Instead of GPUs - PCI based Mining hardware? & Non tradidional PCs

[Zillions]

Ok stupid question considering you need a computer to run all current hardware to run any of the stand alone mining hardware.

Why hasn't any one made a PCI based card to mine coins?
 
Yes it's more power efficient but if you just plug a card into your computer that has a already being used PSU, why do I need to have another power leeching wall wart?

Is there any one that I could contact for such a thing to get one made to get the ball rolling? Maybe get a kickstarter program going.

If any one that is designing the Opensource hardware could we maybe get a vote going what style of hardware you'd prefer?

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[live627]

Isn't a GPU PCI-based?

[crazyates]

I'm gonna guess and say USB controllers are cheaper and easier to work with than PCIe controllers. The KISS rule always trumps.

[pieppiep]

The cooling of my computer isn't the best. I don't want another heat producer inside it.
Besides, for the people who really want to mine big, the total number of pci/pci-e/whatever type of cards is limited to a very low number. usb goes up to 127 devices each controller.

[crazyates]

The cooling of my computer isn't the best. I don't want another heat producer inside it.
Besides, for the people who really want to mine big, the total number of pci/pci-e/whatever type of cards is limited to a very low number. usb goes up to 127 devices each controller.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70611.msg1041850#msg1041850

[Zillions]

Isn't a GPU PCI-based?

Yes but they are not built for the purpose of what we are using them for hence inefficent. It's like using a car engine to generate electricity sure you can do it but there's better engines to do that with.

[live627]

Isn't a GPU PCI-based?

Yes but they are not built for the purpose of what we are using them for hence inefficent. It's like using a car engine to generate electricity sure you can do it but there's better engines to do that with.

Good comparison. Using a car's motor to power, say, a house is highly inefficient and a very silly idea IMO.

[ngzhang]

because mining didn't need a computer. 
it's possible to use a DD-WRT based router instead.

[Lethos]

As already mentioned, using usb is just a little easier all round.

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

Their merrick-3 is one of their biggest spartan 6's and when it came to entering the bitcoin market, they still choose an entirely new design which was USB based. So if you want a concrete answer I'd ask Yohan at enterpoint why.

[crazyates]

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

You could have a PCIe slot with 24 XC6SLX150 chips? 

[Lethos]

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

You could have a PCIe slot with 24 XC6SLX150 chips? 

If you really want to drool, just ask about their merrick 1, custom order board with 100 chips on one board, they usually do it with spartan 3's. Pretty sure you could ask for spartan 6's.

[crazyates]

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

You could have a PCIe slot with 24 XC6SLX150 chips? 

If you really want to drool, just ask about their merrick 1, custom order board with 100 chips on one board, they usually do it with spartan 3's. Pretty sure you could ask for spartan 6's.

Well I got thinking, and 24 chips would require like 10W each, right? Could a PCIe x1 slot and a single molex connector supply 240+W?

[Lethos]

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

You could have a PCIe slot with 24 XC6SLX150 chips? 

If you really want to drool, just ask about their merrick 1, custom order board with 100 chips on one board, they usually do it with spartan 3's. Pretty sure you could ask for spartan 6's.

Well I got thinking, and 24 chips would require like 10W each, right? Could a PCIe x1 slot and a single molex connector supply 240+W?

If I remember rightly, the molex connect can handle 5amps on the 5v and 12v line, so you looking at:
60w and 25w.
Then you have the PCIe itself, so that is another 75w.

So short answer, is no. I'm not seeing how they could do it, with just 1. But not all spartan 6's use 10watts.

[crazyates]

But enterpoint as a long time maker of general use FPGA's makes all kinds, they have done really big chip arrays that are PCI based.
http://enterpoint.co.uk/products/asic-development-high-performance-computing/merrick-3/

You could have a PCIe slot with 24 XC6SLX150 chips? 

If you really want to drool, just ask about their merrick 1, custom order board with 100 chips on one board, they usually do it with spartan 3's. Pretty sure you could ask for spartan 6's.

Well I got thinking, and 24 chips would require like 10W each, right? Could a PCIe x1 slot and a single molex connector supply 240+W?

If I remember rightly, the molex connect can handle 5amps on the 5v and 12v line, so you looking at:
60w and 25w.
Then you have the PCIe itself, so that is another 75w.

So short answer, is no. I'm not seeing how they could do it, with just 1. But not all spartan 6's use 10watts.

Lets say the did use XC6SLX150 chips (What the ZTEX, ModMiner, Lancelot, Icarus, X6500, and Cairnsmore all use), but not a full 24. They could fill half the board and use 12 chips, and have the card draw < 150W for 2.4GH/s. It'll cost you 3x any of the previously mentioned chips, but hey, who cares?

