ASICMINER: Erupter Blades. Review, comments, photos, and discussion!

[romerun]

what if you get an erupter blade right now, at what price, you can beat ROI with the estimated increase of hash rate.

and can it be used to mine other SHA256 coins with just a change of mining software ?

[Newar]

and can it be used to mine other SHA256 coins with just a change of mining software ?

If you point it at a pool like Bitminter (NMC) or Bitparking (NMC and some others) (both pools on stratum), yes.

LTC, no.

[organofcorti]

and can it be used to mine other SHA256 coins with just a change of mining software ?

If you point it at a pool like Bitminter (NMC) or Bitparking (NMC and some others) (both pools on stratum), yes.

LTC, no.

I think he means like TRC and bytecoin. And I think the answer is yes.

[Newar]

and can it be used to mine other SHA256 coins with just a change of mining software ?

If you point it at a pool like Bitminter (NMC) or Bitparking (NMC and some others) (both pools on stratum), yes.

LTC, no.

I think he means like TRC and bytecoin. And I think the answer is yes.

Well spotted. Quite a few of those around: http://www.coinchoose.com/

[GodHatesFigs]

It's not at all clear that the winners of this latest auction will ever achieve ROI, especially with BFL and Avalon releasing.

[Gomeler]

It's not at all clear that the winners of this latest auction will ever achieve ROI, especially with BFL and Avalon releasing.

It's a gamble. We'll know much more in ~1 month. I'm gambling that neither BFL or Avalon will deliver significant amounts of hash power to customers in the next 30 days. I hope that by then I'll be halfway to my ROI. I could stand to lose a bit of BTC but considering how I mined all this BTC on hardware that has already hit ROI a few times, I don't feel to bad about this.

Now I just hope Friedcat doesn't release ANOTHER batch of these boards too soon.

[GodHatesFigs]

Fair enough sir; and as you've alluded to, ASICMiner itself is probably your worst enemy. The auction of USB miners is this Wednesday, and they're already pushing 9TH+ themselves.

[HjerterEss]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

[Rampion]

Fair enough sir; and as you've alluded to, ASICMiner itself is probably your worst enemy. The auction of USB miners is this Wednesday, and they're already pushing 9TH+ themselves.

The USB are neat. I guess a lot of people will pay much more they can mine just to have one of those amazing toys. Conceptually they are much sexier than the blades, they are a killer as a mass product, it could spread mining as we have never seen before.

[Gomeler]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

First, ASICMINER is a business. It is their goal to make money. They aren't twisting our arms for BTC. I trust that soon they will sell their blades at a fixed price. For now they are just trying to acquire as much profit as possible.

Second, the blades are expensive but it is a gamble. I am gambling that I will make more BTC with this blade than I could by ordering from BFL or Avalon. In reality I will likely order from both companies once their shipping times become predictable.

[HjerterEss]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

First, ASICMINER is a business. It is their goal to make money. They aren't twisting our arms for BTC. I trust that soon they will sell their blades at a fixed price. For now they are just trying to acquire as much profit as possible.

Second, the blades are expensive but it is a gamble. I am gambling that I will make more BTC with this blade than I could by ordering from BFL or Avalon. In reality I will likely order from both companies once their shipping times become predictable.

Well I dont care that they are a business. I don`t support their methods. Their actions is created to make a buzz, not to mention high price. They are actually shipping out the blades, I give them that though.

For 8000 USD you could purchase 20 * 7970s, have a hashrate of 15GH/s (4GH/s more than Blades), have the possibility to resell them after you are done with them. Or shift to Litecoins.
With Erupter Blades you are kinda stuck since they can`t be used for Litecoins. Its all or nothing

[Rampion]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

First, ASICMINER is a business. It is their goal to make money. They aren't twisting our arms for BTC. I trust that soon they will sell their blades at a fixed price. For now they are just trying to acquire as much profit as possible.

Second, the blades are expensive but it is a gamble. I am gambling that I will make more BTC with this blade than I could by ordering from BFL or Avalon. In reality I will likely order from both companies once their shipping times become predictable.

Well I dont care that they are a business. I don`t support their methods. Their actions is created to make a buzz, not to mention high price. They are actually shipping out the blades, I give them that though.

For 8000 USD you could purchase 20 * 7970s, have a hashrate of 15GH/s (4GH/s more than Blades), have the possibility to resell them after you are done with them. Or shift to Litecoins.
With Erupter Blades you are kinda stuck since they can`t be used for Litecoins. Its all or nothing

It is what it is and buyers are setting the price for a scarce item.

[Gomeler]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

First, ASICMINER is a business. It is their goal to make money. They aren't twisting our arms for BTC. I trust that soon they will sell their blades at a fixed price. For now they are just trying to acquire as much profit as possible.

Second, the blades are expensive but it is a gamble. I am gambling that I will make more BTC with this blade than I could by ordering from BFL or Avalon. In reality I will likely order from both companies once their shipping times become predictable.

Well I dont care that they are a business. I don`t support their methods. Their actions is created to make a buzz, not to mention high price. They are actually shipping out the blades, I give them that though.

For 8000 USD you could purchase 20 * 7970s, have a hashrate of 15GH/s (4GH/s more than Blades), have the possibility to resell them after you are done with them. Or shift to Litecoins.
With Erupter Blades you are kinda stuck since they can`t be used for Litecoins. Its all or nothing

Understandable on not supporting it, that is fair. 75 BTC didn't seem reasonable after looking at organofcorti's estimates on BTC/day. 45-50 BTC was my cutoff for this auction and I scraped by at 50.5 BTC. The next auction, if it happens in 3-4 weeks, would have a cutoff around 30-35 BTC for myself I suspect.

