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Topic: KnCMiner declares bankruptcy due to increased competition, upcoming halving (Read 4263 times)

hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
Stop scamming people by hiding that fact!

It seems kfc did just this:
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://digital.di.se/artikel/project-klondike--sa-overtalades-investerarna-att-satsa-i-knc-miner&prev=search

In their investors prospectus, they never mentioned the fact that block rewards would be halving in 2016 and that this was a potential threat to investors money.

KNCMiner - scamming people by hiding that fact since 2013!
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
you should not be running around calling everything in the world a scam.

But everything in the world is a scam.

Stop scamming people by hiding that fact!

Scammer scammer!
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1185
dogiecoin.com

And I think if they had competently built the what, $30M-odd datacenter full of 16nm chips they supposed had a year ago they probably wouldn't have gone broke. But it looks like they screwed that up too.

It kinda looks that way, doesn't it.
To have had enough 16nm chips to fill a data center a year ago would have meant getting chips  in quantity say around Jan 2015. That is impossible. At that point in time all research and production at ALL the Fabs just starting to be capable of producing 16/14nm chips (not counting IBM & Intel who only make chips for internal use) was exclusively for AMD, Apple, Cisco, and Samsung (and Samsung was 14nm, internal use only back then).

Unless KnC was willing to maybe pony up several 100 million dollars to join the que for low-node chips back then all they would have gotten is nice smiling nods in discussions with the Foundries and that's it.
According to their news archives, they taped out 16nm in Feb 2015 and "deployed" in June 2015.

That said, their investors said they encountered "large technical issues" and "they failed to get the right processors", so you assume they f-ed up 16nm, a big part of the reason they went bust.

They certainly didn't have 100 million dollars, they were VC funded to the tune of 20-30 million.

So what do you think of that story? Do you think they bluffed all their investors about 16nm?

My interpretation of it (and their low hash rate) was that 16nm either failed or required 2 goes at it to get a sensible chip.

Its worth pointing out that this isnt a BFL / Spondoolies style bankruptcy, they're essentially just calling it day and will (as far as we know) pay all their commitments and distribute the rest to shareholders. Its also worth pointing out the large amounts of money that flowed out the company which is still counted as success, ie the core and extended team's handsome payments for several years as well as any other side companies they have. They were trying to be competitive though, they let go ~20% of their employees back in January.
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!
So, when they announced 16nm tapeout with TSMC in the first week of February 2015, what kind of timeline should that have given them for deploying an appreciable quantity of any finished-product miner if the chip actually worked?
"Tapeout only means that they have functioning chips -- which back then would mean strictly very low yield per-wafer engineering samples to play with. Maybe they work per expected or (mostly likely) not. Considering TSMC first announced 16nm starting full tilt production for AMD around July last year (ref link?) it is possible KnC had earlier finagled getting a few test wafers slipped in but no way any large - and decent yield - amount of wafers that were production-grade.

I won't fault them on being, well, call it "overly-optimistic" about when 16/14nm would open up to customers other than Tier-1 simply because said T1 customers had for the last few years been transfixed by the light at the end of the 16/14nm tunnel as well. Problem is, it kept slipping further and further back... That said, KnC should have been closely following what was happening at the Foundries back then and tempered their enthusiasm with experience from past forays into new sizes.

Edit: Given the history of (finally) hitting 14/16nm nodes with decent yields only around Nov. of last year it sounds like that since TSMC at least ran samples for KnC to evaluate and given the general simplicity that 2112 says sha mining ASIC's have vs huge complexity that full up SOC or CPU's have they would have made nice tests for any foundry to use as process response benchmarks so that would be an incentive to run a batch or few of 'test' wafers with (again) someone else footing most of the foundry's actual process cost...

Wanna bet that what the foundry learned from running KnC's chips was applied to Bitmains and BitFury's? (and where applicable the Tier-1 folks as well) A foundry may not be able to suggest layouts 'other folks' used but they *can* apply information regarding how the various process steps are performed and the general results from their 'secret sauce' . That information is IP for the foundry to internally use as as desired Wink

Of course back in Feb last year making the actual state of process readiness to run boutique chips known -- *that* would have heavily dampened any VC and pre-order/other funding...
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000

And I think if they had competently built the what, $30M-odd datacenter full of 16nm chips they supposed had a year ago they probably wouldn't have gone broke. But it looks like they screwed that up too.

It kinda looks that way, doesn't it.
To have had enough 16nm chips to fill a data center a year ago would have meant getting chips  in quantity say around Jan 2015. That is impossible. At that point in time all research and production at ALL the Fabs just starting to be capable of producing 16/14nm chips (not counting IBM & Intel who only make chips for internal use) was exclusively for AMD, Apple, Cisco, and Samsung (and Samsung was 14nm, internal use only back then).

Unless KnC was willing to maybe pony up several 100 million dollars to join the que for low-node chips back then all they would have gotten is nice smiling nods in discussions with the Foundries and that's it.
According to their news archives, they taped out 16nm in Feb 2015 and "deployed" in June 2015.

That said, their investors said they encountered "large technical issues" and "they failed to get the right processors", so you assume they f-ed up 16nm, a big part of the reason they went bust.

