While I have no vested interest in this venture, am I the only one that wonders if perhaps this is yet another scam to collect additional information on folks that wouldn't otherwise be available?

My apologies if I am being too cynical or paranoid.

So are we seeing some kind of deliberate pattern where say 100PH gets switched on shortly after the adjustment, and left to run for 5-6 days, and then switched off in the hopes that the overall difficulty doesn't rise to much for the next adjustment? During the 5-6 days they get a larger share of the pie, but don't have to pay the price with a higher difficulty later on?

I can't figure out if the math would work for that, or if we are trying to find something that isn't actually there.

Most interesting speculation. 

I too don't have the patience to lay out the hard facts as calmly and completely as Danny did. The only thing I would add is there seemed to be no mention of the "halving". By the middle of July (probably sooner), the BTC reward per block will get cut in half. While it's possible the BTC price will increase, if it doesn't double, your income calculations will be incorrect, and in all likelihood you'll fall further behind sooner.

As always, start with something like:

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty

At the present BTC price and zero cost electricity, an S7 will earn about $40 for the next week. You can do the math to figure out how long it will take to pay off your S7. Don't forget cooling, and PSU cost in your calculation.

As was mentioned, it all comes down to ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY!!!

I completely agree. Having Bitmain as the "sole" vendor is a poor situation. Yes, the price of the Avalon series has been kind non-competitive most of the time. It does keep Bitmain a bit more "honest" though, kind like Spondoolies did 12-18 months ago.

Looks to me like another miss this round.......

Bitcoin Difficulty:    178,678,307,672
Estimated Next Difficulty:    180,141,297,699 (+0.82%)
Adjust time:    After 81 Blocks, About 13.5 hours
Hashrate(?):    1,216,246,074 GH/s
Block Generation Time(?):    
1 block: 10.0 minutes
3 blocks: 30.0 minutes
6 blocks: 60.0 minutes
   
Updated:    11:50 (3.8 minutes ago)

While I expect it'll still be positive, it isn't going to be large, probably below 1%.

So where did the "early hashrate" go? If you had say 50PH that you could switch on/off, could you mine like crazy right after the difficulty change, and then turn it off after say 4-5 days? Does the math work out for that?

Glad this is a speculation thread......

Too date, my experience has been with Coinbase. I haven't seen, but have longed for, a method to put in a "Sell at X price" or "Buy at X price" mechanism. Am I missing something at Coinbase, or are you using a different exchange? Any additional info on that would be appreciated.

If Phil feels this is too far afield, just tell me and I won't pursue it further.

Could you sell a few more to drive the price even higher???   

More to the point though, it looks like most folks will have guessed too high, me included.   

Thanks for trying this out.

Pretty much the "Party Line" from Spondoolies on the SP50 for at least 6 months now. While it may not be actual "vaporware", it might as well be. Maybe folks will stop making plans based on it though.

It's a real shame (IMHO).

It's important to note that the PSU power rating is for the OUTPUT, and not "at the wall". So if the A6 draws say 1005W at the wall, as my A6 does, that's roughly in the range of a maxed out, 90% efficient, 900W PSU. Not good long term for the PSU, but but it could certainly work for a while.

The number 15 might just be what they were willing to do as their "first round" of sales via Ebay. See how they go and then adjust the price (up or down) based on what happens with the first 15.

Bitmain has done this along with the S7, with each successive batch being lower priced (generally) than the previous one. The posting by scyth3 makes more sense in terms of numbers. 

While I am sure it must be better to exhaust hot air to some extent, my question is always: What is the source of the air that's going INTO the miner and then ducted to the outside? While you are cooling off air that's at say 100F (exhaust), you are obviously going to have to draw outside air, cool it down from what ever it is to say 75F. If the outside air temp is roughly the same temp as the exhaust air temp, then it seems like a wash, doesn't it?

I clearly didn't do thermodynamics in college decades ago, but if the outside air temp is really hot (think Saudi Arabia), I could imagine that it MIGHT be better not to exhaust, wouldn't it?

