[ANN] Bitfury is looking for alpha-testers of first chips! FREE MONEY HERE!

[ssi]

I assembled a couple of c-scape's adapter boards (slightly modified design to meet OSHPark specs)

Running one board from the Pi works quite well.  ~1.5GH/s + surprisingly low temp = awesome.
Impressed that it worked on the first attempt - especially considering all the hand soldering I did

Nice work!  I expect to have my ten chip prototype board on tuesday

[1715623180]

1715623180

[1715623180]

1715623180

[vs3]

I assembled a couple of c-scape's adapter boards (slightly modified design to meet OSHPark specs)

Running one board from the Pi works quite well.  ~1.5GH/s + surprisingly low temp = awesome.
Impressed that it worked on the first attempt - especially considering all the hand soldering I did

http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b517/LaserHorse/BitfuryAdapter-LH-med_zpsbab373b9.jpg

When I attempt to chain a second board, cgminer recognizes the second chip, but the total hashrate drops below 1GH/s.

hmmm … anyone notice anything I'm doing incredibly wrong here?



thnx all!

Aside from the clock (OCLK->INCLK) that the others mentioned - the CMP, CM+ and CM- that you've connected to ground are usually left not connected... I wonder if that causes some power supply issues within the second chip. Have you look at power usage of each of the chips?

[cscape]

CMP, CM+ and CM- that you've connected to ground are usually left not connected...

On our boards they are connected to ground. On this version of the test board, there are solder jumpers on the bottom that connect them to ground.

[vs3]

CMP, CM+ and CM- that you've connected to ground are usually left not connected...

On our boards they are connected to ground. On this version of the test board, there are solder jumpers on the bottom that connect them to ground.

C-scape - thanks for chiming in! I stand corrected!
I remember reading somewhere about it, and I got confused as I looked at some of the boards (where it seems to be left floating).

Bitfury actually clarified earlier how those should be:

(...)
But this is what again - likely can't be done quicky, only if very lucky and there should be no complex filtering/anti-resonance issue between chips in a string (you see - we now connect CMMINUS, CMQ, CMPLUS to GND).

Thanks. A quick draw of a bitfury test jig can be found here: http://imgur.com/iLbdViD
intron

1. INCLK should be tied to power or ground in case if it is not connected to clock generator. Otherwise if it will be floating, especially near half-voltage - it will case spontaneous oscillations.
   Better to feed it with oscillator, but don't feed less than 100 Mhz, or feed MUCH less than 100 Mhz as you can find bad package resonance.
(...)

[LaserHorse]

Try it without the clock connection, and let both chips use the internal clock.

What are the individual hash rates for each of the chips ?

Thnx - removing the clock line seems to have helped a bit. 
Wait … are individual chip hashrates supposed to be displayed?  I was assuming cgminer was displaying an aggregate:

How are your IO and core voltages ?

core voltage = 0.76V
IOVDD = 2.56V (eek!)

Ouch - I recall bitfury stating 2.5V was danger zone.  Have to go check the regulator …

[vs3]

How are your IO and core voltages ?

core voltage = 0.76V
IOVDD = 2.56V (eek!)

Ouch - I recall bitfury stating 2.5V was danger zone.  Have to go check the regulator …

Indeed! Gosh ... I've cut just 2 lines from my quote and one of them turns out to be the important one Here is the missing one:

2. IOVDD is hanging. IOREF is IOVDD/2. should be 1.8V at most (dielectric will likely broke at 2.5 V).

[LaserHorse]

Indeed! Gosh ... I've cut just 2 lines from my quote and one of them turns out to be the important one Here is the missing one:

2. IOVDD is hanging. IOREF is IOVDD/2. should be 1.8V at most (dielectric will likely broke at 2.5 V).

Seems I had a package variant of the regulator. 
Though it's supposedly the same part used in the schematic (AP130-18SAG-7), in & out pins were swapped on the one I'm using.

Flipped it over on the board and it now produces a happy 1.8V.

Will keep working on the hashrate issue. 

Thnx all - didn't intend to turn this into my personal help thread.

[daemondazz]

Is it possible to get a small number of chips from anywhere for testing a board design, say 4-10 chips?

[LaserHorse]

Is it possible to get a small number of chips from anywhere for testing a board design, say 4-10 chips?

megabigpower.com was selling bare chips - sold out

[vs3]

Is it possible to get a small number of chips from anywhere for testing a board design, say 4-10 chips?

megabigpower.com was selling bare chips - sold out

Actually he didn't say "sold out". The last he said about that was:

A few new things:
-I pulled down the bulk and 10pc chip sales in advance of a new tiered pricing structure. 
...

You may want to check with Dave - he might be able to get you some chips (if you're looking for immediate availability).

[LaserHorse]

Actually he didn't say "sold out". The last he said about that was:

A few new things:
-I pulled down the bulk and 10pc chip sales in advance of a new tiered pricing structure.  
...

You may want to check with Dave - he might be able to get you some chips (if you're looking for immediate availability).

Ah - thnx for the correction.  The 10pc orders showed as out of stock a week or two ago.
Would be nice to see more options for smaller bulk quantities.

i kind of love these chips.

[Anduck]

Ah - thnx for the correction.  The 10pc orders showed as out of stock a week or two ago.
Would be nice to see more options for smaller bulk quantities.
i kind of love these chips.