They certainly didn't have 100 million dollars, they were VC funded to the tune of 20-30 million.

So what do you think of that story? Do you think they bluffed all their investors about 16nm?
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
You guys are aware this topic is about KnC and their bankruptcy right, and not some technical chit chat about their pin connectors and cables and stuff  Cheesy

True, but if a car company had a bunch of recalls leading up to declaring bankruptcy, it would certainly be brought up in the discussion.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
So, when they announced 16nm tapeout with TSMC in the first week of February 2015, what kind of timeline should that have given them for deploying an appreciable quantity of any finished-product miner if the chip actually worked?
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!

And I think if they had competently built the what, $30M-odd datacenter full of 16nm chips they supposed had a year ago they probably wouldn't have gone broke. But it looks like they screwed that up too.

It kinda looks that way, doesn't it.
To have had enough 16nm chips to fill a data center a year ago would have meant getting chips  in quantity say around Jan 2015. That is impossible. At that point in time all research and production at ALL the Fabs just starting to be capable of producing 16/14nm chips (not counting IBM & Intel who only make chips for internal use) was exclusively for AMD, Apple, Cisco, and Samsung (and Samsung was 14nm, internal use only back then).

Unless KnC was willing to maybe pony up several 100 million dollars to join the que for low-node chips back then all they would have gotten is nice smiling nods in discussions with the Foundries and that's it.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures

And I think if they had competently built the what, $30M-odd datacenter full of 16nm chips they supposed had a year ago they probably wouldn't have gone broke. But it looks like they screwed that up too.

It kinda looks that way, doesn't it.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures

True, this is the hardware subsection. And, a topic about a hardware vendor, filing bankruptcy. Though, not because of their latest shitty batches subject due to certain connectors and/or faulty designs, on which I agree and which also fall into the hardware subcategory for that matter, but due to (anticipated) increased competition and (pre-speculated) upcoming blockhalving  Smiley

Their faulty design is not the reason KnC filing bankruptcy; that's due to something else  Wink

If you want to be a mod, you should find another forum.

~LOL~
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
Their faulty designs are one reason we're not sad to see them go.

And I think if they had competently built the what, $30M-odd datacenter full of 16nm chips they supposed had a year ago they probably wouldn't have gone broke. But it looks like they screwed that up too.
sr. member
Activity: 343
Merit: 252
Yep.

While you are almost certainly correct

Nope. This thread is in the Hardware subsection. You fellas just like agreeing with the ladies.

True, this is the hardware subsection. And, a topic about a hardware vendor, filing bankruptcy. Though, not because of their latest shitty batches subject due to certain connectors and/or faulty designs, on which I agree and which also fall into the hardware subcategory for that matter, but due to (anticipated) increased competition and (pre-speculated) upcoming blockhalving  Smiley

Their faulty design is not the reason KnC filing bankruptcy; that's due to something else  Wink
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures
Yep.

While you are almost certainly correct

Nope. This thread is in the Hardware subsection. You fellas just like agreeing with the ladies.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures
IF you have HCS terminals, and HCS pins. Most cables probably aren't made with 13A-rated pins, especially on consumer ATX PSUs intended for PCIe spec of more like 3-4A per pin expected use.

Well, that's why we use EVGA 1300 and Seasonic supplies with custom cables, right ?

KNC stated that HCS was a requirement, somewhat after the fact ofc.

~LOL~

alh
legendary
Activity: 1846
Merit: 1052
You guys are aware this topic is about KnC and their bankruptcy right, and not some technical chit chat about their pin connectors and cables and stuff  Cheesy

While you are almost certainly correct, this thread with pins and all is a breath of fresh air compared to the "Spondoolies goes Under thread". No name calling, character insults, or generally rude behavior here. I didn't even know there was such a thing as an HCS ping!

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-spondoolies-tech-carrier-grade-data-center-ready-mining-rigs-unmod-1471914
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
Yep. The technical rose from a discussion of KNC's making shoddy hardware and how we're not that upset to see them go. It had actually been dropped already and then came back up.
sr. member
Activity: 343
Merit: 252
You guys are aware this topic is about KnC and their bankruptcy right, and not some technical chit chat about their pin connectors and cables and stuff  Cheesy
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
IF you have HCS terminals, and HCS pins. Most cables probably aren't made with 13A-rated pins, especially on consumer ATX PSUs intended for PCIe spec of more like 3-4A per pin expected use.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures

Doesn't the PCI-E 'spec' call for a 75W "max" on 6 pin?

the pci-e spec is for computer cards only. so to be within spec for computers its 75/6 pin 150/8pin

the connector itself is rated 150/6 pin 300/8 pin as other have said.

