Alpha Technology Litecoin (Scrypt) ASIC Miner Order Batch 1 Now!

[anderl]

They have not wheres near to capital to produce an ASIC unit.  The natural progression is to go to FPGA first.  Recoup the cost of FPGA and then is the FPGA profits to invest is ASIC.  Moving directly to ASIC with "unproven code" means higher failure rates.

[1714696430]

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[1714696430]

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[Kail]

Yeh, I highly doubt this company can produce the hash rates they are saying and for that cost. Increasing the clock speeds will have little to no effect over their "prototype". And their prototype seems to be a copy of https://github.com/kramble/FPGA-Litecoin-Miner. They state that they are using the units ram which means they have not found a way to efficiently store the pseudo-random data on die / chip (in this case in logic gates on FPGA).

Like I said " I highly doubt ". I mean sCrypt ASIC...... Don't you think a larger established ASIC mining equipment company like BFL would have done it already if it was so easy that Alpha just has to have the units "optimised".......

sCrypt is MEMORY HARD people = Process / Memory ratio of about 1-1, I.e. you need x amount of memory per x random logic. This equates to actual space requirements on die and compared to the costing requirements on other algo's is one of the highest.

I have racked my brain many a night on ways to produce a unit that is more cost effective than plain GPGPU units and it never works out, the only plus with some systems is power usage but at an incredibly higher cost than GPGPU units.

Read Colin Percivals paper on his sCrypt Algo http://www.tarsnap.com/scrypt/scrypt.pdf then make your mind up as to if you want to give this company money.

It's not impossible to build a unit like they are advertising, just WAY more costly than building units for SHA256 and due to the memory requirements ASIC (in its literal form) is highly unlikely.

I don't wish to slander this company, merely to make people aware of the facts.

+1 Excellent points and great link - thanks.

But i did hear somewhere that the sCrypt flavour used in cryptocurrencies is different sCrypt 'proper'.
do you know anything about that?

Yeh, coins like YaCoin use sCrypt-Jane which is a slighly modified version of sCrypt using different mix functions. sCrypt-Jane is cool because it dynamically changes the memory requirements of the algo therefore it will become more CPU friendly and less GPU friendly as the memory requirements increase.

AFAIK Litecoin and most Litecoin forks use sCrypt however sCrypt does include tuneable values so the Coin Maker can chose how much memory, latency and parallelism the algo will require.
Most AltCoins are Copy and Replace Jobby's so I wouldn't expect much difference in the algo.

[wasubii]

Yeh, coins like YaCoin use sCrypt-Jane which is a slighly modified version of sCrypt using different mix functions. sCrypt-Jane is cool because it dynamically changes the memory requirements of the algo therefore it will become more CPU friendly and less GPU friendly as the memory requirements increase.

AFAIK Litecoin and most Litecoin forks use sCrypt however sCrypt does include tuneable values so the Coin Maker can chose how much memory, latency and parallelism the algo will require.
Most AltCoins are Copy and Replace Jobby's so I wouldn't expect much difference in the algo.

Great info - thanks!

[Dabs]

I wonder how long the grace period really is. I put in an order, but did not send payment yet. Maybe I'll just keep my bitcoins.

[medialab101]

I wonder how long the grace period really is. I put in an order, but did not send payment yet. Maybe I'll just keep my bitcoins.

Regardless, never pay with bitcoins! Learn from the HashFast debacle. Those poor saps paid like 45 Bitcoins for the rigs they still haven't received.

Hodl your coins man!

[kramble]

Yeh, I highly doubt this company can produce the hash rates they are saying and for that cost. Increasing the clock speeds will have little to no effect over their "prototype". And their prototype seems to be a copy of https://github.com/kramble/FPGA-Litecoin-Miner. They state that they are using the units ram which means they have not found a way to efficiently store the pseudo-random data on die / chip (in this case in logic gates on FPGA).

I don't think they are using my code. They clearly had their own prototype code back in July (link) and wrote a paper (link) which demonstrated quite poor performance on FPGA. They have improved their implementation since then, but are still persevering with the simple TMTO (LOOKUP_GAP) ratio of 1 which does not make good use of the most critical RAM resource. This may change when they get professional ASIC design engineers involved with the project (they certainly now have the funding from pre-orders to pay for the design work, though the NRE for the mask set will still need to be raised, 28nm is a very expensive process to work with).

