Could you take some shots of the machine and post here?
Certainly. I'll send you what I sent them. I'll post them in a post of their own. Took quite a few, and want to separate it from this post since I'm replying to multiple people at once. Don't want it to be too spammy.
wow. how are they shipping these things?
Was shipped UPS, packed with broken styrofoam in a box that was put together using duct tape, which is just odd. Duct tape? *shrugs*
Yeah, mine was packaged the same way. Difficult to open, but it was packed pretty solid. No damage at all on mine, but UPS did initially ship it to the wrong city. Directly opposite direction from their shipping hub. In several decades of dealing with UPS, I've never been impressed. Or more to the point the impression they make is terrible.
FWIW, mine has been happily hashing away on Eligius without any issues. I haven't had time to take it apart and take proper photos yet, but I will soon. With the baby due any minute now and a full time job, my life is chaos right now. At least my miner is working steadily
I talked to Jim on the phone yesterday for a little while before I went to work, and he said they are ready to go as soon as they get the chips. He said they would need a little time to test and tweak the firmware, but they are set to go with assembly. I didn't ask if they had sample chips yet. I meant to, but was rushed and forgot.
He also said they had tried to hire a couple of customer service people and they flaked on him. I don't really have any details, but he did say they're still working on it. My impression remains they are technical professionals, but didn't quite realize what they were biting off. Jim very much wants AMT to be the go-to company for ASIC machines in the United States, and that level of ambition in a smart man will likely pay off for both AMT and the consumer. From my point of view, I think we're seeing early speed bumps. I am convinced of their intentions, and when I get to the point I can do so, I'm buying from them. I think they'll iron out their problems outside the supply chain. That problem ain't going away. It seems there is always some gadget that you can't get on the day you need it in this industry. Usually the chips, but in watching the Klondike project, there seemed to be several "common" components that just dried up when they were needed.
In my conversation with Jim it seemed to me that the majority of their pre-orders are the Bitmine based machines which is the main reason for the delay. He didn't say that, it was the impression I got from the conversation. I should have asked more specific questions, I suppose, but we were mainly talking about my impressions of the rig they sent me. Which aside from the ugly packaging have been all positive so far. I like the machine. It's certainly not a professional level rig, whereas the others are, but as an entry level device, I think it's a decent deal. The price is higher than Blackarrow, but lower than other bitfury rigs. So right about the middle of the road, and you don't have to do a shitload of setup on it. Once I figured out that it was auto launching cg-miner it literally took two minutes to point it at Eligius. I'll post up the procedure for that with pictures on the review thread as the next project.
Also, thanks to Vesperwillow, I should have a Kill-a-watt pretty soon, and I'll post the draw. The internal software allows you to change the voltage and several other settings for overclocking/overvolting etc. Have no clue if that voids the warranty, but since I'm evaluating the unit rather than paying for it, I'll do it as soon as I know what I'm doing, and duly report the results. But as it shipped, it averages slightly above the advertised hashrate and seems dead stable. It's been running continuously for a couple of days without a hiccup. The case gets pretty warm, but not crazy hot. Keeps this previously kind of cold room comfortable, which to my cold blooded body is a bonus.
I will continue to update my evaluation of the machine in it's own thread, and link to it from this one. Right now, I've managed to watch the stats between real world tasks, and that's about it. I start a leave of absence from work on the 12th, with the baby due by induction supposedly on the 15th, so the odds are I'll have a day or two to play with it around there. Assuming my daughter don't get impatient and come early
but from the forum thread they should have A1 chips in the next two weeks. Yeaa