The ATX spec is 150/300 ( 1 6 pin connector, 1 6 pin and 1 8 pin connector)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-12.html

But

The Molex Mini-Fit Plus is spec'd up to maximum of 12A/circuit with HCS terminals for dual row 6 pin connectors and 11A/circuit with HCS terminals for dual row 8 pin connectors. That gives a maximum power rating at 12 volts of 288 watts for the 6 pin Mini-Fit Plus with HCS terminals and 396 watts for the 8 pin Mini-Fit Plus with HCS terminals.

http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/ps/PS-45750-001.pdf (page 5)

Therefore, although marginally close to maximum ratings, the KNC Titan power connector is operating within its intended application range. It would have been nice to use two in the design, especially as they are so inexpensive, just to provide an added margin of safety. But everybody knows that KNC are cheap assed *******.
legendary
Activity: 4354
Merit: 3614
what is this "brake pedal" you speak of?

Doesn't the PCI-E 'spec' call for a 75W "max" on 6 pin?

the pci-e spec is for computer cards only. so to be within spec for computers its 75/6 pin 150/8pin

the connector itself is rated 150/6 pin 300/8 pin as other have said.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures
Doesn't the PCI-E 'spec' call for a 75W "max" on 6 pin?

Good discussion of this issue here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274631-28-power-spec-power-plug#2674391

The high current pin currently in use with 16 ga wire allows ~396 watts on the 8 pin PCI-E power connector.

I've had a Seasonic PCI-E power socket melt on me and also a KNC Titan power socket, at different times, though both times I was using the KNC supplied splitter calbe. It just depends on where high resistance due to corrosion or oxidation occurs in the system. I now periodically remove and inspect all my Titan power connectors for signs of problems and put them through a couple of insert and remove cycles to wipe the pins and sockets clean.

I RMA'd a cube to KNC with this problem and had a turnaround of a few weeks. I paid shipping there, they paid shipping back.
They always were tight with their money ...



hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 500
I ignored a blanket condemnation of Sweden, made by a Swede, in another thread, because it's not something I know about. If someone wanted to trash the American business mentality, I might speak up - unless I thought his assertion was valid.

I defended a comment about "human garbage" in another thread because, as a person who doesn't like to be stolen from, and as a businessman who works to provide for my customers whether I win or lose (and I have taken my share of losses to keep promises I made, losses caused by others failing to keep business promises to me), I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the victim of theft for allowing himself to be robbed and give a pat on the back to the robber as "just doing his job".

KNC definitely was winning for a while. Their silicon design guys have always done a good job of keeping ahead of the curve on efficiency. But you can't convince me that building a case from 18AWG steel instead of 24AWG steel would have lost them the race, or that putting a second PCIe jack on the board (which, really, should have been there from the start) would have lost them the race. I don't expect carrier-grade, but I do expect machines that survive shipping intact and are designed to not catch fire. There's a reason my weakest PSU board still used 9oz copper where some other guys' strongest boards use 3oz.

As someone who has been building power supply equipment for 2.5 years, hosting miners for 1.5 years, designing and building miners for 1 year, and working my ass off to fulfill business promises for five years, I like to think I know a thing or two about building things right and how to not screw customers.

I also don't think you know me well enough to judge what I would and would not be complaining about. And yes, I know a thing or two about "best efforts" and "thankless/endless tasks" especially in the bitcoin economy. And I do not backpedal.

I rarely post here anymore but I will say that Sidehack is the go to guy for mining power supply solutions.  I have half a dozen of his server power supply adapters, they work FLAWLESSLY and never an issue with overheating or malfunction. His work is beyond reproach as is his reputation.

hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
Very good question. Is there any proof that they really have 16nm-chips? Their share of the hashrate is/was small...

I posted about this in the main kfc thread, their investors claim big technical problems
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.14997169

Either it was a massive bluff about 16nm or they have 16nm, but they are massively failing/underperforming. Either way, fuck 'em. They deserve some karmic payback Cheesy

More info on this, translated from Swedish:
http://digital.di.se/artikel/knc-agaren-vi-hade-inte-koll-pa-produkten

Quote
You are satisfied with the disclosure of KNC?
"We get reports shareholders. KNC build the new circuit board. When they failed to get the right processors, they can not produce the coins fast enough. Then you are not competitive. It's a hardware play this. Like when Saab cars based on an old platform. "

So I guess kfc fucked it up technically, as well as all the other bad decisions they made.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
75W on 6-pin, 150W on 8-pin. Course 6-pin only requires 2 of the 12V wires to be there; 8-pin requires all 3. The typical PCIe crimp pin is rated for 9A, which on a 12V line and 10% safety margin puts you at a shade under 300W. Course at 9A, with a 2-foot cable of 18AWG you're losing 1V (and about 8% of your power) in the wire, making a lot of heat; with 16AWG you're still dropping about 0.65V (5% of power) and a fair bit of heat. So pushing a connector to 11A per wire/pin is definitely asking to fail.

Which drew more power per cube, Titan or Neptune? I recall the Neptune was spec'd for 2100W across 5 cubes and controller, but a hosted Titan I had here ran 5 cubes off a 1600W ATX.

I've also always assumed KFC's 16nm claim was just a bluff. I wonder if some of their technical difficulties could have been solved by running a grid of small chips like almost every successful miner has used, instead of one giant BGA device like almost every failed miner has used.

copper member
Activity: 2898
Merit: 1465
Clueless!
You truly are a fucking retarded troll, aren't you.

