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Topic: [ANN] Bitfury is looking for alpha-testers of first chips! FREE MONEY HERE! - page 13. (Read 176728 times)

legendary
Activity: 1974
Merit: 1077
^ Will code for Bitcoins
Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
Will do! Hardware hacking is sort of both a hobby and profession for me. In fact, I literally just noticed that two MSP430 FRAM dev kits showed up on my desk this morning ;-)

by the way - there are 1-chip projects out there - e.g. mine / NanoFury Wink
(and the plan is to have that as an open source too)

If it will ever become opensource is not an issue, problem is it is not opensource now. If there is no other opensource competition it may never become one. At current difficulty increases and NanoFury prices (0.9BTC minimal with shipping, depending on destination) it already is not profitable and currently shipping miners never will be, see:
http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/a/aa12fe32dd
That's why goodney's work is so important, he may single handily make those USB Bitfury miners profitable if he succeeds and offer kits which will reduce the price inside the ROI margins.
vs3
hero member
Activity: 622
Merit: 500
Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
Will do! Hardware hacking is sort of both a hobby and profession for me. In fact, I literally just noticed that two MSP430 FRAM dev kits showed up on my desk this morning ;-)

by the way - there are 1-chip projects out there - e.g. mine / NanoFury Wink
(and the plan is to have that as an open source too)
The one chip projects seem to be a bit over priced. Look for a multi-chip board if you can. Though some of those are expensive too.  The sweet spot is anything below $25 per GH/s.

I think our NanoFury project will be somewhere around that $25/GH mark (or probably just a bit above it). On the plus side though, you don't have to worry about buying a separate power supply, RPi, cables, etc. - it's literally just "plug and play" Smiley
erk
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 500
Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
Will do! Hardware hacking is sort of both a hobby and profession for me. In fact, I literally just noticed that two MSP430 FRAM dev kits showed up on my desk this morning ;-)

by the way - there are 1-chip projects out there - e.g. mine / NanoFury Wink
(and the plan is to have that as an open source too)
The one chip projects seem to be a bit over priced. Look for a multi-chip board if you can. Though some of those are expensive too.  The sweet spot is anything below $25 per GH/s.
vs3
hero member
Activity: 622
Merit: 500
Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
Will do! Hardware hacking is sort of both a hobby and profession for me. In fact, I literally just noticed that two MSP430 FRAM dev kits showed up on my desk this morning ;-)

by the way - there are 1-chip projects out there - e.g. mine / NanoFury Wink
(and the plan is to have that as an open source too)
member
Activity: 102
Merit: 10
Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
Will do! Hardware hacking is sort of both a hobby and profession for me. In fact, I literally just noticed that two MSP430 FRAM dev kits showed up on my desk this morning ;-)
member
Activity: 102
Merit: 10
I'm also thinking about designing a board with room for 12-16 ASICs that will fit in the format of a miniITX board. This would let you use a 1U case and power supply. I'll post progress on that as it comes together.
It seems we are thinking about the same ( 1U case ) except that i am after full or mini ATX with more chips Smiley
I was thinking the same thing, but miniITX cases seem to be more plentiful and much cheaper.
KNK
hero member
Activity: 692
Merit: 502
I'm also thinking about designing a board with room for 12-16 ASICs that will fit in the format of a miniITX board. This would let you use a 1U case and power supply. I'll post progress on that as it comes together.
It seems we are thinking about the same ( 1U case ) except that i am after full or mini ATX with more chips Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1974
Merit: 1077
^ Will code for Bitcoins
I can send you my design files and BOM if you'd like. I haven't built the board yet as it's not back from the fab, but if you want to get some made yourself, let me know.

Would you consider, once you verify your board is working, to organize kits for interested buyers? If you order PCBs in some quantity you can get a discount not available if everyone orders PCB for himself. You can call a vote to see how many are interested, collect the money and order collective buy of components (everything except BF chips), with appropriate fee for you efforts.

Quite possibly. I'll keep everyone updated once the boards are built (and a BF ASIC is obtained... hint, hint...)

I'm also thinking about designing a board with room for 12-16 ASICs that will fit in the format of a miniITX board. This would let you use a 1U case and power supply. I'll post progress on that as it comes together.

Great news! Just make working 1-chip miner with or without the chip a priority please, everything else will be easier and you will be out of the awful pre-order loop. People will get hold of the chips one way or the other, there are *no* kits on the market right now, especially open source ones. It will be a hit.
member
Activity: 102
Merit: 10
I can send you my design files and BOM if you'd like. I haven't built the board yet as it's not back from the fab, but if you want to get some made yourself, let me know.

Would you consider, once you verify your board is working, to organize kits for interested buyers? If you order PCBs in some quantity you can get a discount not available if everyone orders PCB for himself. You can call a vote to see how many are interested, collect the money and order collective buy of components (everything except BF chips), with appropriate fee for you efforts.

Quite possibly. I'll keep everyone updated once the boards are built (and a BF ASIC is obtained... hint, hint...)

I'm also thinking about designing a board with room for 12-16 ASICs that will fit in the format of a miniITX board. This would let you use a 1U case and power supply. I'll post progress on that as it comes together.
legendary
Activity: 1974
Merit: 1077
^ Will code for Bitcoins
I can send you my design files and BOM if you'd like. I haven't built the board yet as it's not back from the fab, but if you want to get some made yourself, let me know.

