Topic: 14nm A4 Dominator ASIC, world best 1.5W/Mhs efficiency, coming soon (Read 5054 times)

Thanks for linking to the doc / file. Thought I killed an A4

Thanks for your help here, Longsnowsm.
Yes, you need to update the firmware to the newest v2.0.2beta.
Here is the link http://www.innosilicon.com/html/a4-miner/. See the downloading ceter.

You will want to get firmware v2.0.2 for your miner.  It fixes some problems that were in v2.0.1 and should run better for you. 

Easy to burn down. That has got to be the most appropriate warning message I have seen in awhile :-)

Yesterday I put my 140 Mh unit into work.  

We received an update from Innosilicon regarding the availability of the A4.  Here are the latest specs and info regarding the current batch 1 pre-order:

Update: World Most Profitable A4 Dominator Miner is coming soon! Early batch goes fast with best efficiency ever and very limited quantity, and who are the lucky ones to get the access to the first batch will, with no doubt, enjoy the early gain before anybody else, that means big profit.
 
Pre-order price: 1800 USD per unit plus shipping fee, 5 units to start
 
Estimated delivery time: Starts from August and max delay is one month.
 
Warrantee: 45 days parts warranty
 
Specifications:
l  Part Number: INNOSILICON A4 Dominator 280Mhs per unit (+-10% performance, can be over-clocked at user's risk)
l  Size: Length 28cm * Width 12.8cm * Height 25cm
l  Net weight: 11KG (without PSU)
l  ASIC: A4, 80pcs
l  Blade: 4pcs
l  Voltage: +12V
l  Power efficiency: Initial batch will be defaulted at 3.2W/Mhs in Turbo mode, 2.2W/Mhs in Norminal mode, and 1.35W/Mhs in ultra low power mode
l  Required rated PSU: 1000W or above, 8 * PCI-E 6Pin
PSU is external and exclusive to save your international shipping cost, which can be acquired used easily at low cost or reused from old version miners.
l  Included: Raspberry Pi, it is plug and play with your PSU

If you would like to know about the group buy we are organizing you can find that thread here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1523298.40

I doubt that the miners would have sold at $4000 on the original spec - probably more like $6-7000.

Even with the reduced "final" spec, the price is a LOT more reasonable than I was anticipating - especially if the miner is configurable to be able to use the "more efficient" settings the chip has available, and *IF* it can use the less-efficient but higher-hashrate setting the chip ALSO has available.


 Based on the final spec, they appear to be running the chip at the second-highest hashrate setting in their table, or close to it - which is also the second LOWEST efficiency.

I am quite disappointed with the final spec and price, if that is the final spec and price. I think I will hold onto my money and see if they do any deals once it's been released. The final spec of 256 mhs 1000w is way short of the original 800 mhs 1200w. With a price of $1800 to boot. The original spec of 800 mhs had an estimated price tag of $4000 ish. now to get 800 mhs u have to buy 3 units so thats $5400 plus 2.5x the power consumption. Way too expensive if you ask me. I also read somewhere that they would not come with PSU's, not 100% sure about that, but if it's true then thats another $500-600 on top.

800 MH's @ 1200w for $4000 ish = mega deal

256 MH'S @ 1000w for $1800 (plus PSU) NOT SUCH A GOOD DEAL

if they can offer it for $1k.. please take my money.. 

Here is the post to follow the group buy that we are working to setup with Innosilicon:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/a4-dominator-pre-order-group-buy-280mh-roughly-1000w-1800-shipping-1523298

I also confirmed via email that the info we have seen about the 260mh, roughly 1000w, $1800 for the pre-order miner is true.  This does NOT come with PSU's to keep shipping costs down.  I have asked for pictures and video of the miner and have questions for them regarding the 30 day warranty.  I also asked them about a group buy here on BCT.  So I will start a new thread for the group buy and hope that Innosilicon will partner with us to facilitate the group buy for those that are interested.  If any of you have had experience setting up a group buy before please chime on your experiences and what we can do to make something like this happen and be a smooth experience for all of us interested in taking part in this "adventure".  :-)

So watch for the A4 Group Buy thread to pop up here shortly.

Wow, that is a long shot from what they have stated the A4 would be able to do.  That is almost in Knc Titan territory for efficiency...  I have to say if those are the numbers they are rather disappointing.  I would be interested in the group buy also, but with those kinds of hashing and power figures are pretty disappointing if accurate.

