Group Buy Alpha Technology Viper 25

[sharted]

It's ASIC-resistant but nothing is impossible, in theory. If anyone is going to produce a worthy ASIC for scrypt then it will be AMD, in my opinion.

[diego2000]

I am sure the Litecoin devs will change the Algorithm to combat this.  

Wat?!?!!?! Is their any statement that hint this?

I am speculating with that comment but I have seen it posted other places. I thought that (Scrypt)Litecoin was created to bypass the ASIC mining market? was it not?

Yes it was. However, units that produce at 5MH/sec or even 25MH/sec will not make a ding in this picture and I highly doubt, that we're going to see units of 1TH/sec for scrypt any time soon.

[scottii]

how can you place an order when nothing is available?   =S

[nezarkadhem]

how can you place an order when nothing is available?   =S

I pre-ordered on January 10th, when they were still available.

[nezarkadhem]

I am sure the Litecoin devs will change the Algorithm to combat this.  

Wat?!?!!?! Is their any statement that hint this?

I am speculating with that comment but I have seen it posted other places. I thought that (Scrypt)Litecoin was created to bypass the ASIC mining market? was it not?

Not true. Read up on their twitter feed. People asked the same question:

Alpha Technology ‏@UkAlpha  Jan 6 All Scrypt-based coins can be mined by our ASIC devices. But not Scrypt-Jane, that's a different algorithm.

[Don007]

I've thought about this deal, and I'm not really sure where the risk of this deal really is;

The question if Alpha-T will ever deliver their products is important, but who says that you are not going to run off with your device after you paid dividend once or twice (or even never)?

[Sydboy]

Site is pretty high up on the scammy meter. good luck with that.

[nezarkadhem]

I've thought about this deal, and I'm not really sure where the risk of this deal really is;

The question if Alpha-T will ever deliver their products is important, but who says that you are not going to run off with your device after you paid dividend once or twice (or even never)?

Isn't that the risk of any group buy?

My plan is to be transparent, regularly posting updates and photos of the setup. They'll be a google docs file for every shareholder to access and view the day's mining results. I'll have a whatsapp group so you can send me messages direct. I don't know what else I can do to retain trust. Suggestions?

 

[nezarkadhem]

Site is pretty high up on the scammy meter. good luck with that.

True. I guess Alpha T is aware of that which is why they've been regularly posting updates.

[nezarkadhem]

Latest news update from Alpha T: https://alpha-t.net/news/host-board-block-diagram/

[boumalo]

I purchased the 25mh/s viper from Alpha Technology on the 10th of Jan. Order #95xx

I'd like to be one of the first ASIC scrypt hashers out there, but here are the risks:
- Alpha has no track record.
- They could deliver late (BFL all over again).
- They could potentially be a scam.

Positive points:
- I am protected for at least 60 days, since I used paypal. Protection expires on March 10th.
- Alpha technology have been active, regularly posting updates. Check: https://alpha-t.net/news/
- Just today, they've posted photos of their offices, and their community manager, Fiaz is active on Litecointalk: https://litecointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24384

If Alpha comes through on time, the upside is huge. But I don't want to risk this alone. So I'm selling 25 shares, and I'm keeping 25. I paid 30% to reserve the viper, so as of now, only 15 shares are available. When Alpha request the remaining 70%, 10 more shares will be available.
 
- 500kh/s for 12 months
- Cost: $250 per share (equivalent in BTC or LTC)
- Payout on the 1st and 15th of every month. $5 payout charge per share.

PM if you want to ask questions about the mining setup, the order, or to get to know me. Thanks.

Current Availability: 15/15

You will pay 5450£ for 25mhs, at today's rate it means 180$/500khs and you ask for 250$ so 39% more; only to get 12months of mining and no ownership of the miner.
Are you charging 5$ per payout? Meaning you charge 5$ every two weeks?? That seems like a lot. Can you confirm you don't charge any maintenance cost?

