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Topic: Announcement - ASIC mining processor by Butterfly Labs - page 6. (Read 227559 times)

sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
Quote
29 May 2013 - ASIC Update

Almost there... I'm attaching a picture of our test board. We've almost got the firmware finalized, as you can see, we've brought power usage down quite a bit. This is a 50 GH/s unit with unbinned chips (meaning the chips were randomly selected, so some of the chips have non-functional engines. What this means is the unit can perform faster if you use binned chips with known good engines).

I think the picture speaks for itself, and I apologize for the quality... just took a quick snap while we were working. However, you can see that our power usage is under 5w/GH/s. This should apply across all product lines. I plan on testing out the short boards tomorrow. We should be getting in many of the reworked short boards tomorrow as well as some long boards. Next week, we expect a much larger shipment of both long and short boards to arrive (possibly even this Saturday, but that's still up in the air.)

In any event, we should have the firmware finalized by tomorrow night or Friday at the latest and ready to go.


https://forums.butterflylabs.com/announcements/692-bfl-asic-status-3.html

Some progress, though the power consumption seems a lot higher than I would have expected. They must be using 25% faster clock rate than the ones in the 5GH/s unit. 250Watts for 50GH/s is about 40% more than I calculated, factoring in the extra fans. Still I guess it's way better than the 620watt 66GH/s some reviews have reported the Avalon doing.



11.5 months and counting and still they don't have their shit together?  Cheesy

I guess their shit need time to processed Grin
legendary
Activity: 2492
Merit: 1473
LEALANA Bitcoin Grim Reaper
Quote
29 May 2013 - ASIC Update

Almost there... I'm attaching a picture of our test board. We've almost got the firmware finalized, as you can see, we've brought power usage down quite a bit. This is a 50 GH/s unit with unbinned chips (meaning the chips were randomly selected, so some of the chips have non-functional engines. What this means is the unit can perform faster if you use binned chips with known good engines).

I think the picture speaks for itself, and I apologize for the quality... just took a quick snap while we were working. However, you can see that our power usage is under 5w/GH/s. This should apply across all product lines. I plan on testing out the short boards tomorrow. We should be getting in many of the reworked short boards tomorrow as well as some long boards. Next week, we expect a much larger shipment of both long and short boards to arrive (possibly even this Saturday, but that's still up in the air.)

In any event, we should have the firmware finalized by tomorrow night or Friday at the latest and ready to go.


https://forums.butterflylabs.com/announcements/692-bfl-asic-status-3.html

Some progress, though the power consumption seems a lot higher than I would have expected. They must be using 25% faster clock rate than the ones in the 5GH/s unit. 250Watts for 50GH/s is about 40% more than I calculated, factoring in the extra fans. Still I guess it's way better than the 620watt 66GH/s some reviews have reported the Avalon doing.



11.5 months and counting and still they don't have their shit together?  Cheesy
erk
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 500
Quote
29 May 2013 - ASIC Update

Almost there... I'm attaching a picture of our test board. We've almost got the firmware finalized, as you can see, we've brought power usage down quite a bit. This is a 50 GH/s unit with unbinned chips (meaning the chips were randomly selected, so some of the chips have non-functional engines. What this means is the unit can perform faster if you use binned chips with known good engines).

I think the picture speaks for itself, and I apologize for the quality... just took a quick snap while we were working. However, you can see that our power usage is under 5w/GH/s. This should apply across all product lines. I plan on testing out the short boards tomorrow. We should be getting in many of the reworked short boards tomorrow as well as some long boards. Next week, we expect a much larger shipment of both long and short boards to arrive (possibly even this Saturday, but that's still up in the air.)

In any event, we should have the firmware finalized by tomorrow night or Friday at the latest and ready to go.


https://forums.butterflylabs.com/announcements/692-bfl-asic-status-3.html

Some progress, though the power consumption seems a lot higher than I would have expected. They must be using 25% faster clock rate than the ones in the 5GH/s unit. 250Watts for 50GH/s is about 40% more than I calculated, factoring in the extra fans. Still I guess it's way better than the 620watt 66GH/s some reviews have reported the Avalon doing.

The 5GH/s unit has been shown to have 2 x ASIC chips on the board, with space for 8 total, so I presume the 50 GH/s  double board has 16 x ASIC chips, so they would need to overclock them 25% or they would only get 40GH/s out of 16 chips.

