Including the proposed 50% increase in hardware hashing power that customers are stated to receive they will be receiving less than what other vendors have to offer with in-hand product.
As it currently stands customers are receiving no benefit whatsoever from paying up to 6 months in advance. Customers have also lost about BTC10 in revenue per x-3 due to multiple delays.
While seeing the pictures of the minions gives me hope that it's not a straight up scam i'm still not a happy camper.
Topic: Re: Black Arrow 28nm 100Ghash Bitcoin ASIC from $0.49/GH/s - page 104. (Read 96804 times)
This is great to see the product taking shape. Overdue but better late than never as the phrase goes.
Now if BA dig deep and properly compensate purchasers for their delay, this story may yet have a happy ending.
Yes please, for those of us who do not know what the difference in those boards means can you please explain if hitting that 85 GH/s is good? Is that on target for a 140A board? Does that put your estimates of getting 120 GH/s on a 200A board feasible? Please elaborate on what that means?
Small Business Note: Leaving a message that the chip that was designed to achieve 120 GH/s is getting 85 GH/s, and not explaining to a non-technical crowd what this means is generally a bad idea. (especially when that crowd is already a little angry)
Also - you did not include power specs, were those being tested as well? What are/were they?
Edit: I think you should post an address where you are doing your testing to, I would like to see/know what BA is doing with the chips now that they are in hand.
Small Business Note: Leaving a message that the chip that was designed to achieve 120 GH/s is getting 85 GH/s, and not explaining to a non-technical crowd what this means is generally a bad idea. (especially when that crowd is already a little angry)
Also - you did not include power specs, were those being tested as well? What are/were they?
Edit: I think you should post an address where you are doing your testing to, I would like to see/know what BA is doing with the chips now that they are in hand.
We are pleased to confirm that Black Arrow Minion works.
We are now testing speed and power consumption.
We are now testing speed and power consumption.
YAY, again congratulations. That is great news.
Thanks for the pictures. I guess bobsag3 should be on his way to China now. Have a safe trip.
I really hope we get a little more information before thursday, at this late in the game i think we need updates when every step happens. I know they're busy but a forum post off a smartphone would only take a minute and more people would actually know the status of production.
chips are in, according to their forum:
http://ecointalk.net/topic/392-black-arrow-weekly-production-update/page-33
Well congrats, they look nice, I hope they perform at or above specs. We seem to be pretty close to starting shipping. I think now is the time to really show your customers who you are and wow them with some positive news on both the chip and compensation front.
But if he ordered on batch 2 it's 15th of May delivery not March so he needs to say what batch he is not be vague.
I think the original delivery was end of April for batch 2. I don't know where this 15th of May date comes from.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140209091048/http://www.blackarrowsoftware.com/store/prospero-x-3.html
"This product will be available on 30 Apr 2014"
"This is a PRE-ORDER (Batch 2), available for dispatch at end of April 2014"
http://web.archive.org/web/20140209130336/https://minersource.net/products/black-arrow-prospero-x-3-2000ghash-slash-second
"THIS IS A PRE-ORDER, NOW ON BATCH 2 ROUND 1, ALL FURTHER ORDERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DISPATCH APRIL 30TH 2014."
batch 2 is already late, according to that.
taken from the bottom of ba's own site
Note: the preliminary specifications are currently reported by our design tools. They have not yet been proven in a laboratory and might be subject to change, although we do not expect it to vary much.
Group buys: Group buys are not permitted. We will cancel any order that we discover that is a group buy and will refund the payment minus 10% that we will charge for our time wasted in this matter. By placing an order for this item you agree with the above.
This is a PRE-ORDER for Batch 2, available for dispatch around 15/05/2014
I know that is the site today.
What I posted was from the wayback machine and shows the site in February, ie, when many/most people likely actually cordered their batch 2's.
But if he ordered on batch 2 it's 15th of May delivery not March so he needs to say what batch he is not be vague.
