Well week's gone now...
well, I feel like my post might be a serious contender for "The most market appealing design award: 100 LTC", if not quite the "Most Creative".
Hopefully SFARDS was serious about the rewards
I didn't post a payment address at the time because it seems unnecessary, and would prefer to be contacted by PM to share that sort of info.
The 'ideal' unit would be something small enough for home use, but large enough that it could be used in larger farms profitably. This is best seen as:
1) 1500-5000GH/unit
2) $400-1500/unit
3) external (user-provided) power supply, hopefully drawing less than 250W/PCIe connector
4) rack-mount dimensions (2U-4U) and stackable.
Half-depth would be a smart way to keep the unit small but remain rackmountable.5) fans that are less than 70dB. That should make it reasonable for home use (at least in a spare bedroom or basement). This means ideally 120mm or 140mm fans only.
6) string design for chips - this is >10% more efficienct
7) design the webUI similarly to what spondoolies-tech built (very detailed settings, stats, logging, scheduling, etc)
design the ability to modify BOTH the voltage AND frequency, as well as the fan settings if possible. this allows wider range of users to run it at peak or in quieter modes.
9) basic outer case. put the power and ethernet connections on the same side, use a basic sheet metal enclosure. 2-4 leds is sufficienct, anything more becomes 'too blinky'. something like the SP3x design is ideal.
10) consider a small screen that can readout hashrate and/or IP address.
MY 'DO-NOT' LIST:
1) fans <80mm are loud
2) miners <1500GH mean buyers end up with a huge stack of units. dont build anything with <$400 MSRP
3) miners >40 pounds (~16kg) can be a bit heavy to move around
4) miners that act as nightlights. all i want is a singlular LED that is lit solid in normal operation and isnt blinding.
-Klondike