The Single SC and Little Single SC appear to be using the same board, same cooling. My best guess is that limiting or increasing speeds will be done by firmware, which can be upgraded or modified regardless of how many ASICS are present on a Single-SC type configuration.
After seeing pics of the Single SC and Little Single SC-
Thermal Characteristics:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the limiting factor for overclocking these ASIC chips will be the plastic top layer on the chip itself. The heat pipe cooling system seems to be overkill no matter if it's 1 or 8 ASICs, but this is to make up for not having a cooling system on the bottom side of the chip, or a chip that is more efficient with dissipating heat through the top layer. With regard to what it means for this thread, I believe a BFL Single SC should run and be just as overclockable as a Little Single. Neither the board, nor power supply should prove to be the limiting factors. The limiting factor should be the thermal characteristics within the plastic-clad ASIC chips themselves (as superior as these chips may be
).
Assuming everything above is true, 2 devices that have exactly half the power and use more watts from the outlet = not convenient. I understand the idea of reducing variance of earnings by spreading the load over more BFL units. That makes sense. But for people who want to reduce the amount of work, the amount of complexity of setup- the BFL Single SC is the best value. I guess it depends on where your priorities are.
To cool each of these units, I intend to use high air flow (large squirrel cage fan) and/ or waterblock cooling (if available), and whatever future ???s there may be. I want the maximum processing power in the smallest space, because much cooling will be focused on the air mass within that space. Also, hubs are just a weak point.
Since the hard drive analogy didn't drive it home, how about this one:
You own a metal recycling business. If, for about the same price, you could buy Two Ford Ranger Trucks that get 30mpg in order to haul 500lbs of scrap metal each or One Ford F-150 Truck that gets 21mpg and can haul 1000lbs of scrap metal, which one do you pick? Whatever the choice may be, do you ask Ford to increase the price of the Ranger, or limit its performance? It is already limited by inefficiency, because the ONLY job you intend to do (ASIC) is haul massive amounts of scrap metal from point A (scap metal site) to point B (your local metal recycling facility which happens to pay out in BTC). There is no room in this analogy for using the truck to run an errand picking up groceries at walmart.
MPG = miles per gallon = MH/W
Poll
