[2013-11-21] Alpha Technologies Announces ASIC Miners for Litecoin are Coming

[casascius]

I always thought CPUs and GPUs are ASICs designed for general purpose computing. A scrypt ASIC might be a fully functional CPU heavily optimized toward a specific task.

The way I think of it, somebody could create chips that removed things not used by mining and beef up things that are.  Example, dump floating point and use that space to add instructions that do several of the operations demanded by scrypt simultaneously.

Sort of the same way GPUs gain mass parallelism at the expense of a constraint that lots of threads must be executing the same code without variation.

Imagine you could make a cheap graphics card that was cheap because it omitted all the components used for video that were unused in mining. This could qualify as a step toward a scrypt ASIC.

[flynn]

a specialized SPU* then, maybe you'll save 30% of the cost, but then you'll never compete with the low price GPU achieved  because of the high volume they get produced in

* Scrypt-Process-Unit

[patnor1011]

They just added extra cost to every buyer, mainly buyers from EU. lmao

In order to get units to people who purchased them faster (funny as they will wait months anyway so week extra would not kill anyone), they are going to ship them from India.
So not only VAT, prepare for hefty Import tax and Duty charges... Hope they will not forget eec and rohs stickers lol
 

[tarzan]

And why are the arrows on the chasis? is it a multimedia player that mines? :>

[abdullahadam]

Their site is up for orders now

£5450 total for 25MH/s
https://alpha-t.net/product/viper-scrypt-miner-25mhs/

[contactmike1]

Is the first order number possible 5000?  Who's got a low number?

[abdullahadam]

Is the first order number possible 5000?  Who's got a low number?

order 4861 right here
http://alphat.emux.fr/

[st4nl3y]

found some strange activities + there is no real proof of a working prototype or even detailed product/ board design. to me it's just another "pre-order scam"  I will keep investing in my GPU's 

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcprodorder?ft=1


 

[abdullahadam]

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcprodorder?ft=1


 

Link doesn't work

[st4nl3y]

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcprodorder?ft=1


 

Link doesn't work

try this: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/toolsToHelp/findCompanyInfo.shtml use webcheck and search company number: 08483921 then click on  " Order information on this company" and scroll down.

[abdullahadam]

Okay what's the concern here?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsixjajt1pwz74u/Screenshot_2014-01-05-15-57-51.png

[st4nl3y]

Okay what's the concern here?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsixjajt1pwz74u/Screenshot_2014-01-05-15-57-51.png

Why would you open a company, struck it off the register, open a new company, change name/ address all under same director? in matter of months? hm...   

[nikom00]

Okay what's the concern here?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsixjajt1pwz74u/Screenshot_2014-01-05-15-57-51.png

https://i.imgur.com/Wo6I8sT.jpg


Why would you open a company, struck it off the register, open a new company, change name/ address all under same director? in matter of months? hm...   

One of the reasons for 29/12 may be that he wrote his full name instead.

[Mustang_Brett]

Am I converting this wrong?  Isn't the 5Mh/s the equivalent of 5000Kh/s which is only slightly faster than my GPU rigs?

MB

[hownowbrowncow]

Am I converting this wrong?  Isn't the 5Mh/s the equivalent of 5000Kh/s which is only slightly faster than my GPU rigs?

MB

Yep, that's right. The savings is in the electricity.

[anzy]

If anyone wanted one of the big Viper's (25Mh/s), I'm selling my spot here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=410595.0

[meljohn333]

If anyone wanted one of the big Viper's (25Mh/s), I'm selling my spot here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=410595.0

why would you sale your spot in line?

[Searing]

If anyone wanted one of the big Viper's (25Mh/s), I'm selling my spot here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=410595.0

why would you sale your spot in line?

er a bit of debate on forums if the asic litecoin miner is a scam or not.....because they take paypal most
folks are sitting on hands for 30 to 45 days waiting to be impressed or to bolt and get a refund from alpha or if that fails
paypal (paypal is within 45days) and or longer (credit card amex is 60days)

so...there's the rub....are they legit ...taking paypal and looking like such ...or when push comes to shove
will they do a BFL and repay the paypal via 45days or longer paypal via cc depending on your credit cards policy
and run off with the money from BTC/Wire xfer/bank xfer/or LTC....where there are NO protections

so there is the rub indeed.....

myself have a 5mhz and did the 1/3 down via paypal cc amex and counting down the 30 days so far not too impressed
or not enough to keep my spot unless I see some info on these boards (they have replied before now silent) or some other
info of how it is going...like people stopping by their offices...some interviews ...some tours of the plant in india...etc etc

so far I'd guess probably 1/2 or more of their pre-orders will punt their paypal at least....but then on the other hand
i doubt anyone would have given them much money at all w/o the paypal method of payment with the protections...

so imho we better see LOTS of info to calm nerves or it is a wash....with paypal got $$$ lost $$$ in 45days..w/o
paypal no one would have ordered due to BFL and other scams

up to them to dazzle us....better get to it soon

Searing

[Blueman666]

Well if this doesnt dazzle you maybe it will give you a laugh at least. Email from Alpha T today -

Task Name                                                Duration        Start                 Finish
Viper ASIC Miner Project                              238 days       Tue 16/08/13     Tue 15/07/14
Scrypt Core and Chip Architecture                 15 days         Mon 06/01/14     Fri 24/01/14
System Architecture                                    5 days          Mon 06/01/14     Fri 10/01/14
FPGA Implementation and Testing                  131 days       Tue 16/08/13      Fri 14/02/14
ASIC Development                                      85 days         Mon 20/01/14     Fri 16/05/14
Viper Miner Board Design                              95 days         Mon 13/01/14     Fri 23/05/14
Viper Miner Firmware Development & Testing   118 days        Wed 01/01/14     Fri 13/06/14
Mechanical, Thermal & Misc                          69 days         Mon 13/01/14     Thu 17/04/14
System Assembly & Testing                          2 days           Mon 16/06/14     Tue 17/06/14
System Integration & Testing                       20 days          Wed 18/06/14     Tue 15/07/14
User Manual                                              12 days          Fri 18/04/14        Mon 05/05/14

Doesnt this just fill you with confidence?

[incepted]

You could have spent the same amount now and earned enough to cover your initial investment and still be profitable.  This miner would only benefit if it was released yesterday..