DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 04:04:26 AM |
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I have 6 spartan6x150's in the mail headed my way to do some testing with. I have the PCI-e board sketched up on KiCad, and am going to contact a PCB manufacture tomorrow about getting a few made. If all goes well, I'll post the board schematics on here for public use.
For those intrested, DigiKey is selling spartan6x150 singles for $158/chip and $170/chip (same chip, just 2 different batches), just search for "XC6SLX150".
My current board design is PCI-e x16, double wide to fit a wide heatsink and fan in.
I'm also in contact with a rep from Achronix, hoping for a low-ish estimate on their HD1000 series of FPGAs (sub $1,500/chip), but I doubt it.
Thoughts, ideas, opinions?
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sunblaster
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April 10, 2013, 04:06:09 AM |
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what if free power?
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 04:08:21 AM |
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what if free power?
I don't understand. If your asking about specs, I won't know until the chips come in, but I imagine they will be close to fpgaminers specs, as they used the same chip.
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RoboCoder
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April 10, 2013, 04:10:52 AM |
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Of course everything is a little bit of a gamble with BTC - but since fpga's seem to still have some value based on the current price (which as we all know is subject to change) it is probably not a bad idea.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 04:15:34 AM |
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Of course everything is a little bit of a gamble with BTC - but since fpga's seem to still have some value based on the current price (which as we all know is subject to change) it is probably not a bad idea.
I don't think i personally could put one together but the idea has legs - possible if ram could be added it could also be flexible enough to do litecoin..
I know enterpoint had at one point produced a card with a number of spartans on it.. would have to look up the exact amount.. but they dont sell it anymore and it was like 6 grand for like 20 chips.
If you can put 6 - would 8 be just as easy?
I suspect people would want to buy them if you could produce them. I wish i had the knowledge to go from schematic to actual board myself..
Anyway - assuming one of the developers could be bribed into creating a driver/bitstream for it - i think there would be interest.
The designs I have now are 2 chips per card (I'm build 3 cards to start). The designs are based heavily off fpgaminers system. As for the driver, I'll have that covered, TheSeven gave me a great place to start. I'm actually a developer who is dabbling in hardware as a hobby. As for people wanting to buy them, I don't think I want that kind of pressure. I'm fine opensourceing my board, but I'm a rather lazy guy.
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baad
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April 10, 2013, 04:30:06 AM |
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Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
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Bogart
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April 10, 2013, 04:31:30 AM |
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I don't see the point. USB-based FPGA miners already work well.
Putting them on a PCIe card just limits scalability to the number of PCIe slots in the system, and you'll have to fit the whole thing with cooling into a 20mm wide slot (40mm if you're gonna occupy 2 slot widths).
Now if you're going for a board to mine Scrypt, using host memory, well OK...
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"All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S." - President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 04:37:11 AM |
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Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
Just to see if I can. I'm not doing this because I'm trying to make a product or anything, I'm just a bored dev who has a mobo laying around with 6 pci-e x16 slots. Besides, the PCI-e will come in handy if BitSyncom ever gets around to selling ASIC chips. The board will have to be completely redone, and the cooling situation tackled (I'm thinking closed-loop liquid), but it would be fun.
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RoboCoder
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April 10, 2013, 04:41:24 AM |
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As for people wanting to buy them, I don't think I want that kind of pressure. I'm fine opensourceing my board, but I'm a rather lazy guy.
Can't say i blame you on that!
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IMakeComps
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April 10, 2013, 08:17:05 AM |
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I would be interested in this board as well. Let me know if you need help testing, etc.
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funnow
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April 10, 2013, 09:26:43 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 09:33:30 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I have to ask... are you on drugs? While the Stratix V chips are nice, and the MH/s/$ is higher for them, your looking at a $4,515/chip starting point, as opposed to the $170/chip starting point for Spartans.
