[BitCentury] Metabank 120Gh 65nm Asic Pre-Order Proxy [0.7W/GH - 32BTC Per Unit]

[CanaryInTheMine]

digitalmagus,  I'd like to get in contact with you to learn more about this and perhaps to provide some of my input to help.
I have been running distrubutions of the USB ASICs.

[digitalmagus]

digitalmagus,  I'd like to get in contact with you to learn more about this and perhaps to provide some of my input to help.
I have been running distrubutions of the USB ASICs.

Hi CanaryInTheMine, please email me with some details on how I can reach you.
Cheers,
Luis

[digitalmagus]

Hello everyone,

We've received a lot of great questions today via email as well, so I just thought I'd share some useful URLs that will soon be posted in the FAQ section (2nd post):

1) Bitfury's ASIC status updates:
Note: He posts primarily in Russian, and his posts tend to be extremely technical; however, most people can get the gist of the situation. I recommend you use Google Chrome to access that URL, as Chrome will offer to translate all the posts into mostly readable English. Look for a button pop-up on top of the Chrome web browser.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=58469;sa=showPosts

2) Information about DHL.com courier shipping from Russia (the one we intend to use):
http://www.dhl.ru/en/country_profile/key_facts.html

3) Average Export shipping time out of Russia (4.58 days in 2009):
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/russia/average-time-to-clear-exports-through-customs-days-wb-data.html

4) Duty importation calculator for dozens of countries:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/

5) Importation regulations & limitations overview per country:  (click on "Country Guides" on top left and select the country you live in)
http://www.dutycalculator.com/help_center/      

6) Fiat Currency Converter:
http://www.xe.com/

7) List of prohibited shipping items in/from Russia: (circuit boards are not on the list, so it should be fine)
http://www.russianpost.ru/rp/servise/en/home/postuslug/goodslist

8 ) Electrical Plug/Outlet and Voltage Information for Russia  (we do not yet know what kind of power connector or adapter will be provided, so assuming it is Russian, since they are shipping only in Russia, see this URL)
http://www.adaptelec.com/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&products_id=187

9) Power Converter 220V to 110V  (mostly for North Americans)  - Note, we are not endorsing any of these, it's just to give people an idea of what might be required and rough costs. Eventually, if necessary we can look into the details of these and make recommendations.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=power+converter+220v+to+110v&sprefix=Power+Converter%2Caps%2C268

10) If the electrical voltage and frequency of your country match Russia's (see #8), then you may just need a simple universal power plug adapter to convert the physical connector types. Again, we are not endorsing any of these, it's just an example so people get an idea.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Universal+plug+adapter&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AUniversal+plug+adapter

[stripykitteh]

I presume the plug for the device will be a 220-240V non-grounded 'Europlug'?

[digitalmagus]

I presume the plug for the device will be a 220-240V non-grounded 'Europlug'?

We do not know for certain yet what it will be, but see 8,9,10 in my previous post above yours

[auto2nr1]

I had a voice call with both Luis and Tom over Skype today. They were able to answer all the questions i had in regards to BitCentury and the Metabank/Bitfury ASIC purchase. I was also able connect with Luis through LinkedIn and verify that he is actually who he says he is. After discussing details of the purchase of the ASICs i will be ordering i feel comfortable placing my order with them. I will be waiting on the contract that they draft up early this week and will go ahead with my bulk order. I feel safe in doing business with BitCentury and i hope that Metabank/Bitfury comes through on their end to complete a successful transaction.

[digitalmagus]

I had a voice call with both Luis and Tom over Skype today. They were able to answer all the questions i had in regards to BitCentury and the Metabank/Bitfury ASIC purchase. I was also able connect with Luis through LinkedIn and verify that he is actually who he says he is. After discussing details of the purchase of the ASICs i will be ordering i feel comfortable placing my order with them. I will be waiting on the contract that they draft up early this week and will go ahead with my bulk order. I feel safe in doing business with BitCentury and i hope that Metabank/Bitfury comes through on their end to complete a successful transaction.

Thanks for your vote of confidence auto2nr1! Really appreciate it.
Luis

[xristoskostouros]

If i can pay via PayPal / Escrow or something money related, i will buy too.

[Xian01]

I will order three units the moment something has been verified as a working product.

Good luck with the project. No more pre-orders for me considering all the scams attempted around here.

[dimomit]

Connected to Luis via LinkedIn, this mean nothing, but it's still something.
I think the problem will be in Metabank & Bitfury, they have the chip only on paper. First test chips will be ready in August. By the words of its developer he will be surprised if it works from first time, and gives at least 2.5-3 months for testing&fixing. After that they have to create, test and fix boards, firmware, assembly everything, etc. I don't see this to be ready before January.

[digitalmagus]

Connected to Luis via LinkedIn, this mean nothing, but it's still something.
I think the problem will be in Metabank & Bitfury, they have the chip only on paper. First test chips will be ready in August. By the words of its developer he will be surprised if it works from first time, and gives at least 2.5-3 months for testing&fixing. After that they have to create, test and fix boards, firmware, assembly everything, etc. I don't see this to be ready before January.

I can't speak to the complexity of building the ASIC, because as we've seen, nobody so far has met their intial timelines, avalon included.

