Compass Mining published a post on the company’s official blog that mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain has made changes to the design of the Bitmain S19 ASIC hashboard, which are designed to critically affect the performance of new devices.
“We view the design decision to move to aluminum plating on hashboards as a net negative, which will lead to increased ASIC failures and maintenance costs. Due to the absence of PICs and the increased difficulty of replacing faulty chips, we encourage miners to prepare for repairs in advance, as the next generation of devices is actively replenishing the fleets, ”Compass Mining said.
Company spokesman William Foxley explained that the new machines lack a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) on the ASIC, which makes managing individual hash panels more difficult than those that have a PIC. Devices without a PIC will not be able to continue hashing on one or two boards.
Foxley clarified that in the past, almost all mining equipment used laminated multilayer printed circuit boards with tracks embedded in layers of laminated material. On one side of the board, chips were displayed (signal side) connected by tracks, and on the other side, heatsinks (power side). However, the new Bitmain devices began to install single-sided printed circuit boards with an aluminum substrate.
According to Foxley, the aluminum coating can contribute to overheating problems. For example, aluminum coated hashboards will have a significantly higher rate of thermal failure when reaching higher device and ambient temperatures than those built on printed circuit boards (PCBs).
In addition, the use of aluminum-coated hashboards can lead to increased maintenance time and costs, as the likelihood of tracks, chips, or other parts malfunctioning increases, and ASIC repair shops that are not owned by Bitmain will face great difficulties in repair due to the use of an aluminum plate.
William Foxley believes that due to the excessive consolidation of all components on one side of the board, the likelihood of errors in the hashboard increases.
In January, research firm Allied Market Research predicted that, with a CAGR of 12.6%, the mining equipment market will come close to $1.7 billion by 2031.
Source: Bits
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