Antminer S21 Review: Examining the S21’s Performance at Different Ambient Temperatures

S21 is the latest generation of ASIC miners launched by Bitmain in 2023 with the SHA256 algorithm. It can currently mine BTC/BCH/BSV. S21 specification is disclosed by Bitmain officials with a hashrate of 200T and a power efficiency of 17.5J/T.

Bitmain also shows the impact of temperature on the hash rate and power consumption ratio on the website. Seems like S21 is the most efficient ASIC miner so far, therefore we did two samples to test the real performance.

About S21 testing data

1. At ambient temperature

2. At heat tolerance temperature

   The S21’s tolerance temperature is 48℃. When the ambient temperature surpasses 40℃, the hash board will activate over-temperature protection, resulting in an underclocking of the chip. The frequency will be reduced from 490M to 440M. If the temperature exceeds 47℃, the S21 miner will automatically shut down as a safety precaution.

3. Starting at low temperature

   S21 can start and operate effectively at -10℃. While it starts normally at -20℃ and -15℃, the system will activate low-temperature protection and shut down the miner. Therefore, the S21 requires a higher initial temperature compared to the S19XP.

   
   

4. When converting air-cooled to oil-cooled

   The oil-cooled version has improved the unit power density compared with the air-cooled version, but when air-cooled is converted to oil-cooled, it faces warranty issues and has fewer advantages than specific immersion-cooled miners. When S21 converts air-cooled to oil-cooled, the power consumption ratio is higher than 18.5W/T at 50℃, starts to underclock at 55℃, and is in high-temperature protection at 60℃.

5. Start at each temperature point

   The power consumption ratio experiences an approximate increase of 1.74W/T when the hash rate reaches 200T within the temperature range of 20℃ to 35℃. At 40℃, a reduction in the frequency of the S21 occurs, resulting in an operating frequency below 440M and a hash rate of 180T. Furthermore, at 45℃, the power consumption ratio increases by approximately 2.4W/T. Once the temperature exceeds 45℃, protection mode is initiated, leading to a rapid rise in the power consumption ratio.

It has come to our attention that when two S21 air-cooling miners are operating at temperatures of 25℃ and above, their power consumption ratio significantly exceeds the official specifications provided by the manufacturer.

Furthermore, the hash rate demonstrates substantial fluctuations under high-temperature conditions. Under some extreme temperatures or harsh environmental conditions, the S21 fails to achieve the specified power consumption ratio it claimed and loses its competitive advantage in the market.