I doubt Bitmain has a "smaller" varient on the S7 in the works.

 A 2 string per board design would run more like 270 watts per board, which is what many of us EXPECTED the S7 to be - 2 strings 2 boards like the S5 but 18 chips per string instead of 15.


 The plan to create and sell an S7+ is obvious, given the S5+ was apparently intended in part as a "prototype" style design using their older gen chips.
 Trivial design to do this time around, the design work appears to have already been done.


 It seems that Innosilicon's A3 will be in the same ballpark as the BM1385 - probably about .2 watts / GH at the chip level .26 at the system level, based on what I've seen out of them and Lketc - none of those figures are definite before working hardware shows up though and I might be misinterpreting the figures I HAVE seen.
 It's hard to understand some of those websites when I don't read Chinese. 


 I am starting to doubt we'll see an S8 design, Bitmain seems to have gotten tired of dealing with "internal power supply" issues, and the S5+ sold out fast enough despite the widespread assumption (since demonstrated to be almost definitely TRUE based on the S7 announced sale availability date) that the S7 was probably already in production for internal Bitmain/Hashnest usage when the S5+ was announced.

 I also suspect there will be a U4 as an attempt to fill the "home miner / quiet miner" niche.
 I'm not betting on it being a pod design, but I'm not betting against it either.
 I would NOT be shocked at something close to the form factor of that 100ish GH Rockerbox model, Bitmain could probably fit a single-string miner into that size board.




 14/16nm full custom should be able to get at least double the efficiency of 28nm full custom.
 Possibly more, though it appears that quantum effects are making the gains noticeably smaller than JUST the size of the gates would indicate (in theory, if nothing else caused issues, half the size of the gate features should equal half the voltage and a quarter the power, but quantum effects haven't allowed that for a few generations).
 THAT is likely to be the last "big gain" for a few years though, as that will bring Cryptocoin mining chips up to the "state of the art".


 I suspect Bitmain will skip anyting other than "full custom" on their announced "working on" next generation chip.
 I also suspect that chip won't show up before the halfing next year, and might not arrive before end of the year timeframe in 2016.

 30A and 35A or so to be picky, but better to go 35A and 40A+ so you have a bit of headroom in case the specs are off at all, and quite a bit more if you plan to try to overclock it.
 If the fans are the same as the S5 (they appear to be using the same model from the pics AND what specs they've published) 2 of them will eat right about 4 amps for JUST the fans, then add a bit for the controller board logic and BBB.

 I'm not aware of any 500W power supplies with 35+ amps on one rail, but I'm sure there's some out there somewhere - I've got some 450s that manage 39A split between 2 rails.


 The S5 fans are appx. 1.9 amp 190 cfm, as far as I've been able to figure out. I haven't been able to figure out the exact model number or find a spec sheet though, as the FFB series fan member they APPEAR to be (based on the power draw I've seen stated and on the appx. rpm) doesn't have a PWM version per the Delta web page, and none of the PWM flow-director style fans I've seen on that page have as LOW of an RPM level as the S5 fans.

 I'm sure they'll add it to their DHGate store shortly, it's only JUST becomming available to order on their main site sometime today.

 I saw no indication of Wifi support, same as on the S5. Wifi is such a limited market, I suspect they decided it wasn't worth the cost.

 I remember seeing something SOMEWHERE about "4200 rpm" fans, which makes them probably the same Delta model that is used on the S5.

 Only for the ones that extend past the halfing date - mid-July is appx. 290 days out.

 On the other hand, this chart doesn't take diff increases into account at all, which is why I prefer to use a site like bitcoinwisdom.

 Took the time to look closely at the pics available of the S7. It appears the connectors are all on a common power bus, therefore you should be able to get away with running each board on 2 connectors, at around 180 watts per connector (15 amps) at stock settings. LOTS more headroom on the connectors vs. running an S5 on a single connector per hash board.




