Bitcoin Forum

I plan to organise a WORLDWIDE group buy for Bitmain BM1380 chip.

The group buy is now open

Please pm me to get a payment address.

Chips sold so far 1000/10000

The sample chips will be sent to developers so they can work on a open source design. If you are a developer please send me a message with how many chips you need and information on your design so i can consider it. Currently all sample chips for batch one are reserved.

The lead time from when we make the order would be 6-7 weeks. As i feel the delays of the holiday season and new year mean paying the extra 10% isn't worth it.

Pricing will be:
1-9 = 0.013BTC Per chip
10-49 = 0.0125BTC Per chip
50-150 = 0.012BTC Per chip
151-499 = 0.0115BTC Per chip
500+ = 0.011BTC Per chip


Chip information can be found here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=364236.msg3888905#msg3888905)


Also can everyone who is interested in fabrication please tell me what kind of design you want.
Usb single or dual chip
Reproduction of the S1 Can be one or two blades.
Rack size design. Similar size as the KNC design. 3-4 Boards per rack.
Or maybe something else. If you have a idea please pm me.

The chips will ship immediately once i receive them.

Fabrication Quotes will be announced asap. We are just waiting on more information on the board from the Bitmain crew.

Chip pictures:

https://i.imgur.com/6iiiGhh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tSPsNZo.jpg

List of people who have paid
Name                                                                  Amount
Beastlymac                                                           1000

Further plans after buying chiips

1. When they will get delivered
2. BOM Cost
3. PCB production
4.  And so on?
5. TIME TO MARKET?

Yes i am already talking with EE who can design a open source board the works with the Bitmain chips. PCB production we can organise if people are interested in that? The EE is just waiting for the github to be updated with the necessary information.

10X
That is enough for me good luck!

I would like to get the a cube/blade type design would be amazing. 180ghs per cube if its similar to asicminer cube. if not USB is fine. ill pledge $1000.

I would take ~128 chips or so assuming the design is similar to the S1.  Kind of depends what the guys can manufacture.

Depending on component availability (we will find out when info is released) we should be able to reproduce the S1

In that case yes I will take 128 :)

Chips per PCB would be interesting and influence the number ordered :D

The S1 has two "blades" both 32 chips each.
The usb would be 1 or 2 chips.
The Rack would probably incorporate 10 or more of the blades.

i'm interested in a #Rack size design. Similar size as the KNC design.
 ;D

I am interested in 100-200 pieces to start. Like to build USB sticks like U1, maybe with 2 chips each.

Need around 10 pieces to develop.

50 chips here. :)

I agree with you madpoet.
I can take 128 chips as well.

Interested, S1 design so 64 chips for me

You can count me in for at least 10 chips, and I'm considering between 50 and 100.  I'll be designing my own system.

Escrow?

Thank you. We will try to support you as much as we can.

Isn't the point of a group buy to pool our funds to get X price and we all enjoy the savings?  Why is there such a markup on chips?

We would want to contribute purchased chips to a final implementation in usb/blade form, but why the heck would there be a (as of prices right now) $2.70 surcharge per chip over the published price for folks getting 1-9 ($2.25 next level, $1.80 next level)?  Shouldn't the added charge be when we have talk of actually manufacturing it into something?

I thought the point was to get enough money together to allow us to have access to the chips; otherwise we're SOL.  25% markups for small quantities is minimal, especially given the risk inherent to group buys.  Look up your average $9 MCU on Digikey, and you'll see them marked up 60% for the privilege of small quantity orders.

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MSP430F169IPMR/296-17009-1-ND/656846

Say everyone who buys does so at the 250 chip level, exactly 250 chips.  OP says he is getting 1k, so that makes 9k chips in 250 chip bundles.  At the "group buy" prices, that means each chip buyer is spending an extra $339 to OP, in other words OP makes over $10k for running a "group buy".  That's bullshit. 

In your example, he makes $12k for being willing to put down $90k... so 13% profit.  Yeah, that's a good deal for everyone involved.  We're now able to buy chips in small quantities, and he gets reimbursed for the time, effort, and risk involved in running a group buy of this magnitude.  If you want to risk the $90k and offer a lower price per unit, make your own group buy.  Maybe we'll all move there.

It's appreciated; thanks.  Looking forward to the github update.

