MicroBT WhatsMiner M3X 12.0 Th/s 2100W Bitcoin SHA-256 ASIC Miner User Manual
- June 6, 2024
- MicroBT
Table of Contents
(Review/Guide) WhatsMiner M3X 12.0 Th/s, 2100W Bitcoin (SHA-256) ASIC miner
Author: Matti Hakola Bitcointalk.org username: HagssFIN
Date: April 15, 2018. The most up-to-date version of this review/guide is
available at Bitcointalk.org forum:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3322593 Figure 1 WhatsMiner M3X.
Picture copyright (c) WhatsMiner.
General information, other items needed
WhatsMiner M3X is a Bitcoin (SHA-256), ASIC miner, using 28nm ASIC chip
technology, manufactured by WhatsMiner (headquarters in Shenzhen, China).
Their official overseas distribution arm is called Team Pangolinminer. This
unit was received as a sample unit from Team Pangolinminer for this review.
(www.pangolinminer.com))
WhatsMiner M3X is a standalone miner with a built-in controller board and you
don’t need a separate controller unit to run it.
What is new in this minor compared to the previous model (M3), is that this
one comes with a 2100W built-in power supply unit.
The power supply unit is called WhatsPower P5.
You need 180-240 V mains voltage to be able to run it, it won’t work in a
110-120V mains voltage system.
This built-in power supply unit design kind of reminds me of the AvalonMiner
761 model, which was sold in mainland China and South Korea only.
The technology is pretty much the same as in the WhatsMiner M3, but there is a
small improvement in the miner performance.
According to the official technical specifications, the nominal hash rate is
from 12.0 to 13.0 Th/s with a nominal power consumption of 1800-2100 Watts.
It weighs 7.15 kg and outer dimensions are 440mm x 200mm x 300mm. Figure 2
Technical specifications.
Other items needed:
- C13 power cord suitable to your country’s electrical socket. Make sure that it is a good quality one and able to handle the over 2kW load
- Ethernet cable to go from the controller to your router/switch.
- Computer to set initial pool and configuration settings.
Unpacking
Team Pangolinminer handles their order system fast and smoothly and keeps you
updated about your order status.
This miner was sent from Hong Kong in April 9 and it arrived in Finland on
April 12.
It took only three working days, so we can see that using DHL or other fast
courier service is a great idea for long-distance shipping.
The packaging was simply great and robust. There is a custom carved styrofoam
that protects the miner inside a plastic bag from impact. There is no extra
space inside the cardboard box which is good because you don’t want the goods
to move inside the box during shipping.
This packaging design is good, as it makes very little room for possible
damages during the shipping.
Inside the cardboard box, you can find the miner with the built-in power
supply unit and also a C13 to Type I power cord (3×1.5mm2 wiring, good amp
rating).
They say that pictures say more than 1000 words, so here we go:
Overview
Here is a nice set of pictures showing the miner and the built-in power supply
unit. You can click these pictures individually to show a high-resolution
version of the picture located in an Imgur.com picture album.
Here is also an additional set of pictures taken by the Team Pangolinminer.
Installation
The installation process is done in the most simple way as possible.
Since there is now a built-in power supply unit, you don’t have to install the
power supply yourself.
You need to connect the Ethernet cable to your miner and the other end to the
router or switch device.
And then you need a good quality C13 power cord which fits into your
electrical power socket. Please make sure that it is able to handle the over
2kW power load ’24/7/365′.
The miner network settings is to the DHCP mode as default and it will acquire
an IP address automatically. You can find out the IP address fairly easy by
accessing your router configuration page IP address list or by using a
specific tool program for it.
Team Pangolinminer also offers an official IP found a program called
“WhatsMinerTool” at their website. This way you can use the miner’s IP found
function and figure out the miner IP address.
WhatsMinerTool User Guide & Software: https://drive.google.com/open?id
=1XthbZPFc0S-FvMi9MqpLOJlUaFAc4auW
Knowing the miner IP address makes the next Configuration chapter possible.
If you want, you can also follow these tutorial videos for more help.
