Well, no, because if I didn't have to take time to do everything else ever I'd have probably finalized the Compac in May. I had a full two weeks where I didn't touch the thing, and then the first day I came back to it I had it up and working within about four hours. There have been a lot of wait times for PCBs and such, but considering other losses (and especially that first failed regulator, which honestly would probably have been good enough if we had the right driver software) we're pretty far behind schedule.
I think we already have pretty good people, and a pretty good plan, but the resources part has always been the limiting factor for us. But we're solving that problem.
Speaking of resources, I just got word from Bitmain that the chips I'll be wanting are in stock and they can sell them to me. I'm wondering if I shouldn't buy more than 1000 (I also asked about 2000), partly so I have more to test with for bigger boards, and partly because I could probably sell more than 1000 chips worth of Compac and Amita sticks. I've been talking a bit with a guy in Europe that wants to license the design (once I know it's good enough) for manufacture and sales over there, which would be pretty good for Eurocustomers that don't want to pay more for international shipping and import taxes than the thing actually costs, but that means he'll also need some chips so I could probably pick up a larger pile and share them out. It's been suggested that I make up my mind in the next couple days, which if that means they want me to pay down on chips in the next couple days we're gonna be in a tight spot because 1000 chips shipped would be about 14.5BTC and I sorta don't have that available. I'm hoping I can reserve stock, because as has been stated since the beginning, I'm not willing to take in money on these until they're tested and verified, and I won't have the final PCBs until next week so the final version product won't be in the hands of testers for a week after that. I could base things off the reports from the four guys getting modified pre-final prototypes (three of which sticks should be delivered today), but that's not really the same thing.
Opinions?
Topic: GekkoScience BM1384 Project Development Discussion - page 62. (Read 146700 times)
I've actually been slacking lately. Novak's putting in some long hours, but today we cut out early to play baseball instead of build stuff. As for rarely having a life, that's been my general state for years now and I'm pretty used to it.
Don't compliment how much I get done in a short time in a thread for a project that's over a month behind expectations. I was hoping to have a functional TypeZero board by now, and I don't even have Compac final-version PCBs in hand yet. Though really if I had passed on doing a stickminer and went straight into dev for the TypeZero it probably would be done already; I lost a buttload of time making those sticks work. Never would have guessed the regulator would have been that much problem, but to solve it I ended up finding a pretty sexy buck driver that I'll be using in a couple other things - including a new project we may be talking about next week if I can get enough materials together to get a plan ironed out, codenamed "aardwolf" for no real reason other than it's a pretty cool name.
Don't compliment how much I get done in a short time in a thread for a project that's over a month behind expectations. I was hoping to have a functional TypeZero board by now, and I don't even have Compac final-version PCBs in hand yet. Though really if I had passed on doing a stickminer and went straight into dev for the TypeZero it probably would be done already; I lost a buttload of time making those sticks work. Never would have guessed the regulator would have been that much problem, but to solve it I ended up finding a pretty sexy buck driver that I'll be using in a couple other things - including a new project we may be talking about next week if I can get enough materials together to get a plan ironed out, codenamed "aardwolf" for no real reason other than it's a pretty cool name.
"With the best plan, the best people, and the best resources, the best you can do is break even."
I'm paraphrasing, but this is what Rear Admiral "Amazing Grace" Hopper once told me.
So I suspect that only being a month behind schedule is far less than would be expected in a project plan with the people and resources available.
Amazing work.
Yep, Rolla. The university is still here, still part of the UM system, but they changed the name to Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2008 (only cost about $2M to do it, thanks) for mostly whoring reasons. It's a good name that does a bit better representing the school's focus, but the reasons for the name change were entirely political/advertisement-based and happened about the same time several other schools in Missouri decided to change their names (bandwagon much?) for no apparent good reason. The school's still pretty decent, if administratively inefficient, and they've recently begun dynamiting the cheap, basic and fairly sturdy dorms in favor of fragile and expensive housing which is a pretty terrible idea.
You're in Portland OR right sidehack?
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I think Missouri Rolla is the town….. But my memory is meh.
While my memory may be equally bad, I too think Rolla Missouri. When I attended college back in the 70's, it was University of Missouri, Rolla (one campus of the University of Missouri system at the time). The acronym was UMR. It's since renamed itself to something more glitzy. At the time it was only about 4000-5000 students, though it graduated about 800 engineers a year.
You're in Portland OR right sidehack?
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I think Missouri Rolla is the town….. But my memory is meh.
i live in washington state.. about 3 hours from oregon.
You're in Portland OR right sidehack?
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I'm local to the area and would be willing to help, I'm in a weird position to have a lot of free time for the next few months.
I've actually been slacking lately.
Well get back to work, damn it!
I've actually been slacking lately. Novak's putting in some long hours, but today we cut out early to play baseball instead of build stuff. As for rarely having a life, that's been my general state for years now and I'm pretty used to it.
Don't compliment how much I get done in a short time in a thread for a project that's over a month behind expectations. I was hoping to have a functional TypeZero board by now, and I don't even have Compac final-version PCBs in hand yet. Though really if I had passed on doing a stickminer and went straight into dev for the TypeZero it probably would be done already; I lost a buttload of time making those sticks work. Never would have guessed the regulator would have been that much problem, but to solve it I ended up finding a pretty sexy buck driver that I'll be using in a couple other things - including a new project we may be talking about next week if I can get enough materials together to get a plan ironed out, codenamed "aardwolf" for no real reason other than it's a pretty cool name.