Group buy = pool funds to make purchase, you risk amount equal to what you put in.  He wants 1000 chips, so his investment is 1000 chips at Bitmain's price (9.99BTC).  Extra for shipping/handling per order makes sense, extra per chip is greedy and in this case on a giant magnitude.

Unless you're the one paying the actual bill; then your risk is greater, and your investment is greater.  Best case scenario, he only has to cover shipping, tax, and spends hours managing the group buy.  Worst case can get downright ugly.

Either way, it sounds like you're not interested in this group buy, and you're not going to set up your own group buy, so... good luck finding chips I guess. 

We're interested and have the money - but not with that chip markup.  It is absurd.  Waiting to see if OP revises that, otherwise we'll just invest directly in Bitmain hardware and not pay middleman greed.

i dont get this really.. they should sell in stock even for this.. 6 weeks lead time, 1 month production and delivery of miner. will it be profitable?
you would get a successfull groupbuy done very fast if it was done with in stock chips..
its really a bit wierd, since they started selling their miners a long time ago, one would think they have stock of 10k chips already to start selling.. i mean they didnt have a 6-7 week leadtime for their miners.

 :)

Interested in finish made racks... :-)
Must be asembled since i cant!

Yes they will all be completely assembled.

Most def interested.
How will price end up compared to the antminer? 180ghs @ 4ish btc

Regards

Currently not sure. We are awaiting the information to be released by bitmain so we can get a quote from the fab.

I think I already see another incarnation of the NanoFury coming ... :)

That sounds like a great idea :)

 :)

That should be possible. On the other hand - my NanoFury devices were rated for around 2GH at 2.5W and with just a minor (software) adjustment can easily do 2.4-2.6GH even though they'll use more than 2.5W in that case ... So, guess how many people are running them at the stock 2GH :)

But either way - a dual-chip hasher "starting" at 3GH/s @ 2.5W should be a nice add-on. And of course we will have to design the whole thing to easily go over 4GH - just because it can (and because it's almost a given that people will try to push it there anyways)

Would everyone be interested in this?

My initial response is yes, but if the extra money prevents us from getting enough interest to make the buy in the first place...  10k chip is a lot of interest to gather, and I've only seen about 2k initial interest in this thread.  :-(

We have around 7k interest in chips so far.

I probably would but I still need to know about the actual miner designs/costs.

Yes we are working on getting that figured out now.

Put me down for 64 chips.
I would also like to get the engineering data ASAP as I might want to try to do some design work.

That's encouraging.  Keep us updated on the status.  :-)

192 chips either S1 or rack size design :)

Have you filed GB for first 10k chip ?
How many clients want pay premium for short lead time?

The orders haven't been opened
Yet but we do have a large around 7-8k already reserved. In regards to the lead time fee I feel it makes sense to take that option.

My proposition are in this 7-8k ?

500 chips but depends on the price price after miner assembly. If you could give a rough estimate in terms of + % - % that would help me alot.

Yes.


Currently we are waiting on more information from Bitmain before we can get a quote.

Put my nickname in for
150 chips ( 1.8 BTC ) // 0.012BTC Per chip

As every chip can hash 2.8GH/s @ 1.1v,
total 420 Giga for 150 chips.

3-500 chips depending on total cost  ::)

I would be in for at least 50 depending on final cost of miner USB would be great. I would also have to pay in USD

Sorry payment is in BTC as that is what we have to pay Bitmain with.

I can take 256 chips or more if I know the price of a miner.

Beastlymac,

Depending on costs for USB sticks to be manufactured and timing, I'm down for 1000 to 2000 chips.

NP understood  :)

We won't have usb cost until we have got a design and prototype tested. For that we are waiting on a response from bit main on sample chips that we can use to test the design.

Bitmine still not post BOM and ref design files. Do you have plan to publicize your design ?
Can I count for sample chip to ?

Waiting on fab price of rack size miner.

Some of the information was incomplete. Please pm me with your design information.

I assume replies to PMs will go out after the PO is sorted out with bitmain?

BitMine update git.
Now we have  schematics, PCBs etc. All  files need for reference design miner and controller.

Beastlymac, time for collect orders and post estimated time for delivery.

