BFL 5GH/s Jalapeno received today, Chip Die jagged edge question

[goxed]

Why is one edge jagged? Will it affect longevity of the Jalapeño?

Why does one chip look different and smaller than the other?

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[ct1aic]

Perhaps because it is of an older version, probably a prototype chip...

[marto74]

I think it's a dummy

[goxed]

I think it's a dummy

You are wrong! It's the real thing.

[goxed]

Perhaps because it is of an older version, probably a prototype chip...

Just received it today.

[Dyaheon]

They switched packaging facilities afaik. Maybe one is from the new one?

[Japs2013]

Is it a 5Gh/s version? Maybe the 7Gh/s version has 2 larger chips?

[ct1aic]

Perhaps because it is of an older version, probably a prototype chip...

Just received it today.

Did you upgraded to 7 GH/s? What value did you got with a mining software?

[goxed]

Is it a 5Gh/s version? Maybe the 7Gh/s version has 2 larger chips?

It's a 5Gh/s version

[goxed]

Perhaps because it is of an older version, probably a prototype chip...

Just received it today.

Did you upgraded to 7 GH/s? What value did you got with a mining software?

It's 5GH/s, mining s/w reports 5.1 - 5.2 GH/s

[tidus_13]

Cause that chip is used one, like BFL FPGAS used ones second hands....

maybe one chip is 3.5G and the another one is like 1.5 to 2 G/hash that's why they asking for 7Ghashes devices, cause 1.5 to 2 G/hash are limited stock.

[Cablez]

You are looking at the problems bfl encountered with bumping/packaging houses. One good chip from most recent suppliers and one older chip which is bolloxed up but works.

[kev7112001]

yeah not a very good job of under fill for that other chip

[goxed]

You are looking at the problems bfl encountered with bumping/packaging houses. One good chip from most recent suppliers and one older chip which is bolloxed up but works.

Quite likely, the jagged edge chip looks more like a home project. I have never seen such workmanship even in engineering samples.

[Loredo]

Why is one edge jagged? Will it affect longevity of the Jalapeño?[/img]

AFAIK, it won't effect longevity per se.  There might be some weird temperature gradients around the edges, but keep it cool, and that thing should have a long life and die in bed.

[jelin1984]

When You had order it?

[goxed]

When You had order it?

Bought it in auctions.

[jelin1984]

How much?

[TheSwede75]

When You had order it?

Bought it in auctions.

Prob early crappy chip with several dead engines. That said, it should prob be fine if you keep it cool and don't fuck around with it.

[Delitus]

I think it's a dummy

It sure does look like a dummy chip to me. It is required to balance the heatsink for parallel contact with the hashing chip.

[jelin1984]

One more closed photos of the faulty chip to see it better

[smoothie]

Perhaps maybe they cut the wafers with a butter knife? Hence the jagged edges? 

[Malawi]

I think it's a dummy

It sure does look like a dummy chip to me. It is required to balance the heatsink for parallel contact with the hashing chip.

Have anyone tested that hypothesis by running it for a while, turn off and check for temperature-variations between the chips?

[goxed]

One more closed photos of the faulty chip to see it better

Will take more close-ups tomorrow

[PuertoLibre]

They switched packaging facilities afaik. Maybe one is from the new one?

Cheaper but less precise I take it??

[goxed]

When You had order it?

Bought it in auctions.

Prob early crappy chip with several dead engines. That said, it should prob be fine if you keep it cool and don't fuck around with it.

It's running pretty cool between 19C to 25C. But I am concerned about the exposed edges on the die.

[Photon939]

Check the back of the jalapeño when it's running, if you have two leds then both chips are running

[goxed]

Check the back of the jalapeño when it's running, if you have two leds then both chips are running

there are 8 red LEDs and the center 2 are blinking.

[Loredo]

Prob early crappy chip with several dead engines. That said, it should prob be fine if you keep it cool and don't fuck around with it.

What's really sad about this has nothing to do with the functionality of the chip.  Here's BFL, who knows they aren't making notebooks to sell at Walmart where no one will ever see the motherboard; they're selling to geeks who are going to tear the case off to look at it as soon as they get it unpacked, and post photos of anything irregular on the forum that their customer base reads.  

The same BFL that right now is trying to sell the very chips that look so shoddy in these photos!  What were they thinking?  Answer:  No, they weren't.

[Quix]

Packaging irregularities likely won't affect the chip in any meaningful way. They're surprisingly common, but you can't normally tell too much from the outside if a chip how well it operates.

[philips]

This doesn't look good for BFL, it actually looks like crap.
OTOH you better ask them, email or something.

[goxed]

Some more pics

[goxed]

One more closed photos of the faulty chip to see it better

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[ct1aic]

Great photos, mate. I hope to receive mine during this Decade... Ordered it last April 30, 2013... 

[Malawi]

Great photos, mate. I hope to receive mine during this Decade... Ordered it last April 30, 2013... 

Pretty sure you will, still 6,5 years left of the Decade.

[ct1aic]

Great photos, mate. I hope to receive mine during this Decade... Ordered it last April 30, 2013... 

Pretty sure you will, still 6,5 years left of the Decade.

 

[k9quaint]

Some more pics

At least you have something.

[rammy2k2]

if its working as it should, why bother ?

[wolongong]

"I just did a complete teardown of my Jalapeño and now I'm worried about its longevity because the finishing of the shell of one of the microchips is not perfect"

[klondike_bar]

"I just did a complete teardown of my Jalapeño and now I'm worried about its longevity because the finishing of the shell of one of the microchips is not perfect"

quoting your un-quote, because it makes total sense that he would do a tear-down both for himself and for the internet (I appreciated it!), and to see a chip looking like that is a little dumb-founding. you never know if the shell of that chip is now so thin that the internals are affected or exposed, and that sort of issue may not play out until hours or days (or never) later when the thermal expansion (or contraction when powering down) kick in.

[Node]

I've found jalapenos running generally really cool (38-42 deg C) if this is at all comparable to GPU temps heat shouldn't be an issue for longevity.

That said the higher the environment temp, the more hardware errors you get, the lower they seem to clock themselves.

[ct1aic]

I've found jalapenos running generally really cool (38-42 deg C) if this is at all comparable to GPU temps heat shouldn't be an issue for longevity.

That said the higher the environment temp, the more hardware errors you get, the lower they seem to clock themselves.

It would be interesting to see if the 7 GH/s upgraded Jalapeño's still run @ those cool temperatures.

[philips]

I've found jalapenos running generally really cool (38-42 deg C) if this is at all comparable to GPU temps heat shouldn't be an issue for longevity.

That said the higher the environment temp, the more hardware errors you get, the lower they seem to clock themselves.

It would be interesting to see if the 7 GH/s upgraded Jalapeño's still run @ those cool temperatures.

[ct1aic]

I've found jalapenos running generally really cool (38-42 deg C) if this is at all comparable to GPU temps heat shouldn't be an issue for longevity.

That said the higher the environment temp, the more hardware errors you get, the lower they seem to clock themselves.

It would be interesting to see if the 7 GH/s upgraded Jalapeño's still run @ those cool temperatures.

Ok, a little higher @ 46º... not bad! But 2% of HW errors...

[philips]

Ok, a little higher @ 46º... not bad! But 2% of HW errors...

The HW errors percentage is higher initially, after few hours it drops below 1%.

[Cluster2k]

The good news is the unit works.  The bad news is you've invalidated the warranty by opening the unit