Yes, you are about right. But please consider the time put into this. Paypal to secure the order. The time to get all the shares sold. Electricity and maintenance costs. And two payouts a month. It's a cost.

If you guys prefer one payout per month, we can do that too. I guess we'll vote on that once the shares are sold.

Ok, I think I will pass with these exact conditions but it's not saying it is a very bad deal, I find that the 5$ per payout fee&no ownership of the miner are a bit of a turn off, you are actually selling a mining contract

[nezarkadhem]

I purchased the 25mh/s viper from Alpha Technology on the 10th of Jan. Order #95xx

I'd like to be one of the first ASIC scrypt hashers out there, but here are the risks:
- Alpha has no track record.
- They could deliver late (BFL all over again).
- They could potentially be a scam.

Positive points:
- I am protected for at least 60 days, since I used paypal. Protection expires on March 10th.
- Alpha technology have been active, regularly posting updates. Check: https://alpha-t.net/news/
- Just today, they've posted photos of their offices, and their community manager, Fiaz is active on Litecointalk: https://litecointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24384

If Alpha comes through on time, the upside is huge. But I don't want to risk this alone. So I'm selling 25 shares, and I'm keeping 25. I paid 30% to reserve the viper, so as of now, only 15 shares are available. When Alpha request the remaining 70%, 10 more shares will be available.
 
- 500kh/s for 12 months
- Cost: $250 per share (equivalent in BTC or LTC)
- Payout on the 1st and 15th of every month. $5 payout charge per share.

PM if you want to ask questions about the mining setup, the order, or to get to know me. Thanks.

Current Availability: 15/15

You will pay 5450£ for 25mhs, at today's rate it means 180$/500khs and you ask for 250$ so 39% more; only to get 12months of mining and no ownership of the miner.
Are you charging 5$ per payout? Meaning you charge 5$ every two weeks?? That seems like a lot. Can you confirm you don't charge any maintenance cost?

Yes, you are about right. But please consider the time put into this. Paypal to secure the order. The time to get all the shares sold. Electricity and maintenance costs. And two payouts a month. It's a cost.

If you guys prefer one payout per month, we can do that too. I guess we'll vote on that once the shares are sold.

Ok, I think I will pass with these exact conditions but it's not saying it is a very bad deal, I find that the 5$ per payout fee&no ownership of the miner are a bit of a turn off, you are actually selling a mining contract

I am selling a service that I promise to commit to for 12 months. Upkeep of the machines, accounting, and payouts twice a month. Any time more than that will probably result in losses for me. Also considering that 12 months after the release of this machine, there will most definitely be other manufacturers, offering more hashing power. And difficulty going through the roof.

[nezarkadhem]

News update from Alpha Technology (29/01/2014):

Engineering updates for this week:

Host board will be a two board solution ( SOM & Daughter board).
Wifi capability has been added to the host board.
Power measurement capability added to the host board.
Temperature measurement capability added to the mining board.
ASIC – Physical design is going on
Memory cells are chosen as array of 1024*128 bits.
Various options for memory floor planning is being tried upon like multiple memories being stacked on top of each other along with grouping them together for better die size.
RTL synthesis has been tried out with HVT , RVT and LVT cells. LVT offers good frequency, however power leakage is higher, RVT offers balance on timing and power.
Block level pin assignments in progress.
DFT Scan insertion in progress.
Place and route in progress.

[DR3AMR2]

Latest news update from Alpha T: https://alpha-t.net/news/host-board-block-diagram/

LMFAO did a kid draw that diagram?  It shows nothing useful!  The fact that they are using a picture mix with some block diagram drawn from microsoft words is super sketchy.  If they're an engineering company, why are they not using CAD for their drawings?       

[nezarkadhem]

Latest news update from Alpha T: https://alpha-t.net/news/host-board-block-diagram/

LMFAO did a kid draw that diagram?  It shows nothing useful!  The fact that they are using a picture mix with some block diagram drawn from microsoft words is super sketchy.  If they're an engineering company, why are they not using CAD for their drawings?       