I think the original delivery was end of April for batch 2. I don't know where this 15th of May date comes from.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140209091048/http://www.blackarrowsoftware.com/store/prospero-x-3.html
"This product will be available on 30 Apr 2014"
"This is a PRE-ORDER (Batch 2), available for dispatch at end of April 2014"
http://web.archive.org/web/20140209130336/https://minersource.net/products/black-arrow-prospero-x-3-2000ghash-slash-second
"THIS IS A PRE-ORDER, NOW ON BATCH 2 ROUND 1, ALL FURTHER ORDERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DISPATCH APRIL 30TH 2014."
batch 2 is already late, according to that.
For the same as an x-3 cost I could have 4Th/s worth of ant miners in hand right now.
Thanks for making me look like a total fucking retard who lost all his money on bitcoins. I told you so's all around for me.
Thanks for making me look like a total fucking retard who lost all his money on bitcoins. I told you so's all around for me.
Indeed the chips will arrive on the 6th.
Oh I thought they were shipping on the 6th? Just arriving? My bad must have misread something, will there be an update tomorrow with pics and specs and what not?
Also, I am not sure if there is any more reevaluating going on about the compensation plan, but has anyone brought up further (besides me) about being able to sell the 50% discounts? I would def buy some off of people who only ordered 1 unit and cannot or will not buy another one, so that I get 2 units for 1.5x the price of one.
There should be an update tomorrow, but if not the minute I get notice that the chips have landed, I will be booking a flight over to China, I am going to be on hand for the first completed units and testing so I can bring at least 1 X1 back with me in my carry on
Indeed the chips will arrive on the 6th.
Oh I thought they were shipping on the 6th? Just arriving? My bad must have misread something, will there be an update tomorrow with pics and specs and what not?
Also, I am not sure if there is any more reevaluating going on about the compensation plan, but has anyone brought up further (besides me) about being able to sell the 50% discounts? I would def buy some off of people who only ordered 1 unit and cannot or will not buy another one, so that I get 2 units for 1.5x the price of one.
I suppose a question some people might be asking themselves is, "Just how long is the long con?"
Or maybe, "If the hashing I'm getting now is worth less than half the hashing I expected at the earlier promised delivery dates, have I only been half scammed?"
Conned and scammed, or half conned and half scammed?
Or maybe, "If the hashing I'm getting now is worth less than half the hashing I expected at the earlier promised delivery dates, have I only been half scammed?"
Conned and scammed, or half conned and half scammed?
The good news is, after all of this ordeal, we will know tomorrow whether this has been one big scam or not. I believe tomorrow (the 6th) is when chips should start shipping, which means that they will have chips in hand or not. I would have thought getting the chips would be big news and BA would have gotten on here and rubbed it in all of our faces that they actually had chips, but that has not seemed to happen. So the question is have chips arrived or haven't they? I guess we will know tomorrow.
I suppose a question some people might be asking themselves is, "Just how long is the long con?"
Or maybe, "If the hashing I'm getting now is worth less than half the hashing I expected at the earlier promised delivery dates, have I only been half scammed?"
Conned and scammed, or half conned and half scammed?
Or maybe, "If the hashing I'm getting now is worth less than half the hashing I expected at the earlier promised delivery dates, have I only been half scammed?"
Conned and scammed, or half conned and half scammed?
I am still quite confused as to how come the rest of the hardware is not ready when the ASIC chips were delayed by a few months?
eg cases not made yet, is that for real?
eg cases not made yet, is that for real?
That is a very valid point chap, I think we are in for more delays.
Because they need to know the pinout of the packaged chip before they can build the board. This was mentioned a while back.
Have BA seen the price of Antminer S1's lately? 0.55BTC for 180GHS +
Plan.. get refund of 2.75BTC that I paid last year for an X1 (as they have not supplied the hardware).. Buy 5X Ant Miners now .. and get around 2THS instead of 100 GHS for the same $$.
X1 power consumption better?
I'd say the S1 has vastly superior power consumption considering the fact that it's a real product and actually gets shipped to customers.
Alternatively one could argue the 0 kW/hrs prospero customers currently use to power their hot air miners is a huge savings over what the S1 customers pay.
Zillions, did you choose your name based on anticipated difficulty at delivery time! 
I'm sure Chuck Finlay approves
Any news on the compensation package with the recent pricecut of the Antminer?
Keep laying into them hard about that, people are owed serious compensation for BA's failure to deliver in February.
