Results Are In: New Bitcoin Miner Dragonmint T1 Doesn't Make the S9 Obsolete

There’s been a lot of skepticism aimed at the company Halong Mining and its machine the Dragonmint T1. The firm announced in November of 2017 that it would be distributing its Dragonmint devices in 2018 and stated its miners would be the most efficient machines on the market. So far, after all the controversy, some Dragonmint miners have been delivered and reviews show the machines do produce close to 16 terrahash per second during operation — but the rigs are not even close to being 30 percent more efficient than the S9, which was claimed this past November.

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Myrig Mining Distributor Claims Samsung 10nm Chips Power Halong Miners

This week cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been talking about the new Dragonmint device, a SHA-256 BTC/BCH miner produced by the firm Halong Mining. On April 10 the mining device distributor Myrig stated on Twitter that the company Samsung and its semiconductor technology is “what powers Halong Mining DragonMint T1.” According to the owner of Myrig, the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed by Samsung is a 10-nanometer (nm) design.

“Yes Samsung, and Yes 10nm — I’m sure someone had seen some news in the past about it from big foundry about bitcoin and cryptos,” reveals Myrig’s tweet.

Cobra Apologizes

Samsung revealed it was building ASIC technology for cryptocurrencies back in January of this year. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the firm’s foundry producing these ASICs for an “unknown Chinese mining hardware manufacturer.” Reports stated that Samsung was developing both GPU and ASIC semiconductors, and the technology would feature 10-nm chips. On the Halong Mining website, there is no mention of 10nm chips being utilized in any of its mining rigs. At the moment all of Halong’s manufactured batches are completely sold out and the website’s shop page says all of its miners are “unavailable”

The news also follows the anonymous co-owner of Bitcoin.org calling Halong Mining a “scam.” However, on Friday, the 13, 2018, Cobra Bitcoin apologized to the Halong Mining company.

“I was completely wrong about Halong Mining,” explains Cobra Bitcoin over Twitter.

Even though they’re secretive and mysterious company and raised some major red flags, it seems they’ve delivered functional hardware as promised. I’m extremely sorry to them for my attacks and I await my shipment of crow.

As news.Bitcoin.com reported earlier this month, individuals started getting their Halong Mining machines and have been tweeting pictures of some Dragonmint T1s being unboxed. Moreover, there were also pictures of side-by-side comparisons of the Bitmain Technologies-made Antminer S9 chipsets and the T1. At the time there were not many reviews online detailing the machines’ performance. There are a few reviews now online, alongside a video of the machine in action side-by-side with an S9.

Reviews Are In: Dragonmint T1 and Antminer S9 Side-by-Side Comparisons Show the S9 is Not Even Close to Being ‘Obsolete’

The well known ‘Miner Digi’ Youtuber published a video demonstration on the Halong rig on Apr 11, 2018. After being connected to the Myrig 1600 watt PSU the Dragonmint did in fact reach close to 16 TH/s after some attempts to connect with Slush Pool. The video shows over a long period of time the machine consistently clocked between 15.5 to 15.9 TH/s in Miner Digi’s video. The Dragonmint machine in the video was roughly the same size as the Antminer S9 and the device made a distinct sound compared to the S9 as well.

Antminer S9s hash anywhere between 13.2 to 14 TH/s which is less than the Dragonmint’s hash performance, but the S9 cost $1,288 per unit as opposed to the first T1 batch price of $1,595 and a minimum of five per order. Eventually, Halong did allow single purchases for the T1 miners, but sold out quick, and the T1s have been “unavailable” ever since. In addition to the 16 TH/s, Halong also claim on its website the devices use (overt) “version-rolling” ASIC Boost technology. The Halong miner is anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 TH/s faster than the S9 but costs more than $300 more per unit. Moreover, the performance is a stark contrast to being 30 percent more efficient which was a claim stated by bitcoin core developer and Halong Mining associate ‘Btcdrak.’

For instance, another Dragonmint review details the T1’s efficiency is definately a touch higher compared to the S9, “but not by a whole lot.” According to the in-depth review posted April 4, the T1 “ramped up to 14.98 to 15.97 TH/s” but “pulled roughly 1480 to 1497 watts at the wall” The same side-by-side comparison said the “Antminer S9 pulled 1375 [watts] at 14 TH/s.” This means there is a clear wattage discrepancy between both machines and a price difference, which makes performance specs not much different. Even though the T1 is using ASIC Boost and claims to be utilizing Samsung manufactured 10nm hardware, its efficiency is at best minimal. This means calling the Antminer S9 “obsolete” is a pretty absurd statement, to say the least.

What do you think about the Halong Miner Dragonmint series against the Antminer S9? Do you believe the claims that the mining rig utilizes Samsung 10nm technology? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, Halong Mining’s website, Bitmain Technologies, and Twitter.

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