[Zillions]

Power? We just plug another molex into the card just like we power video cards nowdays.

My whole thing is I still need a fully functioning PC to do mining some what of a waste I used to power my PC down every so often but now leave it on constantly. I have a 850w power supply and would love to just throw in a couple PCI cards into empty slots to fill out.

I know somebody has done a rasberryey pi (honestly no idea what OS) but some one just mentioned that they used a DDWrt router to mine wth how'd you get that running is there a guide you can point me to?
I have 2 old routers that I believe can be ddwrt'd that I'd love to conver into low power dedicated miners. Any channce for a couple of links?

Also I can't find it right now but I heard some one was working on an android mining clinet? that would be awesome as I have a tablet that's basically a Alarm clock bedtime webrowser/video player.

[crazyates]

Lets take these things one at a time.

Power? We just plug another molex into the card just like we power video cards nowdays.

That's what we're discussing. The board he linked only has 1 molex power plug.

My whole thing is I still need a fully functioning PC to do mining some what of a waste I used to power my PC down every so often but now leave it on constantly. I have a 850w power supply and would love to just throw in a couple PCI cards into empty slots to fill out.

There is no such product out there right now. Realisticly, if you have empty PCIe slots and a PSU to power them, start buying more GPUs!

I know somebody has done a rasberryey pi (honestly no idea what OS) but some one just mentioned that they used a DDWrt router to mine wth how'd you get that running is there a guide you can point me to?
I have 2 old routers that I believe can be ddwrt'd that I'd love to conver into low power dedicated miners. Any channce for a couple of links?

CGMiner on a DD-WRT can be found here. A RPi guide can be found here.

Also I can't find it right now but I heard some one was working on an android mining clinet? that would be awesome as I have a tablet that's basically a Alarm clock bedtime webrowser/video player.

Assuming you're not actually trying to mine on the tablet itself (you're talking piddly squat for performance), the problem with that is that most Android phones/tables do not have a USB host controller. If you found one that could act as a USB controller and not a slave, you could possibly hook up an FPGA and run some mining software. If you're really serious about that, I'd start a new thread, and maybe check out this.

[Gabi]

Isn't a GPU PCI-based?

Yes but they are not built for the purpose of what we are using them for hence inefficent. It's like using a car engine to generate electricity sure you can do it but there's better engines to do that with.

Ehm, do you know the FPGA and the ASIC?

Miners have been using dedicated hardware since months, lot of ppl use FPGA to mine.

And BFL soon will release ASIC to mine (yeah well, probably they will)

[Zillions]

Isn't a GPU PCI-based?

Yes but they are not built for the purpose of what we are using them for hence inefficent. It's like using a car engine to generate electricity sure you can do it but there's better engines to do that with.

Ehm, do you know the FPGA and the ASIC?

Miners have been using dedicated hardware since months, lot of ppl use FPGA to mine.

And BFL soon will release ASIC to mine (yeah well, probably they will)

Right again I was talking about how you still need a PC running to use those FFPGAs and ASICs

Assuming you're not actually trying to mine on the tablet itself (you're talking piddly squat for performance), the problem with that is that most Android phones/tables do not have a USB host controller. If you found one that could act as a USB controller and not a slave, you could possibly hook up an FPGA and run some mining software. If you're really serious about that, I'd start a new thread, and maybe check out this.

Though I do Love the sound of using an old router to run the CGminer.

I was about to get all excited when I said myself "Sure I have a USB port on My Asus Transormer Prime!" then realized that the charging port was what connected to the USB for data transfers too bad I don't have the docking station might be the perfect low power PC.

[crazyates]

Assuming you're not actually trying to mine on the tablet itself (you're talking piddly squat for performance), the problem with that is that most Android phones/tables do not have a USB host controller. If you found one that could act as a USB controller and not a slave, you could possibly hook up an FPGA and run some mining software. If you're really serious about that, I'd start a new thread, and maybe check out this.

Though I do Love the sound of using an old router to run the CGminer.

I was about to get all excited when I said myself "Sure I have a USB port on My Asus Transormer Prime!" then realized that the charging port was what connected to the USB for data transfers too bad I don't have the docking station might be the perfect low power PC.

I've seen a lot of people use old laptops when mining with FPGAs (or just use whatever they have. Any old dell you pick up on ebay for < $100 with working USB and LAN ports can run Ubuntu and mine with as many FPGAs as you want. And when they idle at < 20W, the power cost is pretty small.

[toxicocean]

Just use a Raspberry Pi to control your FPGA's. Run it with the stock Raspbian, and it'll only use maybe 2,5W...