WhatsMiner M3X introduction video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86govBilEA0
WhatsMiner M3 tutorial video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Cj3QckFnI
You can also find support documentation and other downloadable material at the
Team Pangolinminer website.
Whatsminer M3 User Guides & Solutions https://pangolinminer.zendesk.com/hc
/en-us/articles/360001263394-Whatsminer-M3-User-GuidesSolutions
Configuration
First, you need to go to the miner IP address with your web browser. Then you
log in to the configuration page. The username is root and the password is
root by default. You can click these pictures individually to show a high-
resolution version of the picture located in an Imgur.com
picture album.
If your miner default language is set to Chinese, you can easily change it to
English.
Now it is time to set up mining pool settings.
Go through menus and find the Cgminer configuration page.
Click the drop-down list and you are able to set up a custom pool address of
your choice.
You can set this miner to mine any SHA-256d algorithm-based cryptocurrency in
any mining pool of your choice.
Page 10 / 15 You can put settings for the pool address, username, and password
for three different pools in priority order from 1 to 3.
Miner hash board frequency and cooling fan settings are automatic, there is no
possibility to have custom settings.
After you have ready with the settings, press ‘Save & Apply’.
Then go through menus and click ‘Reboot’ to reboot the miner.
The startup process for the miner takes a long time as it goes slowly through
hash board frequencies, much like the autotune frequency model S9 miners also
do.
So you need patience when you start up this machine and there is no need to be
worried even though the numbers seem wrong at first.
After the startup process is ready, it restarts the Cgminer and after that,
the miner really starts to do the mining work and you will see it working
between 12.0 – 13.0 Th/s hash rate.
There are also pages for the system log and the Cgminer API log.
By reading the log texts you are able to see specific details about the miner
operation and this kind of information is really helpful in case you need to
do some troubleshooting. The following screenshot images will demonstrate the
rest of the pages available in the miner web configuration and this image set
should provide you a good overview of the miner web configuration page.
Performance test
When all the settings were set properly, it was time to test the miner.
After the miner was ready with the startup process, the hash rate rose quickly
to about 12.0 Th/s and stayed at that level.
Here is the miner status page view after 16 hours of mining.
As usual, the power measurement was done with the Perel E305EM6-G energy meter. Technical specs data sheet (.pdf document): https://www.perel.eu/downloads/22/e305em6e305em6ggbnlfresdptpl.pdf
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A stable result for the power consumption at the wall was 2323 W when the
average hash rate after 16 hours of mining was 12.04 Th/s.
With these results, we can calculate the power efficiency at the wall. 2323 /
12040 = 0.1929 J per Gh/s
Conclusion
WhatsMiner M3X is a nice piece of gear in the current Bitcoin ASIC miner
hardware market and their miner design ideas are very competitive with rest of
the current generation competitor miners.
The power consumption is quite high and using the 28nm process node technology
it is not able to achieve as good power efficiency numbers as competitors.
I believe that this could be a different story if they would have a 16nm or
smaller process node tech available.
The miner price per hash rate is quite competitive at the moment when you
compare it with the market prices.
This machine performed just as advertised, I got a 12.04 Th/s hash rate and
the nominal rate is between 12.0 and 13.0 Th/s.
Power consumption is high up in the 2kW area, but the cooling design does it
job properly.
There are big-sized heat sinks with high rev cooling fans and the miner
doesn’t get too hot in normal operating conditions.
This is a very loud miner as most of the modern ASIC miners are, you don’t
want this in your bedroom.
All in all, I think that this miner is a nice small upgrade compared to the
previous M3 model and I’m looking forward to seeing what WhatsMiner has to
offer in the future!
I would like to thank Team Pangolinminer and especially Laurent big time for
giving this miner as a sample unit and for the chance for me to give a review
for it here at the forum.
If you got any questions you’d like to ask, feel free to drop them in the
Bitcointalk.org forum thread. I will try to give my best answer.
How to order
You can make an order simply by visiting the webshop. See more details at the
official overseas distribution arm Team Pangolinminer website.
Team Pangolinminer www.pangolinminer.com
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