Don't compliment how much I get done in a short time in a thread for a project that's over a month behind expectations. I was hoping to have a functional TypeZero board by now, and I don't even have Compac final-version PCBs in hand yet. Though really if I had passed on doing a stickminer and went straight into dev for the TypeZero it probably would be done already; I lost a buttload of time making those sticks work. Never would have guessed the regulator would have been that much problem, but to solve it I ended up finding a pretty sexy buck driver that I'll be using in a couple other things - including a new project we may be talking about next week if I can get enough materials together to get a plan ironed out, codenamed "aardwolf" for no real reason other than it's a pretty cool name.
Yeah maybe one of these days some of these projects can be team efforts. Between Novak and I, we've basically got three or four active design projects going, and all the manufacturing tasks, and all the hosting and maintenance and packing and inventory and consulting. So things don't always get done as quickly as folks might like.
... and posting in the thread and answering PM's and rarely having a life and eating a burger occasionally and . . .
What you get accomplished in as short a time as you do. The 2 of you guys are amazing.
Yeah maybe one of these days some of these projects can be team efforts. Between Novak and I, we've basically got three or four active design projects going, and all the manufacturing tasks, and all the hosting and maintenance and packing and inventory and consulting. So things don't always get done as quickly as folks might like.
Well, the first step will be a successful test of my 18-chip board. The next step will be a successful test of the regulator circuitry. The next step will be programming a microcontroller for voltage adjustment, fan control and temperature sensing and writing driver software to make it all work right. Then integrating all of that hardware onto a finalized 18-chip board, prototyping and testing. And probably by that point it'll be time to redesign it for a different chip because we're into the next generation already. And then test that new design. And then start gathering money to get a big fat batch of chips and a couple thousand PCBs. After that, it's pretty much coasting.
LOL!!!
Ahhhh, The Readers Digest condensed version of board design.
In our experience, the heat absorption capability of these waterblocks is dependent on flow rate and coolant composition. We like and use a 50/50 mix of water and automotive green antifreeze (Walmart brand). But pure (de-ionized) water has better thermal capabilities. I might add that all the tubing we use is of the oxygen barrier type (metal, PEX, etc. . .).
50/50 in your miner. Go pure de-ionized water with a corrosion inhibitor. I use a product (super coolant don't remeber the name) 1/20 mix to prevent corrosion.We never string more than 2 waterblocks in series, as the coolant temps can become excessive feed to the last waterblock in the chain. This is due to the flow capability of a 3/8" pipe at less than 5psi differential pressure.
I run 2 C1 in series (4 waterblocks - 8 boards). Each waterblock is about 3C hotter than the previous one. So if the first waterblock is at 30C the fourth will run at 39C. - Our system capacity is larger than a few ounces, so the cost of plant fluids and chemicals is a consideration
- Our heat dump loops are 100' of 3/4 buried PEX, it gets to -30F here in the winter
- automotive antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors and a bezillion other useful additives
- automotive antifreeze helps lubricate the circulators
- a colored fluid makes hunting down leaks easier
- a scented fluid makes hunting down leaks easier
We like closer temperature tolerances from machine to machine and set alarms to notify us when things start to get outta' hand.
Am familiar with the advantages of de-ionized water w/plant chemicals from my days in the nuclear power generation.
Hope that clarifies things a bit and why I made the statements I did.
This is pretty interesting stuff, I too would love to get in on this.
Well, the first step will be a successful test of my 18-chip board. The next step will be a successful test of the regulator circuitry. The next step will be programming a microcontroller for voltage adjustment, fan control and temperature sensing and writing driver software to make it all work right. Then integrating all of that hardware onto a finalized 18-chip board, prototyping and testing. And probably by that point it'll be time to redesign it for a different chip because we're into the next generation already. And then test that new design. And then start gathering money to get a big fat batch of chips and a couple thousand PCBs. After that, it's pretty much coasting.
... almost 2.2TH and 900W from an 8-board waterblocked system.
This is quite relevant to my interests.How can we make this happen ?
Could be, if it in fact didn't light up the controller. I can probably hook up a controller to my bench supply and see where it stops taking in juice.
Yep, the controller (unplugged from hash boards) still booted with 7V input. Not sure if it's trying to pull something from the board that isn't getting read properly at a lower voltage or not.
Yep, the controller (unplugged from hash boards) still booted with 7V input. Not sure if it's trying to pull something from the board that isn't getting read properly at a lower voltage or not.
The controller board has I believe a 5V buck on it that's probably good for down to 6-7V input without any real problems.
hmm, i read the posts about the guy that tried to lower the voltage and he was saying at lower volts it wouldnt boot up, but if he booted it up with normal volts he could lower the volts while it was running down to 10v and be ok.
that led me to think it was something to do with the controller board not getting enough power from the main.
I don't have a torn-down S3 to verify, but the S5 board and S1 board have the same holes. Actually the S5 has one fewer hole (top center) but it's present on the heatsink. As far as I can tell, the heatsinks from an S1 and the S5 I'm looking at are identical.
i have a few s1's 3's and 5's. i can tear em down tonight and look at them.
edit: actually they are the same because there was an s1 to s3 upgrade kit.
They are i upgraded three S1 and still have one i use . and according to this these S3 water blocks will work with the S5 http://shop.syscooling.com/goods.php?id=47
The controller board has I believe a 5V buck on it that's probably good for down to 6-7V input without any real problems.
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