Bitmain attempts to attract hobbyists to bitcoin mining
China-based Bitmain is set to "bring mining back home" with the release of bitcoin mining rig, the R4. Aimed squarely at enthusiasts, the R4 has been dubbed "the second most powerful bitcoin miner in the world" and features a new fan that its creators say is much quieter when mining. Prices are rumoured to be around $1,000.

Bitmain Technologies Limited, the Beijing-based owner of the Antminer series of bitcoin miners, Hashnest, Antpool and BTC.com, will launch what it calls the world’s most ...

Bitmain Technologies Limited, the Beijing-based owner of the Antminer series of bitcoin miners, Hashnest, Antpool and BTC.com, will launch what it calls the world’s most silent multi-terahash bitcoin miner and a silent 2600W PSU designed for high-performance bitcoin mining.

With these new products, Bitmain seeks to bring bitcoin mining back to homes and continue decentralizing the bitcoin mining network.

Most Power Efficient Chip

The Antminer R4 uses a 16nm BM1387 ASIC chip, which it considers the world’s most power-efficient chip for bitcoin mining. The chip can deliver a hashrate of 8.6TH/s with a power efficiency of 0.1J/GH at a noise level less than 50dB. The noise level is 52dB at an ambient temperature of 35°C.

Bitmain’s in-house engineered control board for the Antminer R4 employs the Xilinx’s ZYNQ-7000 family system-on-a-chip (SoC). The chip integrates a feature-rich dual-core ARM® CortexTM-A9 based processing system (PS) as well as a 28 nm Xilinx programmable logic (PL) in a single device. It supports Gigabit Ethernet to ensure mined blocks are submitted instantly.

Least Possible Sound

The Antminer R4 was designed to ensure the least possible sound with the maximum hashrate. It replaces the traditional miner fan with a rotary blade system that was inspired by the fan of a silent split air conditioner.

The fan’s speed is automatically controlled, so it does not produce more sound than necessary. The slim design allows the Antminer R4 to be conveniently placed on a home computer table or in a book rack.

The APW5 power supply is compatible with the 220V and the 110V mains power supply in North America. On full load, the APW5 has a power factor greater than 0.95.

With a 220V supply, it can deliver an output of 2600W. It comes with seven 6-pin PCI-e connectors. It can easily be fitted with 14 or 20 PCI-e connectors.

Recommended Power Supply

For home users seeking to utilize R4’s exceptional noise level with optimum performance, Bitmain recommends they use it with Bitmain’s APW5 power supply.

After accessing the Antminer’s user interface, all the user has to do is enter their wallet address and mining pool settings before they start mining. The user interface also allows one to customize settings such as the fan speed or the frequency. It can be upgraded to new Bitmain releases.

Images from Bitmain.