The PCIE spec calls for 300W max. The fact they were pushing 400W down the line was a major design oversight on the part of KNC, and it was no wonder to read anecdotes of the miners catching fire or melting.

"That picture" only shows how desperate you are to find something that can back up the otherwise unsupportable assertion of incompetence.
KNC didn't make that power cable.  Those cables are made by the PSU maker (or more likely, a subcontractor), and once in a while you'll get a poorly made one not fit for continuous load (whether under or over spec).  And if you put it in crooked or don't push it in all the way, you're going to have a bad time.
I've seen, on rare occasion, those PCIE connects burn out even with Seasonic PSUs, which are server grade and run well over spec just fine.
Before that, I also spent years running overclocked GPUs with those same cables.  Going over spec isn't a big deal, no matter how much Concern you try to generate.
You're really reaching to use one fried cable as some sort of trump card.  Better warm up first, or you might pull a muscle!   Wink

Doesn't the PCI-E 'spec' call for a 72W "max" on 6 pin?


Yeah. My view is KNC orig design was spec'd out as 250mh miner in original announcement. Then because most engineers overbuild when they were 3-4 months late they oc'd the Titans to 300mh because they had this slack to do so. But being greedy dorks they are and imho because they stick thought these Titans would be under 90day warranty only.  (Not so the forgot to change terms of 12months on web page from the previous btc Neptune miners. Thus screwed themselves.) they then oc'd it again to 350mh and thus therma issues and need for split y psu adapters.
The need for 350mh was with all the rma's requested after launch they had messed up promising 300mh. My unit at 300 mh setting qualified for rmA for 2 cubes. With the 3rd firmware update to allow up to 350 mh speed settings. I got 306mh and thus refused Rma o 2 dead dies on 2 cubes. But as a result that psu plug is byond spec and melts w/o the psu y adapter. Hell sometimes with. I just think it funny that it was a great plan on 90 day warranty. But not so much when they screwed up an had to honor rma's for a year. Oops
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1185
dogiecoin.com
You truly are a fucking retarded troll, aren't you.

The PCIE spec calls for 300W max. The fact they were pushing 400W down the line was a major design oversight on the part of KNC, and it was no wonder to read anecdotes of the miners catching fire or melting.

"That picture" only shows how desperate you are to find something that can back up the otherwise unsupportable assertion of incompetence.
KNC didn't make that power cable.  Those cables are made by the PSU maker (or more likely, a subcontractor), and once in a while you'll get a poorly made one not fit for continuous load (whether under or over spec).  And if you put it in crooked or don't push it in all the way, you're going to have a bad time.
I've seen, on rare occasion, those PCIE connects burn out even with Seasonic PSUs, which are server grade and run well over spec just fine.
Before that, I also spent years running overclocked GPUs with those same cables.  Going over spec isn't a big deal, no matter how much Concern you try to generate.
You're really reaching to use one fried cable as some sort of trump card.  Better warm up first, or you might pull a muscle!   Wink

Doesn't the PCI-E 'spec' call for a 75W "max" on 6 pin?
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
Very good question. Is there any proof that they really have 16nm-chips? Their share of the hashrate is/was small...

I posted about this in the main kfc thread, their investors claim big technical problems
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.14997169

Either it was a massive bluff about 16nm or they have 16nm, but they are massively failing/underperforming. Either way, fuck 'em. They deserve some karmic payback Cheesy
legendary
Activity: 1281
Merit: 1000
☑ ♟ ☐ ♚
Anybody with inside knowledge?

Just curious, what went wrong with the 0.06 J/GH 16nm Solar ASIC?
They claimed to have it since when? Beginning of 2015?

How can a company with this piece of “alien” hardware loose the mining competition?

Even if Bitfury delivers its 16nm ASIC in about 2 weeks Wink , the Solar ASIC would still be more efficient!
And even including Swedish energy taxes they should have <$0.06/kWh power costs in northern Sweden!

Was this Solar ASIC just FUD?
Was KNC not able to create a working miner based on it?
Or is the ASIC too expensive caused by low 16nm yield?


Very good question. Is there any proof that they really have 16nm-chips? Their share of the hashrate is/was small...
full member
Activity: 129
Merit: 100
Anybody with inside knowledge?

Just curious, what went wrong with the 0.06 J/GH 16nm Solar ASIC?
They claimed to have it since when? Beginning of 2015?

How can a company with this piece of “alien” hardware loose the mining competition?

Even if Bitfury delivers its 16nm ASIC in about 2 weeks Wink , the Solar ASIC would still be more efficient!
And even including Swedish energy taxes they should have <$0.06/kWh power costs in northern Sweden!

Was this Solar ASIC just FUD?
Was KNC not able to create a working miner based on it?
Or is the ASIC too expensive caused by low 16nm yield?
legendary
Activity: 1120
Merit: 1000
Or BTC will double and they will come out of bankruptcy.




highly  Possible and they know it then come out on top smart move and riskily but smart but at some point they will wtf up and mess with the wrong players if this happens...