/EDIT Actually the 250 watts is a pretty good figure, I worked it out wrong before, was thinking little single. You are getting effectively 10 Jalapenos worth of hash rate and they would be around 300watts worth if you bought 10 of those. The single seems more efficient.

legendary
Activity: 1428
Merit: 1001
Okey Dokey Lokey
...
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)

How hard is it to misread a kill-a-watt? Perhaps it is a multi-chip unit with the chips under-clocked.
Clearly for the guy at Ars - misreading a kill-a-watt is pretty easy.

Mine is a multi chip (2) unit (30 cores) that is under-clocked.
Any options as far as overclocking go? And any news posted about the temperature it runs at?
No clocking control.
Mine runs at around 46C +/- 2ish ... 5.4+GH/s ... 32W

But seriously - the guy considers himself worth giving a report and he comes up with 50W
Sounds more like "Oh I just looked at it sideways and misread it - but does it really matter I'm within 80% of the actual value ..."

He's certainly on the list of people I'd take no notice of anything he says.

... and 50W is 'slightly' higher than 43.5W? Seriously?

Basically it all means his Kill-A-Watt is screwed (50W ... 43.5W ?!?) and he needs to have a reliable one before reporting ... but hell, why would anyone expect reliable info from someone reporting something ...
Perhaps his BFL unit is internally damaged and its "messing around" with its own power usages due to a faulty component?
legendary
Activity: 4592
Merit: 1851
Linux since 1997 RedHat 4
...
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)

How hard is it to misread a kill-a-watt? Perhaps it is a multi-chip unit with the chips under-clocked.
Clearly for the guy at Ars - misreading a kill-a-watt is pretty easy.

Mine is a multi chip (2) unit (30 cores) that is under-clocked.
Any options as far as overclocking go? And any news posted about the temperature it runs at?
No clocking control.
Mine runs at around 46C +/- 2ish ... 5.4+GH/s ... 32W

But seriously - the guy considers himself worth giving a report and he comes up with 50W
Sounds more like "Oh I just looked at it sideways and misread it - but does it really matter I'm within 80% of the actual value ..."

He's certainly on the list of people I'd take no notice of anything he says.

... and 50W is 'slightly' higher than 43.5W? Seriously?

Basically it all means his Kill-A-Watt is screwed (50W ... 43.5W ?!?) and he needs to have a reliable one before reporting ... but hell, why would anyone expect reliable info from someone reporting something ...
sr. member
Activity: 389
Merit: 250
As far as wanting to read the kill-a-watt, wired just posted the full image with their review, reading 43.5, meaning a sightly higher reading around 50 may well just be current inter-unit variability. Future variability is anyone's guess though.
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 1000
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

Klondike.... 16 avalon chips 4.512 GH/s @ 32 watts. Hmmm funny if they work and the start mining en masse by August. I'd be pissed if that happens and I was a BFL customer waiting at the end of the queue.

It be nice to see a Garzik like review of any of these "prototypes" that BFL shipped. Funny none have been given a real review. I wonder why?
sr. member
Activity: 389
Merit: 250
...
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)

How hard is it to misread a kill-a-watt? Perhaps it is a multi-chip unit with the chips under-clocked.
Clearly for the guy at Ars - misreading a kill-a-watt is pretty easy.

Mine is a multi chip (2) unit (30 cores) that is under-clocked.
Any options as far as overclocking go? And any news posted about the temperature it runs at?
legendary
Activity: 4592
Merit: 1851
Linux since 1997 RedHat 4
...
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)

How hard is it to misread a kill-a-watt? Perhaps it is a multi-chip unit with the chips under-clocked.
Clearly for the guy at Ars - misreading a kill-a-watt is pretty easy.

Mine is a multi chip (2) unit (30 cores) that is under-clocked.
legendary
Activity: 1190
Merit: 1000
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

It looked like the Ars Technial jalapeno was 50W... seems like there is still some inconsistency to the models being shipped currently.
Again, I expect the guy can't measure power properly.
He's the only one with 50W - so unless there is something wrong with his Jalapeno, it's simply a case of using a crappy Watt meter or not being able to read.
While very possible it could also be the difference between measured at the wall and expected/drawn by each chip (although I would doubt a 40% power waste). Some of what they had mentioned about changes to the metal layer on later batches of chips (read also: not the ones shipping now) is that the later chips had improved power profiles. So these might be the early chips that eat more power. He may just have a bad unit or bad measurement, or there might be higher variability and/or power draw in the first units.

