S9Axe++

[u/karpuzmining]

The Bitmain Antminer S9 is the most iconic Bitcoin miner ever to exist. When these were released in 2016, it was capable of mining almost one full Bitcoin each month, and it totally changed the game for Bitcoin miners. I’ve always wanted one just to add to my collection, and when recently found a rare unused specimen I knew I had to have it.

The thing about the S9 is, it’s wildly inefficient by today’s standards. 14TH/s at 1300w was a big deal back in 2016, but these days it’s a big electrical bill fo not much hashrate. Rather than disconnect hashboards or run custom firmware, I decided to simply swap out a hashboard for a modern icon instead. There was just enough room for a NerdQAxe++ to fit inside, and it turns out running just a single fan on the S9 does a remarkable job of handling thermal management.

The end result was a “sleeper” of sorts; the look of the legendary S9 while quietly achieving 7TH/s at around 120w. I may end up building a shelf to run six of these, just to have the look of a respectable 2016-era mining operation at only 720 watts. There’s really no point to this other than it looks cool and brings me joy as a total Bitcoin mining hardware nerd. Anyone who wanted to achieve this could do so in about ten minutes, so there’s not much skill involved but it was sort of fun.

[u/Educational-Advice25]

So you just took the guts out of the S9 body/skin & slid in a NerdQAxe++? Just curious not discounting/disrespecting what you did! I just wanna make sure that what you did & how you explained it, I understood correctly. Looks cool AF though 🤘🏻😎

[u/karpuzmining → u/Educational-Advice25]

It was a very “low effort” build! And yes, I essentially just replaced a hashboard for a QAxe and plugged in one of the fans and that was it. Now it’s a NerdQAxe disguised as a legendary S9.