Custom FPGA build

[ATC777]

Browsing the forums I have seen some interesting things, such as people building their own FPGA rigs. I find this very interesting, and if anything it sounds like a fun hobby project and something I'd really like to learn more about.

So I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction in trying to build my own FPGA mining rig. I've done a bit of research and even looked at some FPGA products online (like "development boards"), but I come from a software background... not a hardware background... I have no experience with building chips or even FPGA equipment in general.

What is a good starting point? How do I go about learning more about FPGA mining and building FPGA rigs? Where do you buy the parts?

Any light you good folk can shed on this mysterious new world would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

--ATC--

P.S. --

I'm also interested in potentially buying a ready-to-rock FPGA rig or one that only requires some partial assembly and setup. But I can't seem to find a single online vendor to order from. I know BFL sells the BitForce SHA-256, but if you try to click on the product it just takes you to their ASIC pre-order page. So where on earth can one buy any Bitcoin mining FPGA system?

[CoinHoarder]

Someone shared this link with me in BTC-E chat once... I haven't read it all, but it seems like a pretty good resource.

http://powerprice.info/docs/Elsevier.ASIC.and.FPGA.Verification.ebook-LRN.pdf

[ATC777]

Thanks for that! Please keep the learning resources and info flowing toward my brain!

I've been doing a little studying online and now I more or less understand what a FPGA really is and how it works (of course I dunno how to build one yet). I fear this is going to take me back to square one though: needing to learn how the Bitcoin network, SHA-256 and mining software works. Since I'm a very "hands on" guy when it comes to technology, I need to write my own simple CPU miner to really learn this stuff. I asked a question about how I might go about doing that in the Mining Software sub-forum but no one has helped me yet...

Just out of curiosity: would it be possible to build a CPLD rig for Bitcoin mining? I really know nothing about them but the thought crossed my mind...

[ice_chill]

1. You don't build an FPGA rig like you would built a computer, you buy a ready made board and plug it to your PC through a USB cable.

2. Bitcoin is for using it like a currency/mining, if you want to learn how to program FPGA devices, then you should really be looking somewhere else, the software mining subforum is for "mining" discussions, not for "learning to program" so I doubt that someone there will teach you the basics of FPGA programming for Bitcoin.

3. FPGAs are already barely profitable, people who want to mine for a profit invest into ASICs, people who want to learn to program FPGAs learn something other than Bitcoin.

4. Besides the software, an FPGA device also needs a Bitsream to be programmed, otherwise it is useless.

5. A few days ago you posted that you don't want to invest into ASIC because you think you might not profit from it, now you are saying you want to buy an FPGA so you can learn to program.

6. What is it you actually want to do, mine Bitcoins or learn FPGA programming ?

[ATC777]

1. You don't build an FPGA rig like you would built a computer, you buy a ready made board and plug it to your PC through a USB cable.

2. Bitcoin is for using it like a currency/mining, if you want to learn how to program FPGA devices, then you should really be looking somewhere else, the software mining subforum is for "mining" discussions, not for "learning to program" so I doubt that someone there will teach you the basics of FPGA programming for Bitcoin.

3. FPGAs are already barely profitable, people who want to mine for a profit invest into ASICs, people who want to learn to program FPGAs learn something other than Bitcoin.

4. Besides the software, an FPGA device also needs a Bitsream to be programmed, otherwise it is useless.

5. A few days ago you posted that you don't want to invest into ASIC because you think you might not profit from it, now you are saying you want to buy an FPGA so you can learn to program.

6. What is it you actually want to do, mine Bitcoins or learn FPGA programming ?

What are you talking about? I didn't say anything about wanting to learn FPGA programming and most of your post has nothing to do with what I was saying... You seem to be confused about what I said...

#1 I've seen threads about people building their own, and I'm interested in how to do it. I also know you can buy ready-made boards, but where and which ones?

#2 I mentioned (as a side note) that I wanted to write a CPU miner for Bitcoin... I already know how to program in multiple languages (from C# to x86/64 assembly language), but I don't know enough about how the Bitcoin network operates to do it yet. What I want to learn is how the Bitcoin network functions; not programming. But I only passively mentioned it... my thread here is about building or buying my own FPGA rig...

#3 No idea what you're talking about...

#4 I see.

#5 You're mistaken again... I didn't say I didn't want to invest in ASICs because "I might not profit"... I said I'm not going to pre-order any ASIC gear because I dunno how long I'll be waiting on it nor how profitable it will be (because everyone else will have them to). So I'm going to wait until they hit the market, re-calculate profitability and only THEN make a selection on ASIC equipment...

#6 Mine Bitcoins... this thread is about how I can build or acquire an FPGA rig to mine Bitcoins. Since I can't seem to find any place in the world that is currently selling ready-to-go FPGA mining rigs, I'm very interested in building my own at a lost cost.

[libertybuck]

#1 I've seen threads about people building their own, and I'm interested in how to do it. I also know you can buy ready-made boards, but where and which ones?

Hi,

If you want to build it by yourself, you could try Icarus or Lancelot.  They are all open source projects. You could get all informations needed from github.

[panda1]

Building a fpga rig is very straightforward. This is what you do:

1. Buy one or more of the fpga products, ie, BFL bitforce, Icarus, or modminer quad. If the company doesn't sell them anymore you will need to buy from another person.
2. Plug them into your computer's USB port. Buy a hub if you run out of ports.
3. Join a mining pool and run the mining software.