I am happy to order as soon as I can get some rough estimates for cost :)

+1 .. cost and expected timeline

Gandalf,
Any link to the github repository containing all the goodies?

cheers,
kev

It was in the hardware announcement thread in Custom Hardware:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=364236.0

https://github.com/AntMiner

Just found it,
cheers,

kev

Those are the files we already had. The fab has informed us that the files are missing manufacturer part numbers and information relating to the pin out of the control board. I can get a quote on the hashing board itself along with the assembly cost but we can't get the information for the control board. Also we are missing the compiled pic binary so without all the information we might be forced to either re write it ourself or more likely just switch over and use a raspberry pi.

Or if the released the chip protocol we could design a control board or make a usb adapter that would plug into a host pc.

We also have the option of potentially buying control boards from them but we don't know the price of them yet.

I'm a bit confused I guess.  I loaded up the control board project, and I didn't see any parts that couldn't be derived from footprint and part number, except the generic popcorn parts which you would be replacing with your preferred equivalents in your design anyway... unless you were just planning to reprint their design?

The PIC binary and hashing chip protocol are an issue though, yeah...  I guess could you could sniff out the protocol pretty easily, but it sounds like you're trying to do something a little more turnkey from their original files.  Keep us posted, and let us know when you plan to respond to pms.  Thanks.

Yes we are aiming to replicate the S1 design and would need the control information or the chip protocol to do so. The hope was that we would be able to replicate the design instead of have to redesign parts as that would bring down the lead time and simplify production.

Sorry i missed the pm. Just responded then.

thanks

Thanks for the reply.  It sounds like all the sample chips are locked up in your S1 replication project, so I guess the rest of us should plan on waiting until production chips are available to test out our designs.  Given how bogged down Bitmain is in meeting demand, maybe someone who already had an S1 can sniff out the protocol for you?  That way you can start working on a replacement firmware in case they can't deliver the pic hex.

Talk to you again in a couple months.  Let us know when payments open up.  Thanks.

I've sold some S1 miners to buyers. (5 units)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=356341.0

Buzz me if you still need this info - >> "would need the control information or the chip protocol to do so"

The chip protocol is needed if you want to create your own design. *Buzz* :-)

+1

I'm not certain the protocol information is readily available, or has been provided by Bitmain yet. To sniff it out, we'd need someone willing to attach some electronics to their working product, or at least comfortable with a digital scope.

I am interested in the S1 Design.

Can order 128 - 256 chips depending on total miner cost.

 ;D

go go kevin!! im couting on your team to bring us USB units!

if this GB will success i reserve 1000 chips .
maybe more , depending on shipping dates

@Beastlymac - any updates for this GB?

Currently no Christmas holidays are causing issues with getting quotes.

Just to pin my interest in 100-300 chips, so many variables as of now but I'm definitely interested! :)

Cheers & Best Wishes!
-akw-

Put me down for 128 for now please, I may add more to the order later depending on logistics.

ok, Merry Christmas guys.

Hi
May be interested in a finished device.

USB 1 chip or 2 chip

similar design to icefury or nanofury (ultra cheap version with usb as part of pcb, if it reduces the cost)

Currently we can't design our own device as we don't have the chip protocol. I would recommend just buying a U1 for now.

I've ordered a U1 from another group buy.  Will sniff out the protocol, if I can.

Any update with these chips? Hands down great chip IF all tech info is made available

No the chip protocol has not been released so we can't replicate the device.

Hi there,

I'd like to purcahse a few hundred ASICs to build a prototype. Has the group buy gotten any traction?

Beastlymac, do you sell prototype lots?

I think this groupbuy is dead without some reverse engineering.  After speaking with Bitmain, they made it apparent they they never intend to release the protocol.  If we want to use the BM1380, we must buy their control board.

Our options at this point are to buy their proprietary equipment, sniff the BM1380 protocol...  or just buy Bitfury's now that they're back in production.  I know which direction I'm going to choose.

Has this gb ever moved? The order is still 1000/10000. (Not being harsh)

Why is your tag "Authorised Bitmain Reseller", did he confirm it? Saw it lol :D

Thanks

+1

I don't feel like using or even worse reselling someone's black box either.

If they want other people to develop miners using their chips - they must release the entire documentation.

If they just want to keep the monopoly on their chip's usage - they may as well just continue making their own stuff.

I'm perfectly happy with bitfury and A1 for now.

Such a shame you guys didn't get the info you require to move on with projects using this chip.

Its a rock solid alternative to a bitfury. I would even go as far as to say better Quality and stability