Biostar BTC-24GH mini-Review

[slugbug55]

Biostar has released a small batch of these boards and I was lucky enough to be offered one to test. I have not yet tried BitCoin Mining but from what I do know ASIC boards are supposed to be more productive than GPU's and use less electricity as well.

https://i.imgur.com/oAkPZN1.jpg
Board specs and power requirements.

https://i.imgur.com/BsQWCnA.jpg
Biostar says you can daisy chain up to 50 of these boards together but with each one requiring 130W of power 50 would take a massive 6500W of power. Biostar has not yet announced a price for the BTC-24GH.

https://i.imgur.com/ZTSh5w3.jpg

The box in all it's glory.

https://i.imgur.com/jOWzfFd.jpg

The BTC-24GH ASIC board itself.

https://i.imgur.com/uM4Onvl.jpg

From left to right are pictured, USB connector, 20 to 24 pin ATX adapter cable, com to com, and com to usb cables.

https://i.imgur.com/14GgE0T.jpg

A quick install guide.

https://i.imgur.com/rlZtN3h.jpg

Drivers and Utilities CD

https://i.imgur.com/Xp0ZkpD.jpg
I used some tall motherboard standoffs to raise the board and placed a 120mm fan to the right to blow cool air across it. Biostar recommends the boards IC's be kept under 90C (yes you read that right) so extra cooling is essential. Over 90C and you risk the chance of overheating the board.

https://i.imgur.com/PGusRaI.jpg
The 24 pin ATX and 4 pin AUX power cables connected.

https://i.imgur.com/rvTklp9.jpg
Here is the COM cable connected.

https://i.imgur.com/9yjZNUs.jpg
At the other end of the COM cable we have the USB connector which connects to your PC.

Driver and Software Install

Place the driver and utilities CD in your disc drive, run setup, and then choose "Driver". This will install the USB Serial Port Driver. Next go to Device Manager and you should see the following:

https://i.imgur.com/CQpUa9A.jpg
Take note of the COM number as you will need it later. Right click on USB Serial Port and choose properties. Then click the port settings tab and advanced.

https://i.imgur.com/eh7gPO8.jpg
Click on latency timer and change the setting to 1. Close Device Manager and return to the install disc. This time choose install software and a new folder will be created on your desktop. Open this folder and click ct.exe

https://i.imgur.com/ff9bRXs.jpg
Remember that Com Port number I asked you to remember earlier? Click the COM PORT button and enter it there.

https://i.imgur.com/NJZkV06.jpg
Next click Pool, choose which you would like to join, and then click the edit button. Please note that BtcGuard is an error, it should be BtcGuild.

https://i.imgur.com/YPyB1b3.jpg
Enter your worker name in the two spots shown as well as your chosen password directly below.

https://i.imgur.com/NOSN2wg.jpg
Click the Start button and if you configured everything correctly you will begin getting workers.

https://i.imgur.com/YtWGK8V.jpg
I let the program run for 24 hours and this is the result. I just checked my BTC Guild account balance and these are my earnings so far: 0.00047728

Once I discovered I had to join a BTC group and create a Bitcoin wallet then the rest was easy. Biostar has a nice ASIC board here but with the time it now takes to earn BitCoins I'm not sure how profitable running one will actually be. Perhaps if it will work with LiteCoin, or some of the other cryptocurrency alternatives at some point in the future then this may change though.

This was my first time testing a product like this and I have to thank Biostar for the opportunity.

[dropt]

Can you take Macro shots of the chips themselves, or at least report what is written on them?

[klondike_bar]

here's hoping the next gen of these chips will come - the concept and layout seems nice but its about 5w/GH and the board almost certainly costs more than the ~$20 pricetag it would be lucky to have

[ChuckBuck]

How much is this badboy again?  Just out of curiousity.

[wpgdeez]

Why would they give a guy with no clue about Bitcoin their test hardware for review. Makes 0 sense.

[BillTech]

interesting stuff thx op

[Biffa]

Why would they give a guy with no clue about Bitcoin their test hardware for review. Makes 0 sense.

Because that's their target market

[TheRealSteve]

Why would they give a guy with no clue about Bitcoin their test hardware for review. Makes 0 sense.

Because that's their target market

You owe me some LCD screen cleaner  

( On a serious note, though - competition is always good.. even if this doesn't seem to be competitive at all. )

[Biffa]

Why would they give a guy with no clue about Bitcoin their test hardware for review. Makes 0 sense.

Because that's their target market

You owe me some LCD screen cleaner  

( On a serious note, though - competition is always good.. even if this doesn't seem to be competitive at all. )

I was being serious, unfortunately.

[Threader]

18 months late to market....

[cozk]

18 months late to market....

This.

Even for 1 buck i wouldnt take it.

[opieum2]

If the price is right (like their motherboards) it might not be so bad. Considering if they keep these under 75 bucks a board its worth it. They have a huge advantage in that they already have a distribution chain that no other single miner manufacturer has. The issue at this point would be cost. If they cost is low it might be worth it. Thats the key point here. 24Ghs is a joke right now for a single miner.

[ChuckBuck]

If the price is right (like their motherboards) it might not be so bad. Considering if they keep these under 75 bucks a board its worth it. They have a huge advantage in that they already have a distribution chain that no other single miner manufacturer has. The issue at this point would be cost. If they cost is low it might be worth it. Thats the key point here. 24Ghs is a joke right now for a single miner.

It's not the hash or price so much as is it's power usage, 130 W per board.

Just to get a decent hashrate at 240 GH/s would require 10 boards or 1300W.  That's alot of electrical costs and heat!

All to make about $5 a day in BTC.

[opieum2]

If the price is right (like their motherboards) it might not be so bad. Considering if they keep these under 75 bucks a board its worth it. They have a huge advantage in that they already have a distribution chain that no other single miner manufacturer has. The issue at this point would be cost. If they cost is low it might be worth it. Thats the key point here. 24Ghs is a joke right now for a single miner.

It's not the hash or price so much as is it's power usage, 130 W per board.

Just to get a decent hashrate at 240 GH/s would require 10 boards or 1300W.  That's alot of electrical costs and heat!

All to make about $5 a day in BTC.

Good point. Yea have to agree this one is wayy too late to the market. Needs far better power efficiency to be any good. A1's and Bitmain's chips seem to work well with 1000W:1000Ghs. Least an average ratio. So yea this would be terrible value.

[ChuckBuck]

If the price is right (like their motherboards) it might not be so bad. Considering if they keep these under 75 bucks a board its worth it. They have a huge advantage in that they already have a distribution chain that no other single miner manufacturer has. The issue at this point would be cost. If they cost is low it might be worth it. Thats the key point here. 24Ghs is a joke right now for a single miner.

It's not the hash or price so much as is it's power usage, 130 W per board.

Just to get a decent hashrate at 240 GH/s would require 10 boards or 1300W.  That's alot of electrical costs and heat!

All to make about $5 a day in BTC.

Good point. Yea have to agree this one is wayy too late to the market. Needs far better power efficiency to be any good. A1's and Bitmain's chips seem to work well with 1000W:1000Ghs. Least an average ratio. So yea this would be terrible value.

Almost forgot to mention you'd need a host PC on 24 hours a day.  More electrical costs!

[brian_23452]

I had to double check the date, thought maybe it said 2013 not 2014.  But no. 

[Xer0]

so 2013 called, they want their chips back?