Yeah, I was kinda interested in a few too, but even the main (EU) site (I'm UK based) no longer lists chips in any quantity.

Any idea when the tinkerers might be able to get hold of some (my electronics skills are nowhere near up to your standards, but I reckon I'll be able to cope with these, at least they're not BGAs ).

I heard the chips will be for sale very soon, most likely in few days.

[GandalfG]

Ah - thnx for the correction.  The 10pc orders showed as out of stock a week or two ago.
Would be nice to see more options for smaller bulk quantities.
i kind of love these chips.

Yeah, I was kinda interested in a few too, but even the main (EU) site (I'm UK based) no longer lists chips in any quantity.

Any idea when the tinkerers might be able to get hold of some (my electronics skills are nowhere near up to your standards, but I reckon I'll be able to cope with these, at least they're not BGAs ).

I heard the chips will be for sale very soon, most likely in few days.

Overpriced like previous ?
16 chip cost exactly same as H-board with 16 chip plus VR and other parts.

[klondike_bar]

Ah - thnx for the correction.  The 10pc orders showed as out of stock a week or two ago.
Would be nice to see more options for smaller bulk quantities.
i kind of love these chips.

Yeah, I was kinda interested in a few too, but even the main (EU) site (I'm UK based) no longer lists chips in any quantity.

Any idea when the tinkerers might be able to get hold of some (my electronics skills are nowhere near up to your standards, but I reckon I'll be able to cope with these, at least they're not BGAs ).

I heard the chips will be for sale very soon, most likely in few days.

my guess is that once they start shipping the august kits (its looking like its on schedule to ship sometime late next week!) and demonstrate that the chips work and deliver, they will open up sales for some profit (much like asicminer - people will pay top dollar for a company that can deliver working products immediately)

[vs3]

Ah - thnx for the correction.  The 10pc orders showed as out of stock a week or two ago.
Would be nice to see more options for smaller bulk quantities.
i kind of love these chips.

Yeah, I was kinda interested in a few too, but even the main (EU) site (I'm UK based) no longer lists chips in any quantity.

Any idea when the tinkerers might be able to get hold of some (my electronics skills are nowhere near up to your standards, but I reckon I'll be able to cope with these, at least they're not BGAs ).

I heard the chips will be for sale very soon, most likely in few days.

my guess is that once they start shipping the august kits (its looking like its on schedule to ship sometime late next week!) and demonstrate that the chips work and deliver, they will open up sales for some profit (much like asicminer - people will pay top dollar for a company that can deliver working products immediately)

Speaking of chips availability:

***CHIPS IN STOCK NOW***

NO MINIMUM QTY.  That's right - you can order a single chip, or two if you want to make matching earrings.

[vs3]

Speaking of chips availability:

***CHIPS IN STOCK NOW***

NO MINIMUM QTY.  That's right - you can order a single chip, or two if you want to make matching earrings.

But at 1BTC each !! I'm not that desparate (though admittedly if they are shipping *now* its probably a better deal than waiting until October for an H board).

Yes.. I agree .. 1BTC seems a bit too much. Although one hand this is cheaper than the $1300/10chips that was on the site before.

On another - if you get the chip to start mining at 2GH starting Sept-2013 it will make about $120-130 in the next year. (source: http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/a/a6b72e535e)

October delivery (and presuming start-of-mining on 1-Nov-2013) will make $50-55 ... so in terms like that even the $20-25/chip for October delivery seems overpriced.

The sad part is that at 50%/month expected increase of difficulty all mining will become pretty much non-profitable in 6-8 months. AND that's if the increase is ONLY 50%. Anyways - I'm getting off-topic.

Caveat Emptor

[Xian01]

Is anyone able to put chips on boards for sale yet ?

I'm very tempted to purchase a number of chips from Dave ahead of my October order, and hoping to get some BitFury product hashing in my farm ASAP.

[QuiveringGibbage]

Is anyone able to put chips on boards for sale yet ?

I know of 1 who's attempting to put BF chips on boards.

[OPEN] - GROUP BUY of BITFURY Chips + DRILLBIT SYSTEM mining assembly
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=266235.0

Barntech has already received sample chips but I'm not sure where he's at with a prototype board. He's in Australia BTW. Julz's organizing a visit to Barntech to check on his progress when he has something to show.

Cheers,
QG

[Tyger]

So ive just gone true the entire topic, that took some time.

I have 3 questions:

The level shifter in the original schematic works just fine==> the one bitfury posted?

To be safe core power was applied first, then IOVDD.==> is this needed or?

VDD => lets's forget the IOREF line. ==> so connect the VDD to the IOREF?

[cscape]

I have 3 questions:

The level shifter in the original schematic works just fine==> the one bitfury posted?

To be safe core power was applied first, then IOVDD.==> is this needed or?

VDD => lets's forget the IOREF line. ==> so connect the VDD to the IOREF?

On the Bi*Fury USB miner we have a level shifter made from a 330/390 Ohm divider. That works fine.

I've run several chips with IOVDD = 1.8V, and Vcore = 0, sometimes due to mistakes, sometimes on purpose. Nothing bad has happened. Chip doesn't get warm, and still works.

IOREF = VDD works great.