Did you follow KNC when they first started? This is a startup, not a fully fledged corporation.

[DR3AMR2]

Latest news update from Alpha T: https://alpha-t.net/news/host-board-block-diagram/

LMFAO did a kid draw that diagram?  It shows nothing useful!  The fact that they are using a picture mix with some block diagram drawn from microsoft words is super sketchy.  If they're an engineering company, why are they not using CAD for their drawings?       

Did you follow KNC when they first started? This is a startup, not a fully fledged corporation.

I'm an engineer, it doesn't take a full fledged corporation to mock up some real designs that are supposed to be getting ready for production.  Since they are taking pre-orders, one would assume that they would already move past something that takes less than 20 minutes draw a grossly simplify mock up on how the components are going to be laid out. 

[nezarkadhem]

Latest news update from Alpha T: https://alpha-t.net/news/host-board-block-diagram/

LMFAO did a kid draw that diagram?  It shows nothing useful!  The fact that they are using a picture mix with some block diagram drawn from microsoft words is super sketchy.  If they're an engineering company, why are they not using CAD for their drawings?       

Did you follow KNC when they first started? This is a startup, not a fully fledged corporation.

I'm an engineer, it doesn't take a full fledged corporation to mock up some real designs that are supposed to be getting ready for production.  Since they are taking pre-orders, one would assume that they would already move past something that takes less than 20 minutes draw a grossly simplify mock up on how the components are going to be laid out. 

They actually put together a road map, and a mockup of the hardware components. You can find that on their website.

[DR3AMR2]

I'm looking at their roadmap:

https://alpha-t.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Timeline-Copy.png

It's pointing that they are at the very beginning stages of development.  From the road-map perspective, they really have nothing accomplished at all.  For them to be taking pre-orders on something that isn't even finalized or proven to work yet, throws a huge red flag right here.  They're basically collecting money to fund the engineering development.  Scariest part is that the project could fail and they can run away with your money.  With a Q2/Q3 shipping schedule, that's one aggressive timeline considering how much is left to accomplish ahead of them.

If you truly believe in them, I sure hope that I'm just outright wrong here.  Best of luck to you and just please be careful with these type of pre-orders.

Take Kickstarter projects for examples.  A lot of companies already have their product finalize and they are just trying to get funds for manufacturing on a large scale.  Even then a lot of projects would still take over 6+ months just to get the manufacturing portion part down.  I would take extra precaution with Alpha Technology.  The chances of them over promising and under deliver the actual product is very high.       

 

     

[nezarkadhem]

I'm looking at their roadmap:

It's pointing that they are at the very beginning stages of development.  From the road-map perspective, they really have nothing accomplished at all.  For them to be taking pre-orders on something that isn't even finalized or proven to work yet, throws a huge red flag right here.  They're basically collecting money to fund the engineering development.  Scariest part is that the project could fail and they can run away with your money.  With a Q2/Q3 shipping schedule, that's one aggressive timeline considering how much is left to accomplish ahead of them.

If you truly believe in them, I sure hope that I'm just outright wrong here.  Best of luck to you and just please be careful with these type of pre-orders.

Take Kickstarter projects for examples.  A lot of companies already have their product finalize and they are just trying to get funds for manufacturing on a large scale.  Even then a lot of projects would still take over 6+ months just to get the manufacturing portion part down.  I would take extra precaution with Alpha Technology.  The chances of them over promising and under deliver the actual product is very high.       
     

I do understand the model of:
1. build prototype
2. film and market prototype
3. raise money
4. manufacture and distribute.

Most kickstarted projects are on phase 2 of this cycle. But not all. You could film or 3d render a concept, then start taking pre-orders. This happens a lot in real estate. If you order now, you would be a pre-seed early adopter. Taking a risk of buying something that hasn't even been manufactured yet, and hoping for a huge upside. That's what this is all about.

[nezarkadhem]

Alpha Technology forum now live: http://forum.alpha-t.net/