Topic: DIY FPGA Mining rig for any algorithm with fast ROI - page 99. (Read 99472 times)

thats not what it should be making

Will these work plugged into USB 2.0?

Definitely willing to build a few rigs if this is true, and the fee sounds reasonable to me at 4%. Can you show some statistics on the profitability on your rig? I.E. a link to the profitability or a graph from the pool, etc.

What kind of hashrates would these FPGA`s provide on more mainstream algo`s like Equihash? I think it would not take many hundreds of these FPGA`s before the profitability of those algo`s mentioned will not be so profitable.

More answers

- Power: 100W to 160W per card depending on the algorithm.  So how much money can you make from one 15A electrical outlet (1500-1600W)?  One 8 x GTX1070 rig makes around $13/day using the full capacity of the outlet; the same outlet can power 8 x VCU1525 and make $400+ per day, so your profit vs. electricity goes up 20x to 30x

- I'm hoping to release the first software at the end of May; keep in mind this does require many extra steps vs. mining on my own; encrypting the bitstreams, device DNA protection, thermal monitoring & overload shutdown, troubleshooting guide & utility, as well as detailed step-by-step instructions and testing on several other computers other than my own

- I have already received inquiries from people who want to help.  There is a great deal of work to do to port all the available GPU algorithms into the FPGA.  One of the most tedious tasks is test-vector generation, which is the process of inserting printf() statements into CPUMiner while connected to a live mining pool to dump extremely detailed intermediate hash values to a file to use to verify the FPGA implementation.  The release date schedule can be sped up dramatically if more people choose to help.  Test vector generation doesn't require any FPGA knowledge, it just requires C-programming knowledge

- Price; you could always mine with one KU090 for $975, otherwise you can sell 8 GPU's from an existing rig and replace all of them with just one VCU1525/XUPP3R card (for around the same price) and your profit per day goes up dramatically and your electrical bill goes down 8x

At today's prices
- one 8 x 1080 Ti rig mining Ravencoin makes $21.87 per day, and burns 1520W
- Selling those 8 x 1080 Ti cards and replacing them with one VU9P FGPA card can make $50+ per day, burns 150W

When you release the software miner? So excited, we willing to pay high fee for ur work.
And if u have time, maybe some basic guide for newbie for change settings windows, driver, with ur tool (of course), honestly the FPGA is almost newly to most of us.

this is a nice setup. did not think that today still someone use fpga for mining. unfortunately, the price is a bit high.

how much electricity does your fpga miner use?

I am using Windows 10.  Originally on my GPU rigs I ran linux, but first I had of lot of freeze-ups, second, all the latest (and fastest) miner builds were only released for Windows, so I upgraded all my GPU's to Windows.

For the FPGA's, the development tools and drivers are mostly geared towards Windows.  To run my software, it is expecting Windows 10 (but probably works on Windows 7), you need to install the FTDI D2XX drivers, and you need to install Vivado Lab Edition (free from Xilinx) to download the bitstreams into the FPGA's.

Which OS are you running for these FPGAs? Thanks

Some answers:

- The exact part number for VCU1525 is: DK-U1-VCU1525-A-G
(this is the version with a fan; it also comes in a fanless version which needs some type of external air movement system, not recommended; definitely go for the version with a fan)

- I realize even a single VU9P FPGA card might be out of range (pricewise) for some people.  The Avnet KU040 is $975:
https://www.avnet.com/shop/us/products/avnet-engineering-services/aes-ku040-db-g-3074457345630043740/
This FPGA is much smaller than the VU9P.  It can mine Keccak at 3GH/s, SHA-224 is profitable as well, and I am trying to fit Tribus into it which would run at 600MH/s and be quite profitable, but it is a tight squeeze to fit Tribus in there and I can't promise it yet.

- The smallest/cheapest board is the Nexys Video
https://store.digilentinc.com/nexys-video-artix-7-fpga-trainer-board-for-multimedia-applications/
(also available from Digikey and Avnet)
This board has an even smaller FPGA and can only do Keccak and SHA-224 (Bismuth), with an ROI of around 200 days.  So it isn't the most profitable, but it does have the amazing advantage that it needs no fan only can get by with a passive heat sink. 

- Some people have asked me about future boards.  There is the upcoming VCU1526 (VU13P FPGA), XUPP3R-VU13P, as well as the VU35P/VU37P FPGA's with high bandwidth memory (most useful for ethereum).  I do have some plans on supporting upcoming boards, it does require changes to the software, but for the near term the only four boards I am supporting are the VCU1525, XUPP3R-VU9P, KU040 and Nexys Video.  The reason I am focusing on those boards is they have the best ROI.  The absolute biggest FPGA available (VU13P) used in some of the 'upcoming' boards is so much more expensive that the ROI is actually worse.  It's kind of like the Titan V GPU; faster than a 1080 Ti, but the extra price isn't worth it.

Thank you man
If you know more FGPAs (cheaper) that will work, tell us
I'll pay the 4% fee with pleasure

Yes, agree, with those prices, that isn't for everyone.

But I like what you were doing, that's absolutely awesome.

coooooool!!! 

what board is compatible your miner? i will be order this https://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/vcu1525-a.html

there are any more cheap boards?

My plan is to release Keccak at the end of May, then Tribus/Phi/Skunkhash in June/July.  More algorithms to follow every month.  So yes you can buy the hardware then use my software, which has a 4% fee built in.

Thats why FPGAs make sense.  Changing the algorithm is easy.

Yes, very simple, you just need to make sure you have enough USB ports on the motherboard, otherwise you can use a PCIe-USB adapter card.  Depends on how many FPGA cards you want to run.

If you mean 'fork' to a different algorithm, I can change the software in the FPGA just as fast as they can fork their coin.  You can't fork away from FPGA's.

Congratulations on your beautoful setup, I like this, i was always curious why fpga systems dissapeared so quick..now i know they never did!
I'm wanting a similar setup, my cards are so outdated,but would you be willing to share your software if I was to make the plunge hardware wise?

"ROI is 70-200 days depending on the algorithm."

profitable coins likely to swap algo on regular basis.

It's not for everyone, the price is expensive but I think this is the next step in mining

If we buy a Xilinx VCU1525 we have to buy anything more? Or it`s like a gpu you connect on PCI-E, install drivers and use your program you will launch?

Thanks