Hopefully they do mess with the wrong players - eye for and eye
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
Or BTC will double and they will come out of bankruptcy.




highly  Possible and they know it then come out on top smart move and riskily but smart but at some point they will wtf up and mess with the wrong players if this happens...
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1072
Crypto is the separation of Power and State.
I ignored a blanket condemnation of Sweden, made by a Swede, in another thread, because it's not something I know about. If someone wanted to trash the American business mentality, I might speak up - unless I thought his assertion was valid.

I defended a comment about "human garbage" in another thread because, as a person who doesn't like to be stolen from, and as a businessman who works to provide for my customers whether I win or lose (and I have taken my share of losses to keep promises I made, losses caused by others failing to keep business promises to me), I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the victim of theft for allowing himself to be robbed and give a pat on the back to the robber as "just doing his job".

KNC definitely was winning for a while. Their silicon design guys have always done a good job of keeping ahead of the curve on efficiency. But you can't convince me that building a case from 18AWG steel instead of 24AWG steel would have lost them the race, or that putting a second PCIe jack on the board (which, really, should have been there from the start) would have lost them the race. I don't expect carrier-grade, but I do expect machines that survive shipping intact and are designed to not catch fire. There's a reason my weakest PSU board still used 9oz copper where some other guys' strongest boards use 3oz.

As someone who has been building power supply equipment for 2.5 years, hosting miners for 1.5 years, designing and building miners for 1 year, and working my ass off to fulfill business promises for five years, I like to think I know a thing or two about building things right and how to not screw customers.

I also don't think you know me well enough to judge what I would and would not be complaining about. And yes, I know a thing or two about "best efforts" and "thankless/endless tasks" especially in the bitcoin economy. And I do not backpedal.

You don't have to be Swedish or know anything about Sweden to find nationalist bigotry risible and objectionable.  As if there were actually an Swedish or American "business mentality" generalizable over millions of citizens (or even a couple of notoriously freethinking Bitcoiners!  Grin).

Regardless of the backpedaling over those secondary matters and process/meta concerns, I believe what you're saying about potential improvements to the chassis.

But it's not reasonable to expect KNC to have made perfect the enemy of good enough, nor is it fair to assume they would have necessarily made all the best/correct calls on the trade-offs involved in the rushed design process.

I'm sure you were willing to wait with heroic patience while KNC got everything right.  However, the rest of us (individual and group/institutional buyers) were counting down the seconds until the damn things shipped!  Thus we demonstrate the internal logic of the task's thankless nature, and why eventually someone always winds up getting called "human garbage."   Grin

Some of us even invested in mining companies, and so had in terms of calculated risk 3rd order exposure (and in terms of gambling, a risky bet on a risky bet on a risky bet).   Grin
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1014
ex uno plures
I guess they decided to dump the company with it's losses on the books, cash out their btc at $475

$585 at Huobi atm.

Good riddance KNC.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
I ignored a blanket condemnation of Sweden, made by a Swede, in another thread, because it's not something I know about. If someone wanted to trash the American business mentality, I might speak up - unless I thought his assertion was valid.

I defended a comment about "human garbage" in another thread because, as a person who doesn't like to be stolen from, and as a businessman who works to provide for my customers whether I win or lose (and I have taken my share of losses to keep promises I made, losses caused by others failing to keep business promises to me), I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the victim of theft for allowing himself to be robbed and give a pat on the back to the robber as "just doing his job".

KNC definitely was winning for a while. Their silicon design guys have always done a good job of keeping ahead of the curve on efficiency. But you can't convince me that building a case from 18AWG steel instead of 24AWG steel would have lost them the race, or that putting a second PCIe jack on the board (which, really, should have been there from the start) would have lost them the race. I don't expect carrier-grade, but I do expect machines that survive shipping intact and are designed to not catch fire. There's a reason my weakest PSU board still used 9oz copper where some other guys' strongest boards use 3oz.

As someone who has been building power supply equipment for 2.5 years, hosting miners for 1.5 years, designing and building miners for 1 year, and working my ass off to fulfill business promises for five years, I like to think I know a thing or two about building things right and how to not screw customers.

I also don't think you know me well enough to judge what I would and would not be complaining about. And yes, I know a thing or two about "best efforts" and "thankless/endless tasks" especially in the bitcoin economy. And I do not backpedal.
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1003
How did those Y connectors prevent melting when it was the same amount of current going thru that 1 PCIe connector on the Neptune?





Since the Cube cooling fan cools the PCI-E connector , does not have any connection with PCIE spec  300W max.
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1072
Crypto is the separation of Power and State.
The problem is not the cable. I never said it was the cable. Nobody said it was the cable. The problem is that the miner itself is drawing up to 400W through a single PCIe jack. People sometimes have trouble with the SP20 and Avalon6 taking in 500W through two jacks and still roasting connectors. The KNC Neptune pulling 400W through a single connector and causing fires is a well-documented problem, not something someone made up on a whim to make the manufacturer look bad. Just do a quick search for "Neptune fire", you'll see claims going back to 2014. That's the kind of thing even an intern engineer should have caught long before it came to production.

I've got some pictures of my own, of some Titan cubes that required rebuilding (for at least the second time) after shipment because the entire housing was so flimsy that heatsink mounting screws were ripping the threads out and coolers were flopping around loose inside the case breaking stuff. That's also the kind of thing even an intern engineer should have caught long before it ever went out the door.

Aside from any complaints about how the management may have mistreated customers, the design and build quality of their later products is some evidence that they were "mailing it in". Those amateur engineering blunders are the only things I have hard evidence for, but it's enough to convince me they stopped caring about what got sent out a long time ago.

KNC was winning the 3rd gen ASIC competition for a while, thanks to their rapid time to market.  That successful execution didn't happen because they were scamming or "mailing it in."  

I can easily bore you by reminiscing about the details of the race to 28nm, if that's what you want.

If KNC took their sweet time and your sweet money to painstakingly design/test/deliver bespoke "carrier grade" equipment you'd be complaining about that instead, as it would have made the miners much less profitable.

KNC obviously put in their best efforts given the time constraints and trade-offs involved, which ironically was a mistake, because dealing with retail gamblers is (as you continue to demonstrate) a thankless/endless task.

You've gone from defending comments about "human garbage" and ignoring blanket condemnations of Sweden to niggling over build quality.

If you backpedal any faster, you might start to polarize the vacuum itself, like a very small magnetar...   Wink
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
How did those Y connectors prevent melting when it was the same amount of current going thru that 1 PCIe connector on the Neptune?

legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1003
You truly are a fucking retarded troll, aren't you.

The PCIE spec calls for 300W max. The fact they were pushing 400W down the line was a major design oversight on the part of KNC, and it was no wonder to read anecdotes of the miners catching fire or melting.


I'm pretty sure you've never had any Neptune or Titan.

I had 6 x Meptune set. 2 melted PCI-E socket before I got Y spliters. After splitters none  burnt  PCI-E connector.

I have today over 30 Titan cubes. All with splitter cables. No burnt  PCI-E connectors an cube but some burnt   PCI-E connector an original KNC Y cables.  Not  originals working very well.

Since the Cube cooling fan cools the PCI-E connector , does not have any connection with PCIE spec  300W max.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
The problem is not the cable. I never said it was the cable. Nobody said it was the cable. The problem is that the miner itself is drawing up to 400W through a single PCIe jack. People sometimes have trouble with the SP20 and Avalon6 taking in 500W through two jacks and still roasting connectors. The KNC Neptune pulling 400W through a single connector and causing fires is a well-documented problem, not something someone made up on a whim to make the manufacturer look bad. Just do a quick search for "Neptune fire", you'll see claims going back to 2014. That's the kind of thing even an intern engineer should have caught long before it came to production.

I've got some pictures of my own, of some Titan cubes that required rebuilding (for at least the second time) after shipment because the entire housing was so flimsy that heatsink mounting screws were ripping the threads out and coolers were flopping around loose inside the case breaking stuff. That's also the kind of thing even an intern engineer should have caught long before it ever went out the door.

Aside from any complaints about how the management may have mistreated customers, the design and build quality of their later products is some evidence that they were "mailing it in". Those amateur engineering blunders are the only things I have hard evidence for, but it's enough to convince me they stopped caring about what got sent out a long time ago.
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1072
Crypto is the separation of Power and State.
Yeah, their early miners were super expensive but because they were super efficient compared to everything else at the time. They proved they could do good work, which is why people trusted them enough to continue buying.

Regarding claims of incompetence - that picture says quite a bit. I think bringing to market a 400W device taking in power from a single connector good for less than 300W continuous is claim enough. There's a fair bit of demonstrable shoddiness in their later miners, a bunch of rookie mistakes you wouldn't expect to see in someone's college project let alone from engineers from a multi-million-dollar company. From what I've seen of KNC miners, their silicon guys were pretty good but board-level guys need help and the mechanical guys should have been fired.

"That picture" only shows how desperate you are to find something that can back up the otherwise unsupportable assertion of incompetence.

KNC didn't make that power cable.  Those cables are made by the PSU maker (or more likely, a subcontractor), and once in a while you'll get a poorly made one not fit for continuous load (whether under or over spec).  And if you put it in crooked or don't push it in all the way, you're going to have a bad time.

I've seen, on rare occasion, those PCIE connects burn out even with Seasonic PSUs, which are server grade and run well over spec just fine.

Before that, I also spent years running overclocked GPUs with those same cables.  Going over spec isn't a big deal, no matter how much Concern you try to generate.

You're really reaching to use one fried cable as some sort of trump card.  Better warm up first, or you might pull a muscle!   Wink
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
Yeah, their early miners were super expensive but because they were super efficient compared to everything else at the time. They proved they could do good work, which is why people trusted them enough to continue buying.

Regarding claims of incompetence - that picture says quite a bit. I think bringing to market a 400W device taking in power from a single connector good for less than 300W continuous is claim enough. There's a fair bit of demonstrable shoddiness in their later miners, a bunch of rookie mistakes you wouldn't expect to see in someone's college project let alone from engineers from a multi-million-dollar company. From what I've seen of KNC miners, their silicon guys were pretty good but board-level guys need help and the mechanical guys should have been fired.
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1072
Crypto is the separation of Power and State.
I am glad to see KnC miner die!  Fuck them.
They fucked so many people with their incompetence.