 I was guessing 2.3+ TH at just under 4BTC. Actual machine is a little more than double the TH for a hair under double the BTC. If they'd gone 2 board vs. 3 and 2 strings per board vs. 3 looks like my estimate would have been pretty close, abet a little on the high side, for price.




You'd have to do the calculation in 2 parts, one part pre-halfing one post - and take a guess at when it will occur (mid-July looks pretty likely at the moment).



 IIRC the IRS regulations treat Bitcoin more as a security, not a manufactured item, but I've NOT gone through those regs with a fine-tooth comb yet.
 MINING bitcoin can definitely be a business, but that's been obvious for a while now.
 Same limits on "hobby" vs. "business" should apply as for any other business - if you expect to make a net profit (in 5 years IIRC) or support yourself on it,
 you can call it a business.



 I suspect any LESSER fan won't keep the unit cool, unless you have a VERY cold room to put it in. Delta fans, especially the "directed flow" models as used on the S5, S5+, and S7, are very well known for being able to flow massive amounts of air despite significant back pressure - and the S7 like the S5+ WILL have significant back pressure due to the congestion caused by the heatsinks.

 Not saying non-Delta fans can't work, there are a few other folks make similar capability fans, but I'd bet there is NO 25mm fan design that can flow enough air through an S7 to keep it cool at it's specified operating temp range, and very few 38mm ones.



 Bitmain specified that there would be coupons offered to late adopters of the S5, INCLUDING the used units, and the S5+, for purchace of the "next generation product".



 But the fine print in the S7 page specifies to not drop the voltage below 12V.

 It doesn't look like the S7 is designed to undervolt at all. 8-(
 
 UnderCLOCK on the other hand, I'd suspect they can do.

 


 I'm not sure, but I suspect A1 based gear is still profitable if you have 5 cent electric. Perhaps a little higher. Given how many Dragons were sold by Lketc, that's probably a pretty big chunk of hashpower.

Looks like chip 5 is running very hot, might need to pull the unit apart and re-do the heatsink or thermal compound on it.

I need to use my bitcoi.....grrrr dang S7 is twice+ the hash and twice-ish the price I was anticipating, it'll be a while 'till I accumulate enough.

 8-(

 Might as well earn a few extra Satoshi while my existing miners accumulate....

 No, there are quite a few PS that will handle a S7 from the COMMON 15A 110V socket. The real issue is the number of PCI-E connectors, not the power draw.


 1210 watts quoted "at the wall" - an EVGA 1300 would have about 10% power reserve, even my favorite Seasonic X1250s have some power in reserve.


 10. one for the controller board. I don't know of any PS that has 9 connectors though, 8 and 10 yes.

 Or you could do what I'm tenatively planning to do, run 2 S7 on 3 PS (though I might finally break down and buy some used server PS/breakout boards instead, since I figure I'll be running THESE units for quite a while).

 They already upgraded their farm to S7s or more likely "S7+".
 That's where all those "used S5" came FROM, outdated units being upgraded.

 I don't see PACMiC v3 being unprofitable - yet. Perhaps buying on in 2-3 months might be, but not right now.

 Unless bitcoin price goes up somewhat faster than difficulty, I'd say you're correct.




 Half right.
 I've been saying the S5+ was overpriced since it first showed up.
 PACMiC though still should be profitable for a while, just don't believe the 25% APR claim as that doesn't appear to take difficulty increase into account at ALL.

 A little over twice the TH I was anticipating, a bit LESS than twice the price. I just wish they didn't make the "per unit" such a HIGH bar.




 My usual ROI calculation shows this will be very close to ROI at the halfing, presuming aquired in time to have it hashing on 30 September - with 6.7 cent/KWH power.
 It will also be SOLIDLY profitable after the halfing for another year or so, presuming my estimate of average difficulty increase is on the high side or very close on the low side.
 I'm estimating a HIGHER rate of increase than the past year to date has shown, BTW.

