Although proof-of-work and mining are heavily criticized due to the environmental impact, mining operations keep on working and Bitmain ASIC miners are still in use. Bitmain Antminer S9 was one of the most popular mining devices. Even in 2024 some people are interested in using it.
This article provides an overview of Antminer S9, shows how profitable this miner is, what are the technical specifications of this device, what coins you can mine with it, what mining pools can be used for that, etc.
Contents
Overview
Bitmain Technologies Ltd. is a Chinese company, one of the leading manufacturers of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips for cryptocurrency mining. ASIC miners are the devices that serve for the only purpose—mining cryptocurrencies.
ASICs emerged when Bitcoin mining began to attract big players ready to mine BTC at the industrial scale. They could do it via constant increase of the GPUs in use, however, developers came up with ASICs which provide much more mining (hashing) power as they are purposefully built for mining. Quite soon after the emergence, ASIC miners made GPU mining rigs obsolete as the former are much more efficient.
Image source: Cluster Mining
In the past, Bitmain Antminer S9 was one of the most sought after models due to an optimal combination of its price and power. The S9 model was released in 2017 but as of 2024, it is still available on several online marketplaces. The prices vary heavily depending on the version (different versions have different hashing power, from 10 TH/s to 14 TH/s) and other factors.
The device is pretty small (its dimensions are 350mm x 135mm x 158mm) while weighing over 4kg. The noise level reaches 85db. It has two fans. The device sustains ambient temperature between zero and 40 °C. Each Antminer S9 is equipped with 189 custom BM1387 chips. As the device doesn't have a DC/DC converter, efficiency depends on voltage. The higher the voltage is, the more coins the device mines. You can insert the three mining pools URLs in the server's interface and set the priority. The miner will use the third pool when the first one and the second one are offline.
Profitability
Is this model profitable today? Given how old Bitmain Antminer S9 is and how quickly the mining difficulty is rising, this model might not be as good as it used to be back in the day.
The AntMiner S9 13,5 TH/s will be covering the electricity costs only if these costs are as low as $0.023kw/h. With such electricity pricing, the device will bring the $9 yearly mining BTC. The device price usually significantly exceeds $100.
$0.02kw/h is the residential electricity price level of Nigeria and several other African countries. Very few countries in the world have this low residential electricity costs. However, business electricity costs may be cheaper.
Image source: ASIC Miner Value
The more efficient version AntMiner S9max 20 Th/s is around 10 times more profitable. If you mine BTC with it, it can earn around $114 annually with the electricity price of $0.023kw/h.
The Nicehash calculator showcases a less conservative estimation, however, it is not clear which version of Bitmain Antminer S9 the service uses for calculation. According to Nicehash, Bitmain Antminer S9 can make 10 cents a day through mining BTC at the same level of electricity pricing.
The archival data shows that on average, it takes 300 to 400 days to return the investment in Antminer S9. At the same time, many calculators show negative numbers.
Algorithms
Bitmain Antminer S9 is good for mining Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and other Bitcoin forks as it supports only the SHA-256 algorithm, serving as a backbone of the Bitcoin blockchain.
For mining Scrypt-based coins (for instance, Litecoin and Dogecoin) you should purchase an L3 or other L series models. For mining Ethereum Classic (ETC), Callisto Network (CLO), and other Ethash-based crypto, use E3, E7, or E9 models. For Equihash coins (ZEC and ZEN) mining, you should look for the Z9, Z11, or Z15. The X11-based cryptocurrency Dash mining requires the D3, D5, or D7 model. There are more models that support other algorithms.
Minable Coins
As Bitmain Antminer S9 series support only the SHA-256 algorithm, you can mine only the SHA-256 currencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and many other less valuable cryptocurrencies, say Zetacoin, Namecoin, Peercoin, etc. Bitcoin (BTC) is widely considered as the most profitable choice for Antminer S9 devices.
Mining Pools
There are many pools you can use with Antminer S9. First off, there is an AntPool. It supports numerous currencies, including Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. The earning models are PPLNS and FPPS.
The Pay Per Share (PPS model) pools include Binance Pool, F2Pool, Luxor, and ViaBTC. Most of these pools are pretty well-known in the mining industry.
Other options include the pools supporting an FFPS model (Poolin, Kucoin pool, and EMCD) and PPLNS pools such as K1POOL, Slush Pool, and others. On top of that, you can outsource your mining power to others using the Nicehash mining power marketplace.
Purchase Options
For starters, we should note that Antminer S9 is no longer available for purchase on the Bitmain website. On the website, you can order the newer products, like Antminer S19, Bitcoin Miner S21pro, and other models. Therefore you should look for Antminer S9 on the resell markets.
As of 2024, on Amazon, we found 5 offers with prices ranging from $200 to $850. Some of the ASICs were used, some are new. There are a few outside Amazon, The S9 model is not as popular as in the end of the 2010s. The reason is pretty easy to understand: the new generations of ASIC miners (including the Bitmain production) with a quicker payback as they consume less energy and provide a higher hashing rate.
Cloud Mining
Cloud mining has little to do with building your own mining rig or equipping your own mining farm. Cloud mining businesses use the following models:
- Cloud mining companies own or rent mining farms and lend specified amounts of produced hashrate to clients. Users who buy a one year contract for 30 HT/s will receive regular mining rewards from mining in the pool with this hashrate for 356 days.
- Other cloud mining companies are scam. They don't have any mining equipment. They just collect the users' money and return them this money fraction by fraction as mining rewards. Usually these rewards are smaller than the investment.
The only connection with Bitmain ASIC miners here is that genuine cloud mining companies may use Antminer devices for their mining operation.
Conclusion
The fame of Bitmain Antminer S9 has faded away. The newer ASIC miners for SHA-256-based cryptocurrencies are more efficient and provide faster payback. Mining with Bitmain Antminer S9 can still be profitable if the electricity costs are well below $0.02. At $0.023 you'll be earning several bucks a year.
Lately, Bitmain and other ASIC manufacturers presented more powerful and cost effective miners than Antminer S9. If you don't want risk, it's better to look for newer models. However, Antminer S9 is still available. You can buy it on the second hand market, paying from $200 to around $850.
FAQs
What to do if the Antminer S9 server doesn't power on?
First, you should check that the power supply connection components are fine. If you find out that there is no problem with the power supply connection, contact Bitmain's customer support.
Is Bitmain Antminer S9 still profitable?
The answer heavily relies on several factors. The Bitcoin mining operation with Antminer S9 won’t be profitable if the electricity cost exceeds 2 cents. If you choose a different cryptocurrency or use a model with hashrate under 13 TH/s, you won’t probably cover the costs. In general, purchasing a newer device might be more rational.