[bumblebee33]

There are just too many facts that are too suspicious. I too was interested in getting the 50 MH/s one. But I can't afford to lose $ 9,000. Also who knows what devices will hit the market by summer/fall of 2014? Better not risk it.

[Searing]

There are just too many facts that are too suspicious. I too was interested in getting the 50 MH/s one. But I can't afford to lose $ 9,000. Also who knows what devices will hit the market by summer/fall of 2014? Better not risk it.

I agree I have ordered the 5mh one..but via paypal and credit card(amex) have 45 days on their list to see how this all shakes out  ...60 days min with amex card probably more for non-shipment as an option to cancel

so yeah...I agree they have like 45 days to show some REAL progress or I and I'm sure many others will punt

just making this point in case anyone from alpha tech is reading this...(doubtful)

Searing

[cerberre]

Searing I did the same deal. Used paypal and amex.

I can call amex and cancel the repayment if I want to for 60 days ?

[Searing]

Searing I did the same deal. Used paypal and amex.

I can call amex and cancel the repayment if I want to for 60 days ?

I will play it safe and do it before 45 days

amex said 60 days

some bfl customers got their stuff cancelled from BFL long after 60 days I heard for non-shipping but that was probably because BFL
never replied to Amex ..ie blew them off from what I heard

anyway so what I was told ...by amex rep the day I ordered said 60days

will probably again just do the under 45days if pressed to cancel

still tempted just to keep the dang thing if they can prove they will make one ...even if BFL late and the fall

if such is the case plan on selling some junk in attic to pay for it...hard part here is are they like hashfast all talk or will someone get a unit or two this summer?

but still will probably need more info that I actually WILL get a product of very likely before I keep my order in

they may be just wonderful fellows..but hard to pick the crooks from the champs in all this pre-order stuff the paypal option bodes well on their behalf but gonna have a hard hill to climb to show the goods....BFL and Hashfast and others have scar'd a lot of us

anyway only thing I'm sure of is anything less then 45 days I'm probably ok...,not 100 percent thou they have that refund disclaimer after 30 days not sure how that applies to paypal

anyway show us some stuff that you have the chops alpha tech ..we are or I am a skittish fickle potential customer after last year

Searing

[medialab101]

That's a pretty quick change of heart -- do you know something the rest of us don't?

Sometimes it's just that gut feeling .... at least I got my refund back. I will wait for version 2 perhaps. See if they truly come through first. In the meantime I will gpu mine. Plus there is another company that was advertising a 25 mh/s for 800 gbp I believe...

you requested and received a refund from alpha tech?

Scrypt Asic's claims have been pretty thoroughly discredited. They won't be putting out a 25 MH/s unit, and especially not for that price.

[Moebius327]

Can you share more info on your "expert team"?

[vesperwillow]

Looks like Hasfast is struggling http://www.coindesk.com/asic-manufacturer-hashfast-faces-legal-action/

I don't know if Alpha is a scam but do they have the expertise to get hundreds, maybe thousands of asics into production on time and on budget? I'm not so sure. I guess time will tell.

How anyone would actually trust Hashfast is beyond me, I mean look at their ceo:



I wouldn't trust him with a broken pencil.

Also I agree with what's been said, in this era of preorders it's hard to find the honest folks. You think they would go out of their way to distinguish themselves, so far they're dead in here on their own topic.

[Nullu]

Looks like Hasfast is struggling http://www.coindesk.com/asic-manufacturer-hashfast-faces-legal-action/

I don't know if Alpha is a scam but do they have the expertise to get hundreds, maybe thousands of asics into production on time and on budget? I'm not so sure. I guess time will tell.

How anyone would actually trust Hashfast is beyond me, I mean look at their ceo:



I wouldn't trust him with a broken pencil.

Also I agree with what's been said, in this era of preorders it's hard to find the honest folks. You think they would go out of their way to distinguish themselves, so far they're dead in here on their own topic.

Most of these companies appear to be small start ups that rely heavily on preorders in order to source the parts required, and because of that their estimates are almost always off. Always based on estimates by the factory, so you get estimates upon estimates upon estimates.

I work in retail, and I can tell you that preorder means absolutely squat in real terms.

[Last_shot]

That's a pretty quick change of heart -- do you know something the rest of us don't?