Would you consider, once you verify your board is working, to organize kits for interested buyers? If you order PCBs in some quantity you can get a discount not available if everyone orders PCB for himself. You can call a vote to see how many are interested, collect the money and order collective buy of components (everything except BF chips), with appropriate fee for you efforts.
member
Activity: 102
Merit: 10
I wish I had gotten in on this months ago, I have to say I am impressed by the work done and the fact people can get boards make so quickly! I thought I was doing good getting my BEs running at 730Mh/s , all the time and work in doing that could have done a lot more with so much less. Seeing the design there is not much to change really I have tried to read every post on this, are there any major design changes that I might have missed? May lay out basically a single test board like I have seen, didn't see and design files laying around so I guess I'll lay one out. Good job to everyone involved pretty amazing!

I can send you my design files and BOM if you'd like. I haven't built the board yet as it's not back from the fab, but if you want to get some made yourself, let me know.
full member
Activity: 188
Merit: 100
I wish I had gotten in on this months ago, I have to say I am impressed by the work done and the fact people can get boards make so quickly! I thought I was doing good getting my BEs running at 730Mh/s , all the time and work in doing that could have done a lot more with so much less. Seeing the design there is not much to change really I have tried to read every post on this, are there any major design changes that I might have missed? May lay out basically a single test board like I have seen, didn't see and design files laying around so I guess I'll lay one out. Good job to everyone involved pretty amazing!
full member
Activity: 222
Merit: 100
and add all the centers that will be shut down by governments/law enforcement in the not so far future.

Yeah, with the US and the EU being the most risky places in the world to see this happening.
legendary
Activity: 974
Merit: 1000
and add all the centers that will be shut down by governments/law enforcement in the not so far future.
erk
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 500

you seem to be completely dicounting power usage and price. A 'home rig' may cost $0.09-0.19/kWh  while a hosted rig at a data center will cost $0.03-0.09/kWh. a few dollars a day per rig, plus shared AC costs, means that hosting a 100 units on cheap power provides enough savings for all your above gripes (rental, techguy, etc)

I know that by paying less than 10c/kWh where I am, that it gives me a decent leg up over much of the USA's home miners, because the power usage will become more important than the hashrate very soon
Have you ever operated a commercial data center?  I have, they cost a lot to run, and it varies from location to location, you can't generalize and say data center electricity is $0.03-0.09/kWh. for every watt of mining power, you use a watt of aircon/lights etc. Data center racks are some of the most expensive real estate on the planet per sq. ft.


http://www.electronics-cooling.com/2007/02/in-the-data-center-power-and-cooling-costs-more-than-the-it-equipment-it-supports/
legendary
Activity: 2128
Merit: 1005
ASIC Wannabe
Of course, you're not just paying for a piece of silicon wafer, but also for the months of design work, the cost of the mask set, as well as a risk premium.

Trust me, most of us are comfortable with that.  I'm more uncomfortable with the fact that the prices are staying set right at the ragged edge of profitability, and they're higher than they were originally announced to be.

There is no headroom in the chip pricing, all sorts of unknowns creep in when you are trying to make boards, then you add the fact that the ROI mostly governed by the price of one component, and you enter a high risk scenario.

I think the future of ASIC is small home rigs with no aircon and other overheads, exactly where many of the independent board designs are focused. I may be wrong, but it looks like how BTC difficulty works, it leaves no room for the cost of aircon, data center rental, and staff all of which the small home rig avoids by subsidy of normal living. I don't see the big farms at Bitfury's future clients unless they intend to wind up chip production and retire when the farms eventually become unprofitable.



you seem to be completely dicounting power usage and price. A 'home rig' may cost $0.09-0.19/kWh  while a hosted rig at a data center will cost $0.03-0.09/kWh. a few dollars a day per rig, plus shared AC costs, means that hosting a 100 units on cheap power provides enough savings for all your above gripes (rental, techguy, etc)

I know that by paying less than 10c/kWh where I am, that it gives me a decent leg up over much of the USA's home miners, because the power usage will become more important than the hashrate very soon
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Similar to the ones cablez makes and sells? http://imgur.com/a/Hm3Ua   If so I already have one!
The + needs to be in the center, and the - on the outside ring. This is the most common configuration, but of course there are some exceptions, so watch out.



Thanks for the heads up!  I'll check with Cablez...
erk
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 500
Of course, you're not just paying for a piece of silicon wafer, but also for the months of design work, the cost of the mask set, as well as a risk premium.

Trust me, most of us are comfortable with that.  I'm more uncomfortable with the fact that the prices are staying set right at the ragged edge of profitability, and they're higher than they were originally announced to be.

There is no headroom in the chip pricing, all sorts of unknowns creep in when you are trying to make boards, then you add the fact that the ROI mostly governed by the price of one component, and you enter a high risk scenario.

I think the future of ASIC is small home rigs with no aircon and other overheads, exactly where many of the independent board designs are focused. I may be wrong, but it looks like how BTC difficulty works, it leaves no room for the cost of aircon, data center rental, and staff all of which the small home rig avoids by subsidy of normal living. I don't see the big farms at Bitfury's future clients unless they intend to wind up chip production and retire when the farms eventually become unprofitable.

sr. member
Activity: 251
Merit: 250
Similar to the ones cablez makes and sells? http://imgur.com/a/Hm3Ua   If so I already have one!
The + needs to be in the center, and the - on the outside ring. This is the most common configuration, but of course there are some exceptions, so watch out.

hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Just a quick question, when you say 12v dc supply, does that mean I can power using a pc psu? and if some what connectors would I use?

just bought 2 from technobit....

Thanks Smiley

The latest version has a barrel jack for power instead of the 2 pin molex in the picture. Nicest solution is a compact brick with a barrel jack. You need about 4A if you don't go wild with overclocking. A PC PSU will work too, but needs an cable adapter.

Similar to the ones cablez makes and sells? http://imgur.com/a/Hm3Ua   If so I already have one!

Nice.

Thanks for the clarification!!
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