Visit of ASICMINER's Immersion Cooling Mining Facility

[jimmothy]

So much for a "decentralized" coin.

I appreciate the technical work, but images like these challenge my confidence in Bitcoin.

The ownership is distributed, you can buy a seat on the board today, and share in the profits. (The shares are publicly trained) 

Who cares whether "ownership" is distributed? What matters to the long term viability of Bitcoin is whether a government or some other bad actor could take over one or a few mining operations to gain control of the network.

It is extremely unlikely and expensive to maintain 51% of the network.

[metacoin]

It is extremely unlikely and expensive to maintain 51% of the network.

Indeed.

http://www.coinometrics.com/bitcoin/brix

 

[Operatr]

So much for a "decentralized" coin.

I appreciate the technical work, but images like these challenge my confidence in Bitcoin.

The ownership is distributed, you can buy a seat on the board today, and share in the profits. (The shares are publicly trained) 

Who cares whether "ownership" is distributed? What matters to the long term viability of Bitcoin is whether a government or some other bad actor could take over one or a few mining operations to gain control of the network.

It is extremely unlikely and expensive to maintain 51% of the network.

AM isn't even 5th in terms of total network hashrate, so we can probably relax, though it would be large for a private mine. The big ones on the list are large pools.

Really cool post thanks op!

[kukuku]

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/11/13/3m-immersion-cooling/

http://www.allied-control.com/immersion-2

Up to 225kW/rack?  That's absolutely insane.  Colo facilities freaked out when I needed 18kW racks.

[Adrian-x]

So much for a "decentralized" coin.

I appreciate the technical work, but images like these challenge my confidence in Bitcoin.

The ownership is distributed, you can buy a seat on the board today, and share in the profits. (The shares are publicly trained) 

Who cares whether "ownership" is distributed? What matters to the long term viability of Bitcoin is whether a government or some other bad actor could take over one or a few mining operations to gain control of the network.

I totally agree, but don't panic yet we have rule of law for now, and this AM mining operation, If copped by a hostile force, only processes about 1% of the total network traffic and they disperse/sells there hardware to thousands of other miners, so no need to cry the sky is falling just yet.

[E]

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/11/13/3m-immersion-cooling/

http://www.allied-control.com/immersion-2

Up to 225kW/rack?  That's absolutely insane.  Colo facilities freaked out when I needed 18kW racks.

From the pictures and text at your second link, it would seem that the AM deployment is the first in the world for the Allied Control Immersion 2 platform! The picture at the top is almost certainly AM blades, and:

Due to its modular design, the first 500kW immersion cooling facility was completed in less than six months and is now Asia’s most energy efficient datacenter and might as well be one of the most energy efficient in the world. Boasting a PUE of less than 1.02 (with no strings attached) in Hong Kong’s hot and humid climate, the first-of-its kind facility is located in a high rise building and fits in the size of a standard shipping container.

At 1J/GH that can support 500TH/s in one shipping container! And a PUE of 1.02 is crazy! Compare

https://www.facebook.com/PrinevilleDataCenter/app_399244020173259

1.02 means < 2% of energy is wasted; the rest goes to the boards. Doesn't say anything about the efficiency of the boards, however

[RoadStress]

1.02 means < 2% of energy is wasted; the rest goes to the boards. Doesn't say anything about the efficiency of the boards, however

Thank God we have marketing.

An impressive achievement nonetheless!

[bkpduke]

So much money for cooling . . .  for such inefficient chips.

I would rather see the 200TH mine that Bitfury is running.  I would bet it is all air cooled, and uses 1/5th the power of ASICMINER.

[apollojmr]

So much money for cooling . . .  for such inefficient chips.

I would rather see the 200TH mine that Bitfury is running.  I would bet it is all air cooled, and uses 1/5th the power of ASICMINER.

What is stopping you from taking a flight to see the mine? You could have an awesome post like this so that you would be able to give out glasses of haterade on your thread. Thanks for stopping by but until you have some form of pictures as proof of this "200TH mine that is 1/5 more efficient." please refrain from spreading rumors on a thread that has absolutely zero to do with "bitfury" Thank you come again. 

[mrb]

So much for being a "secret mining location" when you posted photos of easily identifiable buildings surrounding the area.

I identified the location: http://goo.gl/maps/85lpj

It wasn't very hard. It turns out the building with green/blue tiles is where Allied Control's offices are located (Global Trade Centre, Units 305-307, 3/F, 15 Wing Kin Road, Kwai Chung, N.T., Hong Kong). Which makes sense since Asicminer is likely one of their first and/or biggest customer using their latest immersion cooling platform.