Roughly speaking, and feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but it's roughly like this based on what I've read/deduced online
ASIC Design: ~6 months to 1 year
ASIC fab printing chips: 2 or 3 days for large quantities, but there may be a multi-week or more delay between batches, as they have to schedule fab time in competition with other companies also wanting to print chips.
ASIC chip testing: no idea... and if it fails, you go back to design phase, but for a much shorter time in theory.
----
Once you have fully tested ASICs, the remaining time is much less (this part I've researched fairly extensively)
Board design: aprox 3-8 weeks, depending on complexity, and experience of individual/design company.
PCB printing: 5 days max
PCB Assembly: 5 days max
Full end to end prototype test/burn-in:  2 days
If it all works, then you go back to PCB printing phase, but do everything in large quantities, then sell.

[stripykitteh]

Luis,

please check your PMs.

Cheers,
stripykitteh.

[CanaryInTheMine]

digitalmagus,  I'd like to get in contact with you to learn more about this and perhaps to provide some of my input to help.
I have been running distrubutions of the USB ASICs.

Hi CanaryInTheMine, please email me with some details on how I can reach you.
Cheers,
Luis

sent

[senseless]

We'd like to thank everyone for their vote of confidence in us, and congratulations to all those who have made their first purchases of the fastest (and lowest power) bitcoin ASIC technology bitcoins can buy today. We have proxied the first batch of orders totaling 16 devices for a total hash power of 1920Gh/s.

1fee2541c6386d3afef2e607a653b98951182a6891f4b8aeb91d4112fe0264d5

Notice: Prices have been slightly increased to account for a recent small decline in BTC value.

[Xialla]

We'd like to thank everyone for their vote of confidence in us, and congratulations to all those who have made their first purchases of the fastest (and lowest power) bitcoin ASIC technology bitcoins can buy today. We have proxied the first batch of orders totaling 16 devices for a total hash power of 1920Gh/s.

1fee2541c6386d3afef2e607a653b98951182a6891f4b8aeb91d4112fe0264d5

Notice: Prices have been slightly increased to account for a recent small decline in BTC value.

sorry for this question, but once price of BTC will be 130$/BTC again, you will lower it back to 30BTC?

[senseless]

We'd like to thank everyone for their vote of confidence in us, and congratulations to all those who have made their first purchases of the fastest (and lowest power) bitcoin ASIC technology bitcoins can buy today. We have proxied the first batch of orders totaling 16 devices for a total hash power of 1920Gh/s.

1fee2541c6386d3afef2e607a653b98951182a6891f4b8aeb91d4112fe0264d5

Notice: Prices have been slightly increased to account for a recent small decline in BTC value.

sorry for this question, but once price of BTC will be 130$/BTC again, you will lower it back to 30BTC?

Yes, if the price goes back up to 130$ we will adjust it back. Ultimately I think we're going to end up checking to see what metabank's locked in rate is for the asics and update it once or twice a day (they only update the usd/btc pricing once every few hours on their asic sales).

[RoadStress]

I have a question. As i understood Metabank is an exchanger. Who will assemble the units? Did they disclose any information about this? How many can they make per week? Will there be any warranty?

[senseless]

I have a question. As i understood Metabank is an exchanger. Who will assemble the units? Did they disclose any information about this? How many can they make per week? Will there be any warranty?

Metabank is delivering the functional units ready to mine. It is currently unknown if they have their own SMT lines and PCB fabrication or if they're going to contract everything out. While metabank is indeed an exchanger of sorts, they are the primary investor into the 65nm bitfury product and will be the principle/sole supplier of devices and chips. It appears that bitfury will also be doing the PCB design. Here is some translated information where he talks about possible packaging and types of units and connections. When he mentions the "FPGA" he's talking about their 42U mining farm: http://www.bitfury.org/bitfury110.html

One of the options - a similar solution to the FPGA which we did the second - the first pillar were - quite uncomfortable, the second - were much better. FAN can show picture :-)
form factor motherboard so that it can be put in 4U sideways, you can lay tiles in a 1U chassis. Shells presumably rack, but may be for a single plastic card.
think that the board will be more or less universal, but assembling them into devices will be different. It will see just during the assembly of engineering models, as better. Another option - a very small device - USB-stick. However, it is not so simple, and especially under the Mining USB-stick something stupid, I think it has to do lockbox key (signature) to hold the button for it gave the opportunity to sign + on the same button, this made ​​it possible to authorize login his own. Yet of course there are options with chips and cards separately - and yes there will be :-) and boxes for the seedlings, and even tougher choices :-) Myself personally, I see form factors - home air convector heater and charge <-> Water - two different devices. But - above all else necessary to survive - the chip to work, not a test, and serving - though, would be the three plates is something you can already tell. Then - for real characteristics of the chip - board, the first soptimizirovat under high reliability, then - you can already make up array packages and beauty. Miner on the same - I like my crafts :-))))))) And so - I think it's the same-MetaBank able finished to mind ;-)

[RoadStress]

Ok they are the main investor, but i think customers should know a bit of the other stuff like warranty and the assembly. The way i see an investor is he puts down the cash and that's it. Metabank has no qualification in PCB fabrication. The only reason that i can think for not disclosing any other information about the PCB fabrication is the mafia from Russia If they say hey we will make the units at company X then i bet in a week they will get raided by some nasty guys stealing all the units.

[senseless]

Ok they are the main investor, but i think customers should know a bit of the other stuff like warranty and the assembly. The way i see an investor is he puts down the cash and that's it. Metabank has no qualification in PCB fabrication. The only reason that i can think for not disclosing any other information about the PCB fabrication is the mafia from Russia If they say hey we will make the units at company X then i bet in a week they will get raided by some nasty guys stealing all the units.

I will be going through to collate as much information as possible regarding the chip itself and the PCB packaging.