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

[anderl]

I just noticed the pages for the Viper Products have been updated with cloud mining compensation details:

200Mh/s for the Viper 90
https://alpha-t.net/product/viper-scrypt-miner-90mhs/

Minimum 200 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

40Mh/s for the Viper 18
https://alpha-t.net/product/scrypt-asic-miner/

Minimum 40 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

Not such a bad deal, of course once they deliver miners + cloud mining.

Is this for 1 year or for ever?

It's temporary.  Zeusminer only gave cloudhashes to customers for 2 month leases as a compensation.  You'll probably get anywhere from 2-6 months at most.  Remember that they want to resell those cloudhash units.  They never wanted to be in the business of running a cloudmining operation.  It is going to cost them a lot to run it in the UK.  What are you paying for electricity on the island these days?

[allcoinminer]

I just noticed the pages for the Viper Products have been updated with cloud mining compensation details:

200Mh/s for the Viper 90
https://alpha-t.net/product/viper-scrypt-miner-90mhs/

Minimum 200 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

40Mh/s for the Viper 18
https://alpha-t.net/product/scrypt-asic-miner/

Minimum 40 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

Not such a bad deal, of course once they deliver miners + cloud mining.

If 40Mh/s free cloud hashing for 18Mh/s hardware means their hardware is a failure. IF they really want to compensate they should sent additional hardware to match.
My advice is to wait for ordering till they ship. I'm also getting a cue from their update is that there will have delays.

[Searing]

I just noticed the pages for the Viper Products have been updated with cloud mining compensation details:

200Mh/s for the Viper 90
https://alpha-t.net/product/viper-scrypt-miner-90mhs/

Minimum 200 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

40Mh/s for the Viper 18
https://alpha-t.net/product/scrypt-asic-miner/

Minimum 40 Mh/s free hashing from our cloud mining service (The reason behind this is to ensure we will always be able to match competition even after delivery so our customers have can a certain level of assurance that we are committed to their ROI. This will not be until after delivery and we currently don’t have an ETA so for now it is simply ‘ as soon as possible)

Not such a bad deal, of course once they deliver miners + cloud mining.

If 40Mh/s free cloud hashing for 18Mh/s hardware means their hardware is a failure. IF they really want to compensate they should sent additional hardware to match.
My advice is to wait for ordering till they ship. I'm also getting a cue from their update is that there will have delays.

yep my issue...i should probably put this in the 'toy' category...ie have not scrypt mined before..likely will get this before my Titan (yeah laugh all of you I ordered it before
knc went off the rails and the IRS guidelines on mining 2013 USA...so screwed...no refund on Titan)....dumb likely...very..

anyway if i cancel now I lose 20% of my full price cost of the unit...so 2280 x 20% they only give 1/2 refund and have a 70 British Pound penalty also..so when I did this
was a 20% loss in usd from the full price or I would lose by canceling now $456 bucks i think that included shipping....

so if they get it out in July.....well maybe worth keeping....with the loss above ....and again it is a scrypt miner at what 250 watts....18mh equip supposed 40mh later?
and it has all those 'toy' features...that new miner smell .the fan noise the blinking of many lights....heh

I could probably squeak by ROI wise. eh or close...and/...or ask for the refund and take the 456 buck loss

still on the fence...waiting for the credit card option for USA customers next week via their bank if it all goes to heck (bfl refugee) want another 45-60 days to bail
on the last 80% if needed.. via credit card company ..no offense alpha.....just keeps the pucker factor down

a fence sitting I will be a doing yo de doh

Searing

[Its About Sharing]

Yeah you guys were supposed to have something to show us.. and credit card options. With BTC down low, no functional device to show, and the fact you JUST NOW started tapeout... good luck getting folks to pay.

Folks, beware, tapeout on a first gen product will always have bumps and grinds.

Hmmm..Ithought they said tapeout was 6 wks ago? anyone? or am I way off base here?

If you read the update carefully they said they were starting the tape out

We are currently initiating tape-out at Global Foundries, meaning our chip design has been finalized and sent to the foundry for fabrication.
 
Then on the 5/13 update they said they are still in tape out.  They are no where near finished with tape out.  They have another month at least.

Whilst the chips are being taped-out we want to assure you we are working diligently to make certain all other aspects of development are ready for the final stage of production.

Sorry to say but they will be lucky to start shipping the beginning of July.  My guess is mid or late July.  Plus they are doing assembly by themselves in the UK.  How many units can 3 guys crank out in a day?

Fiaz stated they paid extra (20% I think it was) for a faster taping.

BTW - You posted your links wrong, have a closer look....

[Its About Sharing]

If they really want to make waves in the ASIC industry, they should ship the cloud hashrate equivalent to their customers as soon as it's available. To have that much "cloud hashrate" means they have QUITE a farm of their own, backed by your hard earned preorder bitcoin payments. There's no reason for them to hold that hardware, it's yours.

