Bitcoin Forum

Hypothetically, let's say I am currently in the market for 8-10 FPGAs right now and want them in 2 weeks MAX, in my hands in Canada....

What are my options ? ....short of paying a premium for used items... ?

The ModMiner has started shipping - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=79637.0 - tho I think they state two to four weeks shipping?

Did he not say that he was hoping future orders to be 2-4 days not 2-4 weeks.

Phil

I don't think realistically any FPGA makers can work to those deadlines, however enterpoint (yohan on the boards) with their quad spartan 6 boards has done a really good job getting them to market quicker than anyone else.

I do dig the ModMiner, but I am not a big fan of the price.

I do however see this hardware making a decent dent in the market if they can ship in under a week, even at current or similar pricing.

I am considering the ModMiner, but like everyone, I still have that 'BFL Lump' or taste of disgust in the back of my throat with their great prices and announcements of great performance, but at the cost of shitty shipping times and required cash up front for an unknown time.

BFL is killing the 'fair' market with promises and continue to raise people's expectations, without even being able to deliver at a reasonable rate. F U C K...

BFL should just STFU and 'ship' or get 'off the pot' (literally).

If I was a hardware Dev trying to crack the market, I would be pissed. Unfortunately, not only have BFL killed the 'fair' market, their shitty business practices have opened up a side-market with shipped units being sold at HUGE premiums for overnight shipping, thanks to them being such idiots and constantly being BEHIND the 8-ball.

Speaking for the ModMiner Quad I can tell you the how and why of our shipping times

We have an excellent relationship with our parts distributors and PCB board fabricators and right now we have a decent stock of PCB boards

PCB Boards take a minimum of 8 days to be fabricated and a few more days for shipping

the other parts we can get here right away

As long as we have PCB boards in stock shipping times are very quick, and we are working very hard to streamline our process

However we guarantee with a 9% discount (almost $100 off the MMQ) that your unit will arrive by the fourth week of your order.

As we are in a big build cycle now this is a great time to order.

-Tom
BTCFPGA.com

X6500s have been shipping ~next day from the time you order for the last month or so. Cablesaurus has them in stock (http://cablesaurus.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=61), but an order of 5 X6500s would get you a small bulk discount, so you should email sales@fpgamining.com if you'd like to order.

Just keep in mind FPGA will be dead once ASIC is released 500Ghash.

Yeah well there is still people buying new GPU's to mine with.  The new ModMiner with the new bitsream can do ~1GH/s@~50W.  Even after the block reward half's in December/January the difficulty would have to be extremely high to make 1GH/s@50W unprofitable.  The OpenASIC project is looking at ~8GH/s@~100W@~$3,000 and won't be out until next year probably.  Yes BFL have an announcement on June 15th but with an ASIC any change at all in the bitcoin protocol will make them obsolete.  So unless BFL's ASIC is very cheap I'm going to be waiting for the OpenASIC as that ASIC stands the chance of being the cheapest and most widely used.  Therefore reducing the chance of them being made obsolete.

And the fact that BFL is accepting FULL trade in value for the BitForce Singles tells you loud and clear that they WILL NOT BE INEXPENSIVE

Any realistic ASIC market penetration is far far off. Even if asic is the success everyone says it will be (I am not convinced) that is far away giving many months of FPGA profitability.

I encourage anyone to do your research before you make a large financial decision and check out all of the many great Bitcoin community's home grown FPGA products available.

From what I have seen since your product launched, you have a GOOD relationship with everyone, including potential buyers.

In all honesty, if I could get your FPGAs @ $1/Mh/s without having to depend on 'future' bistreams etc, I would be ordering immediately, although as I mentioned, the way that you guys are currently doing business is VERY attractive all on it's own (from what I have seen around the forum) and THAt alone could very well be the deciding factor for me ....sooner than later.

Keep up the good work and forward momentum ;)
bitlane.

Doubtful.  Firstly we all know BFL's track record.  If they say ASIC release is 12-16 weeks off you can read that as early 2013.  BFL is in business to make a profit, so regardless of what BS is posted now, the units will NOT be inexpensive.

Secondly, for FPGA mining to "turn off", the difficulty will have to be so great that it costs more to mine in electricity then btc you can generate.  Spartan 6 based miners are very efficient (and next generation even more so).

Thirdly, even if that electricity/btc point is reached, you can repurpose your FPGA miner.  Worst case scenario is you can sell off the board to a third party to salvage the FPGA.

Lots of people said FPGA will kill off GPUs and you can clearly see that market is still flourishing.

Yeah but I don't see anyone CPU mining nowadays except BOTNETS so your point is moot.

GPU is dying once ASIC is here :'(

Profitable doesn't mean shit. Sure, difficulty would have to be very high to make fpgas "unprofitable", but what if profitable means $5 a month ? What if it takes two years to pay off a $1000 unit ? This is a VERY real threat once ASICS penetrate the market and of course they have ZERO resale value so they are a ridiculous gamble.

Unfortunately people don't care and get caught up in the hype and will buy anyway, not realizing that once they become widely available, no one will ever get their money back. The real problem is not that these people won't get their money back, but they'll screw everyone else because they will also have no reason to turn them off since the power is so cheap and they have already spent their money with no hope of selling them.

People letting BFL hold onto their money for months was stupid enough. ASICS from BFL are just the ultimate EPIC fail for everyone.

Hard to say anything should be "outlawed" as part of a decentralized project like bitcoin, but ASIC is going to destroy the profitability in mining.

I hope people come to their senses after the initial euphoria surrounding the efficiency of ASIC and realize it is a mining killer.

Hopefully the bitcoin DEVS realize this already and just change the protocol before they even come to market.

Decentralization of mining is also over once ASIC hits because it will be too easy to have a few people with money to burn band together and control the network hashrate. It is likely they will almost HAVE to initiate some type of 51% attack just to get their money back.

No. The traditional argument goes like this: Large miners have an incentive to protect their wealth (bitcoins or mining power). If they perform a majority attack, they will instantly destroy the trust in Bitcoin, and their own wealth.

I can sell you 8-10 new unboxed BitForces. See this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88526.0

I would need to research the shipping costs to Canada. Plus, I cannot control what customs will do as far as holding them.