GekkoScience is now dabbling with 16nm ASICs for new designs

[philipma1957]

The profile is a different size, because 2Pac heatsinks are on the other side. It's a 2-sided build with the ASICs on the backside (like the S5 or Avalon6) so the heatsink is mounted there. Doing that allowed me to keep the PCB/heatsink area the same (same overall height and board width) because I could put all the node-level components topside. The heatsink fins will also be about 2mm taller than the standard Compac heatsink. The green ones pictured are Compac leftovers I redrilled for prototyping, but the 2Pac heatsinks will be slightly different (and, unfortunately, not anodized a sweet color).

will they be bare naked aluminum sliver color?

If so I like that color

[sidehack]

Yes. My normal heatsink supplier (going back all the way to my AM Blade overclock kits) wouldn't have been able to get me anything until sometime in March, which is noticeably way too late. I asked a friend who is an actual procurement agent for an aluminum casting and machining company to help find another good source but he hasn't reported back positive anything yet so at this point I'm planning on just buying extruded bar stock with the right profile and doing all the cutting, drilling and tapping in house. Since I don't have the equipment to anodize, there won't be sweet colors this time around.

[ZACHM]

Thanks for the info. 
I remember now that you had said the heatsinks would be on the other side.

[murasame2003]

Sidehack,

What's the size of heatsink mounting screw tap?

[sidehack]

M3x0.5, same as the original Compac. What's up?

[murasame2003]

Just wondering, in case if I decide to mount several 2PACs in a single big block of heatsink. 
Thanks for the quick response.

[AmDD]

Yes. My normal heatsink supplier (going back all the way to my AM Blade overclock kits) wouldn't have been able to get me anything until sometime in March, which is noticeably way too late. I asked a friend who is an actual procurement agent for an aluminum casting and machining company to help find another good source but he hasn't reported back positive anything yet so at this point I'm planning on just buying extruded bar stock with the right profile and doing all the cutting, drilling and tapping in house. Since I don't have the equipment to anodize, there won't be sweet colors this time around.

Its that hard to get a simple heatsink? I figured you could get them by the truck load, even more so since its a basic square/rectangle shape and nothing real fancy...

[sidehack]

Probably should be easy if you got the connections, but since I'm already doing three jobs already I figured I'd talk to someone "in the know". And since I haven't heard anything out of him in 3 weeks, and since the couple other people I've talked to haven't said anything either, I'll just do it my way.

That's how these things always go for me. There's only about three people I trust to actually get things done and I don't work with any of 'em anymore; Novak was the last one around here.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Digikey /Newark/Mouser don't have anything? Found this in Digikey and at least at 1st glance looks similar to what the Compac uses http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/wakefield-vette/518-95AB/345-1055-ND/340668 They have >1k of them in-stock.

[sidehack]

Yeah, except that it's the wrong size in every dimension and costs four times as much. At a glance, I don't see anything the right size in their inventory. I'll probably be back to my regular supplier by the time BF16 sticks come out, but for now I'll just do it my way.

[ppetrovic68]

If everything works as expected, yes that's the plan. The actual interface on Compac, 2Pac and Biggie are pretty much the same so VH's cgminer should be forward-compatible with the Biggie as well, though there may be some tweaks once the Biggie is actually rolled out.

Hi there,

any idea if it'll be possible to set different frequencies for Compacs and 2Pacs (and later Biggies) running on the same instance of the VH's cgminer?

[Meech]

I don't know if they do large commercial jobs but a quick Google search brought up, dunt, dunt, duh!..... heatsinkusa.com

Will these use the same led's?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

If everything works as expected, yes that's the plan. The actual interface on Compac, 2Pac and Biggie are pretty much the same so VH's cgminer should be forward-compatible with the Biggie as well, though there may be some tweaks once the Biggie is actually rolled out.

Hi there,

any idea if it'll be possible to set different frequencies for Compacs and 2Pacs (and later Biggies) running on the same instance of the VH's cgminer?

As long as each stick is reported as a separate device I'd guess yes.

[ppetrovic68]

If everything works as expected, yes that's the plan. The actual interface on Compac, 2Pac and Biggie are pretty much the same so VH's cgminer should be forward-compatible with the Biggie as well, though there may be some tweaks once the Biggie is actually rolled out.

Hi there,

any idea if it'll be possible to set different frequencies for Compacs and 2Pacs (and later Biggies) running on the same instance of the VH's cgminer?

As long as each stick is reported as a separate device I'd guess yes.

Hm, judging by the pic sidehack posted earlier 2Pacs will be identified as GSC, compared to COMPAC, so they will be reported as a separated device, however... if VH's cgminer would still be using --compac-freq parameter to set the frequency then we'll be stuck with the same frequency for both 2Pacs and Compacs on the same instance of cgminer, right?

I might be missing something, but asfaik there is no way to set frequency per device (e.g. running, off of one cgminer, 2 compacs, first one 200Mhz and second one 250Mhz) - can somebody correctly if I'm wrong?

If I'm not wrong, new parameter will be needed (--2pac-freq?) to set different frequency for 2Pacs

[sidehack]

It might have only been mentioned in the sales thread, but vh's cgminer driver will differentiate between Compac, 2Pac and Biggie miners. I have requested, and have been told it's easy to implement, having a unique frequency flag for each miner type.

[ppetrovic68]

It might have only been mentioned in the sales thread, but vh's cgminer driver will differentiate between Compac, 2Pac and Biggie miners. I have requested, and have been told it's easy to implement, having a unique frequency flag for each miner type.

Great, thanks! I guess I've missed that in the sales thread.

[sidehack]

Oh yeah, Biggie layout is about 95% finished. I've got ground plane stuff and temp sensor stuff to iron out, and then give it a good once-over to check all connections but I should be on schedule to order prototype PCBs next week.

[heslo]

Oh yeah, Biggie layout is about 95% finished. I've got ground plane stuff and temp sensor stuff to iron out, and then give it a good once-over to check all connections but I should be on schedule to order prototype PCBs next week.

You're a machine mate! Looking forward to picking up a few

[sidehack]

Biggie pod layout is done, pending a final checkover. I need to do that and work up bitshopper's custom silkscreen for the sticks bound for Europe and I'll be ready to place an order including Biggie prototypes.

The first box of parts just arrived, which includes almost all the passives and some of the active components I'll need to build the 2Pacs, including parts I need to work up the rest of the prototypes. Got some PSU board work to do in the short term, but I'll set up the robot to run out 2Pacs early next week and get review units out to people ASAP.

I also went ahead and followed up on that US heatsink supplier link, thanks Meech. I had come across that outfit when I was doing some looking last month, but that was right before I handed off the task to my procurement agent friend. I've submitted an RFQ for their 1" profile, with and without tapped holes.

I also did a bit more research on anodizing, and since I have about ten feet of heatsink-profile bar stock on hand to play with, I might dabble a bit next week depending what chemicals I can find locally.

[-EOS-]

Great work Sidehack!

Thank you for the updates.