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1525
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1]
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on: December 14, 2012, 03:32:56 AM
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lol, of course they're going to say that. Avalon has the odds in their favor when it comes to "clock buffer issues" vs BFL because of a couple of factors. Mainly, the standard-cell based design vs going full custom, and also the choice of 110nm technology instead of 65nm. Both of these things serve to reduce the difficulty of producing a working chip, vs choosing as BFL has to "shoot the moon". With that said, I understand that producing any ASIC is still a very hard thing to do. I thought that even the seasoned pros always first produced designs on MPW, and that the chances of an ASIC design working right the first time it's brought forth into silicon are near zero. I question the wisdom of going directly to full wafer production. BFL did and it cost them. Why was the plan changed from what was laid out when the Avalon project was announced? (MPW first, then full wafers.) |
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1526
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Bitcoin / Hardware / [Archive] BFL trolling museum
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on: December 13, 2012, 04:29:27 PM
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BFL should pay Theymos the ad rent they owe.
Wat nao? They "bought" forum ad slots and didn't pay? Why would forum ads not be sold on a prepaid basis only? |
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1527
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1]
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on: December 13, 2012, 05:55:13 AM
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not sure exactly how much time is needed to qc and package, but it looks like by around christmas time asicminer should have chips?
avalon should have theirs around the same time too, right? or even before then if the demo is to occur late Dec.
Yifu, can you comment on your demo timelines? and what will occur between demo and shipping?
I understood that the demo would be based on a chips coming from a MPW. Then, if this is successful, a new maskset would be made and full wafers produced using the design, which would go into the products we would receive. I find it hard to believe that a new tapeout and wafer production can happen in between then and Jan 14, much less board production and everything else that will be needed to ship out the door on Jan 14th. How has Avalon been able to shortcut this process? Are they also taking the 'cajones de acero' approach, and like BFL, producing full wafers from the start? |
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1528
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: bASIC graphic renders and diagram
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on: December 12, 2012, 05:48:00 AM
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Clearly.  Last spec update I saw had board size at 7"x7.5"x2.167" for 72Gh. Given that we're talking about 16 90nm ASICs on that board I believe that to be very reasonable, but YMMV. 7" x 7.5" you say? Yes, that's so compact! and so obviously efficient! I don't consider compactness to be very important for this product. If they reduced it to a 3.1337" board, and it delayed the shipment by one day, that would be a trade-off not worth making IMO. |
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1529
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: ASIC shipping dates
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on: December 12, 2012, 05:14:34 AM
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If/when the foundry is done with BFL's chips in 30 days they need to be shipped to the USA, tested and by BFL, packaged, shipped and what not.
Actually the bare dies will first need to be packaged, which probably will not happen at the foundry. Then the packaged chips will need to be shipped across an ocean, pass through Customs, and finally arrive at BFL HQ, where they will test them. Then, *only if* they pass all of the tests, can BFL begin putting them onto boards, working out the firmware, and maybe packing and shipping a few of them out the door. That's assuming their inhouse pick-and-place machine and reflow oven work, and have competent operators. The bulk of the chips would get shipped right out the door again, along with the rest of the components, to the board production house, to be done up onto boards en masse. "Tape out" is the term for sending the design to the fab. (Name has stuck from back in the days when a computer tape was sent by FedEx.
I always thought the name came from the fact that in the earliest integrated circuits the masks were produced by hand using an opaque sticky tape on a transparent film. A process known as tape-out, which you obviously didn't start until you'd completed the design. Tape-out refers to the final step in production immediately before the photomasks are made. Your design can be at the foundry, but until they're ready to make the masks, it's not said to be at tape-out stage. |
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1530
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Other / CPU/GPU Bitcoin mining hardware / Re: Need only scotch tape. Bitcoin mining Radeon HD6950x4
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on: December 11, 2012, 06:29:54 PM
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Also remember that each card can draw up to 75W from the motherboard through the PCIe slot connectors. At 12V that makes for 25A, for all 4 cards.
The 2 18-ga wires carrying +12V through the ATX connector are good for 11A each, so you're 3A over the spec.
I use "molex mod" extender cables on mine now, after I cooked one motherboard connector because of that.