 10 PCI-E connections is an issue for most if not ALL 1250/1300 watt ATX power supplies. IMO a BAD design call there, or a blatant attempt to get more sales of their own 1600 watt unit. On the other hand, I've been running "split" PS for a while anyway, just have to switch to running 3 PS per 2 units instead of 2 PS per 3 units. 8-O

 Nothing new about the power up order - the S5 wants the hash boards to be powered up before the controller, or at the same time, already - or the hash board that is powered up late just don't hash most of the time. Doesn't seem to be highly timing critical, there's at least a couple seconds of leeway in there as the controller board boots up.



 Coupons were promised - but at the large PRICE of one of these units, I hope the coupons have a LONG expiration date.



 At the given power specs, the entire unit pulls a bit under 94 Amps out of all the +12v combined. Works out to a hair less than 30 amps per hashboard, probably in fact a hair under 30A (controller will soak at LEAST 4 amps JUST for the fans). In theory, you SHOULD be able to get away with 2 connectors per hashboard (24 amps EACH per connector based on the connector specs) *IF THEY ARE GANGED* as each would only pull 15 Amps if you use a pair which is WELL within the power capasity of the connector and even meets the specs for wiring on the common 18AWG most PS use to PCI-E connections.
 If each connector feeds a seperate string, you need all 3 period - but they're only pulling about 10 amps each, so you could get away with running a hash board and the controller off the same wires with 2 connectors, and might be able to run 2 hashboards off a doubled connector per wire set.
 16 AWG, don't sweat the wires at all no matter how you connect a doubled connector set of wires.


 

 Not sure if it's same controller, but looks pretty similar. Anyone else pay attention to the "extra" fan and board slots on the controller? I don't even want to THINK about the price on an S7+ but it looks like it will be a trivial design to do.

Temps are really marginal on some of those ASIC already (125c is the spec, you have 5 at 120c).
Looks like you either have the fan turned down too much, the room your SP20 is in is too hot, the fan is starting to die and not flowing it's rated airflow, or something is obstructing the airflow.

And at the announced price for the S7, it's debateable if it's really a "home miner" any more. The dual Deltas aren't going to be quiet either....

 Sfards/Gridseed and KnC were the only folks BESIDES Innosilicon to do both Scrypt and SHA256 chips. Innosilicon however had an already existing chip design business, which was unique IIRC among all ASIC designer/maker companies for cryptocoins. I suspect they have a LOT more resources than most - might want to keep in mind they managed to develop the A1 AND the A2 from internal resources, never did a "preorder" on them at all.

 Interesting, don't think ANYONE anticipated them going with a 3 board setup for the S7.
 I did speculate on the possibility of 3 strings per board, but didn't think it would fit and still be able to cool it - so much for THAT theory.
 Kinda messed up most of the picks. 8-(

Unless you have pretty cheap electric (I'd say under 8 cents a KWH, and might need to be closer to 6) don't get anything available now unless you can get it cheap. I'd wait ballpark a month for the release of the S7 and start buying those.

 It's looking like the Sfards SF100 is going to be crazy high priced (they VASTLY overestimate the value of the dual mining on that unit IMO), and it doesn't look like Innosilicon / Lktec (probably using Innosilicon A3 chips) will have any miner units for sale before about December - at which point competition rears it's LOVELY (for us miners) head....

 You can't set the clock directly, it's controlled automatically by software based on other settings.

 Voltage control IS built into the SP20E interface, I would presume the same on the SP20 (not E).

 Fan speed control can be set "auto" or to specific % level in 10% steps.

 I have mine very underclocked right now to maximise profits at my very high summer electric rate - .59v start, .595 max voltage, TH and watts vary a bit usually around 800-820 TH at 360-372 watts or so, and the fan on "auto" tends to sit on a very low speed. I can't even guess at the noise level though as my SP20E is sandwitched between a pair of Antminer S5s with 3 more S5's on the next shelf down.

How does that price drop correspond in time to the BM1385 announcements?

 Dang, don't you hate it when reason intrudes on a good joke?

 9-)