Topic: PCI-e Based FPGA Mining Cards - page 2. (Read 6005 times)
Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I would be interested in this board as well. Let me know if you need help testing, etc.
As for people wanting to buy them, I don't think I want that kind of pressure. I'm fine opensourceing my board, but I'm a rather lazy guy.
Can't say i blame you on that!
Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
Just to see if I can. I'm not doing this because I'm trying to make a product or anything, I'm just a bored dev who has a mobo laying around with 6 pci-e x16 slots. Besides, the PCI-e will come in handy if BitSyncom ever gets around to selling ASIC chips. The board will have to be completely redone, and the cooling situation tackled (I'm thinking closed-loop liquid), but it would be fun.
I don't see the point. USB-based FPGA miners already work well.
Putting them on a PCIe card just limits scalability to the number of PCIe slots in the system, and you'll have to fit the whole thing with cooling into a 20mm wide slot (40mm if you're gonna occupy 2 slot widths).
Now if you're going for a board to mine Scrypt, using host memory, well OK...
Putting them on a PCIe card just limits scalability to the number of PCIe slots in the system, and you'll have to fit the whole thing with cooling into a 20mm wide slot (40mm if you're gonna occupy 2 slot widths).
Now if you're going for a board to mine Scrypt, using host memory, well OK...
Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
Of course everything is a little bit of a gamble with BTC - but since fpga's seem to still have some value based on the current price (which as we all know is subject to change) it is probably not a bad idea.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
The designs I have now are 2 chips per card (I'm build 3 cards to start). The designs are based heavily off fpgaminers system. As for the driver, I'll have that covered, TheSeven gave me a great place to start. I'm actually a developer who is dabbling in hardware as a hobby.
As for people wanting to buy them, I don't think I want that kind of pressure. I'm fine opensourceing my board, but I'm a rather lazy guy.
Of course everything is a little bit of a gamble with BTC - but since fpga's seem to still have some value based on the current price (which as we all know is subject to change) it is probably not a bad idea.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
what if free power?
I don't understand. If your asking about specs, I won't know until the chips come in, but I imagine they will be close to fpgaminers specs, as they used the same chip.
what if free power?
I have 6 spartan6x150's in the mail headed my way to do some testing with. I have the PCI-e board sketched up on KiCad, and am going to contact a PCB manufacture tomorrow about getting a few made. If all goes well, I'll post the board schematics on here for public use.
For those intrested, DigiKey is selling spartan6x150 singles for $158/chip and $170/chip (same chip, just 2 different batches), just search for "XC6SLX150".
My current board design is PCI-e x16, double wide to fit a wide heatsink and fan in.
I'm also in contact with a rep from Achronix, hoping for a low-ish estimate on their HD1000 series of FPGAs (sub $1,500/chip), but I doubt it.
Thoughts, ideas, opinions?
For those intrested, DigiKey is selling spartan6x150 singles for $158/chip and $170/chip (same chip, just 2 different batches), just search for "XC6SLX150".
My current board design is PCI-e x16, double wide to fit a wide heatsink and fan in.
I'm also in contact with a rep from Achronix, hoping for a low-ish estimate on their HD1000 series of FPGAs (sub $1,500/chip), but I doubt it.
Thoughts, ideas, opinions?
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