Re: HD 7970s, I would love to see how you are racking 20 7970s @ $400/GPU. I think 7950s make more sense and even with them you are looking at a minimum of $400/GPU when factoring in MB/CPU/PSU/RAM/risers and something to house this rig. I did the GPU thing(ran a 14-15 GH/s farm for 6 months) and I'm tired of them. I'll run my remaining GPUs into the ground and keep up the hunt for more ASICs. I'm not too concerned about the blades being limited to BTC. If BTC fails I'm confident LTC will fail with it. By the time BTC's difficulty makes the blade a negative earner, I will have replaced it and I am gambling it will have hit ROI at least 2x.

[GodHatesFigs]

Fair enough sir; and as you've alluded to, ASICMiner itself is probably your worst enemy. The auction of USB miners is this Wednesday, and they're already pushing 9TH+ themselves.

The USB are neat. I guess a lot of people will pay much more they can mine just to have one of those amazing toys. Conceptually they are much sexier than the blades, they are a killer as a mass product, it could spread mining as we have never seen before.

No one's being forced to buy one; ASICminer has a duty to maximise shareholder value.

That said; you're probably right about the spurious ROI at these prices.

[romerun]

Well I dont care that they are a business. I don`t support their methods. Their actions is created to make a buzz, not to mention high price. They are actually shipping out the blades, I give them that though.

For 8000 USD you could purchase 20 * 7970s, have a hashrate of 15GH/s (4GH/s more than Blades), have the possibility to resell them after you are done with them. Or shift to Litecoins.
With Erupter Blades you are kinda stuck since they can`t be used for Litecoins. Its all or nothing

I don't think the way they do it is greedy at all. They would get a ridiculous price from auctioning them on ebay. AM IPO share, in some sense is fixed price preorder, and now we are auctioning them on the pass-thrus right ? And now the products are ready, we gotta have to auction them.

[bitchess]

Its silly how much people pay for the Erupter Blades. I don`t support their practice of auctioning everything out either since they know demand is skyhigh. They don`t do it to help people make a good deal since it can never be a good deal. They do it to earn the most money on each Blade.

55 BTC for one Blade is just too much. Thats $7800 in todays price. It will take people about 3 months to just come out even. With BFL shipping units each day, with the many DYI Avalon projects out, its a really big risk.

First, ASICMINER is a business. It is their goal to make money. They aren't twisting our arms for BTC. I trust that soon they will sell their blades at a fixed price. For now they are just trying to acquire as much profit as possible.

Second, the blades are expensive but it is a gamble. I am gambling that I will make more BTC with this blade than I could by ordering from BFL or Avalon. In reality I will likely order from both companies once their shipping times become predictable.

Well I dont care that they are a business. I don`t support their methods. Their actions is created to make a buzz, not to mention high price. They are actually shipping out the blades, I give them that though.

For 8000 USD you could purchase 20 * 7970s, have a hashrate of 15GH/s (4GH/s more than Blades), have the possibility to resell them after you are done with them. Or shift to Litecoins.
With Erupter Blades you are kinda stuck since they can`t be used for Litecoins. Its all or nothing

Understandable on not supporting it, that is fair. 75 BTC didn't seem reasonable after looking at organofcorti's estimates on BTC/day. 45-50 BTC was my cutoff for this auction and I scraped by at 50.5 BTC. The next auction, if it happens in 3-4 weeks, would have a cutoff around 30-35 BTC for myself I suspect.

Re: HD 7970s, I would love to see how you are racking 20 7970s @ $400/GPU. I think 7950s make more sense and even with them you are looking at a minimum of $400/GPU when factoring in MB/CPU/PSU/RAM/risers and something to house this rig. I did the GPU thing(ran a 14-15 GH/s farm for 6 months) and I'm tired of them. I'll run my remaining GPUs into the ground and keep up the hunt for more ASICs. I'm not too concerned about the blades being limited to BTC. If BTC fails I'm confident LTC will fail with it. By the time BTC's difficulty makes the blade a negative earner, I will have replaced it and I am gambling it will have hit ROI at least 2x.

someone's going to start racking ASICs once they start supplying more.  The interesting thing here is trying to determine what comes first

does the increase in BTC value, increase the overall attraction to mining and the rise in difficulty

OR

does the increase in the overall attraction to mining increase the value of BTC

[SebastianJu]

I would like to know what happens if one chip on the pcb is broken. I heard from another asicboard that is developing now that the asics are chained, so one broken one will make all chips useless. Is it the same with asicminer-boards or are they constructed another way?

[Franktank]

I would like to know what happens if one chip on the pcb is broken. I heard from another asicboard that is developing now that the asics are chained, so one broken one will make all chips useless. Is it the same with asicminer-boards or are they constructed another way?

For those that want to get their mining hardware now, check out the new fixed auction: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=201753.0

10 GH/s boards going at 49.99 BTC apiece, get 'em sooner than Avalon Batch 2 (within a week of auction ending)!

[friedcat]

I would like to know what happens if one chip on the pcb is broken. I heard from another asicboard that is developing now that the asics are chained, so one broken one will make all chips useless. Is it the same with asicminer-boards or are they constructed another way?

It depends how broken they are. If it's just a normal dysfunctional nonce calculation scenario, the last chip on our board could run till the end of the world even if the other 31 chips are broken. And I believe it is the same with chained design.

But if one of the chips are seriously damaged. Our board does not work with chips having inner short-cuts, while chained design does not work with chips having inner disconnections. Both could be solved by a set of wire jumpers and an equivalent resistor though, but they introduce extra complexity to the board and do not always work.

[cchan]

A good review, which I can follow. 

Thanks!