You now own an fpga rig.

[ATC777]

Building a fpga rig is very straightforward. This is what you do:

1. Buy one or more of the fpga products, ie, BFL bitforce, Icarus, or modminer quad. If the company doesn't sell them anymore you will need to buy from another person.
2. Plug them into your computer's USB port. Buy a hub if you run out of ports.
3. Join a mining pool and run the mining software.

You now own an fpga rig.

Ok... I already know this... What I want to know is where do I buy the damn thing? I'd prefer to do business with an established company with a track record than a stranger on the web. Every day I spend a good 1-2 hours "Googling" FPGA miners and can't find anywhere to order one. Looks like no one makes them anymore.

The second thing I want to know about is building my own from parts... How/where do I acquire the correct parts/chips and where can I learn more about building them.

Those are my questions. Not how to plug in a USB cable or open my DVD drive.

[libertybuck]

How/where do I acquire the correct parts/chips and where can I learn more about building them.

Lots of jobs involed in:

1, Check bom.
2, Fabricate PCB.
3, Order components from digikey.
4, Build a sample board with a solder.  The most difficult thing is to mount FPGA BGA chips to PCB.

[panda1]

Building a fpga rig is very straightforward. This is what you do:

1. Buy one or more of the fpga products, ie, BFL bitforce, Icarus, or modminer quad. If the company doesn't sell them anymore you will need to buy from another person.
2. Plug them into your computer's USB port. Buy a hub if you run out of ports.
3. Join a mining pool and run the mining software.

You now own an fpga rig.

Ok... I already know this... What I want to know is where do I buy the damn thing? I'd prefer to do business with an established company with a track record than a stranger on the web. Every day I spend a good 1-2 hours "Googling" FPGA miners and can't find anywhere to order one. Looks like no one makes them anymore.

The second thing I want to know about is building my own from parts... How/where do I acquire the correct parts/chips and where can I learn more about building them.

Those are my questions. Not how to plug in a USB cable or open my DVD drive.

You need to use the right terminology. A rig usually means a computer hooked up with a bunch of devices such as video cards and/or fpga devices. What you want to do is build your own fpga device.

Your googling does not appear to be productive if you google up to two hours a day and can't find any answers.
You will probably find your answers quicker and learn more  if you read through this forum and the bitcoin wiki.  The mod miner appears to still be available from the company btcfpga.com.  But you don't want that, you want to build your own.

If you want to build your own from scratch, here is a list of fpgas with additional information.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#FPGAs

You need to decide which chip to buy. By chip I am referring to something from Altera or Xilinx.

It takes considerably more effort so ask yourself if you are willing to spend the money and energy.

[yohan]

Building a fpga rig is very straightforward. This is what you do:

1. Buy one or more of the fpga products, ie, BFL bitforce, Icarus, or modminer quad. If the company doesn't sell them anymore you will need to buy from another person.
2. Plug them into your computer's USB port. Buy a hub if you run out of ports.
3. Join a mining pool and run the mining software.

You now own an fpga rig.

Ok... I already know this... What I want to know is where do I buy the damn thing? I'd prefer to do business with an established company with a track record than a stranger on the web. Every day I spend a good 1-2 hours "Googling" FPGA miners and can't find anywhere to order one. Looks like no one makes them anymore.

The second thing I want to know about is building my own from parts... How/where do I acquire the correct parts/chips and where can I learn more about building them.

Those are my questions. Not how to plug in a USB cable or open my DVD drive.

Our Cairnsmore1 is still available as a grade-B. Don't be put off by the grade-B as most of these are 760-840MH/s running a Glasswalker build. It's here http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/shop/en/107-cairnsmore-1-grade-b.html. I will say that we won't ship anything now until 3rd January as we are effectively shut down now for Christmas and New Year.

If you just want to tinker with FPGAs most bitcoin mining boards are not very good boards to learn FPGA design and programming. Many use XC6SLX150 FPGAs and these need a full expensive toolset to build a design. If you want to do some basic learning have a look at boards like our Polmaddie range which are aimed at teaching and learning and basically fairly cheap and simple to use.

[ATC777]

Our Cairnsmore1 is still available as a grade-B. Don't be put off by the grade-B as most of these are 760-840MH/s running a Glasswalker build. It's here http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/shop/en/107-cairnsmore-1-grade-b.html. I will say that we won't ship anything now until 3rd January as we are effectively shut down now for Christmas and New Year.

If you just want to tinker with FPGAs most bitcoin mining boards are not very good boards to learn FPGA design and programming. Many use XC6SLX150 FPGAs and these need a full expensive toolset to build a design. If you want to do some basic learning have a look at boards like our Polmaddie range which are aimed at teaching and learning and basically fairly cheap and simple to use.

300 GBP for a guaranteed 700MH/s+ ? Sign me up...  

[ice_chill]

300 GBP for a guaranteed 700MH/s+ ? Sign me up...  

You're not very good at reading are you ?

£370 + 20%_tax = £444

[ATC777]

300 GBP for a guaranteed 700MH/s+ ? Sign me up...  

You're not very good at reading are you ?

£370 + 20%_tax = £444

You take things very literally, don't you? 

[Unacceptable]

Don't forget the exchange from pounds to dollars 

£444 =$720.92