I would also think that 10KW (or more) in an apartment would be a lot to deal with. I can't imagine going and buying 8-10 blow dryers and turning them on full blast 24/7 in any apartment I lived in. But I wasn't trying to mine Bitcoins then either.

Just a few random thoughts, from a non HVAC guy.

+5.1 = alh

Not a great pick, but I don't know what is these days......

A couple of items to consider:

I am pretty sure that controller temp is NOT used in figuring out what speed to set the fan. I think it strictly the temperature of the hashing boards. Is this a Bug (maybe)? I think the 45C is strictly a protection limit to prevent damage to the controller. I wonder if perhaps the fan were drawing too much current that would heat up the controller?

I also don't know how the controller gets any airflow. Phil has cracked open an A6 and might be able to comment on the layout. If your miner warranty has expired, you might consider find a way to better cool the controller. If you were willing to open the case, maybe a small, quiet fan directed at the controller would help. We've all heard the "don't exceed 45C on the controller" warning. How hot is it ambient and how much difference do you have between ambient and 45C?

What are the "Max Frequency" value and the "Minimum Fan" values (using the cgminer config tab)? My experience with "Max Frequency" is that it really isn't a maximum at all, or the unit of measure is off. I've tried a a value of 250 as well as 500, and after a few hours of running, the hash rate is virtually the same.

Is there any airflow around the outside of the case? I ask since I think the case temperature might have a big impact on the controller temp. Just speculating here.

Just a couple of random ideas to consider.

As I read your temp value, there are 3 values in a row: 43 47 50

As I understand it, the 1st of those three values is the temperature of the Controller (not the Pi) within the A6. When that exceeds 40C things get squirlly and it's usually on it's way to shutting down. That seem consistent with your observed behavior. You need to make sure the controller stays cool. Possible options:

1) Supply cooler air to the A6 intake (end with the PCIe power cables).

2) Some folks have considered laying the A6 on one side, possibly upside down.The controller is at the top.

3) Any obvious obstructions at either end for the fan?

4) Are you running either the Delta or  Sanyo Ace fan?

5) Are you pushing the input 12V to get a better hash rate?

The short summary is that the controller is TOO HOT (I think).

So I take it from your comments that you aren't trying to hold/save the bulk of the Etherum that you mine? If that's true, what do you exchange it for?

To a Bitcoin mining person, a power supply which has a readily available breakout board is "more valuable" because it's much easier to put together a working solution. I can see where that might tend to bid up the prices a bit for the Dell 750W and HP1200W and other popular supplies. A less common one, such as this, for which I don't there is a breakout board means that somebody who isn't going to plug it into the server for which it's designed will need to do more work to make it useful as a high current 12V supply.

The Ebay price looks to be about $70-75 shipped in the USA.

Jared: What price is your friend looking to get, and where (e.g. USA, EU, what)?

Phil: Might want to adjust the title of the thread to reflect that picks are now open.

You might want to consider the following:

http://dmitry-pakhatov.blogspot.com/2015/01/supermicro-power-supply-pws-1k41p-1r.html

Looks like you might be able to use this to turn it on, and/or fashion your own connection. I got to this via Google for

"pws-1k41p-1r pinout"

My simplistic response: Yawn...............................

I appreciate your posting this info, but unfortunately it adds nothing beyond what BTCS has been spouting for well over 9 months. There is also nothing regarding Spondoolies hardware beyond the general platitudes of "Vertical integration.....market leader in hardware.....well positioned....". It also sounds like they may well "consummate" this merger sometime in the next quarter (which kinda sounds like BFL's infamous "two more weeks"). The BTCS CEO doesn't inspire me with confidence at all.

If the stock price for BTCS doubles, I will be just about be back to what I paid for it. As with BTC in general, don't invest more than you can afford to lose.

It's a real shame I think to see the Spondoolies engineering talent get dissipated like this (IMHO).