Sometimes it's just that gut feeling .... at least I got my refund back. I will wait for version 2 perhaps. See if they truly come through first. In the meantime I will gpu mine. Plus there is another company that was advertising a 25 mh/s for 800 gbp I believe...

you requested and received a refund from alpha tech?

Well interested in refund too so please share you experience .

[gtraah]

THis will not just ruin High Electricity/GPU users, it will have a strong potential in destroying Altcoins all together eventually like bitcoin. It will turn into a rich mans game.. Difficulty will SKY rocket and when new multiprofit coin pools  open and will rise up with new signups they will be switching and dumping like crazy which will eventually demolish these coins... I dont think they realise the potential repercussions of difficulty rising and and more miners joining because very soon even these asics wont catch up and then more asics are needed..$$$ - What is it you guys say  " Shut up and take my money" Thats EXACTLY the words that are fuelling these scammers "IF THE RUMEROUS ARE RI"if infact they are whoever they are but most likely lurking the forums getting the info by our comments and people naive comments willing to throw all they got on these guys claiming they are the first to be able to produce these . sending in q2 q3
All I can say Is if you have free Electricity then you should be OK or even Very Cheap Electricity Via $12,000 Worth Of Solar panels on your double story house.. 12 Large panels to be exact, i will give you an example of one of my bills with Ducted aircon on through out the whole house in the summer 3 months of HEAT - total bill was $960 per Quarter, With the reductions and feedback into the grid the bill came down to $290 .

And Now again the bill is even cheaper they offered us an extra 15% of Electricity bills done by automatic payments.

But for the guys who are getting Smashed with Electricity the asic maybe the way to go..

All in all... I think Asic will turn Litcoin into Bitcoin... No one really wants that unless you have invested in over $10k Worth of equiptment AS A START - get ready to start upgrading...


Last of all I really dont know the if this will go ahead and if it does when ... Not very soon I can tel you that... Lets say you pay 5k on an order that will take  6 months to come... You either get scammed or you purchase the miner with only 5mhs which i nothing and will produce avergae reaults minus the power benifits. But by this time Diff has risen which bring profits down again... so be prepared for the next investement not long after for the upgrade.. You will not make your 5k back with in 6 months with alt coins I beleive .. Not with $5000

[edgar]

That's a pretty quick change of heart -- do you know something the rest of us don't?

Sometimes it's just that gut feeling .... at least I got my refund back. I will wait for version 2 perhaps. See if they truly come through first. In the meantime I will gpu mine. Plus there is another company that was advertising a 25 mh/s for 800 gbp I believe...

you requested and received a refund from alpha tech?

Well interested in refund too so please share you experience .

emailed 3 departments & PM'd the user alpha-t just now.

nothing from yesterdays email to payments@alpha-t.net

[vesperwillow]

Regardless of Scrypt ASIC, people keep claiming the difficulty is going to be significantly higher 6 months from now.. how is that the case when the GPU ASIC foundries aren't even pumping chips out? And with the Chinese New Year upon us, things slow down. The OEMs are already backlogged and in some cases have market certain R9 product lines as discontinued the same month they were released, simply because there won't be any materials to make them all year.

Sincerely doubt difficulty is going to be *that* much higher in 6 months with barely any GPUs shipping. AMD recently said in an article they produce by the quarter, and the Q1 batch is already sold out. I wouldn't worry too much. We'll be waiting another month before the ships hit the shores with more cards.

The mining game will always be a rich man's game because at some point, most home users will be left behind as they can't grow anymore due to electrical constraints. Whether it comes in that form or ASIC, it will occur.

[broken_pixel]

Maybe the LTC Devs would fork LTC away Scrypt ASIC devices.

My BFL experience was a fun ride. I got my bank involved after I emailed BFL many times asking for a refund and being denied. I went onto the forums and posted some information I found on how to get a refund even after six months or longer. I was banned for life from the BFL forums and low and behold my ASIC was at my door less  -than a week later.

[Pita]

That's a pretty quick change of heart -- do you know something the rest of us don't?

Sometimes it's just that gut feeling .... at least I got my refund back. I will wait for version 2 perhaps. See if they truly come through first. In the meantime I will gpu mine. Plus there is another company that was advertising a 25 mh/s for 800 gbp I believe...

you requested and received a refund from alpha tech?

Yes, I contacted them via email on Monday and they refunded via PayPal the same day.