Liquid Synergy Designs Inc. -ASIC mining hardware

[Xian01]

Did not see an email come through for my batch 5 order Looking forward to making payment for assembly service !

Thanks for the updates steamboat !

[Shimple]

Im sorry, still a NEWB here. I am a bit confused.

Are you saying that for a FULLY ASSEMBLED board, mining at 4.5 GH/s is only costing us 133$ plus shipping?

Sorry if im causing any trouble.

Thanks,

Filip

[cp1]

Im sorry, still a NEWB here. I am a bit confused.

Are you saying that for a FULLY ASSEMBLED board, mining at 4.5 GH/s is only costing us 133$ plus shipping?

Sorry if im causing any trouble.

Thanks,

Filip

You have to purchase 16 chips also -- check the first post for the chip prices.

[mtbitcoin]

When was the e-mail sent? I can't find any e-mail either. Did anyone receive the e-mail at all?

Nope, no emails on my end too

[SteveB]

No email here either. I'm in batch 2.

I've decided to go with Terrahash for assembly and hosting (already ordered and paid for).
Anybody else here planning to go with Terrahash?

[lexis200]

No email for me either. I'm in batches 4 and 5, and am going to struggle to get bitcoins in time for the 30th.

The way the thread reads in respect to the email being sent out, it certainly seemed to only apply to Batch 1 peeps, and because of that although I want to push on as fast as possible, I didn't think there was any particular hurry for the assembly costs etc.

Steamboat, In view of the short notice, what if any contincency is there for people like me that have already confirmed we require assembly and hosting, but may not have the funds in time?

Cheers

[cardcomm]

Assembly will be processed in the order payment was accepted. A notice will be given in the thread with purchase instructions and link once the payment gateway has been tested.

I have very serious concerns about this. I see a number of potential problems:

1. We already have our places in the pre-order queue, but it sounds like now that there will be additional competition for spaces in the assembly order queue. What happens if someone in batch 5 pays for assembly before a person in batch 1 does?

2. This sounds like we'll all be "tied to this forum" watching for the payment gateway to come online, so we can jump in quickly and pay for our spot in the assembly line.

3. If there IS a rush of people trying to order assembly all at once, I can foresee problems with a relatively untested payment gateway, particularly when under a sudden heavy load.

4. It already seems like people will have problems funding with bitcoins in time for payment.

5. I'm concerned that so many people failed to get the original email detailing the assembly process. Did anyone get it?

I had planned all along to have the assembly done by Steamboat, but now I'm questioning that. I'm STRONGLY concerned that the assembly order process will turn into some sort of competitive "pre-order" like race to get our orders in.
I really hope that's not the case.

Steamboat, perhaps you could share about more information about the order in which assembly will be done? It would sure make me feel better…

Thanks

[laughingbear]

seconded, this worries me a little bit

[nightengale]

First off, want to thank Steamboat for all of his hard work. There are some legitimate concerns being raised, but I think Steamboat is doing everything in good faith and making the best of what must be, logistically, a very challenging process.

The timing of the payment is a little challenging for me too. I have 32 chips in batch three and 18 in batch four, and was anticipating payment would be requested for my first 32 chips a little before the second set was expected. I got into the game a little late, and am mining litecoins to pay for the assembly option (after that will definitely be sitting on the LTC for a while, but I've these bills to pay in BTC in the meantime). I'm not here to tell a sob story though.

Perhaps what Steamboat meant was that **within each batch**, the timing of payment would dictate assembly shipping. In reality, I think they're going to be assembling hundreds of boards a day and the order of assembly payment probably won't matter too much. There are 625 boards max that can potentially be made out of each 10,000 chip order, and many of the chips are probably going out as unassembled, raw chips. Without Steamboat, and everyone else who is engineering these buys / assemblies, most of us wouldn't have access to the miners being offered. I trust Steamboat, he's been totally above-board and fair so far, and he's probably stressing as he puts all of this together. He will listen to our concerns, no doubt, and come up with a good plan.

