I'd like to propose the idea of a group buy in the ZTEX FPGA hardware thread.


As for a proving technical competency...

The bitcoin network adapts to a change in total network hashrate by adjusting the difficulty of the proof-of-work required to generate a block. This occurs after every 2016 blocks. The difficulty is adjusted such that a block will be generated on average once every 10 minutes.

As a result of the release of custom hardware (ASIC's) and the recent spike in interest from the general public, the total network hashrate has increased significantly and has resulted in a corresponding increase in difficulty. This will eventually cause GPU's to become unappealing to those who pay for their electricity, as individuals will end up paying more than the value of the bitcoins they recieve by mining. FPGA's provide significantly more hashes per joule than GPU's, and will therefore be appealing to miners for a longer time than GPUs.