They stated they are not in the business of cloud mining. Was done as a service to customers to give more hashrate. Also, if you send your unit in for repairs I imagine they can temporarily give you the equivalent in cloud hashing. (But my thinking, not theirs)

Further, they stated that the cloud hashing would be later (no date yet known), so customers would receive their units before the cloud is even working.

[barruka]

fiaz we NEED to see some pictures, we NEED see something REAL !!!

[benjamin07]

We pay $0.40 kWh in peak hours from 14:00 till 20:00 but half that in shoulder and off-peak times.

Not impressed by Alpha-t. Sounds like a rushed thing. When it's a rush, it's a wreck.

[bitcoin-world.de]

WHY DO YOU USE THE MONEY FROM ALL CUSTOMERS TO CREATE A CLOUD INSTEAD TO DELIVER A 300MH/S DEVICE LIKE KNCMINER AND OTHERS
How can you provide 200mh extra without costs for the customers ? Its for me not legit if I buy 90 mh Device and get from nothing 200 MH extra Power from Cloud and not a 300 MH Device. Its for me not legit if you sell at start 5 and 25 MH and then 18 and 90. Something seems to be wrong in your company.

[anderl]

Yeah you guys were supposed to have something to show us.. and credit card options. With BTC down low, no functional device to show, and the fact you JUST NOW started tapeout... good luck getting folks to pay.

Folks, beware, tapeout on a first gen product will always have bumps and grinds.

Hmmm..Ithought they said tapeout was 6 wks ago? anyone? or am I way off base here?

If you read the update carefully they said they were starting the tape out

We are currently initiating tape-out at Global Foundries, meaning our chip design has been finalized and sent to the foundry for fabrication.
 
Then on the 5/13 update they said they are still in tape out.  They are no where near finished with tape out.  They have another month at least.

Whilst the chips are being taped-out we want to assure you we are working diligently to make certain all other aspects of development are ready for the final stage of production.

Sorry to say but they will be lucky to start shipping the beginning of July.  My guess is mid or late July.  Plus they are doing assembly by themselves in the UK.  How many units can 3 guys crank out in a day?

Fiaz stated they paid extra (20% I think it was) for a faster taping.

BTW - You posted your links wrong, have a closer look....

Thanks I updated my links.

Yes Fiaz posted that they paid for faster tape out.  Buy he also specifically posted that they paid more for bulk sample chips.  Faster tape out for 28nm means more on the 90 day side than the 120 day side of tape out.  That is what is meant by faster for tape out on 28nm die.  Usually this is done by eliminating the additional rounds of design optimizations.  They send you a sample batch, you don't like the quality or performance.  You ask for changes and they tape out another batch and sent them to you for testing.  Usually 3 rounds are paid for before you approve the chips for mass production.

What I am concerned about is the bulk order of sample chips.  These sample chips are the first prototypes sent from the foundry for the designers to test for quality.  The reason manufacturers pay for bulk orders of sample chips is to get better statistical numbers of the quality of fabrication.  This allows them to redesign and optimize and sent it back to the foundry to get better quality chips.  What Fiaz is says is that they will be using the sample chips as production chips to ship out to customers.  If the chips come back as low quality, high percentage of failures per wafer they might still send those out as production chips to customers and never tell them.

[vesperwillow]

What I am concerned about is the bulk order of sample chips.  These sample chips are the first prototypes sent from the foundry for the designers to test for quality.  The reason manufacturers pay for bulk orders of sample chips is to get better statistical numbers of the quality of fabrication.  This allows them to redesign and optimize and sent it back to the foundry to get better quality chips.  What Fiaz is says is that they will be using the sample chips as production chips to ship out to customers.  If the chips come back as low quality, high percentage of failures per wafer they might still send those out as production chips to customers and never tell them.

^-- That is exactly the point I was making. They're flying by the seat of their pants on this run, most likely. Unless they taped out sooner than they claimed, the likelihood of July shipments is not likely, not with a tested unit.

[Cablez]

Honestly, considering the bulk of the hashrate will be supplied by 'cloud hashing' the details are far more important in that aspect.  The terms need to be disclosed before I would consider paying out the balance owed.

At roughly 0.003BTC per Mh/s earned I am more likely to complete the transaction if the ROI is less than 3 months, probably closer to 2.  The more interesting alts coming out now are not scrypt at all so a GPU investment may be in order instead.  Just some thoughts for the future.

[Its About Sharing]

Yeah you guys were supposed to have something to show us.. and credit card options. With BTC down low, no functional device to show, and the fact you JUST NOW started tapeout... good luck getting folks to pay.

Folks, beware, tapeout on a first gen product will always have bumps and grinds.

Hmmm..Ithought they said tapeout was 6 wks ago? anyone? or am I way off base here?