[ScaryHash]

I was hoping to do the assembly or assembly ordering batch by batch...however, I do understand that there is a lot of components involved, and these need to be paid for ahead of time.

I'll try to see how I can arrange this, as I will be on vacation and will only have sporadic computer access.

As for the payment and order queue, I really don't think this is going to matter much once the chips are here guys.

A decent assembly house will do 300-500 boards a day, and 10000 chips / 16 chips per board is 625 boards.

So, if an order of chips comes in, the order that you pay in will not matter one bit. They'll be done with it in two days. It will take just as long to get everything tested and shipped (probably. I can't speak for Steamboat on this one).

So, the payment and order queues will pretty much be meaningless. You've waited weeks, a day or 3 won't matter, given the efficiency that Steamboat tends to do things with.

[cardcomm]

I was hoping to do the assembly or assembly ordering batch by batch...however, I do understand that there is a lot of components involved, and these need to be paid for ahead of time.

I'll try to see how I can arrange this, as I will be on vacation and will only have sporadic computer access.

As for the payment and order queue, I really don't think this is going to matter much once the chips are here guys.

A decent assembly house will do 300-500 boards a day, and 10000 chips / 16 chips per board is 625 boards.

So, if an order of chips comes in, the order that you pay in will not matter one bit. They'll be done with it in two days. It will take just as long to get everything tested and shipped (probably. I can't speak for Steamboat on this one).

So, the payment and order queues will pretty much be meaningless. You've waited weeks, a day or 3 won't matter, given the efficiency that Steamboat tends to do things with.

Steamboat has run this group buy very professionally so far, and I'm sure he'll address my concerns about the assembly order when he has the time. I agree he has been very efficient with the buy so far.

You make a good point that the boards could potentially be assembled very quickly, so order position might not be much of an issue. But I'm more worried about the testing and shipping phase. That's where I'd foresee a possible wait building up.

It's no secret that time is money in this business, and I'd not like to wait because someone with a very large order got tested and shipped before my small order, just because they got through to pay first for assembly.

In short, there almost has to be some way to tie assembly processing to original order date and batch, rather than assembly purchase date/time.  

[steamboat]

Chip purchase and assembly purchase have always been separate. The chips will be processed in the order they were purchased, and so will assembly.  

Each batch will be processed as a unit. Batch 2 chips will be processed before Batch 3, and so on. This takes effect only if the chips are delivered at the same time, which is a possibility but has not been confirmed. The assembly queue relates to individual units within each batch. Orders from each batch will not be competing with orders from another batch for their place in line.

I understand the logistical issues the payment process causes, and I do apologize. The original design and method used for payment was meant to be available well before now, and has experienced several delays. We have been working on a solution for this and believe we've found one. Whatever the outcome, you will be able to pay for assembly, even if it requires manually emailing each individual for payment order by order.

The website should be able to handle the bandwidth, though reduced accessibility is a possibility when we are effectively DDos'd by the influx of visitors.  

If you are not able to make the payment by the deadline, please email asicbuy@gmail.com detailing the issue and we will work to resolve it. Again, this is not an optimal solution, nor is it what was intended. We will do everything in our power to work with you to ensure a solution.

The email issue is most definitely a problem. It appears it was blocked, and we will be changing the process immediately.

There will be no "pre-order race". The assembly house is more than capable of handling our volume, and the final assembly process is in place and ready. There are quite a few parts that need to be ordered at once which have long lead times. For this reason all batches are required to both request and fund their chosen assembly option.

There are a multitude of parts and processes involved in producing a product such as this. Each component must work in conjunction with the others in order to be successful. There are always hiccups along the way, and it is my job to ensure those hiccups do not get the project off track. I am painfully aware of the irony of a bitcoin mining hardware company not being able to accept bitcoin, and have been working feverishly to try to avoid this situation. I underestimated the amount of time needed to integrate the bitcoin payment system with our shopping cart software, and am now paying the price. For this I apologize, and assure you will not happen again.

That being said, progress has been made in every other aspect of this endeavor.



We are ready to go with most of the parts required, and should be seeing packages arriving shortly.

