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.

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.

There will never be an asic sold for less than the manufacturer can make it for.

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[CanaryInTheMine]

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.

10 MB Ethernet (what blades have) can run on Cat3 if my memory serves me right.  Cat3 setup is cheap and requires no shielding other than what twisted pairs already have.  Jacketed wires will be nothing but a pipe for liquid to get into...  shielded RJ45 jacks were either cheap(er) to get than plastic ones at that time or maybe they have something to do with heat exchange? 37 degrees is pretty hot for a plastic RJ45 connector (non-stop) I would think, but I'm really just guessing the purpose of the metal plug.

[d'aniel]

There will never be an asic sold for less than the manufacturer can make it for.

Not sure I understand your point.  Running costs are a separate issue from manufacturing costs.

[jimmothy]

There will never be an asic sold for less than the manufacturer can make it for.

Not sure I understand your point.  Running costs are a separate issue from manufacturing costs.

First of all running costs for AM is likely less than running costs for home miners because of the price of electricity and the high efficiency.

Second, when manufacturers can make asics for half the cost that the average joe can get one for that means they can easily have twice the hashing power for the same cost.

We know that just about every asic available right now will either just barely or not reach ROI but asic manufacturers will have no problem reaching ROI.

[dogie]

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.

They've proven its NOT expensive to remove though. With capital investment and advanced tech, they can almost passively remove a 'shit tonne' of heat and achieve infinite density.

[coolbeans94]

This is why Peercoin will pay off long-term.

[dogie]

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.

10 MB Ethernet (what blades have) can run on Cat3 if my memory serves me right.  Cat3 setup is cheap and requires no shielding other than what twisted pairs already have.  Jacketed wires will be nothing but a pipe for liquid to get into...  shielded RJ45 jacks were either cheap(er) to get than plastic ones at that time or maybe they have something to do with heat exchange? 37 degrees is pretty hot for a plastic RJ45 connector (non-stop) I would think, but I'm really just guessing the purpose of the metal plug.

37 degrees wouldn't matter too much as there is no thermal cycling, no real mechanical loads or anything to deform/take advantage of the impaired strength.

[caoxg]

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

Thank you!

[CryptoNames]

This is insane! 

[wasubii]

badass

[d'aniel]

First of all running costs for AM is likely less than running costs for home miners because of the price of electricity and the high efficiency.

Electricity could be effectively free for a home mining rig in a house with electric heat (air and water), since they would otherwise be spending the same on electricity to produce it from their actual heaters.

Second, when manufacturers can make asics for half the cost that the average joe can get one for that means they can easily have twice the hashing power for the same cost.

All that tells me is the industry is very immature still.

They've proven its NOT expensive to remove though. With capital investment and advanced tech, they can almost passively remove a 'shit tonne' of heat and achieve infinite density.

The pictures made it look expensive.  And the OP mentioned the coolant being expensive.  Numbers would be more persuasive though.  In any case, the heat is still expensive to make, and long-term, competitive mining operations will have to make good use of the heat they produce.  Versatility will be a strong advantage here, and scaling up would appear to diminish from this.

[hivewallet]

Let's check back in a few years and see how the predictions of our resident time traveler turned out...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_timetraveler_from_the_future_here_to_beg/

[explorer]

Let's check back in a few years and see how the predictions of our resident time traveler turned out...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_timetraveler_from_the_future_here_to_beg/

If it takes until 2015 to reach 1000, I'm gonna ... 


sell one!

[ineedit]

Let's check back in a few years and see how the predictions of our resident time traveler turned out...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_timetraveler_from_the_future_here_to_beg/

And after that then we will all go back to gold and silver, now just who has been the biggest purchasers of both in the last 10 years?

[bonker]

Sweet rig.. I'm envious and ashamed that it aint *mine!!*

[dexX7]

The most exciting thing I realized is that we are at the edge of innovation. Soon comes the time that Bitcoin/mining will drive innovation in related fields that was previously not expected, for example pushing immersion cooling technology like in this case.

I left you a small donation of 25 millibit yesterday also, thanks for the great report!

[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.

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. 

Dude, I am an owner of a major computer review site.  The cooling is impressive, but nothing I haven't seen in a dozen datacenters throughout the USA.  The chips, however, are PIGs.

Nuff said.

[101111]

You know it's good when the bitfury boys post on here and basically say "I hate it, nuff said."

[jimmothy]

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. 

Dude, I am an owner of a major computer review site.  The cooling is impressive, but nothing I haven't seen in a dozen datacenters throughout the USA.  The chips, however, are PIGs.

Nuff said.

Someone having a hard time selling their bitfurys?

You know it's good when the bitfury boys post on here and basically say "I hate it, nuff said."

+1

[dogie]

The pictures made it look expensive.  And the OP mentioned the coolant being expensive.  Numbers would be more persuasive though.  In any case, the heat is still expensive to make, and long-term, competitive mining operations will have to make good use of the heat they produce.  Versatility will be a strong advantage here, and scaling up would appear to diminish from this.

They look expensive, but remember this is mostly passive. All we have here is helfty shelving, aquariums full of expensive coolant [which isnt consumed], piping and then a few high flow heat exchangers [read NOT AC - so only power costs of fluid flow]. You couldn't design this to be comparatively cheaper if you tried,