Author

Topic: BFL's graveyard (Read 2533 times)

legendary
Activity: 1820
Merit: 1000
June 30, 2012, 02:39:28 PM
#18
They will hold on to them, wait for the bitcoin algorithm to change, update the bitstream,then sell them back to the same people that purchased them before.

Why sell a product once when you can sell it twice for 3x the profit.

Lol, and of course there would then be a new exchange program requiring customers to double down on their investment again! 
sr. member
Activity: 388
Merit: 250
June 30, 2012, 11:13:12 AM
#17
They will hold on to them, wait for the bitcoin algorithm to change, update the bitstream,then sell them back to the same people that purchased them before.

Why sell a product once when you can sell it twice for 3x the profit.
legendary
Activity: 1270
Merit: 1000
June 30, 2012, 06:25:51 AM
#16
If the Singles can be reprogrammed and used for any BOINC projects out there, that will be great.

Is there a decent sized RAM on the BFL units and a high speed USB link? Without that its very unlikely that there is much use. I know they claim medical imaging but X-ray image tend to be large, Computer tomography dataset are even much larger.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
June 30, 2012, 05:16:45 AM
#15
If the Singles can be reprogrammed and used for any BOINC projects out there, that will be great.
Oh you just have to write a bitstream for a BOINC project. Dunno how many months does it take. Or years? And if the version change, tons of changes in the bitstream  Cheesy
vip
Activity: 571
Merit: 504
I still <3 u Satoshi
June 29, 2012, 08:44:48 PM
#14
If the Singles can be reprogrammed and used for any BOINC projects out there, that will be great.

THIS A MILLION TIMES!

I gots to be mapping the galaxy yo
full member
Activity: 173
Merit: 100
June 28, 2012, 11:45:45 PM
#13
If the Singles can be reprogrammed and used for any BOINC projects out there, that will be great.
mrb
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1028
June 26, 2012, 01:34:22 PM
#12

2. Develop FPGA bitstreams for the other applications that they have been listing on their site (computational research, medical imagery, etc: http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/ ) and resell them.


Follow the links of the other applications you mention. Wink

I know. That's my point. They have not yet developed them.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 1722
June 26, 2012, 01:27:52 PM
#11

2. Develop FPGA bitstreams for the other applications that they have been listing on their site (computational research, medical imagery, etc: http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/ ) and resell them.


Follow the links of the other applications you mention. Wink
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
Per aspera ad astra!
June 26, 2012, 01:25:33 PM
#10
As already discussed in this thread, the most likely event is that they will be repurposed and resold.
sr. member
Activity: 252
Merit: 250
Inactive
June 26, 2012, 01:17:41 PM
#9

It's unlikely due to it being an operational PITA, but with an estimate of 127 TH 5 months post ASIC they could make about $6,600 per month on all of the returned FPGA units.
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 506
June 26, 2012, 01:13:47 PM
#8
What will happen with the trade in program?  What will they use their minirigs and singles for?

The asic pricing will make them worthless.

The ASIC hardware will have a preset date/time [a countdown] that will trigger all ASIC's to execute a self destruct or cease mining function. ASIC's will all be useless at the same time. BFL will then offer another 50% trade-in program with the timed-out ASIC hardware back to the [renewed] prior-gen FPGA hardware. Then the FPGA once named 'Singles' will be called Double, and the miniRig will earn the new title 'Phoenix' after the mythical bird that arises back from the ashes.

||bit
mrb
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1028
June 26, 2012, 12:55:50 PM
#7
A few options:

1. Scrap them. This would only be a minor financial loss, as the revenues of the future SC product line will/should far surpass the revenues coming from the current gen products.
2. Develop FPGA bitstreams for the other applications that they have been listing on their site (computational research, medical imagery, etc: http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/ ) and resell them.
3. Mine on them until it is not profitable anymore.
sr. member
Activity: 336
Merit: 250
June 26, 2012, 12:50:58 PM
#6
They are not only Bitcoin company, they specialize in cryptology, their initial cryptology simulations showed the Single consuming 20watt, but when they run Bitcoin mining on it, it pulled 80watt as we remember.
So they can reuse these devices in other markets.

Regarding using the boards to solder on ASIC, it was mentioned by someone that putting 30watts load on 80watts circuitry is very inefficient.
hero member
Activity: 697
Merit: 500
June 26, 2012, 12:50:46 PM
#5
One rumor I heard was they could replace the chips with ASIC and re-sell them.

That would require making their ASIC pin compatible with the FPGA they build their original PCBs on. Why limit yourself to these constraints when the PCB and active/passive components are cheap?
member
Activity: 71
Merit: 10
June 26, 2012, 12:46:56 PM
#4
One rumor I heard was they could replace the chips with ASIC and re-sell them.
legendary
Activity: 952
Merit: 1000
June 26, 2012, 12:44:28 PM
#3
What will happen with the trade in program?  What will they use their minirigs and singles for?

The asic pricing will make them worthless.

I'm assuming they can still sell the FPGA chips as used units? From what I understand those are pretty nice chips high quality FPGAs...
hero member
Activity: 697
Merit: 500
June 26, 2012, 12:43:48 PM
#2
Well, if they bought used FPGAs for $x USD per FPGA, perhaps they can resell them for $x/2 USD or some other fraction of their original used price.
sr. member
Activity: 369
Merit: 250
June 26, 2012, 12:37:10 PM
#1
What will happen with the trade in program?  What will they use their minirigs and singles for?

The asic pricing will make them worthless.
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