-down box, I was shocked and thought I opened it in the wrong way!


As you can see from the above picture, above the default 350M frequency, basically every 6.25M level, up to 400M frequency, providing us with at least 9 options. We have heard that Antminer S5 has good overclocking ability before, so we will not hesitate and directly test it at 375M! After an hour, we got the following results, which are very gratifying!

As can be seen from the figure, at 375M frequency, the test time is one hour, the average computing power is 1222G, the DH error rate is only 0.0007%, and the temperature is only 40-46 degrees (39-45 degrees when not overclocked, only 1 degree higher). What is the power consumption at this time? It is only 611.40W, and the power consumption computing power ratio is 0.5001, which is very close to 0.4946 when not overclocked, which can basically be regarded as a reasonable error.

The first battle was a success, so let's challenge the 400M frequency directly! After the same test for 1 hour, we got the following results. Damn, it's almost close to 1.3T, the actual measured value is 1293.78G, DH 0.0308% (this is the order of magnitude of Antminer S3+ when not overclocked), and the temperature is 42-48 degrees, which is only 3 degrees higher than not overclocked.

When overclocking to 400M frequency, the power consumption is 650.36 W, and the power consumption to computing power ratio is 0.5027, which remains at the same level without change. From this, we can basically conclude that, unlike previous mining machines, the Antminer S5 will not significantly increase the power consumption to computing power ratio due to overclocking as long as it is overclocked (detailed table comparison is provided later). This is really good news for our miners, which means that as long as your power supply is strong and the S5 is in good condition, you can basically use it as a 1.3 T machine by spending 1.15 T.

Next, let's try higher frequency and adjust it to 412.5M. After running for 10 minutes, the computing power has been hovering around 1.26T, which is lower than the frequency of 400M, and DH has increased to more than 1%. The power consumption at this time is 670.99W, and the power consumption computing power ratio has risen to 0.5317. It can be seen that due to the increase in error rate, power consumption has increased, but the computing power has not increased. Therefore, we did not continue to test for a full hour, and it felt unnecessary.


Since it doesn't work going higher, let's test a few frequencies between 375M - 400M. The results are as follows. Just look at the pictures. I won't explain them.

First, 381.25M, tested for 1 hour (same below), the results are as follows


Next is 387.5M, the results are as follows


Next is 393.75M, the results are as follows


Are you a little dizzy after seeing so many overclocking test results? Don't worry, I have made a comparison table for you, and also tested the performance of downclocking. Look at the picture. The green one is the default frequency of 350M, and the yellow one is the overclocked frequency of 375M - 400M. Since the power consumption/computing power ratio is close to 0.5W/G, there is not much difference. You can choose the corresponding frequency for overclocking according to the physical condition of your S5 and the power supply.


Well, the overclocking part is over for now. In the next update, we will talk about fan modification to make your Antminer S5 quieter.