I can't recover email I got from them but .. they said min 10 units at 265 mh/s at 1000w for $1800us.Plus shipping. pre order soon and delivery September +/- 1 month ... not very close to what they predicted it could do

Anyone doing a group update for these? Perhaps we could get a jump on this with the ..what was it ... 10 minimum orders or some such?

(then again I may be mixing this up with the defunct alcheminer scrypt project that never came to pass)

I'm pretty sure ZoomHash is one of the "partners" - and that they'll be putting A4s up for sale within a month and likely a lot less after they GET some.

 Haven't gotten an answer back from them yet on my inquiry though - and I've done enough business with them that I SHOULD have a little leverege about getting info.

Looks like $4k is more likely. Still i will risk 1. I like to gamble on new coin releases, so ROI can come pretty quick. Just need to get lucky once or twice and good profit can be made much quicker than just mining LTC.

Again hope you are correct but my Titan(s) (yeah they do work and yeah they were a dog in the past) have been running fine in the last year (due to 3rd party gift of god gen tarkin firmware mods) So that is not an issue for those who have the beasts......but at even 325 mh at 1250 watts....a Titan unit should be able to run with a 400mh A4 at 1150 watts just fine (at least as you say till they brick mine are 20 months old..but have ROI'd plus by now)

if it is a 2.5k price I likely will get one or two (at current 643 btc price and/or 5.09 ltc price I'm feeling quite 'spunky')

but again ...ALAS....I would assume that it is more likely to be 4k and above due to the btc and ltc pump then it has been in the past....if they do go for 2.5k they will sell faster then hotcakes
and scrypt will also have the FUN FUN FUN of BTC like difficulty rises of 2014-2015 (yech)

anyway last I heard JULY will probably ship to the big boys who paid over 100k to be first in line for big lots ...so I figure 1-5 units you would see out in Sept....

price of the unit...price of btc/ltc ...where you are in the order que...how many big data halls bought and will drive diff up before you even see the box...etc etc the usual gambles

Full-up Innosilicon miners have ALWAYS been a lot more expen$ive than the "equivilent gen" closest to comparable Bitcoin gear - $9995 or some such original price on the A2 NON-Mega at a time when Antminer S4 and Spondoolie SP30 were well under half that for example.

 By YOUR logic, the "mini" version of an A4 should run about $2k which would put the full version about $6k.



 Innosilicon also mentioned at one point that they aimed to bring out the A4 at the same price as the A2 - which was selling at $2500 direct up to VERY shortly before their final close-out on it and their introduction of the Farm Boy units. $4000 for DEALER pricing is in line with that for early days, probably dropping to $3000-$3500 after a couple months or so, given the very low amount of competition out there and the much higher costs involved in working with 14/16nm generation technology vs. 28nm.

 They also should command a substantial premium over remaining Titan units - better efficiency, probably TONS BETTER RELIABILITY if they're comparable to the A1/Dragon and A2 units, both make them worth sunstantially more.

 As far as ROI - well, when you're the most efficient kid on the block ROI is just a matter of having a unit that will last long enough and low enough electric rates to compete with the "big boys". Do keep in mind that hashrate and diff were barely increasing at all most of the last year, despite Litecoin being SOLIDLY profitable to mine with A2 units even at 10c/KWH electric and Litecoin pricing down around $3.
 If the price drops, the less-efficient higher-overhead folks will have to drop out first (or LOSE money) a fair bit before folks with A4s will, electric cost being equal.

The risk increases dramatically as the ROI timeline grows due to the higher price.  If it is in the 4000 ballpark it becomes much harder to justify the cost as you then start talking about almost a 2 year ROI and anything can happen in that time frame.  If they can keep the cost down in the 2k range then it is a little easier to swallow.   Especially with halving on BTC coming soon.  Anything can happen from there.  I think they need to price it near to what the S9 is going for if it is going to have a shot with halving and diff increases. 

They will sell out no matter what the price, so the cheaper it is the better for the little guy like me. At 4k i will prob get 1 at 2.5k i would look at 2 or even 3. On the other Ann it gave specs of 600 to 850 Mhs https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/innosilicons-a4-dominator-12wmhs-14nm-asic-and-miner-open-for-partners-1251930 so which are correct. If it has dropped to 400/500 then they do need to be nearer to the $2000 range than the $4000 range.