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Topic: New R-Box Upgrade Kit - page 2. (Read 4808 times)

legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
July 10, 2015, 05:55:53 PM
#69
Should hop on over to the SFARDS thread as well if you haven't already Smiley

SFards  - J4bberwock is not this far along as sidehack
avalon  mini - is not  this far along


looks like

Sidehack -------- 1 chip usb miner orders real soon  as working tested sticks  have been passed out.

Sfards -----------J4bberwock  a 2 chip dual miner not yet no working model as of now

Avalon ---------- 4(?) chip mini  in August.

My goal is to review them all and own them all.

Then see about owning more of sidehacks bigger gear as it develops.

Maybe a few 2 chips sticks.
 The 4 chip  little r-box
the 18 chip big r-box

Should be fun.




hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
FUN > ROI
July 10, 2015, 03:03:13 PM
#68
Should hop on over to the SFARDS thread as well if you haven't already Smiley
legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
July 10, 2015, 08:18:07 AM
#67
If you go down the "4-chip pod" path, then it's right smack in the middle of the U3 space. While I don't own a U3, what I read makes it sound horribly unreliable, and difficult to get stable. Is it BM1382, and that part of the problem, or what?
It's just not as well designed as it should have been, both hardware and driver interface (in that it doesn't really have one).  That's pretty unrelated to the hashing chip of choice (BM1382 is also used in the S3 - not much of a problem with those).  Short of a bitwise quirk there's no reason a 4-chip miner would have issues in terms of comms where 2 or 8 don't.

I think the nice thing about a pod miner is that they're really fairly simple in construction.  Fan, heatsink, board - all matching in size and if done well only needs screws through existing mounting holes to hold it together - done.

the plus side is a simple build  and nice to have one or two around for fun.
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
FUN > ROI
July 10, 2015, 08:07:01 AM
#66
If you go down the "4-chip pod" path, then it's right smack in the middle of the U3 space. While I don't own a U3, what I read makes it sound horribly unreliable, and difficult to get stable. Is it BM1382, and that part of the problem, or what?
It's just not as well designed as it should have been, both hardware and driver interface (in that it doesn't really have one).  That's pretty unrelated to the hashing chip of choice (BM1382 is also used in the S3 - not much of a problem with those).  Short of a bitwise quirk there's no reason a 4-chip miner would have issues in terms of comms where 2 or 8 don't.

I think the nice thing about a pod miner is that they're really fairly simple in construction.  Fan, heatsink, board - all matching in size and if done well only needs screws through existing mounting holes to hold it together - done.
alh
legendary
Activity: 1843
Merit: 1050
July 10, 2015, 02:07:36 AM
#65
If you are seriously thinking of a "4-chip" pod, do you want to adjust the poll at the top, or start a 2nd one?

If you go down the "4-chip pod" path, then it's right smack in the middle of the U3 space. While I don't own a U3, what I read makes it sound horribly unreliable, and difficult to get stable. Is it BM1382, and that part of the problem, or what?

My Rbox-little was very stable with a good power supply (i.e. not a 12V brick). It's only drawback was that it was close to 1W/GH at the wall. Once I got 3 working well with my Raspberry Model B (not B+ nor Pi2), it literally ran for 6 months without intervention. it was plenty quiet as well.
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1848
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
July 09, 2015, 11:32:11 PM
#64
I already posted a link to modified source code that goes from 100MHz up to 300MHz by 6.25MHz increments. All you'd have to do is replace the files in cgminer 4.9.0 source and compile. Don't forget Icarus support.
legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
July 09, 2015, 11:20:54 PM
#63
thanks for corrections.


I listed the 1 chip at 13.75 gh as that is my max.

Since I can't get a higher freq yet. I am pretty much certain I can get it to do 300 since at 250 with a fan it is only 90f or so.

My software skills are brutal.

 So cut + paste not much else.

If you want to send an sdcard with your minera image that has all the higher freq's

 I could test a rasp pi.

Which rasp pi did you  use?

 the B the B+ or the newest model 2

I have a B and

 the newest model 2 4 usb hub
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1848
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
July 09, 2015, 10:58:11 PM
#62
4-chip would be probably $45-50, depends on PCB cost and some other factors. Also I like how you say the 1-chip stick max at 13.5GH when I have two sticks running 16.5GH for the last couple days. I think you're just not trying hard enough...

The 4-chip would run 90GH if you could keep it cool. 65GH would run under 35W, 90GH more like 50. The 18-chip board I'd probably set stock frequency at 300MHz for a NRB, which would get you 300GH off about 120W at the machine. For 18 chips probably would run higher than $100, maybe $110 neighborhood. We'd save some in regulator cost but add more in chips.
legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
July 09, 2015, 10:40:25 PM
#61
If were now talking 4-5 chip "pod" (or "ufo" like I used to call them), vs. 12-18 chip box, I vote pod.

While we're on that subject, what kinda price would we be looking at? 35-ish?

The Amita (two-chip stick) is coming in about $35. This'd have an additional two chips ($7) and a microcontroller for voltage adjustment and temp monitoring, so add at least another ten bucks.

