"Avalon" ASIC, announcement & pre-order. pre-order over. project started.

[Raize]

Holy crap.

ngzhang hardware + Open WRT + cgminer. This is like the creme de la creme of ASIC mining for do-it-yourself geeks that understand the technical challenges and don't want to have to rely on empty promises and questionable marketing tactics or be locked down to one mining pool because of supposed technical constraints.

ngzhang has done it again. Will we be able to preorder with USD or Bitcoin only?

[loshia]

Ngzang,

Can you consider the option only ASIC PCB to be available for ordering. I am asking this because I already have PC xubuntu 12.04 with 6 free PCI slots. I prefer instead of having all in a box solution to plug the board in my pc install drivers and go for mining. This will save a lot of space for us. Having 200W more power consumption is not an issue for me. And second question. Will the ASIC board have molex for external power supply? Imagine a Single PC with 6 boards or rack with 6 pc's:)

Will all that be possible at all?
Probably if ordering ASIC PCB only will cut the price also?

Thanks!

[flynn]

Ngzang,

Can you consider the option only ASIC PCB to be available for ordering. I am asking this because I already have PC xubuntu 12.04 with 6 free PCI slots. I prefer instead of having all in a box solution to plug the board in my pc install drivers and go for mining. This will save a lot of space for us. Having 200W more power consumption is not an issue for me. And second question. Will the ASIC board have molex for external power supply? Imagine a Single PC with 6 boards or rack with 6 pc's:)

Will all that be possible at all?
Probably if ordering ASIC PCB only will cut the price also?

Thanks!

Hmmm, that board will have from 15 to 30 asics on it ... And theses babies need power to run on ! So you'll have to find the 200W the board needs somewhere or it won't work and I am afraid this is not negociable.

Now if you want to connect it to your PC why not: this is an open project and the cgminer (or alike) software running on the board can certainly be replaced by a communication protocol between the asics and your PC, although IMO this is a waste of time and energy.

[Dexter770221]

It would be great if those chips will have RS232 serial port as input. Let's say at 1Mbps. With proper protocol that may allow to daisy chain them or to connect via RS485 bus. And option for hobbist with opportunity to buy only chips. They may want to arrange them as they want. I like that idea the most.

[mem]

host PC NOT required
---so there's a controller embedded? it would be upgradeable, right? I hope the final product will support stratum mining protocol.
http://mining.bitcoin.cz/stratum-mining

it's a linux embedded system. which is running cgminer or something like that.

pure sexiness, Im thrilled to see respectable ASIC production groups such as yours - pr-eorder is so damn tempting......

[CubedRoot]

I am very much considering cancelling my BFL pre-order and going with yours in light of all the bad press that BFL has gotten lately. I just wished you could get them sooner, as by the time they will ship, the payout would have dropped, and the difficulty will be insane, stretching the ROI on one of your units. 

[disclaimer201]

I am the only one that has an issue with parking 1300 dollars somewhere without a product for 6 months it seems.

[Bitinvestor]

I am the only one that has an issue with parking 1300 dollars somewhere without a product for 6 months it seems.

No you're not. It is risky, no doubt about that. It might pay off nicely, or it might not. If you can't afford to lose the money then don't do it.

[loshia]

I am the only one that has an issue with parking 1300 dollars somewhere without a product for 6 months it seems.

No you're not. It is risky, no doubt about that. It might pay off nicely, or it might not. If you can't afford to lose the money then don't do it.

+1

You can be sure that ngzang is honest guy and he keeps his promises. Other option is probably to try BFL and there is a big chance for you never to see your ASIC and your money also:)

Betting on Avalon is safe in terms that you either will get ASIC (in case we reach 300 pcs preorder amount) or your money back to the last cent - coin.

[dooferorg]

Ngzang,

Can you consider the option only ASIC PCB to be available for ordering. I am asking this because I already have PC xubuntu 12.04 with 6 free PCI slots. I prefer instead of having all in a box solution to plug the board in my pc install drivers and go for mining. This will save a lot of space for us. Having 200W more power consumption is not an issue for me. And second question. Will the ASIC board have molex for external power supply? Imagine a Single PC with 6 boards or rack with 6 pc's:)

Will all that be possible at all?
Probably if ordering ASIC PCB only will cut the price also?

Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing, just slap them on a PCI card. There may be the problem of heat dissipation though

[loshia]

Ngzang,

Can you consider the option only ASIC PCB to be available for ordering. I am asking this because I already have PC xubuntu 12.04 with 6 free PCI slots. I prefer instead of having all in a box solution to plug the board in my pc install drivers and go for mining. This will save a lot of space for us. Having 200W more power consumption is not an issue for me. And second question. Will the ASIC board have molex for external power supply? Imagine a Single PC with 6 boards or rack with 6 pc's:)

Will all that be possible at all?
Probably if ordering ASIC PCB only will cut the price also?

Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing, just slap them on a PCI card. There may be the problem of heat dissipation though

It is same if they are in ngzang embedded system or in our Pc. We need to solve it somehow probably do it your self. If the boards are PCI and do have external power supply  - the must have one..You know the GPU story extender, mount them outside pc + additional coolers and we are good to go

[ngzhang]

Multiple questions, I will answer them later...

A little bit tired...

I am the only one that has an issue with parking 1300 dollars somewhere without a product for 6 months it seems.

No you're not. It is risky, no doubt about that. It might pay off nicely, or it might not. If you can't afford to lose the money then don't do it.