[rammy2k2]

so how can i pay for assembly ? i didnt got no email
i'm a batch #1 and want assembly too

[RiseOfTH]

I am in Batch 5 and have not received an email. It is a kind of confusing- will email contain instructions for Assembly-buy, should be paid in Bicoin but at what conversion rate and what gateway?

I hope that email will contain all the instructions and hope to receive an email soon

However, I have sent an email to asicbuy@gmail.com.

[rocks]

Hi steamboat,

Thanks for the updates.

The fees for assembly & shipping are quoted in USD, but payment is in BTC.

What is the conversion rate being applied, or will this be part of the website process when that is ready? Also, what is the expected process for the per batch USD fees? The original post quotes this as  $404.82 per batch to be distributed across all chips.

Lastly, are the shipping fees per board or for all boards within a single batch?

Thanks

[bigbeninlondon]

It appears in BKKCoins thread there is discussion regarding overclocking and the potential requirements for changing the board to handle it.  I'm not up on the specifics, but it appears that there may be some tweaks and changes to the k16.  How is this being handled?  It doesn't appear that BKKCoins himself even knows what's going to happen, so I'm curious how you can set a price and a deadline when the schematics for a working board aren't even complete.  Is this even an issue or something minor enough not to affect parts orders and assembly cost/lead time?

[andrewsg]

I have a similar concern, it's not just overclocking, but at the moment Klondike is still an unproven design, until bkkcoins shows a unit mining with 16 chips on it. What if the BoM changes?

Also, please note the latest post by Bitsyncom suggests that orders will NOT ship together, which begs the question about why people in later batches should pay for assembly so early.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=240189.msg2562419#msg2562419

[cardcomm]

Thanks for the update, Steamboat.

It's kind of exciting to think there is a possibility all batches will ship at nearly the same time. That would reduce a lot of the worry about assembly time for those in later batches

I'll be watching this thread and my email for notice that the payment gateway is up.

[steamboat]

A test email will be sent tomorrow.

Instructions regarding assembly purchase will be made available the moment they are finalized. The payment gateway will be handling the payment conversion.

The process for any additional fees incurred from receipt of the Avalon chips has not changed, and will be distributed evenly based on chip purchase amount.

The shipping fees will be known early this week.


The Klondike is being verified for overclock ability, and several possible solutions have been suggested to increase it's potential. Each of the options does increase the cost of the board slightly, either from higher rated components or additional board size, or both. Some of them are minor, some are not. This additional cost will not be passed on to the end user. The base board design has been tested by several different sources and has passed, and the majority of the parts will stay the same. Lead time can be affected, and will increase the cost of PCB manufacture to ensure delivery before Batch 1. This cost will not be passed on to the end user.

The BOM has changed multiple times already. Sometimes due to scarcity, sometimes due to redesign.

The post linked lends itself to staggered delivery. We will plan for both possibilities.

[bigbeninlondon]

A test email will be sent tomorrow.

Instructions regarding assembly purchase will be made available the moment they are finalized. The payment gateway will be handling the payment conversion.

The process for any additional fees incurred from receipt of the Avalon chips has not changed, and will be distributed evenly based on chip purchase amount.

The shipping fees will be known early this week.


The Klondike is being verified for overclock ability, and several possible solutions have been suggested to increase it's potential. Each of the options does increase the cost of the board slightly, either from higher rated components or additional board size, or both. Some of them are minor, some are not. This additional cost will not be passed on to the end user. The base board design has been tested by several different sources and has passed, and the majority of the parts will stay the same. Lead time can be affected, and will increase the cost of PCB manufacture to ensure delivery before Batch 1. This cost will not be passed on to the end user.

The BOM has changed multiple times already. Sometimes due to scarcity, sometimes due to redesign.

The post linked lends itself to staggered delivery. We will plan for both possibilities.

So you will be updating design based on BKKCoin's changes at no additional cost?  Pretty solid.  I noticed a few posts back you posted pics of the heatsink.  If pcb board size is changed, does this affect the heatsink design?