 25 usd ----------------- 1 chip stick   gives about 13.5 gh max at freq 250---- as I have not gotten software to load higher freq values (poor software skills on me)

35 usd  ----------------  2 chip stick   should give about   32 gh max ---- once built


45 usd -50 usd ? -- 4 chip pod    should  give  about 80-90 gh max----  65gh with 35 watts 90 gh with 50 watts



110 usd --------------- 18 chip board gives about    300gh     at 120 watts


Just to compare pricing please make corrections.--- I have corrected as per sidehack's later post
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1848
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
July 09, 2015, 10:29:18 PM
#60
If were now talking 4-5 chip "pod" (or "ufo" like I used to call them), vs. 12-18 chip box, I vote pod.

While we're on that subject, what kinda price would we be looking at? 35-ish?

The Amita (two-chip stick) is coming in about $35. This'd have an additional two chips ($7) and a microcontroller for voltage adjustment and temp monitoring, so add at least another ten bucks.
sr. member
Activity: 331
Merit: 250
July 09, 2015, 10:09:27 PM
#59
I would try a handful of the 4 chip/pod board's also.
sr. member
Activity: 419
Merit: 250
July 09, 2015, 10:09:01 PM
#58
If were now talking 4-5 chip "pod" (or "ufo" like I used to call them), vs. 12-18 chip box, I vote pod.

While we're on that subject, what kinda price would we be looking at? 35-ish?
member
Activity: 142
Merit: 60
July 09, 2015, 10:03:38 PM
#57
I'm interested in 2 upgrade kits for the R-Box and I have a friend that might want 2 as well.  It won't let me vote in the poll because I don't have enough posts, I guess I should spam up the forum more.  And depending on price, I'd also be interested in 2 sticks from this thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/gekkoscience-bm1384-project-development-discussion-995675
legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
July 09, 2015, 09:06:41 PM
#56
meh, if i could strap down an intel BGA775 sink to it (or any of them multi-socket heatsinks), i wouldn't say no. some little 60-100GH/s pod would look nice.

I do have more NBRs over U3/Grid/Rboxes. but if fitting a stock cpu heatsink to them with little mods, i have little problem buying up a handful.


4 chip units work  I am looking at my heat sinks and I think I could rig something up.
hero member
Activity: 767
Merit: 500
July 09, 2015, 08:37:17 PM
#55
meh, if i could strap down an intel BGA775 sink to it (or any of them multi-socket heatsinks), i wouldn't say no. some little 60-100GH/s pod would look nice.

I do have more NBRs over U3/Grid/Rboxes. but if fitting a stock cpu heatsink to them with little mods, i have little problem buying up a handful.
member
Activity: 88
Merit: 10
July 09, 2015, 06:32:16 PM
#54
Novak's got a disassembled U3 on his desk, and I just took apart a Gridseed pod to look it over. We don't have an R-Box pod to play with.

Either a four-chip pod or a 12-18 chip NRB board would demonstrate string and software. A 2x2 like the pod would be built off Amita power systems, not really useful for a larger board with different requirements, but would probably need firmware and driver stuff for command-line volt and frequency changes.

So maybe I should ask who'd rather have a 4-chip pod upgrade over a NRB upgrade? It'd certainly be cheaper to prototype.

I would def prefer a 4 chip board, because I have a ton of gridseeds covered in dust.
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
July 09, 2015, 04:59:07 PM
#53
Since I have a couple U3s and no R-boxes, I would vote for the 4-chip as well.
legendary
Activity: 1173
Merit: 1001
July 09, 2015, 04:57:04 PM
#52
I would rather have a 4 chip mod. Also do you want an R-Box to play with? I could possibly send one I have laying around.
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1848
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
July 09, 2015, 03:43:12 PM
#51
Novak's got a disassembled U3 on his desk, and I just took apart a Gridseed pod to look it over. We don't have an R-Box pod to play with.

Either a four-chip pod or a 12-18 chip NRB board would demonstrate string and software. A 2x2 like the pod would be built off Amita power systems, not really useful for a larger board with different requirements, but would probably need firmware and driver stuff for command-line volt and frequency changes.

So maybe I should ask who'd rather have a 4-chip pod upgrade over a NRB upgrade? It'd certainly be cheaper to prototype.
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
FUN > ROI
July 09, 2015, 03:30:21 PM
#50
r-box-little = older smaller one

r-box-big   = newer bigger one
Might be easier to label them that way, yeah.  Not sure why they ended up calling it the 'New R-Box'.  It wasn't just a small change a la the U3 batches.

Just as slight clarification:
R-Box (r-box-little)New R-Box (r-box-big)
not itit

I would be more interested in a podminer ( gridseed orb / r-box-little / U3 / zeus blizzard  / hashbuster micro / bfl jalapeno (...) / oh-geeze-now-I-gotta-count-AM-cube-too-I-give-up ) as an intermediate solution between a Compac and a full fledged type zero board.

There's pretty high-res shots of gridseed boards on the 'net and dogie's got good shots of both the U3 and the r-box-little.  Can't say I've looked at topology, but except for the LTC side of the Gridseed, they're bound to be pretty similar anyway.
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