It will soon be time for the slow hand clap when they finally get round to delivering some miners.
Bitcoin Miners progress update – 01 May 2014
1. Minion – shipping scheduled in the next few days.
2. X3 hashboard – currently in production
3. X1 hashboard – currently in production
4. X1 and X3 backplanes – the board containing the voltage fix has been tested. We’re able to restrict the voltage to 0.8Volts in hardware using in the previous version of the backplanes which are already manufactured. The board with the new improved design will start to be manufactured on 04/05/2014. PCBs will be delivered on 08/05/2014. The units manufactured on 7th and 8th will not be able to be overclocked too high. The customers due to receive this small batch will be contacted directly.
5. Control board
a. Apart from having double memory, early reports confirm that our control board is proven to be 3x faster than RPI and more reliable.
b. One of our PCB suppliers reported the wrong specifications on PCBs therefore we don’t have it yet in stock. However, despite the holiday season they made amendments and stock will be replenished on 05/05/2014.
c. The LCDs are not yet in stock. We have scheduled a visit to the local supplier on 04/05/14 to reconfirm their delivery schedule.
6. Software - the control board in mining correctly on FPGA, the software team clearing the final debugging while waiting to receive the real chip to confirm our pre-testing results.
7. X3 Case
a. Final sample has been approved. We are happy to report that we reached our goal in producing a case which is robust, compact, very light and easy to assemble.
b. Currently in production.
8. X1 Case
a. Metal case in production.
b. The plastic case mould will be manufactured in the next few days.
c. Our last hashboard had to be resized. A new version of the hashboard has been produced.
9. Bill of materials: Most of the parts have been delivered, the rest are due in the next few days.
1. Minion – shipping scheduled in the next few days.
2. X3 hashboard – currently in production
3. X1 hashboard – currently in production
4. X1 and X3 backplanes – the board containing the voltage fix has been tested. We’re able to restrict the voltage to 0.8Volts in hardware using in the previous version of the backplanes which are already manufactured. The board with the new improved design will start to be manufactured on 04/05/2014. PCBs will be delivered on 08/05/2014. The units manufactured on 7th and 8th will not be able to be overclocked too high. The customers due to receive this small batch will be contacted directly.
5. Control board
a. Apart from having double memory, early reports confirm that our control board is proven to be 3x faster than RPI and more reliable.
b. One of our PCB suppliers reported the wrong specifications on PCBs therefore we don’t have it yet in stock. However, despite the holiday season they made amendments and stock will be replenished on 05/05/2014.
c. The LCDs are not yet in stock. We have scheduled a visit to the local supplier on 04/05/14 to reconfirm their delivery schedule.
6. Software - the control board in mining correctly on FPGA, the software team clearing the final debugging while waiting to receive the real chip to confirm our pre-testing results.
7. X3 Case
a. Final sample has been approved. We are happy to report that we reached our goal in producing a case which is robust, compact, very light and easy to assemble.
b. Currently in production.
8. X1 Case
a. Metal case in production.
b. The plastic case mould will be manufactured in the next few days.
c. Our last hashboard had to be resized. A new version of the hashboard has been produced.
9. Bill of materials: Most of the parts have been delivered, the rest are due in the next few days.
Well congrats on this coming together, eagerly waiting to see how it comes out in the next couple of days. So does this mean that you have a chip in hand now? Or are those still being waited on and will you post an update in a few days when they come in with exact power and speed specs?
The specs are on ecointalk, he must've been confused as to which forum they were posted on:
http://ecointalk.net/topic/392-black-arrow-weekly-production-update/page-21
From Blackarrow on ecointalk:
"Internal PSUs, they provide 12v (X3: 120A, X1: 12A) and 5volts (5A). They use custom connectors which we can provide as well."
I'm not sure about overclocking.
http://ecointalk.net/topic/392-black-arrow-weekly-production-update/page-21
From Blackarrow on ecointalk:
"Internal PSUs, they provide 12v (X3: 120A, X1: 12A) and 5volts (5A). They use custom connectors which we can provide as well."
I'm not sure about overclocking.
That's helpful. Thanks.
Jump to: