Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone, over the last two days I have been busy designing a new conceptual mining machine. Although the idea is not very revolutionary, I just felt that it would be an interesting project to design. The 'BitPhantom' is a modular mining rig, it would ship in individual segments and could easily be upgraded relative to mining difficulty and ideally increased revenue growth. I am not a miner, nor do I have any technical knowledge, I am just a newb so whatever components found inside can be left up to your imagination.

http://www.owenprescott.com/blog-bitcoin-mining-hardware.php (http://www.owenprescott.com/blog-bitcoin-mining-hardware.php)

When creating this machine I did not want to create a new slim line Apple style product, rather a titan that controls the oceans waves with its own gravity. Butterfly Lab's mining rigs would not even cause ripples in a puddle  ::)

Here is a preview:
http://www.owenprescott.com/blog/bitcoin-mining-hardware/bitoin-mining-hardware-02.jpg


On a side note, I would greatly appreciate a comment or two, I write articles to create discussion but so far none of my articles have reached 1 comment status yet lol.

Something like this would be pretty neat.

I could see(if BFL ever shipped) someone who ordered a Minirig or an equally powerful machine making a custom case for it.

And I'm sure some people ordered multiple, imagine taking 5 of those and making one case to fit them all. Then you would have a titan as described.

Yeah I would deff like to design a range of custom mining rigs. I do have plans to re-design the BitPhantom concept. For starters I would make them stack vertically, this would save lots of space. I would also design the internals so that airflow is efficiently controlled. Ideally I would have a set of dimensions to work with as motherboards, chips obviously vary a lot in size. If anyone wants to suggest some standard dimensions or even some info from their own rig then I can use that data.

First, I want to say I love your website design.

Second, you read my mind.  Modularity is almost a core building block of the opensource structure, and necessary, I think, if ASIC mining rigs are ever going to become truely open.

Third, I would like to ask that you publish your CAD or Model files for the community.  I know it's a lot to ask of anyone who wants to make a profit off bitcoin, but it's a step we all need to take if bitcoin is going to be what we all hope it will be.

To start off, I really like the design.

The open design looks to be great for cooling, designing something vertically stackable will prove to be difficult, as experience has shown that leaving the top of the video cards open, helps a lot with the heat. Modular design is nice, but unless you want to go big, and design your own circuit boards, not really seeing it happen. Best is to stay with the E-ATX formfactor for mobo's, and keep max length on video cards in mind. (every modular block will be mobo + GPUs)

The other problem I see is the price, though I love it and it looks really pretty, buying no case is cheaper than buying one(as preferably you don't want a case, to give your cards maximum amount of air), and this one in particular looks to become an expensive one.

Designing one with extreme airflow for budget price would generate a lot more interest. (simple custom case for under $100, with a lot of fan options, especially aimed at multi GPU setups)

I did not use CAD to design the model unfortunately, I could provide an FBX model however as this is a visual concept not much can be done with the model as it is. When I create the re-design I will probably work in CAD then I can provide a detailed schematic. I have lots of projects so this is just a wildcard idea, I don't expect this to go commercial unless I get lots of demand, enough to source a manufacturer atleast lol.


I will take this on board, I did not really design this from a practical perspective, the chrome pipes for instance were random purely for aesthetic although I guess they could function as some form of cooling system :D. How much space would be required vertically to reduce heat? I am sure I could design a nice rig set up that stacks vertically and has space, I will definitively go for something more economic and reaistic. I assume the power supply should sit at the base.