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Topic: KnCMiner unveils plans and specs for new "Solar" ASIC chips (Read 2469 times)

full member
Activity: 138
Merit: 100
I would like to pre-order 10 of those and pay in Doge, plz.
hero member
Activity: 742
Merit: 500
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1000
0.07nm? BULLSHIT!!!


KNC loves publicity... I actually was lucky enough to get to listen to the firm they hired at one point at a BTC conference.   Funny experience to say the least.

I think were a ways off from this.  I think it's publicity trying to get high end asic farms to look at them. 
hero member
Activity: 742
Merit: 500
0.07nm? BULLSHIT!!!
sr. member
Activity: 441
Merit: 250
Quote
KnCMiner has annouced that it will launch deployment of its "Solar" line of chips in Q1 2015.

Based in Sweden, KnCMiner has indicated that its new chip will have a 16 nm process, which represents an improvement over the 20 nm process which was used in the Neptune.

KnCMiner was first to market with a 20nm process with the Neptune, which achieved an efficiency of 0.7 W per Gh/s.

If a 20 nm process can achieve an efficiency of 0.7 W per Gh/s, then what do you think the Solar line of chips can achieve? Well, if sources at KNC are to be believed, a ten-fold improvement is to be had at 0.07 W per Gh/s.

In other words, a 1.4 KW miner which could run from your 15 amp home outlet could hash at a rate of 20 TH/s. Yikes!

The technology which enables this leap in efficiency is called FinFET which allows chip designers to scupt transistors in 3D, instead of the standard planar modeling.

The Solar ASIC, which features 5000 cores, has yet to go into full production. Whether the Solar manufacturing rollout goes smoothly or whether it will be plagued by manufacturing issues like those which sunk manufacturer Hashfast remains open question. Time will tell.

Source: http://www.asicspace.com/blog/knc-miner-solar-chips
W

The key line here is "if sources at KNC are to be believed", and if you feel that they can be trusted then that's a personal decision, since they don't plan on selling any then you'll never know whether this is horseshit or not. Might frighten their competition though, but going on KNC's past record for efficiency I wouldn't worry too much if I was them, Spondoolie's 28nm design easily outperforms their 20nm one. Cointerra's figures are much more believable, although they are rather on the high side.

What is fact is that moving to 16nm Finfet from 20nm does NOT give you a 10 fold decrease in power consumption, even with 3D transistors. What is fact is that there are physical solutions in 28nm that can better their figure with good 'ol 2D transistors - translating to 0.034 W / (Gh/sec) in 16nm.

So there's something for the "sources at KNC" to consider.

Incidentally, why the 5000 cores guys? Got something against working in powers of 2 or is the yield expected to be so bad that 20% of your cores are unusable?
full member
Activity: 187
Merit: 100
So they will ship the Solars in 2016 as soon as they ship out the rest of the Neptunes in 2015 so they can begin shipping the bonus Neptunes from 2014 that were originally ordered in 2013. On second thought they should just start calling themselves BFL and get it over with.
 Cheesy Grin Shocked Cool Lips sealed Tongue Wink

When you say bonus miners do you mean the free 1 miner for every 10 you bought or the 2 for 1 miners for batch CA and batch #1?
2 for 1.
donator
Activity: 1057
Merit: 1021
So they will ship the Solars in 2016 as soon as they ship out the rest of the Neptunes in 2015 so they can begin shipping the bonus Neptunes from 2014 that were originally ordered in 2013. On second thought they should just start calling themselves BFL and get it over with.
 Cheesy Grin Shocked Cool Lips sealed Tongue Wink

When you say bonus miners do you mean the free 1 miner for every 10 you bought or the 2 for 1 miners for batch CA and batch #1?
full member
Activity: 187
Merit: 100
So they will ship the Solars in 2016 as soon as they ship out the rest of the Neptunes in 2015 so they can begin shipping the bonus Neptunes from 2014 that were originally ordered in 2013. On second thought they should just start calling themselves BFL and get it over with.
 Cheesy Grin Shocked Cool Lips sealed Tongue Wink
newbie
Activity: 10
Merit: 0
All speculation on the ship at this point? or at least manufacturing them...

On paper this works, but putting it in a true life application, and finding someone who can produce what the engineers have come up with could be the major issue.(at least for the price range Im sure..cheaper the manufacturing, cheaper for us as the consumers...however this also comes at a price with failure)

Well if this does happen, maybe this is the next step in Asics. Cant wait to see these things in action when they get to our door steps.
full member
Activity: 121
Merit: 100
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Quote
KnCMiner has annouced that it will launch deployment of its "Solar" line of chips in Q1 2015.

Based in Sweden, KnCMiner has indicated that its new chip will have a 16 nm process, which represents an improvement over the 20 nm process which was used in the Neptune.

KnCMiner was first to market with a 20nm process with the Neptune, which achieved an efficiency of 0.7 W per Gh/s.

If a 20 nm process can achieve an efficiency of 0.7 W per Gh/s, then what do you think the Solar line of chips can achieve? Well, if sources at KNC are to be believed, a ten-fold improvement is to be had at 0.07 W per Gh/s.

In other words, a 1.4 KW miner which could run from your 15 amp home outlet could hash at a rate of 20 TH/s. Yikes!

The technology which enables this leap in efficiency is called FinFET which allows chip designers to scupt transistors in 3D, instead of the standard planar modeling.

The Solar ASIC, which features 5000 cores, has yet to go into full production. Whether the Solar manufacturing rollout goes smoothly or whether it will be plagued by manufacturing issues like those which sunk manufacturer Hashfast remains open question. Time will tell.

Source: http://www.asicspace.com/blog/knc-miner-solar-chips
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