The KNC Saturn/Jupiter was one of the most profitable Bitcoin miners ever released.

Not sure how you get from there to "incompetence."

I guess you believe competence alone is enough to guarantee endless success, no matter how external business conditions like price/difficulty change for the worse.

Perhaps raging butthurt has something to do with your bizarre, factually challenged assertion.  I've seen it happen before; it's never pretty when some n00b doesn't get the Magical Money Printing Machine he spent his entire allowance/mortgage payment gambling on.
hero member
Activity: 874
Merit: 1000
I am glad to see KnC miner die!  Fuck them.  It is great to see Sam Cole burn up like a 6 pin PCI-E connector on his shitty hardware.  I hope his financial loss is significant too.  They fucked so many people with their incompetence.  With this kind of operations, it serves them right that they should die a miserable death.  Bye-bye KnC! 

copper member
Activity: 2898
Merit: 1465
Clueless!
So they saw they were about to become insolvent and stopped operations before that happened. Is there anything you sheep dont call a scam on this board? Just because YOU do not understand how business works you should not be running around calling everything in the world a scam.

Might be, but as a company they did at least to say a poor job. 21m in startup capital, the assets gained from selling hardwares, and all the assets they mined themselves, and they declared bankruptcy? If they are doing around $480 cost-per-coin, then they were obviously doing something wrong in how the company's capital was being averted...

Again they did the same thing they have done before...(see my previous post) leverage from one endeavor to another leaving investors (home miners then ipo cloud and data center investors etc) holding the bag...just when the profits start to happen..they change gears from in the home miner case...mnfg to competion with data halls....with IPO $$$ as partner thru data hall and cloud miner and solar in house only chip investment ..to hey we are going bankrupt and thus JUST at the point in any of these endeavors is it gonna start to pan out for the investors (ie home miners more equip..oops.....sorry we are gonna be a data hall and used your money to be so.....ipo $$$ oops cloud mining does not work any more nor does btc equip mining with the chips you helped finance ...we are moving on to this

http://www.kncminer.com/blog/newsarchive

so it all ends up in the above ..from their fast dealing medicine show.......out of town asap....now the ABOVE from what I understand is making $$$ hand over fist and I did NOT hear about a lot of IPO $$$ to launch that puppy out of house....and remember I think I heard Sam Cole used to be a banker...so it all becomes clear now don't it

(or hell maybe they got IPO $$$ for that too and are going to invest such in the next whatever)

'Evil ..is nimble it seems' Sad

sr. member
Activity: 343
Merit: 252
So they saw they were about to become insolvent and stopped operations before that happened. Is there anything you sheep dont call a scam on this board? Just because YOU do not understand how business works you should not be running around calling everything in the world a scam.

Might be, but as a company they did at least to say a poor job. 21m in startup capital, the assets gained from selling hardwares, and all the assets they mined themselves, and they declared bankruptcy? If they are doing around $480 cost-per-coin, then they were obviously doing something wrong in how the company's capital was being averted...
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
According to my analysis their first miner the KNC Saturn/Jupiter was one of the most profitable Bitcoin miners ever released. Shame that the company went downhill right after due to greed.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/lifetime-hardware-roi-profits-for-all-bitcoin-mining-hardware-1477198

hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
http://digital.di.se/artikel/bitcoinkursen-knackte-knc-miner--ansoker-om-konkurs

"With us it was about to go to the moon or nowhere. We never aimed to build a medium-sized company. Our investors are not happy, but they understand the situation. "

Guys, can't you read between the lines? They went bankrupt because they were over-invested in Dogecoin. TO THE MOON!
copper member
Activity: 2898
Merit: 1465
Clueless!
KnCMiner declares bankruptcy due to increased competition, upcoming halving

https://www.blockcrushr.com/kncminer-declares-bankruptcy-due-increased-competition-upcoming-halving

“Due to high uncertainty regarding the bitcoin block halving that occurs in July, in combination with a continued rapid capacity expansion from our competitors, the company is very unlikely to be able to fulfil it’s obligations past July. The board therefore took the decision to take the company voluntarily into receivership.”

This is act 3 of KNC 'evil' master plan imho.....(remember KNC has always said (think I read this someplace...could be wrong) they mine to cash daily....and if they get BTC it is bought
after the fact..keep that in mind below...imho has always been a cash cow....you milk till it croaks...seems I was correct in my assumption

part 1

Make their 'home miners' (mercury,saturn,jupiter,neptune,titan) and use this customer money to fund their own data hall and use to start data center for btc mining (jupiter) ..thus getting
out of home mining..would not have been an issue except for promises and they announced data hall only months after pre-orders saying they would never have a data center etc etc

part 2

Using such a pre-order plan...and using (in the case of Neptunes) customer pre-order cash....make the units and give them to your data hall FIRST (4 months late to the original consumers who paid for all this) and also use such $$$ for your 'solar chip' which you deploy with IPO $$$ ...and NOT make available to the public whose money and product you are sitting on...and get big IPO $$$ from richer folk then home miners...same as part 1 with folk that have deeper pockets ...don't ya know
...also at this time 'hype up your' cloud mining operation for even more IPO $$$....so big IPO newbies with bigger pockets replace smaller home miner types with smaller pockets..

