Which forum/threads to follow for developments in the ASIC and populated boards?

[soy39]

Which forum/threads to follow for developments in the ASIC and populated boards?

Lots of forums on bitcointalk, so where should I look for information on ASICs in production and for sale to those who make and populate their own construction PCBs?  Would that forum also follow ASIC development?  Getting old but I remember a widely circulated ASIC hoax from a former Eastern Bloc country, which I could remember its name, Primeasic or something?

soy39

[1715305571]

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[NotFuzzyWarm]

Which forum/threads to follow for developments in the ASIC and populated boards?

Lots of forums on bitcointalk, so where should I look for information on ASICs in production and for sale to those who make and populate their own construction PCBs?  Would that forum also follow ASIC development?  Getting old but I remember a widely circulated ASIC hoax from a former Eastern Bloc country, which I could remember its name, Primeasic or something?

soy39

None.
There are dev threads but these days would be for altcoins only - not BTC.
Other than that, the Bitcoin Hardware area is all there is for BTC miners.

The only company that even entertains the idea of selling current-gen ASIC's to the 'general public' is Bitfury and they have a $ 1million MOQ. So far only Sidehack has gotten them to entertain a lower amount and safe bet that may be a 1-time deal.

[soy39]

So the S9 uses a BM1387.  The S5 is a BM1382.   The S7 is a BM1385.  So, were the BM1385's sold in limited quantity or other ASICs of that generation and available on third party hashing boards?  Since that generation is no longer cutting edge, the price would be considerably better.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

So the S9 uses a BM1387.  The S5 is a BM1382.   The S7 is a BM1385.  So, were the BM1385's sold in limited quantity or other ASICs of that generation and available on third party hashing boards?  Since that generation is no longer cutting edge, the price would be considerably better.

The only way to get older chips is by harvesting them from retired miners same as Sidehack does for his Compac, 2PAC and upcoming Pod miners. Bitmain et al do not make/have on-hand any of the old chips.

Good luck reliably harvesting s7/s9 chips. With their smaller package size and the heatsinks being attached with thermal epoxy - very hard to work with in quantity.

[soy39]

Wouldn't even consider trying.  I changed a few IC2's on Block Erupters and knew then that with such limited success I could work on nothing smaller.  And time goes in one direction.

[sidehack]

Couple corrections - Compaq is a defunct PC manufacturer, and the S5 used BM1384; BM1382 was the S3's chip.

[soy39]

Right you are.  My mistake.