+65535

[TiuraZ]

I am very much considering cancelling my BFL pre-order and going with yours in light of all the bad press that BFL has gotten lately. I just wished you could get them sooner, as by the time they will ship, the payout would have dropped, and the difficulty will be insane, stretching the ROI on one of your units. 

Or you could, instead of cancelling your order, sell your order number to somebody who wants a smaller order number than one would get if ordering now.

[Dexter770221]

+65535

Nice 16 bits...

[loshia]

I am very much considering cancelling my BFL pre-order and going with yours in light of all the bad press that BFL has gotten lately. I just wished you could get them sooner, as by the time they will ship, the payout would have dropped, and the difficulty will be insane, stretching the ROI on one of your units.  

Or you could, instead of cancelling your order, sell your order number to somebody who wants a smaller order number than one would get if ordering now.

I just can not imagine how do people believe that 20 employes including management with a nice looking old woman soldering singles working in a small place will assemble and even test 8000+ orders and catch up with promised delivery time. It is not making any sense for me having in mind that testing process will take a LOOT of time if you know what i mean...
Let us say they will outsource hardware assembling. I am quite sure that they will do testing by themselves for obvious reasons.. The math is 8000/20=400 units per person. ASICS probably shall be flashed in a first place which costs time. Each test shall continue at least 24 hours (amusing they were not be able to fire all 400 units at once) which makes about ...i do not even want to calculate it
Any way everybody takes own decision...

[tacotime]

I am very much considering cancelling my BFL pre-order and going with yours in light of all the bad press that BFL has gotten lately. I just wished you could get them sooner, as by the time they will ship, the payout would have dropped, and the difficulty will be insane, stretching the ROI on one of your units.  

Or you could, instead of cancelling your order, sell your order number to somebody who wants a smaller order number than one would get if ordering now.

I just can not imagine how do people believe that 20 employes including management with a nice looking old woman soldering singles working in a small place will assemble and even test 8000+ orders and catch up with promised delivery time. It is not making any sense for me having in mind that testing process will take a LOOT of time if you know what i mean...
Let us say they will outsource hardware assembling. I am quite sure that they will do testing by themselves for obvious reasons.. The math is 8000/20=400 units per person. ASICS probably shall be flashed in a first place which costs time. Each test shall continue at least 24 hours (amusing they were not be able to fire all 400 units at once) which makes about ...i do not even want to calculate it
Any way everybody takes own decision...

It's China dude.  You can hire people to assemble and solder boards 12 hours a day 7 days a week for $200 or less a month by the tens of thousands.

[squid]

I am very much considering cancelling my BFL pre-order and going with yours in light of all the bad press that BFL has gotten lately. I just wished you could get them sooner, as by the time they will ship, the payout would have dropped, and the difficulty will be insane, stretching the ROI on one of your units.  

Or you could, instead of cancelling your order, sell your order number to somebody who wants a smaller order number than one would get if ordering now.

I just can not imagine how do people believe that 20 employes including management with a nice looking old woman soldering singles working in a small place will assemble and even test 8000+ orders and catch up with promised delivery time. It is not making any sense for me having in mind that testing process will take a LOOT of time if you know what i mean...
Let us say they will outsource hardware assembling. I am quite sure that they will do testing by themselves for obvious reasons.. The math is 8000/20=400 units per person. ASICS probably shall be flashed in a first place which costs time. Each test shall continue at least 24 hours (amusing they were not be able to fire all 400 units at once) which makes about ...i do not even want to calculate it
Any way everybody takes own decision...

It's China dude.  You can hire people to assemble and solder boards 12 hours a day 7 days a week for $200 or less a month by the tens of thousands.

Didn't they mention in a previous thread that they bought some equipment that would allow them to make their boards in house which was apparently the limiting factor for the fpgas?

[loshia]

It's China dude.  You can hire people to assemble and solder boards 12 hours a day 7 days a week for $200 or less a month by the tens of thousands.

----------------------------------------

Quite true but I know that China can buy and sell our ass hundreds of times:) It is just a matter of time this to happen. Back to the topic - I do not think that they can hire qualified people for 200 even in China. As far as i know 200 USD workers are something like "freelancers". They are farmers and are coming to the factory on a project base. What they do is farming mostly. I personally do not like the idea my ASIC to be soldered by farmer who had a good sleep a month ago, with eyes semi closed thinking about cows, chickens rise or whatever is left in the farm and so on..what about you? But as i said despite of hardware assembling itself..Their know-how is the bitstream or whatever it is called if such thing exists for ASICS and believe me they WILL NEVER outsource  it. What i mean is that in any case they will have to do some of the work by themselves... Or at least testing ...

 

[crazyates]

As if there aren't a shortage of threads to bash on BFL, lets focus on ngzhang's ASICs, mkay?

[bulanula]

I am the only one that has an issue with parking 1300 dollars somewhere without a product for 6 months it seems.

No you're not. It is risky, no doubt about that. It might pay off nicely, or it might not. If you can't afford to lose the money then don't do it.

+1

You can be sure that ngzang is honest guy and he keeps his promises. Other option is probably to try BFL and there is a big chance for you never to see your ASIC and your money also:)

Betting on Avalon is safe in terms that you either will get ASIC (in case we reach 300 pcs preorder amount) or your money back to the last cent - coin.

Make sure to pay with BTC and not USD ( bad, bad currency ) because that way you are safe if anything bad happens like tornado, hackers from Russia stole our coins, computer crash and we lost all the private keys ... but I am sure nothing like this will happen