If you read the update carefully they said they were starting the tape out

We are currently initiating tape-out at Global Foundries, meaning our chip design has been finalized and sent to the foundry for fabrication.
 
Then on the 5/13 update they said they are still in tape out.  They are no where near finished with tape out.  They have another month at least.

Whilst the chips are being taped-out we want to assure you we are working diligently to make certain all other aspects of development are ready for the final stage of production.

Sorry to say but they will be lucky to start shipping the beginning of July.  My guess is mid or late July.  Plus they are doing assembly by themselves in the UK.  How many units can 3 guys crank out in a day?

Fiaz stated they paid extra (20% I think it was) for a faster taping.

BTW - You posted your links wrong, have a closer look....

Thanks I updated my links.

Yes Fiaz posted that they paid for faster tape out.  Buy he also specifically posted that they paid more for bulk sample chips.  Faster tape out for 28nm means more on the 90 day side than the 120 day side of tape out.  That is what is meant by faster for tape out on 28nm die.  Usually this is done by eliminating the additional rounds of design optimizations.  They send you a sample batch, you don't like the quality or performance.  You ask for changes and they tape out another batch and sent them to you for testing.  Usually 3 rounds are paid for before you approve the chips for mass production.

What I am concerned about is the bulk order of sample chips.  These sample chips are the first prototypes sent from the foundry for the designers to test for quality.  The reason manufacturers pay for bulk orders of sample chips is to get better statistical numbers of the quality of fabrication.  This allows them to redesign and optimize and sent it back to the foundry to get better quality chips.  What Fiaz is says is that they will be using the sample chips as production chips to ship out to customers.  If the chips come back as low quality, high percentage of failures per wafer they might still send those out as production chips to customers and never tell them.

Thanks for the reply, especially that 2nd paragraph. I had no idea and wish that had been communicated (if indeed true in this instance.)
Hopefully it works out for us in the end (and to be honest I think things are so early that if you just have a handful of coins in a few years, it will)...
Anyway, hoping that the quality is up to par and that the design was pretty straight forward and works!

Its about sharing

[Catmoonglow]

I suspect that they will not be all that profitable once you actually get it in your hands. I suspect AMD will answer the newly increased demand with more supply and gpu farms will get even larger than they already are.

[Catmoonglow]

As a newbie strongly considering entering the mining arena, I actually really hope gpu's will remain a viable option for a while. What if this cryptocurrency ship sinks? Asic chips then become worthless hardware that you can't get rid of.

[Catmoonglow]

If I had a bunch of high end graphics cards, then at least I have some great gaming hardware. I could do some gaming in 4k or sell off the hardware and get some of my money back.

[Sergey_A]

As a newbie strongly considering entering the mining arena, I actually really hope gpu's will remain a viable option for a while. What if this cryptocurrency ship sinks? Asic chips then become worthless hardware that you can't get rid of.

Yes, I agree with you that GPU is and will be a major mining method which has been popular for a long time and should be included to the Miner too double way to mine coins.

[retro72]

What I am concerned about is the bulk order of sample chips.  These sample chips are the first prototypes sent from the foundry for the designers to test for quality.  The reason manufacturers pay for bulk orders of sample chips is to get better statistical numbers of the quality of fabrication.  This allows them to redesign and optimize and sent it back to the foundry to get better quality chips.  What Fiaz is says is that they will be using the sample chips as production chips to ship out to customers.  If the chips come back as low quality, high percentage of failures per wafer they might still send those out as production chips to customers and never tell them.

^-- That is exactly the point I was making. They're flying by the seat of their pants on this run, most likely. Unless they taped out sooner than they claimed, the likelihood of July shipments is not likely, not with a tested unit.

Yep. This seems like an extremely high risk strategy. After watching the unfolding car crash at Cointerra I'm very dubious about the success of this approach

[gamer4156]

What happens when they spend all our money and the entire batch of chips doesnt work? /bankruptcy?

[Its About Sharing]

What happens when they spend all our money and the entire batch of chips doesnt work? /bankruptcy?

You get to reflect back, years from now, on how your endeavor with Cryptos failed. But on the bright side they succeeded. 
And it is a write off.

But to be honest, I really really doubt the batch is going to be bad. That is like praying for bad stuff to happen...

[anderl]

What happens when they spend all our money and the entire batch of chips doesnt work? /bankruptcy?

Well there is the grey area.  Zeusminer is having problems because they promised certain specs but then changed them after the no refund window.  It screwed a lot of customers that now can't run the units because they don't have the capacity at their homes.  Does the product work, yes.  Is it what was quoted, no.  So that is when you have to get ahold of a lawyer.    

If the go bankrupt them it is the competence of management that is at fault.  I believe they may be held liable because the sold a product that they could not produce.  SO again you contact a lawyer.