I expect the efficiency to be better. The worst-case efficiency with the chips I'd be using is on par with the best-case (meaning, bottom voltage and AB enabled) for the NewPac's BM1387. Couple that with only one regulation step (12V->5V instead of 12V->5V->0.83V) at a higher efficiency (upwards of 95%) and it should be markedly better.

You and me both, man. However, this time last fall my entire crew (including a fresh hire brought in specifically to meet demand) were up to our eyeballs getting 2pacs out the door. Seriously, we doubled manufacturing output between September and November; the three weeks following Thanksgiving, my people put together more sticks than we did in August and September combined and still had a one-month backlog. I had exactly zero time to start working on anything new until earlier this year.

Demand has slowed now, and my crew can pretty much do everything without me (unless something goes wrong), so I finally have that R&D time. Even so, these sticks were released several months later than desired.

Additionally, eff those guys. BTC@4900, with the same production cost and zero decrease in utility from when it was $6300 five days ago.

EDIT - make that $4800. Double eff.

Good call. That stick's probably around 10W by itself.

Even without AB enabled, unless the core voltage is jacked up a ways or cooling is terrible, you should see more like 6W at the port. I would guess the brick and hub regulators are worse than you're estimating. With good cooling but no AB, 8.5W at the port should get you upwards of 350MHz.

Could be a low-voltage issue. Not all chips are created equal. If the average hashrate is still near target (0.228*MHz) it's probably fine but if you still have power overhead it might not hurt to tweak voltage upward slightly.

My six at 650 were missing-nonce resetting quite a bit overnight but the 12-hour average hashrate was still 98.8% of target, which I'm okay with. It was more a stress test for the hub, which was hauling upwards of 95% rated power the whole time.

I've run sticks at 600MHz on stock voltage (830) with decent stability. These are set to 860 to help out a bit.

http://www.kano.is/worker.php?a=1BURGERAXHH6Yi6LRybRJK7ybEm5m5HwTr_newpacballs

Six sticks, 650MHz, VH's latest build with ASICBoost enabled. Let's see how well it holds up overnight.

ASICBoost only works on NewPacs, but for them it reduces power consumption by 10% and cuts down on USB traffic by roughly 70% and both of those are good things.

Don't forget how much money you'll have to put into maintenance and repairs to keep it running at spec for that whole time. Bitmain gear isn't built to last for two years.

Software can't make you have 0 chips. That's a hardware issue. Unplug/replug, maybe tighten the heatsink screws and see if it comes back.

You could run 10 off a pair of Plugable 7-port, or one of the Sipolar 10-port. 419mining stocks the Plugable so you could buy them at the same time as the sticks.

I don't know the Sipolar (Phil's using one in his review, so ask there about it or look at the hub thread not too far down the page) but with the Plugable you should be able to take 5 sticks to about 100GH each.

Ah, so jerks are dumping bitcoins to subsidize their bitchcoin habit.

Yesterday I wrote up a roughly chronological 15-point master plan for the rest of the year. Work which will be used toward a pod miner were included in items 1-3, 6, 10, 12 and 14. There's development for some other fun stuff in there that I hope y'all also like.

Unless the rumors are true and Bitmain needs some capital?

Not specifically, but until sales pick up I'm still running off savings and my savings are worth 10% less than they were a couple hours ago (and about half what they were when I started saving). Need that for R&D on about seven new projects I finally have time for (that will have negligible effect on network diff).

So whose idea was it to tank the exchange again?

I didn't think it was aimed at anyone. I was just letting you know that NewPacs would be in your neighborhood soon so if you were looking at buying something you should wait a bit for the better one.

Just wait a minute. I'm working out details with bitshopper (the only authorized/legit Euro seller) to stock some NewPacs over there. They might cost in the same neighborhood but can run between three and five times the hashrate.

I've got a newer chip in hand already and a lead on at least one more. But these NewPacs are pretty decent (especially with AB enabled) so I'll be taking my time on the new thing and making it more featureful as well as more efficient. The focus initially will probably be on pods, also.

To answer the specific question though, no, I have no plans to work with Bitmain's 7nm chip.