part 3

start another endeavor the finance part of KNC that is on the new york stock exchange....the IPO $$$ from the above farm and cloud mining above funds that is what is bleed out to use
as a startup cash for this

....then once it (the exchange)  is a going concern.....(again with even more IPO $$$ for this endeavor I presume) ...announce you are going to 'stop your mining farm' and declare bankruptcy....(you've already cash flowed it out that this makes sense at this point in time) wipe out any or all debt from previous miscalculations...and move on to your finance arm of a btc exchange operation up and running and doing well..and wash your hands from the rest

all paid for up front before any move from one endeavor to another

so 'everyone' but knc is left holding the bag as it were


'Brilliant" ie (evil pays.....tm knc) Smiley


Notice the pattern.......product (asic miners) cut off when no longer in the best interest of knc to maintain due to the 'competition' with their future data center.....
product (data mine) big IPO $$$ and such .hype on cloud mining etc and other big investors (see current coinbase article) ....up to the point where it too no longer
makes sense to make btc when you can play bank and move btc about for a fee....product (knc exchange) no fuss no muss no equip all funded in house with limited
I would think IPO $$$...kncminer the corp eats all previous debt/obligations.....win/win/win

or so it seems to me (again I think KNC is the personification of evil..so I may be biased ..my only proof is when I do laundry in my basement ..I try to avoid 'eye contact' with
the Titans...evil they are.....they will try to 'brick themselves' at any wary look I use in their direction (or so it seems) shudder Smiley

But kidding aside...the timing of how they use $$$ from others to their advantage and JUST when such money starts to benefit (users say more miners) or (IPO $$$ say a good return on their investment) knc then just up and goes into a 'completely different direction...leaving the above parties....with nothing to show for the investment ..then the good and happy face of Sam Cole as he uses the $$$ in a completely NEW endeavor

again the 'evil' thing they do have it down pat..most legit businesses at least 'wait' a bit so the consumers get a taste of some of the benifit of all this or in the IPO $$$ case at least
some return on their trust and investment....but not KNC ..the grass is always better at the other side of the hill as they 'sprint away'....

so I expect to see another lawsuit to KNC by the IPO investors....ie ..same song....a different band as it were

evil...got to say...they do it 'well' indeed Smiley
 

 
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
Or BTC will double and they will come out of bankruptcy.

hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
So they saw they were about to become insolvent and stopped operations before that happened. Is there anything you sheep dont call a scam on this board? Just because YOU do not understand how business works you should not be running around calling everything in the world a scam.
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
This will cause a difficulty drop, and they probably squirreled away loads of mined BTC
About this time last year Scam Hole said they had 10-30,000 btc "squirreled away", which was no doubt a vast and deliberate underestimate
http://digital.di.se/artikel/bitcoinbrytarnas-dolda-skattgomma

Considering they have had so much VC money since then, it would not be surprising if they had this and MUCH more squirreled away now.

I guess they decided to dump the company with it's losses on the books, cash out their btc at $475 and onto their next criminal enterprise.

Or move their mining to another part of the world that is cheaper. Otherwise the VC's who invested in them would be in court trying to get their money back. So they must be in on the scam.
sr. member
Activity: 364
Merit: 250
This will cause a difficulty drop, and they probably squirreled away loads of mined BTC
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
This only open up a new door to them so be care full this time you all know how they roll .!!!!   don't invest in them, in any form unless you like being used abused etc ....

we should start seeing a lot of KNC stuff being sold cheap like Unacceptable said, they got what was coming to them it was just a matter of time.

They could have been top dog all most forever but they got greedie and then tried to take over the bitcoin network which can't be done.
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 1001
Ah crap... so what mining companys are left now?

What do you mean by "Aw crap",KnC was NOT selling anything (miners) to the public,ripped off those who they did sell to awhile back & was in direct competition with home miners.

You should be sayin "Aw yeah!!!!!!" to them leaving the mining scene.

We MAY see a reduction in the diff from this,not much though,their miners are to be sold off so they'll be going somewhere to be turned back on Sad
hero member
Activity: 742
Merit: 500
What about the ppl who paid thousands for hardware!?!?!??!
member
Activity: 98
Merit: 10
Ah crap... so what mining companys are left now?

3 biggest ones are in China and a couple of big ones still "alive" in europe (iceland, C.republic)

if im not mistaken
legendary
Activity: 1284
Merit: 1042
Ah crap... so what mining companys are left now?
member
Activity: 98
Merit: 10
$21M in funding(s) just went to waste...
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
KnCMiner declares bankruptcy due to increased competition, upcoming halving

https://www.blockcrushr.com/kncminer-declares-bankruptcy-due-increased-competition-upcoming-halving

“Due to high uncertainty regarding the bitcoin block halving that occurs in July, in combination with a continued rapid capacity expansion from our competitors, the company is very unlikely to be able to fulfil it’s obligations past July. The board therefore took the decision to take the company voluntarily into receivership.”
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