Update 7/21/13:
The Antec 550 PSU this came with has died. I went and got an Corsair 750 and got all 49 miners going again. Not a pleasant experience. this hub is difficult to work with in Windows.
DS-IP-SC-49 Draft Review:http://www.cambrionix.com/cambrionix_products/large-capacity-charge-and-sync-station-professional-series-a6/http://www.ipadcarts.com/solutions/DS-IP-SC-49.htmI have received 1 unit of DS-IP-SC-49 to test and review. I have not gotten it for free, I paid for it, so that there's no bias. I also needed something like this for branding Eligius branded ASICMiner USB Eruptors.
I tested it with a 3 yr old toshiba laptop running Win 7 64-bit running "bfgminer.exe -S all"
Packaging: --- Simple and functional box padded with foam, well designed.
Power: --- This is a bit of a headache.... It came with a Gold rated Antec 550W PSU, which died on me 12 hours into operation. When I would try to get it going again, the fan would jolt, immediatly stop and a clicking noise can be heard and nothing... I ran out to a local Fry's and picked up a Gold rated Corsair 750W (too much but they had a good deal on it), connected the ATX24 5V 28A and was back in business. More on the power issue: xjack pointed out to me that this 5V 28A ATX connector delivers 140W (is my math right?), however 49 miners, use 2.5*49= 122.5W, so 122.5/140= 87.5% load... This is the load on the mobo ATX connector, not the whole PSU... I think this is pushing it and the manufacturer should consider utilizing one more power connector from the same PSU (it is modular afterall) to deliver more power so that there isn't such a high load on the single ATX power connector. maybe i'm wrong in this assessment, but 87.5% load is beginning to push things.
Installation: --- It is very difficult to operate this hub with all 49 USBs populated with ASICMiner Block Eruptors. This 49 port hub actually consists of 7 hubs linked together from the point of the device manager. If you plugin this 49 port to your computer USB interface and all 49 ports are populated with miners, only 14 are recognized and the rest don't even power on. I'm not sure what happens but the driver installation when detecting this hub with all ports populated does not work well at all on Windows. The solution, or the proper way to bring online is as follows:
-boot up
-connect the empty 49 port hub
-insert miners one at a time, till you see a message that the device is ready
-repeat above line 49 times
-start mining
in case you need to restart the computer, you need to unplug all Eruptors and repeat above steps.
if you reboot with everything connected, most of the miners will not be recognized and you will need to "uninstall" each of the 7 generic USB hubs listed in Device manager. only after that, your will need to repeat above steps. I've battled with these steps for a good 5 hours.. it's a pain, but if you follow these steps, it works just fine.
Design: --- physically it's excellent! I think the manufacturer chose the ATX power because it makes the power on button easy to operate. But another power connector should have been added in addition to single ATX. I had an issue with 1 USB port which due to me pulling out and re-inserting the miners became too lose and I had to bend the edges inward to create a tighter fit, otherwise the miner was wobbly and didn't have a good connection to power on. but I don't think this is a countable negative...
Pros: real estate compactness/ dense, less wires, power strips etc... Fantastic spacing between ports for thermal characteristics (heat dissipation). access to plug and unplug USB miners by having good access to do so without touching or bumping other USB miners while they operate. Rock-solid design, not flaky, can take abuse, wear and tear. ports are pretty sturdy, do not sink or bend.
Cons: Price!! $23 per port. the system I tested has an issue if you plug in all 49 usbs and connect the unit to the computer. I don't expect this to be an issue in Linux however. Maybe it's a Windows thing with that many devices. I believe it has to do more with the driver for the miners and not the 49 port hub itself.
Conclusion: A very good hub to run 49 miners in a small amount of space (but it is not for a novice and I mean no disrespect by this!) It would really be good to test it while mining on Linux, but I'm not going to do it. The only thing I use this on Linux for is to brand the Eruptors for Eligius mining pool. I don't mine on Linux.
To Do: Contact manufacturer, explain bitcoin market, suggest higher production to reduce price and release in bitcoin market. Request a 64 port (8x8) USB 3.0 hub to be made. Reduce cost by dropping PSU, you all have a box of them lying around anyways...
Geek Porn:With 49 Erupters:
Mining with bfgminer:
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