Topic: Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator - page 74. (Read 73496 times)

sonds tempting, so looking forward to see the tests and sale/shipping release as soonest

short version is this (pls correct me if im wrong):

acorn needs 4 pcie lanes at gen 3 speed. this can be via an acorn in a m2 slot or in a pcie-m2 adapter provided the pcie slot that adapter is in is configured for 4 pcie lanes at gen 3 speed. this allows up to 4 gpus, each connected with one pcie lane at gen 3 speed to be accelerated. ie cards on x1 risers for example.

not all 16x slots have 16 pcie lanes, the bios can change that to a point.

my onda board (8 full size x16 slots, most that run with one pcie lane) for example has no m2 slots, but slot 0 can be run with 4 pcie lanes at gen 3 speed. so i put a pcie->m2 adapter with the acorn in that, and 4 cards get the benefit. the three other cards run on their own with no help from the acorn.

btw AFAIK cpu power has not been mentioned yet. G4400 here but easy to upgrade. memory was mentioned also but no minimum, just more is better.

not sure if this is what you were asking, if not my apologies

Now this is indeed cool. Nice work. I look forward to getting some of these.

Acorns already outperform price on GPUs on some algorithms.

And that’s only going to progress. Personally I’m not going to stop until we have GPU price parity for FPGA power at FPGA cost. GPUs are not data crunchers they’re just good at it. Right took for the job.

dont forget that everything is possible in crypto.
I`m 99% sure that once FPGA usability will be much more explored in mining Chineese vendors will say it`s work and create some cheap FPGAs..
OR there will be such projects like this one which will allow to strenghten GPU mining.
GPU mining will not yet die, there are too many black areas in mining still.

Isnt the cost of entry too high for normal miners? You already admitted that prices for memory and FPGA's are high. Are you guys trying to be like AMD/Intel/Nvidia?(using large demand to bring down prices). That would be awesome for sure(low wattage&high h/s), but bitmain will just play dirty again and sell FPGAs too. Conclusion: no GPU miners, almost all coins are mined by FPGA's, no Asics since we have forks. Bitmain won't hurt normal miners at the cost of no gaming card??? (not guaranteed since they have a lot of engineers)hmmm...

I’m sure we can produce a video. I’ll never understand why so many people like to watch videos online, but ok

David,

This is great!  Thank you for sharing your information with all of us.  I am really excited to see you develop this product and if it all looks as attractive as it does now whenever pre-ordering comes online then I'll be interested in possibly 10+ depending on performance characteristics as this is tested and developed further.

I guess the only question I have at this point is regarding the tangibility of reporting.  You said you wouldn't want to release some shoddy looking video but do you plan to release at least 'some' video that is of a reasonable quality?  

Other than that, I would just like to share this little write up on M.2 slot tech.  50-650% data transfer boost is really impressive  https://www.howtogeek.com/320421/what-is-the-m.2-expansion-slot/

Completed the survey.

Thank you.

opened it using proxy and already completed the survey.
hope for a smooth start and looking forward to see actual tests

Got a couple Ryzen Rigs with open M.2 slots, both have 6x GPUs (all using risers).  Will be curious to see how this performs.

Thank you!

Thanks GPUH and put me down for 14 of them, best guess.  I haven't made it out to my rigs to know how many m2 slots I have...

To all: does anyone want to help me compile a list of the best parts necessary to run the accelerator? I am such a novice, so forgive me if this isn't helpful.  Here's my first iteration, and of course let me say that I haven't ordered yet and am not "counting on" GPUH to come through or any of that.  Just trying to be ready if this ends up being a "thing."  Without further ado:


https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?N=100007627%20600307108&IsNodeId=1&Submit=ENE .  This is a starting point that's a filter for the mobos with the most pcie x16 slots.  You have to dig in each one to find out the true numbers - it's not entirely clear to me but it looks like even with that filter, some slots are the x16 length but not x16 strength.  For example, this ASUS one looks to be able to provide 4 slots at x16 strength (power? data? not even sure what x16 is, lol) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182968

As far as CPU's, it looks like they need to be strong but nobody has stated how strong.  It also sounds like iterations of software could come out that rely less on the CPU's strength.  Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.

m2: Well obviously you need to have at least 1.  It has been said that 1x m2 slot can work for multiple cards, but it isn't entirely clear whether or not 2 will work better enough to justify buying 2 for 4 cards, 2 for 6 cards, etc.  I could have missed something or obviously something could have went over my head.

@Iamtutut has the x470 which seems a great value.  It's here: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813144177&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Motherboards+-+AMD-_-N82E16813144177&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgMnYBRDRARIsANC2dfk4QffGNjnVh_uI4dD9TGFwDHk6Kz4uV5Dxoz2wodzJ5Pi1dkECO8waAt7kEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It indicates it has 3 x16 slots, but one covers up an m2.  That will probably be OK (3 GPU's on 1 m2 connected FPGA accelerator), but I def am not an authority.  That represents my best target on first pass.

Hopefully this helps, spurns some discussion and research. 

Thanks,

Nate

Mid to Late June for all orders and information. First batch ship a few weeks after.

Highly interested and ready for some tests (I'd pay in advance). Survey answered.

System is
Win 10 X64 with the bad 1803 build, that sooner or later will be the standard.
750W 80+ platinum PSU.
Mobo X470: with 5 PCI-E (3 X16), 2x M2 slots (one "reinforced"), lots of USB 3.0/3.1 ports, 6 SATA ports.
Ryzen 5 2400G
8GB RAM, no issue to ad 8 more.
SSD 240GB
3X RX570s ETH bios mod

win10 1709, 8 gb ram, 120 gb msata, g4400 cpu. hoping that would suffice for now.

ive always meant to toss the 6400t i have in my htpc into the onda at some point. perfect excuse to upgrade the htpc cpu

This is very exciting! fingers crossed!

Looks interesting, do you have an aprox. order/ship date or not yet?

I will watch with interest for more info. Survey completed.

A question, I have mostly Nvidia cards, but can AMD RX480 cards also benefit?

already answered

"One Acorn can help multiple GPUs depending on algorithm, you can use two in two M.2 slots."