ASICs

[dgatba09]

Hi, new to the forum, but I've owned bitcoin and been a dedicated lurker here since it had its first bubble.

Question: After the ASICs become obsolete for mining, will there be other uses for them? Anyone with a GPU mining rig can sell their cards and make up a bunch of the initial cost that way. Will there be such an opportunity when the next big hardware breakthrough gets developed? Does any other community have use for these?

Thanks!

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[woogoose]

There is more to an ASIC based device than just the hashing core itself; for example the interfacing to a host system issues work and receives results.

Depending on the design choices of a given device, it may be possible to remove the purpose-built hashing core and replace it with a core tailored for an algorithm used in another purpose. If this is possible, it would be somewhat cheaper than throwing the entire unit on the scrapheap.

[kea808]

I can't wait!  It's getting close to shipping and I'm on the forst batch list for a SC Single!!

[greyhawk]

Depending on the design choices of a given device, it may be possible to remove the purpose-built hashing core and replace it with a core tailored for an algorithm used in another purpose.

Actually no, at least with the BFL miners. Their choice of using a BGA package pretty much excludes being able to remove/replace the chip. At least at reasonable cost/reliability.

[coinandable]

I dont think that using ASICs for other things than Bitcoin mining will be possible at all. These are highly specialized chips that were developed for just one task - mining with the SHA256 algorhythm. FPGAs are programmed chips that can be used for other things, when the programming is changed.

The good thing is: There wont be another hashrate jump within the foreseeable future. ASICs are the end of the line. And although someone might develop ASICs that are a bit more efficient of have higher clock rates, this will only increase the hashrate in a linear way and slowly over time.

So unless you lose your interest in bitcoin and/or mining you will be able to use your ASIC for a long time.

(But still: Other people that are buying ASICs and take part in mining will decrease profit over time.)


 

[fox20]

i doubt it can work~~~