Quick answer
The Antminer S9 (Bitmain, 2016) delivers about 13.5 TH/s at roughly 1,350W, an efficiency near 98 J/TH on the BM1387 16nm chip. It is long past mining profitability at most power prices, but it remains a cheap learning rig and an excellent Bitcoin space heater.
Verdict: a museum piece that still hashes — buy it to tinker or to heat, not to profit.
The Antminer S9 is the machine that defined an era. Bitmain launched it in 2016, and for roughly two years it was the default Bitcoin miner for hobbyists and farms alike. Nearly a decade later it is no longer competitive on the global network, yet a surprising number of units are still running — as teaching tools, as tinkering platforms, and as heat sources. This guide covers what the S9 actually is, where it still makes sense, and how to think about one honestly in 2026.
Antminer S9 specifications
- Hashrate: ~13.5 TH/s (variants shipped from 11.5 to 14 TH/s)
- Power consumption: ~1,350W at the wall (stock)
- Efficiency: ~98 J/TH (0.098 J/GH)
- ASIC chip: BM1387, 16nm FinFET
- Chip count: 189 chips across three hashboards (63 per board)
- Algorithm: SHA-256 (Bitcoin and other SHA-256 coins)
- Cooling: dual fans
- Noise: ~76–85 dB — loud
- Released: 2016
Architecture: the BM1387 generation
The S9 uses 189 BM1387 chips built on a 16nm process — the same chip family found in the S9i, S9j and T9+. Voltage is regulated per power domain on each board, not per individual chip (groups of chips share a DC-DC converter), which is why undervolting is done in steps rather than chip-by-chip. The control board is a Xilinx Zynq 7010 (dual Cortex-A9 at 667MHz with an Artix-7 FPGA), the same platform that later carried the S17 line. That shared lineage is part of why the S9 is so well documented and so easy to repair.
Efficiency and real-world performance
At ~98 J/TH the S9 burns roughly three to four times more power per terahash than a modern S21-class miner. On the live network its share of the total hashrate is now vanishingly small, so solo-mining a block is a lottery measured in many thousands of years. Where it still earns its keep is in regions with very cheap or stranded power, or when the heat it produces is genuinely useful. Underclocking and undervolting can pull the wall draw down meaningfully at a modest hashrate cost — the right move for an old miner is always efficiency over raw speed.
Power and home use
At ~1,350W the S9 is one of the few legacy Antminers that can run on a dedicated 120V/20A circuit, though it is happier on 240V and you should never share the circuit with other loads. The real obstacle at home is noise: at 76–85 dB it belongs in a garage, basement, shed, or a small ventilated hashcenter, not a living space. If your goal is to mine Bitcoin quietly from a normal outlet, the S9 is the wrong tool — that is exactly the gap the Bitaxe fills, a single-chip open-source miner that runs silently off USB-C at around 15W.
The S9 as a Bitcoin space heater
The most honest 2026 use-case for an S9 is heat. Every watt it draws becomes warmth, so a unit set up with proper ducting and a non-flammable surface behaves like a ~1.3kW space heater that happens to earn a few sats. D-Central builds purpose-made S9 Space Heater conversions and DIY enclosure kits for exactly this. In a cold climate, where you would be paying to run an electric heater anyway, the mining income offsets part of the heating cost — one more small layer of self-sufficiency.
Firmware and tuning
Stock Bitmain firmware runs an S9 fine, but custom firmware is what lets you undervolt and autotune it properly. The tools that make this possible stand on the shoulders of the people who built the field first — Braiins pioneered ASIC autotuning and native Stratum V2, the wider open-source community reverse-engineered the BM1387 chip, and later projects built on that work. Good autotuners calculate frequency and voltage per domain at runtime; they are not fixed presets. To compare what each firmware actually offers, see our firmware comparison.
D-Central is also building DCENT_OS, our own GPL-3.0 mining firmware. It is in closed beta today, with a public beta targeted for summer 2026 — experimental, not production-ready, and offered by waitlist rather than pre-order.
Buying, refurb, and repair
D-Central has run a Bitcoin mining repair bench since 2016 — the same year the S9 launched — so this is a machine we know at the board level. When an S9 drops hashrate, a single failed hashboard is usually the cause, not the whole unit; replacement S9 hashboards and repair parts are readily available, and our transparent ASIC repair pricing will tell you when a fix is worth it and when it is not. We also list tested refurbished units, including honest as-is and working S9 stock. Refurbished hardware carries D-Central’s own warranty; returns are handled DOA/defect-only. We build to order rather than warehouse stock like a big-box store, so lead times are estimates, not same-day promises.
Who should consider an S9 in 2026
Buy an S9 if you want a cheap, well-understood rig to learn ASIC mining on, if you want a tinkering platform for firmware and repair, or if you want supplemental heat with a side of sats in a cold climate. Do not buy one expecting it to pay for itself at typical grid prices. As a first "real" miner it is unbeatable value for the lesson; as a profit centre, it retired years ago.
FAQ
Is the Antminer S9 still profitable in 2026?
At most electricity prices, no. With an efficiency near 98 J/TH it costs more to run than it earns once power is factored in. It can approach break-even only with very cheap or free power, or when the heat it produces is genuinely useful and offsets other heating costs.
What are the Antminer S9’s specifications?
About 13.5 TH/s at roughly 1,350W (~98 J/TH), using 189 BM1387 16nm chips across three hashboards, on the SHA-256 algorithm. It was released by Bitmain in 2016.
Can I run an Antminer S9 at home?
It can run on a dedicated 120V/20A circuit, but at 76–85 dB it is too loud for living spaces. Most home owners run it in a garage, basement, or shed — or convert it into a space heater. For quiet home Bitcoin mining on a normal outlet, a Bitaxe is the better fit.
Can the Antminer S9 be used as a heater?
Yes. Nearly all of its ~1,350W becomes heat, so with proper ducting and a non-flammable surface it works as a roughly 1.3kW space heater that also earns a small amount of Bitcoin. D-Central sells purpose-built S9 space-heater conversions and kits.
Can the Antminer S9 be repaired?
Yes. The S9 is one of the most repairable ASICs ever made. Failures are usually isolated to a single hashboard, which can be repaired or replaced. D-Central has serviced the S9 since 2016.
Last reviewed and fact-checked: June 2026 — D-Central. Specifications cross-checked against manufacturer data and our own repair-bench experience.
