Bitmain Getting Ready to Launch the Antminer L3 Scrypt ASIC Miner

Another interesting piece of information about the popular ASIC manufacturer Bitmain as apparently the company is planning to launch their first Antminer L3 Scrypt Miner. Some of you might remember that back in 2014 Bitmain was planning to launch Antminer L1 Sctypt ASIC miner, but that one never came into existence. Apparently back then the company reached a stage that allowed even without launching a product to continue working and get an even more efficient solution and here comes the L3. There is some information available about the device already, even though it is not yet officially listed on the English website of Bitmain (you can find a product page on the Chinese one).

You can find some photos and even some early performance results online from peopel that managed to get some early units apparently, including a tweet from charlie Lee who created Litecoin (LTC) about getting one of these devices. More general availability is expected sometimes in February probably because of the incoming Chinese New Year, so we are going to have to wait some more time. What is the most interesting thing about the Bitmain AntMiner L3 Scrypt ASIC miner is the efficiency that the device not only apparently promises, but also delivers – 250 MHS hashrate with just 400 Watt power usage. This makes is significantly more power efficient compared to its only competitor with a recent generation of Scrypt ASIC hardware available – Innosilicon A4 Dominator (280 MHS at 1000W). The price listed on the product page is 1.825 BTC or a little over $1600 USD at the current exchange rate. Do note that the Antminer L3 ASIC does come without a power supply, but with the power usage the device has it does not require expensive and harder to find power supply, a decent 500W PSU should do just fine.

Bitmain Antminer L3 Specifications:
– Scrypt mining hashrate: 250 MHS
– Power consumption: 400W ± 10% (at the wall, with Bitmain’s APW3-1600 PSU, 93% efficiency, 25°C ambient temperature))
– Power efficiency: 1.6J/MH ± 10% (at the wall, AC / DC efficiency of 93%, 25°C ambient temperature)
– Rated voltage: 11.6 ~ 13.0V
– Chip Type: BM1485
– Chip quantity per unit: 144 chips
– Number of boards in the whole machine: 4 pcs
– External dimensions: 230 mm (L) * 135 mm (W) * 158 mm (H)
– Machine weight (without packaging): 2.5kg
– Operating temperature: 0°C to 40°C
– Operating Humidity: 5% RH-95% RH, non-condensing
– Network connection: Ethernet
– Noise level: 60dB