TL;DR - I would at least expect later units to draw less J/GH/s
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)

How hard is it to misread a kill-a-watt? Perhaps it is a multi-chip unit with the chips under-clocked.
legendary
Activity: 4592
Merit: 1851
Linux since 1997 RedHat 4
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

It looked like the Ars Technial jalapeno was 50W... seems like there is still some inconsistency to the models being shipped currently.
Again, I expect the guy can't measure power properly.
He's the only one with 50W - so unless there is something wrong with his Jalapeno, it's simply a case of using a crappy Watt meter or not being able to read.
While very possible it could also be the difference between measured at the wall and expected/drawn by each chip (although I would doubt a 40% power waste). Some of what they had mentioned about changes to the metal layer on later batches of chips (read also: not the ones shipping now) is that the later chips had improved power profiles. So these might be the early chips that eat more power. He may just have a bad unit or bad measurement, or there might be higher variability and/or power draw in the first units.

TL;DR - I would at least expect later units to draw less J/GH/s
I got one of the Jalapenos in the 2nd small batch sent out after the first 2 Jalapenos - so well before him.
Mine reads 32W at the wall (5.4Gh/s)
sr. member
Activity: 389
Merit: 250
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

It looked like the Ars Technial jalapeno was 50W... seems like there is still some inconsistency to the models being shipped currently.
Again, I expect the guy can't measure power properly.
He's the only one with 50W - so unless there is something wrong with his Jalapeno, it's simply a case of using a crappy Watt meter or not being able to read.
While very possible it could also be the difference between measured at the wall and expected/drawn by each chip (although I would doubt a 40% power waste). Some of what they had mentioned about changes to the metal layer on later batches of chips (read also: not the ones shipping now) is that the later chips had improved power profiles. So these might be the early chips that eat more power. He may just have a bad unit or bad measurement, or there might be higher variability and/or power draw in the first units.

TL;DR - I would at least expect later units to draw less J/GH/s
legendary
Activity: 4592
Merit: 1851
Linux since 1997 RedHat 4
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

It looked like the Ars Technial jalapeno was 50W... seems like there is still some inconsistency to the models being shipped currently.
Again, I expect the guy can't measure power properly.
He's the only one with 50W - so unless there is something wrong with his Jalapeno, it's simply a case of using a crappy Watt meter or not being able to read.
sr. member
Activity: 490
Merit: 255
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.

It looked like the Ars Technial jalapeno was 50W... seems like there is still some inconsistency to the models being shipped currently.
sr. member
Activity: 389
Merit: 250
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
My impression is that they're sorting out the chips that ended up lower speed than predicted and trying to figure out how to ship everyone their units without having to pay out the ass for their number error. Then they'll start selling the new, slightly slower, much more expensive units.

The new power draw figures aren't out yet (probably in case they have to change again) but it looks like the 5GH/s jalapeno is going to be 30w per the last thing I saw. For reference the new units support up to 16 chips on one board with higher power draw overall.
legendary
Activity: 2492
Merit: 1473
LEALANA Bitcoin Grim Reaper

Quote
Another busy week here at the labs. We continued to refine the LS/S/MR boards while waiting for our next delivery of chips. We expected them today, Friday the 10th, but the packager has been dragging their feet in the process (and one of the reasons we initiated the switch to a new packaging facility, as mentioned previously). The first bulk shipment from the new packaging house is expected on Tuesday and should consist of several hundred chips, which we will be building into all the product lines, assuming no snags are encountered this weekend on the latest rev of the LS/S/MR boards. If there is a blocking problem, we will build them all into 5 GH/s units, but we don't expect any blocking issues at this point.

The rest of the wafers are expected at the bumping facility the following week, and once bumped, they will head to the new packaging facility which is capable of a much higher volume, so we expect them to be packaged pretty quickly and ready for use after they arrive at the facility.

The word "expect" is used so much it just goes to show how much BFL doesn't have a fucking clue on when things will be done. No idea at all.

Pathetic.


SHOULD EXPECT SHOULD EXPECT MORE BULLSHIT UPDATES FROM BFL.  Cheesy
hero member
Activity: 1162
Merit: 500
They don't update here anymore?

No. Now I do the updates for them:




Quote
Just advertise?

Yes. Advertise and collect money. No shipping.
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 1000
They don't update here anymore? Just advertise?
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 1000
Tick tock.... any OFFICIAL updates?
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