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1532
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Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans / no shipment before 14th Jan 2013
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on: December 11, 2012, 04:21:35 AM
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After talking with our liaison tonight and still having not received a final confirmation date, we were as tired of this as everyone else is, so we continued to push for a date and they gave us 30 days from today. That's my update. Sad but true... Next year... maybe  and that's when the chips arrive, not even assembled yet. or tested. |
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1533
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Other / Off-topic / Re: And some more delays in BFL shipment plans
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on: December 10, 2012, 07:47:55 PM
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One, the current website is Wordpress and I loathe Wordpress thus I tend to avoid trying to update it.
Two, the new website should be rolled out soon, so updating the old one has taken a back seat to other issues. See point one.
Good thing Inaba isn't a programmer Uh, he is, just not that kind of programmer. Actually by most accounts of the people whom complain about his pool...not a very good one. Wow, he operates a pool, works for BFL on ASICs or something, and still finds time to troll the forums daily. If only I had that much energy. |
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1534
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1]
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on: December 09, 2012, 03:35:57 PM
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I'll address BFL later, but I'm worried about bASIC now. tom made an interesting response here: https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=214.msg1478#msg1478In response, I think Avalon means well. I do however find it interesting that they posted this in the bitcointalk forum under a basically anonymous moniker. I know some people involved with Avalon - although maybe only casually they know who I am and how to get a hold of me, it's obvious they used this generic account to post this and frankly it seems a little unprofessional maybe even a bit cowardly to post this based on partial and incomplete information - I guess I just I wish they had contacted me first and asked some questions before coming to these incorrect conclusions.
I do not see any area where they have been more transparent or released any more information than we have, there's bad things I could say to them but I don't think that's the right way to do business and I really dont have time for it. I just feel this post is unfair and It was posted from a generic account for a reason.
Currently we are doing all the right things behind the scenes right now and I think when you look at us and the competition in a months time - our customers will be glad they chose BTCFPGA/BitcoinASIC as their Bitcoin mining hardware provider.
Other than that I wish Avalon, BFL and anyone else attempting to bring to market an ASIC product, in this very challenging and demanding industry. I'm surprised he responded at all. It's too bad the response has no substance. It pretty much just calls Avalon a bunch of meanies, and says nothing at all about the bASIC (or Avalon) products. I want to see them succeed (I have orders with bASIC as well as with Avalon), but I have to agree that things look really bad over there right now. |
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1536
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: ASIC Certification Requirements?
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on: December 08, 2012, 09:27:31 PM
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I stand corrected. I just again viewed the Jalapeno and it has a red light on it. I guess that this is the product the red light issue is in reference to. Not being a butthead with the following statement, but originally it was designed to couple as a coffee warmer, thus a red light may be warranted on in this case.
Maybe the Single could be made into a rice cooker. And the mini-rig could be a breadmaker/oven. |
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1539
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Other / Off-topic / Re: If you preordered a BFL ASIC rig back in August and paid for it in Bitcoin...
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on: December 08, 2012, 01:51:55 AM
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At the time I preordered my BFL units,BTC was @ $6.30.No,I didn't "lose" anything.
Oh, but you did. If you bought a Single, you spent rougly 200 BTC for a place in line, and when BFL starts shipping, they'll go through all pre-orders pretty quick. Someone ordering today will get their rig at nearly the same time, but it'll only cost them 100 BTC. BFL suckered you into giving them an extra 100 BTC for nothing. I wouldn't be so sure of that. BFL started shipping FPGA Singles in March, and only finally caught up the order backlog now in November. At today's difficulty, 12 days at 60Ghps would make up the 100 BTC difference. Now if another ASIC maker ships a month or more before BFL, the effect will be a lot less pronounced. |
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1540
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Bitcoin / Hardware / Re: [Announcement] Avalon ASIC Development Status [Batch #1]
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on: December 08, 2012, 12:22:28 AM
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I think when BFL claims to be experienced in creating ASICs, they mean that their engineers have designed ASICs in the past, and thus have experience in designing ASICs.
https://www.elance.com/s/nasser750gx/If we have a look at Nasser's portfolio of past engineering projects, nearly all of them incorporate an FPGA, but nary a mention of an ASIC. Not in the CV either. Granted, that's probably only current as of 2007. Still... Maybe it's those secret ninja engineers they're not telling us about. |
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