DIY FPGA Mining rig for any algorithm with fast ROI

[GPUHoarder]

Can someone explain how to read specs of a FPGA? I know to read and compare GPU specs and tell what is "good", "fast", "if this is high, its good for mining this or that"...

FPGAs are not GPUs.At all. They are completely different.  Every board design requires essentially its own miner to be specially created for it. You basically need to get one of the ones the community is focused around or have the resources to develop your own. Every miner will run at some unique clock speed and power envelope. The FPGA does not have a native clock speed.

With that said, specs are usually on the AC & DC Switching Characteristics datasheets. Generally useful comparison points are the number of LUTs, or sometimes easier the number of Logic Elements, amount of Block Ram, amount of Distributed Ram, amount of Ultraram (keep in mind all memory sizes are usually specified in bits, not bytes, so divide by 8 to get numbers you’re used to), speed rating, temperature rating, family (Kintex vs Virtex), process (45nm, 28nm, 16nm - usually results in higher maximum clock speed or lower power). What hardblocks(PCIe, memory controllers, DSPs) are included, maximum power capacity. Mounting size. 

In short it is very complicated and the selection of a specific chip for a new board or project is a whole project in and of itself.

[Andartis]

Can someone explain how to read specs of a FPGA? I know to read and compare GPU specs and tell what is "good", "fast", "if this is high, its good for mining this or that"...

FPGAs are not GPUs.At all. They are completely different.  Every board design requires essentially its own miner to be specially created for it. You basically need to get one of the ones the community is focused around or have the resources to develop your own. Every miner will run at some unique clock speed and power envelope. The FPGA does not have a native clock speed.

With that said, specs are usually on the AC & DC Switching Characteristics datasheets. Generally useful comparison points are the number of LUTs, or sometimes easier the number of Logic Elements, amount of Block Ram, amount of Distributed Ram, amount of Ultraram (keep in mind all memory sizes are usually specified in bits, not bytes, so divide by 8 to get numbers you’re used to), speed rating, temperature rating, family (Kintex vs Virtex), process (45nm, 28nm, 16nm - usually results in higher maximum clock speed or lower power). What hardblocks(PCIe, memory controllers, DSPs) are included, maximum power capacity. Mounting size. 

In short it is very complicated and the selection of a specific chip for a new board or project is a whole project in and of itself.

Thank you very much for that explanation. Ok, I think I have to read more about FPGA.
Are they expensive because they are complicated to produce or because there are not much cards available? I saw an interview with a guy from Xilinx in which he explained a bit that the cards need extensive testing.
Or can we expect soon a crazy Bitmain FPGA miner? Because, if its just ressources, why would they not develop one, call TSMC and build a million?

[taserz]

Can someone explain how to read specs of a FPGA? I know to read and compare GPU specs and tell what is "good", "fast", "if this is high, its good for mining this or that"...

FPGAs are not GPUs.At all. They are completely different.  Every board design requires essentially its own miner to be specially created for it. You basically need to get one of the ones the community is focused around or have the resources to develop your own. Every miner will run at some unique clock speed and power envelope. The FPGA does not have a native clock speed.

With that said, specs are usually on the AC & DC Switching Characteristics datasheets. Generally useful comparison points are the number of LUTs, or sometimes easier the number of Logic Elements, amount of Block Ram, amount of Distributed Ram, amount of Ultraram (keep in mind all memory sizes are usually specified in bits, not bytes, so divide by 8 to get numbers you’re used to), speed rating, temperature rating, family (Kintex vs Virtex), process (45nm, 28nm, 16nm - usually results in higher maximum clock speed or lower power). What hardblocks(PCIe, memory controllers, DSPs) are included, maximum power capacity. Mounting size. 

In short it is very complicated and the selection of a specific chip for a new board or project is a whole project in and of itself.

Thank you very much for that explanation. Ok, I think I have to read more about FPGA.
Are they expensive because they are complicated to produce or because there are not much cards available? I saw an interview with a guy from Xilinx in which he explained a bit that the cards need extensive testing.
Or can we expect soon a crazy Bitmain FPGA miner? Because, if its just ressources, why would they not develop one, call TSMC and build a million?

