So following the publication of the picture of the Batch 8 Hash Board on the Bitnain Product page this is my current thinking.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bitmaintech.com%2Fbm_tech_admin_at_123%2Fuserfiles%2Fimage%2F45%2520chips.jpg&t=665&c=-sBhyiac7q-DqA)
As we knew they have removed 3 triples, 9 ASIC's, from the chain. However rather than that being it, which never completely added up because the resultant increase in the Core Voltage from 0.6V to 0.8V took the chips way off the data Sheet and would have ruined the efficiency. So they have removed the chips from the bottom of the chain and my best guess is that the have added a Buck converter to the board, in the vacated space.
We can see the large inductor & capacitors and I am assuming that the Buck Converter chip is on the other side, which they are choosing to keep from us at the moment.
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
So assuming that is correct I am further assuming that the 45 chips are still arranged as a 15 Chip triple node string. The buck converter presumably reduces the 12V to around 10V, giving us a hybrid design. In fact an integrated version of what we have been playing with on the S5 with a 12V PSU and an external Buck Converter.
The big unknown here is have they made this voltage software adjustable to give say 0.55V to 0.75V / Chip, or is it a fixed voltage? If they have done this perhaps it was done as a reaction to the Avalon6 which has an automatic frequency / undervolt algorithm?
Either way although there will be a small loss in efficiency with the Buck Converter but a gain in flexibility and overall be it software adjustable or good old pencil mod I think it represents an improvement over the straight string design.
It is also possible that I have completely misunderstood what the components are and the change that they have made is for something completely different.......
Rich