Bitmain Antminer E3 (180Mh)

The Bitmain Antminer E3, released in July 2018 as an early-generation ASIC tailored to the Ethash algorithm, delivers up to 180 MH/s while consuming 800 W of power-an energy efficiency around 4.44 J/MH-and exemplifies a moment when purpose-built hardware offered a more power-efficient alternative to GPU rigs; its specialized DDR3-based 4 GB memory and architecture made it well suited for Ethash coins such as Ethereum Classic, Musicoin and Ubiq, but that same 4 GB memory later became a limiting factor as the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) file grew, reducing effective hashrate for some coins and hastening the E3’s obsolescence as more advanced miners arrived, while practical considerations such as approximately 75 dB of operating noise and the ongoing cost of electricity remain decisive for deployment and profitability calculations, which can be estimated using a miner profit calculator that accounts for your local electricity rates and other operational variables.

Introduced in July 2018, the Bitmain Antminer E3-rated at roughly 180 MH/s while consuming about 800 W for an energy profile near 4.44 J/MH-stands as an instructive landmark in the evolution of Ethash-focused ASIC technology: its use of 4 GB of DDR3 memory rather than the GDDR5/GDDR6 typical of GPUs produced a compact, purpose-built architecture optimized for the memory-access patterns of Ethash, yet that very specialization proved brittle as the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) steadily expanded and eroded effective hashrate, particularly for coins such as Ethereum Classic, Musicoin and Ubiq; lacking firmware pathways to accommodate larger DAG sizes, the E3’s operational lifespan was curtailed even before broader market shifts-most notably Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake-diminished demand for Ethash ASICs, and practical deployment was further constrained by a robust cooling solution driven by dual high‑RPM fans that contributed to an approximately 75 dB noise footprint and significant thermal and acoustic management requirements. Beyond these headline technical facts, the E3’s story is useful to operators and engineers alike as a case study in trade-offs: miners experimented with custom firmware, undervolting or underclocking to eke out life from the 4 GB limit, retrofitting or replacing memory modules where feasible, switching to alternative Ethash coins when blockchains diverged, or repurposing retired units for education, test rigs, or component harvesting; from a systems perspective the E3 highlights the importance of upgradability and algorithm resilience, the environmental and logistical burdens of heat, noise and power at scale, and the economic calculus that couples energy cost, cooling infrastructure and ambient conditions to hardware viability. In sum, the Antminer E3 occupies a meaningful niche in the narrative of ASIC development-an embodiment of focused engineering that, with a mixture of youthful curiosity and pragmatic courage, taught the mining community enduring lessons about specialization versus adaptability, hardware lifecycle planning, and the broader consequences of protocol and market evolution.

Etchash is a cryptographic hash function that serves as the backbone of Ethereum Classic proof-of-work consensus mechanism. This algorithm processes input data of any length and produces a fixed hash value, ensuring security and integrity in the mining process.