KnCMiner Openday Wednesday 5th & Monday 10th June

[Bitcoinorama]

I stopped following the other thread. Someone who has been following along, does it appear that these guys are legit? Also, if you purchase a Mars FPGA board, is that $2000 voucher a trade-in or simply a credit towards a Jupiter?

1). They have strong backgrounds, and are timely w.r.t. to responding. I've personally found them helpful. This is the first step of any solid evidence. There will be a meet and greet very shortly by the looks of things. Pricing however, and most importantly the relationship of chosen payment method, it's relevant buyer protection period and the timing of their requesting funds is to be seen. Whether September ASIC delivery is truly feasible is another concern. As is, what effect hundreds of thousands of Avalon chips when they come online will have in combination with BFL and ASICminer?

2). You keep Mars. You get 2k off the $7k Jupiter.

[glitch003]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

[Gomeler]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

Mars is a proof of concept and a means to gain legitimacy within the community. Makes sense to me, especially if they can run the ASIC and FPGA development in parallel.

I am considering KnCMiner as a means to diversify my hardware purchases. With the answers to my previous questions, if you go all in and buy a Jupiter from KnC, your Mars is effectively $800. If you don't or Jupiter never materializes, it could be tough to simply hit ROI.

[Bitcoinorama]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

From what I understand; an FPGA (field programable gate array) is fully programable with software no customisation to chip. For prototyping and small trial runs under 10k chips it's ideal. An ASIC is a next logical progression for a +10k chip order. An ASIC wafer has base layers that are preconfigured, it's just the top few masks that are customisable. It would be an expensive mistake to make if you're not confident with the design before committing to ASIC. BFL and Avalon both designed FPGAs prior. It's just the interim is a lot smaller this time. They are basically performing an iterative just in time manufacture err...just in time!

That and they wanted to show you they could knock something up quick. Manufacturing it en mass and delivering on time is another step...

[glitch003]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

Mars is a proof of concept and a means to gain legitimacy within the community.

Ahh okay, that makes sense.  That's what I was missing.  Thanks

[glowkeeper]

I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s

Where? I want one.....

[Zubilica]

i still cant figure the price for Mars for EU consumers

Is it 2,795.00$ VAT included ?
Is it 2,795.00 +25%VAT =   3493.75$ ?
Is it 2,795.00 +20%VAT = 3354$ ?

[Bitcoinorama]

VAT included, $2,795 retail, is what's been mentioned before. We've been discussing claiming VAT back on the other thread.

[daggeteo]

Me and my associate would like to attend an afternoon session.

[wildbud]

Can someone please take a video and post it up for us to see? I would love to go but the flight from California might be a little expensive and long

[wonko]

Can someone please take a video and post it up for us to see? I would love to go but the flight from California might be a little expensive and long

Another californian here, I second that motion!

[papamoi]

hi
it s looks nice

how about the speed?

[dan99]

ya took lots of videos and photos, their facility, office, the bosses and their staffs and the fpga miners and asic chip if available to be view during the open day.

[cchan]

Cool! just to far to have a face to face look. 

[dan99]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

Mars is a proof of concept and a means to gain legitimacy within the community. Makes sense to me, especially if they can run the ASIC and FPGA development in parallel.

I am considering KnCMiner as a means to diversify my hardware purchases. With the answers to my previous questions, if you go all in and buy a Jupiter from KnC, your Mars is effectively $800. If you don't or Jupiter never materializes, it could be tough to simply hit ROI.

I am pretty sure that they will make it somehow for the Jupiter and Saturn Miners, but meeting the timeline will be another question to ponder? At this point in time failure is not an option. By the way is about time that Europe has a manufacturer/assembler for  Asic Miner.

[glowkeeper]

By the way is about time that Europe has a manufacturer/assembler for  Asic Miner.

+1

[600watt]

i will try to attend also.

[Twh]

hi
it s looks nice

how about the speed?

6GH/s+, says so on their website

[Bitcoinorama]

hi
it s looks nice

how about the speed?

6GH/s+, says so on their website

It also states; 30% Improvement in hashing rate over standard Implementation.

I had emailed before enquiring whether that means 9gh/s and they said not likely, but there should be some performance improvement. So I'm keen to see what the actual figures are. Fingers crossed and all that...

[desper]

I don't understand, why take the time and effort to create an FPGA miner when everyone is already moving into ASIC?  I mean given that BFL is now actually shipping, you can get a jalapeno for $275 at 5gh/s vs a mars unit from kncminer for $2800 at 6gh/s.  That's a huge price difference.

With Avalon, ASICMiner, and BFL units shipping and the difficulty skyrocketing, it's possible that if you buy a mars unit from kncminer you may never pay it off and break even, let alone make any profit.

There must be something I'm missing or not understanding, so please forgive my ignorance.  Don't take this as an attack on kncminer - they claim to be working on ASICs as well as releasing this FPGA unit, but I'm just curious as why they aren't focusing 100% on ASICs.  

I think the reason why they are producing an ASIC design first is because they are using the OpenCores route to ASIC development. Once they have the software running on the FPGA, they can make identical (except faster) ASICs.