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funnow
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April 10, 2013, 09:37:41 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I have to ask... are you on drugs? While the Stratix V chips are nice, and the MH/s/$ is higher for them, your looking at a $4,515/chip starting point, as opposed to the $170/chip starting point for Spartans. We are all on drugs, we don't eat good, we don't drink good. All thing contains drugs. The card costs $4000 for one, so more cards are bought, lower is the price. And probably the hashrate is not poor.
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 09:40:56 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I have to ask... are you on drugs? While the Stratix V chips are nice, and the MH/s/$ is higher for them, your looking at a $4,515/chip starting point, as opposed to the $170/chip starting point for Spartans. We are all on drugs, we don't eat good, we don't drink good. All thing contains drugs. The card costs $4000 for one, so more cards are bought, lower is the price. And probably the hashrate is not poor. I don't think you understand. I'm saying the cost for just the CHIP is $4,515/chip. That doesn't include PCB manufacturing, additional parts, etc. The lowest price anyone could make these for right now is around the $4,750/card range, if your looking at single chip cards.
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funnow
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April 10, 2013, 09:44:50 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I have to ask... are you on drugs? While the Stratix V chips are nice, and the MH/s/$ is higher for them, your looking at a $4,515/chip starting point, as opposed to the $170/chip starting point for Spartans. We are all on drugs, we don't eat good, we don't drink good. All thing contains drugs. The card costs $4000 for one, so more cards are bought, lower is the price. And probably the hashrate is not poor. I don't think you understand. I'm saying the cost for just the CHIP is $4,515/chip. That doesn't include PCB manufacturing, additional parts, etc. The lowest price anyone could make these for right now is around the $4,750/card range, if your looking at single chip cards. I understand everything. I get little lower prices, so no problem I will buy and build a little rig. But It will stay powered off, because I don't have any bitstram,...
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 10, 2013, 09:46:40 AM |
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Looking for group buy Stratix V boards to reduce price.
I have to ask... are you on drugs? While the Stratix V chips are nice, and the MH/s/$ is higher for them, your looking at a $4,515/chip starting point, as opposed to the $170/chip starting point for Spartans. We are all on drugs, we don't eat good, we don't drink good. All thing contains drugs. The card costs $4000 for one, so more cards are bought, lower is the price. And probably the hashrate is not poor. I don't think you understand. I'm saying the cost for just the CHIP is $4,515/chip. That doesn't include PCB manufacturing, additional parts, etc. The lowest price anyone could make these for right now is around the $4,750/card range, if your looking at single chip cards. I understand everything. I get little lower prices, so no problem I will buy and build a little rig. But It will stay powered off, because I don't have any bitstram,... I think I'm being troll'd.
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BR0KK
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April 10, 2013, 10:44:55 AM |
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intersested as well My 990FXA UD7 would be pleased with FPGA miners!
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E3V3A
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April 10, 2013, 11:24:22 AM |
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Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
Probably because a USB design requires an internal µ-controller as a master. If he uses the PCI-e, he'll use the PC as a master saving some HW design. I'm interested in this project and may be able to help. Can we see your KiCad sketches?
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segfault88
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April 11, 2013, 12:46:28 AM |
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Also very interested. Keen to see your KiCad work - maybe chuck it up on github or something? If you don't want to do that, even a screenshot would be good for now.
Are you thinking of adding (s)RAM as well?
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DarkPunk (OP)
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April 11, 2013, 08:16:52 AM |
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Why pci-e? You dont need such fast communication, and the cooling is worse than the stand alone pcbs.
Probably because a USB design requires an internal µ-controller as a master. If he uses the PCI-e, he'll use the PC as a master saving some HW design. I'm interested in this project and may be able to help. Can we see your KiCad sketches? Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you, I just passed out last night. I'm working on a compiled library of the modules right now (Having to make them all from scratch, as I can't find any pre-made for KiCad, go figure) I'll upload everything to github as soon as I'm done.
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