Note that Asicminer owns and operates multiple locations, and this one probably represents a small portion of their mining operations.

[heropzy]

Fabulous!

Thanks

[Haluzakfest]

UUUAAAU ...Fascinating, to conceal deh .. Joo us again of Asian culture shows off her skills .. Yeah, no wonder the walls to enclose their inventions, knowledge and skills do not belong to anyone else. I admire this race a little, as a European I am ashamed in front of 'em in Europe we are as mindless and stupid rednecks, you can not do anything, climbed nemocema .. evil and reverse ... So just to us, it belongs to us, the world belongs to you.

Ps: excuse any mistakes I like simple European, I can not really native language, let alone any more: D

[CanaryInTheMine]

So much money for cooling . . .  for such inefficient chips.

I would rather see the 200TH mine that Bitfury is running.  I would bet it is all air cooled, and uses 1/5th the power of ASICMINER.

What is stopping you from taking a flight to see the mine? You could have an awesome post like this so that you would be able to give out glasses of haterade on your thread. Thanks for stopping by but until you have some form of pictures as proof of this "200TH mine that is 1/5 more efficient." please refrain from spreading rumors on a thread that has absolutely zero to do with "bitfury" Thank you come again. 

probably permission and/or an invitation by friedcat.

[chenchunyu88]

chips are important, those miner are not good. They use so many space, 100 KNC Jupiter can achieve the same TGhs that they have now. Not impressive at all.

Hopefully, their new chip works.

[culexevilman]

wow I am impressed.

[bmoconno]

Thanks for the article and pictures, very cool use of technology.  Donation incoming!

[CanaryInTheMine]

chips are important, those miner are not good. They use so many space, 100 KNC Jupiter can achieve the same TGhs that they have now. Not impressive at all.

Hopefully, their new chip works.

with respect,
you're missing the big picture... "those" unimpressive chips were made a yr ago. 130 nm.  incredibly cheap to produce for ASICMiner.  then they were used to make USB miners, then blades and Cubes (which are smaller blades).  same PCBs can be populated using Gen 3 chips and you end up with an in-place replacement of a blade on a backplane, USB, Cube module from an end user stand point.  to manufacture, just fire up the "same" schematics and blueprints, use new chips and stamp out same USBs, Blades, Cubes etc...

you can't have the cart before the horse.... while Gen 3 is being worked on, you develop new devices (V2 blade and Cube), techniques and cooling solutions (liquid) that can make use of Gen 3 followed by Gen3+n chips.  efficiency and density matter more than just speed alone.
you can't just sit and wait for Gen 3 or 4 and only THEN develop new devices and cooling. while you wait for Gen3, you make everything else ready.
then, when Gen3 chip is out, our heads will spin from the hashing power that will come online.

regardless of devices, you need space, electricity and currently loud fans (loud even if you have those quiet 100 KNCs going at once) and if you look at a KNC it has alot of empty space... dense blades do not waste space ("blade" approach).  you can't really run a couple of Th/s with your 100Amp (average electrical service in US) electrical service at your house (I won't even mention apartments).  the heat and noise are not possible to deal with by practical and reasonable means that don't disrupt the living space and conditions.  whereas liquid cooling on this scale can be run in your backyard pretty much or your basement if you wish...

we still have companies and miners interested in creating just a powerful device (chip) but not efficient by all other, long term measures.  ASICMiner is leading the way on this.

anyway.. just my thoughts and rants... do your own thinking and analysis. always.

[Franktank]

Impressive report and awaiting the video!

[E]

Unjacketed 2 pair wiring for the ethernet connections - space saving, I guess?
Also may prevent wicking of the Novec...

I wonder about the shielded plugs, though. With no ground connection / shielding along the cable, the shielded plug does nothing, and I'd think they'd be more expensive.

[d'aniel]

So much for a "decentralized" coin.

I appreciate the technical work, but images like these challenge my confidence in Bitcoin.

To me it just illustrated bitcoin mining's diminishing returns to scale.  I doubt this kind of operation will be viable long-term.  Heat is a waste product for these guys that's clearly expensive to dispose of.  But for small home mining operations, that heat can be put to good use heating the air and water.  Distributed mining also distributes financial risk.  These kinds of operations strike me as fat that the industry will trim as it matures.