DragonMint T1 Bitcoin Miner.

The DragonMint T1 miner was announced in November 2017, and it’s a collaboration between Halong Miners and Bitcoin Core developer Drak. The DragonMint builds on the familiar tube design of hash-boards and dual fans, with the controller on the top. This design has been an industry standard for the last several years at data centers and hardware suppliers so, while there is some controversy about how similar it looks to the competitions, it’s simply the standard now. Lets check out the specifications.

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DragonMint T1 Bitcoin Miner Specifications

– 16 TH/s SHA-256

– Chips DM8575 85 GHS per chip, rough power efficiency 0.075 J/GHS

– 1480 watts on 220v w/ 1600 Watt MyRig PSU (Pulled 1497 watts during testing)

– Fans: dual fan 9 blade variable 4560rpm (equivalent to 6k RPM) (100W)

– Ehternet connection

– 63 db at 4′ Ambient temp 45f

DragonMint T1 Packs A Punch

As you can see above, the specs are impressive. The DragonMint T1 arrived in excellent shape, using the standardized shipping boxes and foam for these type of miners. Tucked in a bubble wrap sleeve and foam frame, it is well protected.

The controller is a generic version that people are familiar with in Innosillicon, Bitmain and other manufacturers’ gear. There’s three hashing boards with a total of 3 PCIe connections to each board.

While again this all may seem pedestrian, the similarities start to fall away when you power up the miner and enter the control panel. Once you power up your miner, you can use AngryIP or another program to ID the IP address.

Once you have entered it into you browser, you will get a custom DragonMint login screen. The initial Username and PW is admin/dragonadmin, as always change the PW first thing, then start working on pool settings and more.

Easy Setup New Format

The DragonMint has a very simple layout with plenty of the options you are used to. The panel at the left allows you to choose between the stats dashboard, pool and other settings and a soft reboot function, the usual firmware update, PW settings and more. It’s all there including a dark theme mode which a nice touch — toggle it in the upper right hand corner.

Mining Stats and One Hiccup

The DragonMint T1 is compatible with ASIC Boost mining pools or otherwise-named stratum version-rolling extension. For our tests we tried to use the following mining pools:

Slush Pool, as much has been made of Slush Pool being the first pool to mine an ASIC Boost block using Halong miners. We also attempted to connect to BTC.com mining pool unsuccessfully, while the info that we entered was standard and set up properly, the firmware detected the pool as dead. (Note: we have been told a firmware fix is on the way for full pool compatibility.) We also tested with MyRig mining pool which connected fine with no issues.

The T1 reaches nearly 16 TH/s immediately locally, while ramping up to 14.98 to 15.97 TH/s poolside on Slush Pool. The miner pulled roughly 1480 to 1497 watts at the wall using a MyRig 1600 watt PSU on a 220v PDU.

These specs make it the most efficient miner currently on the market but not by a whole lot, as the Antminer S9 pulled 1375 at 14 TH/s. So they are similar in speed, with an edge to the T1.

Build quality on the DragonMint T1 is good, with no loose boards or heat-sinks. The fans, while a bit loud at 63 dB at 4′ with an ambient temp of 45F in the lab.

They’re similar to many other miners in volume and temps. Hashing boards maintained the temps between 70C to 76C, while not spinning up the fans to full speed. As spring gets into the swing of it and ambient temps get warmer, we’ll see how they deal with higher temps. The fans though should perform well, keeping the miner running smoothly.

Thoughts on the DragonMint T1

We review a lot of miners, as we like the tech — hey, we even have GPU mining rigs setup in the lab.

We have stayed out of the political aspects of mining, from the upcoming Monero algo change to fend off ASICs on the network, to the Siacoin devs deciding not to change the algo to make ASICs from anyone other than Obelisk not work. Instead, we focused on the tech. We are doing the same with the DragonMint T1. The DragonMint T1 is a well built miner, they built using the industry standard tube design and hash board design.

The firmware is a welcome change, with options that are on par with the competition but in a different format which is still intuitive and easy to use.

One thing that did stick out was the inability to get the T1 working on more mining pools. As noted, firmware is on the way to fix this issue… so we are told.

The DragonMint T1 is a welcome addition to the mining industry. With next gen performance and a competitive price, it’s good value. The time it will maintain its edge in performance may not be long though, as next gen gear is coming from several manufacturers in the coming months.

Currently the T1 is sold out, and the first batch orders are just starting to ship. If you can get them, they will be good to add to your data center and, like its competitors, it is easy to use — which is good for people new to mining.