They are also not as chep to make. It is not 1 chip made 63 times on a hashboard. But tons of different types of chips to serve different purposes that might not be needed for this algo or that and they also have the ability to have tons of ram.

[R0land]

Can someone explain how to read specs of a FPGA? I know to read and compare GPU specs and tell what is "good", "fast", "if this is high, its good for mining this or that"...

Bigger is better !

Depending on the algo, you need different skils. Some algo´s need the fast ultraram, or/and a lot of LUT, or/and big DRAM, or/and big BRAM ... and some algo´s are faster with a CPLD.

Sorry, there are so many coins and algo´s. Maybe it´s better to ask "What FPGA specs are good for mining x (eth,xmr,...) ?".

[RivAngE]

Wouhou! That's a nice thread to read comments and then do research on the subject that's beem discussed.
The whole FPGA thing seems to need deep technical knowledge, there are so many acronyms and terms I read here for the first time!

I would never buy an ASIC and support a closed source machine and its Chinese mega-compamy, which btw would not come with any insurance for how long it will be profitable before the algo change or a better ASIC is released. An FPGA though is something I'd like to learn to program and use, hopefully through this thread.
For now though I'll just buy cheap XILINX shares 

[senseless]

Is lyra2z finished? What are the hashrate and power consumption?

We're getting there

[StefanVT]

will these work with the vcu1525 as well ?

Cant wait to start with FPGA mining

[d57heinz]

will these work with the vcu1525 as well ?

Cant wait to start with FPGA mining

I wouldn’t hold your breath.  This is Elite only discussion.  When the barrier for entry for a mining rig is close to a years salary for the majority that is poor in USA. I mean the barrier for being poor in California is now 130k or under.  That’s poverty level now.  So again go on about how this will promote decentralization.   We’re all ears

BR

[R0land]

A nice board from California :
https://www.achronix.com/product/boards/ 

[Darac]

just got the water cooling block designed for VCU1525
And test with Tribus algo at hashrate 1.8GH, the temperature keeps under 45 C


/p/LtEhJ9]https://[Suspicious link removed]/p/LtEhJ9

May I ask where you bought it ?
I still have a pump and a radiator for the time I was watercooling my computer

I asked a vendor to make a sample of waterblock

 Could you forward the contact from the vendor of the watercooling.
I need one.

[miguportugal]

iam reading and learning
but i never read power consumation.

mining Keccak what is power consumation ?

at 10GH


at 17GH

Can someone help please

kind regards

[GPUHoarder]

iam reading and learning
but i never read power consumation.

mining Keccak what is power consumation ?

at 10GH


at 17GH

Can someone help please

kind regards

Keccak specifically @ 17 is about 350W

[miguportugal]

FPGA its great
bitmain already have z9 and innoslicon the a9 50ksol 620w probably FPGA inside

[lok8nusa]

FPGA its great
bitmain already have z9 and innoslicon the a9 50ksol 620w probably FPGA inside

z9 is definitely NOT an FPGA. Plain ASIC.

[Z1pp4]

I thought LUX is ASIC/FPGA resistant after they forked to Phi2?

[R0land]

I thought LUX is ASIC/FPGA resistant after they forked to Phi2?

No algo is fpga resistant 

[phuongden]

Hey guys in my garage I found an old ASIC miner the KnCMiner Jupiter.
Looking closer they have a Altera Cyclone IV FPGA for the controller.
Any idea if this can be programmed to mine anything.

[whitefire990]

Okay, the first full fledged mining software & bitstreams are now available for download on the Zetheron website:

http://zetheron.com/index.php/downloads/

0xToken miner:
Stock VCU1525 (0.85V) = 11.55GH/s
Stock VCU1525 (0.74V) = 15.09GH/s

There are also KU040 bitstreams available.  And more to come.

The next 2 algorithms will be launched around August 10th.

[Vlado]

Can't wait my BCUs to arrive so I can test the bitstreams. Should be interesting.

Thumbs up for the efforts whitefire990.

[T_Power]

@whitefire990

Thank you for Starting the FPGA "ball rolling", and getting everyone interested in FPGA's. Maybe FPGA's will slowly eat away at the ASIC's(door stops), and send them into oblivion.  I have been burned twice by ASIC's, no more....

Three cheers for whitefire990  ,  and all the other Dev's who have now joined in.