As you'll see below, I did some overhauling of the Mining Monitor, including putting some UI around a few variables for the MCP--I still have a ton more to put in, but I'm sort of lazy when it comes to UI in case you hadn't already noticed. So, as I discussed in my last update, I plan to do these regularly (every morning around 10:00 EST and every evening around 22:00 EST). So, let's dive in.
Our total value did a lot of dipping today, but the incoming coin has kept the gain well enough over the $649 value this morning. I addressed my feelings on the market movement in another post, but I'm not sweating the dips. We still have a little over a week before we distribute, then I decide whether or not I'm going to hang on to my coin after the expenses are withdrawn. But, that's for another post altogether.
I did some fiddling with the cooling system today, repositioning some of the components in the box in preparation for the transisiton to the HDPE panels in the next couple of weekends. One of the new features I've added is a historical graph of the average miner chip temp and the intake and exhaust temps.
As you can see, the data isn't very exciting; However, that's a beautiful thing when you're trying to maintain an ideal temperature. This is, of course, difficult without using a ton of extra power. So far, the 1,100 CFM 15,000 BTU cooling system is pulling its weight, but with some serious disadvantages--the current air staging chamber cannot keep up with the cooling blowers anymore, so I've had to eliminate them and undo almost half of the modifications made to the stock A/C unit. With some rather exact airflow adjustments inside the box--I had to address several eddies that were creating hotspots--I've managed to keep the intake temperature from rising too much. Until tomorrow...
By tomorrow morning, the lovely weather here in Ohio is going to jump from -5°C (23°F) to 6.1°C (43°F). That is a drastic difference in intake air temperature. Right now, with an ambient temperature of 27.2°C (81°F) and 50% of the air being drawn in by the system at -5°C, the intake temperature inside the air-box is 20°C (68°F). Losing the vacuum insulated chamber means that until I can get the duct insulation for the outside air intake, it's taking on a lot more of the ambient heat. I'm working on a plan that won't involve duct insulation. Flexhaust ADC duct tubing.
On the overclocking front, the MCP has found some nice balance with the cooling situation and the overclocking. Miner 5 is running at 425 MHz, Miners 1-3 are running at 475 MHz, and Miner 6 is running at 500 MHz. I can't wait until I can cool these down a little more because I'm still steady at around 3.7 GH/s because the difficulty has just nudged up again.
I could talk about the LTC fees going down and how I'm not even moved a little by it because the transactions are getting larger, but it's not really worth the time--in other words, I've already argued with someone on social media about it, and I don't need to defend mining since it's the core of how this whole kit and kaboodle operates. If it's not profitable today, it just means it will be twice as profitable tomorrow if you're making the right decisions--and volume continues to significantly motivate companies like BitMain to build faster and faster machines.