Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator

[gsrcrxsi314]

Just want to make sure I’ve got this right so far.

No word how these things boost pure ETH mining, if at all, right?

Read the fine website! There is a table below the Acorn products that tell you what kind of gains you might see.

If you are ONLY mining ETH, then the CLE-101 is the Acorn for you. And what it does is not so much give you huge boost in your hash rate, but reduce the power consumed.

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-101/

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/faq/

On both pages above, scroll down for the details. On the first link, there is a table with info about hash rates and power use. On the second page (the FAQ) there are some answers about how many Acorns you would need based on type of card (low-/high-end).

So based on the numbers listed. Being conservative.

Say an 8GPU rig making 230MH ETH @1100w (what I have)
$0.12848 per kWh (what I have)
should use at minimum 2x CLE-101 @ cost of $400
Hashrate boost of 10% (250MH), power dropped to 75% (825W)

Power saving work out to be about $25 less per month. Money earned from an extra 20MH is another $0.65 or so
400/25.65 = about 15.5 months...

Seems like that $400 is put to better use just buying more cards

[Marvell2]

Just want to make sure I’ve got this right so far.

No word how these things boost pure ETH mining, if at all, right?

Read the fine website! There is a table below the Acorn products that tell you what kind of gains you might see.

If you are ONLY mining ETH, then the CLE-101 is the Acorn for you. And what it does is not so much give you huge boost in your hash rate, but reduce the power consumed.

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-101/

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/faq/

On both pages above, scroll down for the details. On the first link, there is a table with info about hash rates and power use. On the second page (the FAQ) there are some answers about how many Acorns you would need based on type of card (low-/high-end).

So based on the numbers listed. Being conservative.

Say an 8GPU rig making 230MH ETH @1100w (what I have)
$0.12848 per kWh (what I have)
should use at minimum 2x CLE-101 @ cost of $400
Hashrate boost of 10% (250MH), power dropped to 75% (825W)

Power saving work out to be about $25 less per month. Money earned from an extra 20MH is another $0.65 or so
400/25.65 = about 15.5 months...

Seems like that $400 is put to better use just buying more cards

That’s exactly what I said, and this doesn’t factor in the price of new motherboards with more pcie lanes
mem and cpu

[Kryptowolf512]

So and why should i buy a Acorn Nest if i can get this? https://www.amazon.de/glotrends-PCIe-NVMe-Adapter-Support/dp/B075HZVG3X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1531721898&sr=8-8&keywords=m.2+adapter
Way more cheaper 

Is the August batch over? Because if I want to preorder a Acorn, they tell me only september,october...

[Morama]

The performance improvement ist shown for a 1 Acorn for 1 1080 Ti setup for example - here (Scroll down in the able): http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-215-plus/

How is the performance result for 1 Acorn for 5 1080 Tis for example? Is there still any improvement or is it like, I have to use 4 Acorns on 4 1080 Ti?
Or I misunderstood something?

[R0land]

The performance improvement ist shown for a 1 Acorn for 1 1080 Ti setup for example - here (Scroll down in the able): http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-215-plus/

How is the performance result for 1 Acorn for 5 1080 Tis for example? Is there still any improvement or is it like, I have to use 4 Acorns on 4 1080 Ti?
Or I misunderstood something?

1080 Ti ? They write 1 gpu ! Maybe (up to 100% ) a RX550.

It´s like SoftRam ... as I said.

[Morama]

The performance improvement ist shown for a 1 Acorn for 1 1080 Ti setup for example - here (Scroll down in the able): http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-215-plus/

How is the performance result for 1 Acorn for 5 1080 Tis for example? Is there still any improvement or is it like, I have to use 4 Acorns on 4 1080 Ti?
Or I misunderstood something?

1080 Ti ? They write 1 gpu ! Maybe (up to 100% ) a RX550.

It´s like SoftRam ... as I said.

Yes that is my question. If I have a Rig of 4-5 1080 Ti ... how many Acorns I must use to accelerate X16R for example -> 4 to 5? 

[dsmn]

I'm very interested to see how many nests can be supported on a single motherboard.  Theoretically it ought to work (as much as I can calculate anyways). I can't wait to get our shipment and start testing different configurations.

If your goal is just to make a setup with as manny acorns as posible running solo mining then you most likely wont need 4x for them each since they should not push any big data to the motherboard.
Futhermore even with gpu's in the mix using the nest2g cards the high throughput should stay on the pcie switch the nest2g card have and not reach the motherboard, but i guess noone know since i stated this multiple times but getting ignored

[mallorcax]

Very interesting.  I look forward to seeing the data.Test this board from the beginning is to accelerate the data by 50%. http://www.mallorcax.es/

[husseinallaw]

Will this do any effect on VEGA 64 GPUs?

[dragonmike]

I've got two questions:

1/ Will an Acorn be utilised properly if the multi-gpu rig is only powered by a dual-core Celeron (with limited lanes)?

2/ How many GPUs can a CLE-101 give that 33% boost to in CNv1? There are no Acorn usage figures on the table on the website.

[woodaxe]

trying to order a CLE 101   and the shopping cart is trying to charge me tax i live in the uk so shouldnt get charged tax and the cheapest shipping snail speed is $75 which is way overpriced for an item that prolly dont weigh more than  2 oz
i will get charged tax in the uk for the item and they put that on the shipping as well so will cost me around $328

[lok8nusa]

So and why should i buy a Acorn Nest if i can get this? https://www.amazon.de/glotrends-PCIe-NVMe-Adapter-Support/dp/B075HZVG3X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1531721898&sr=8-8&keywords=m.2+adapter
Way more cheaper 

Is the August batch over? Because if I want to preorder a Acorn, they tell me only september,october...

The x2G Nest has its own PCIe switch - eliminates a bandwidth bottleneck on the motherboard.


The card you're looking at only supports one Acorn; the second slot goes to SATA, not PCIe.

If August isn't available in the drop-down, it's sold out.

[philipma1957]

Just want to make sure I’ve got this right so far.

No word how these things boost pure ETH mining, if at all, right?

Read the fine website! There is a table below the Acorn products that tell you what kind of gains you might see.

If you are ONLY mining ETH, then the CLE-101 is the Acorn for you. And what it does is not so much give you huge boost in your hash rate, but reduce the power consumed.

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-101/

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/faq/

On both pages above, scroll down for the details. On the first link, there is a table with info about hash rates and power use. On the second page (the FAQ) there are some answers about how many Acorns you would need based on type of card (low-/high-end).

So based on the numbers listed. Being conservative.

Say an 8GPU rig making 230MH ETH @1100w (what I have)
$0.12848 per kWh (what I have)
should use at minimum 2x CLE-101 @ cost of $400
Hashrate boost of 10% (250MH), power dropped to 75% (825W)

Power saving work out to be about $25 less per month. Money earned from an extra 20MH is another $0.65 or so
400/25.65 = about 15.5 months...

Seems like that $400 is put to better use just buying more cards

That’s exactly what I said, and this doesn’t factor in the price of new motherboards with more pcie lanes
mem and cpu

It works more for a guy like me  I sold off a lot of gear in Jan and Feb

I have multiple empty mobos
I have many sticks of ram
I have a multitude of psu's
I have mucho cpu's

if a 2 card nest of acorn 215+  = 30mh and 30 watts  stand alone  on x16r    cost is 775

 compare it to a 1080ti  which is about 20mh and 200watts  cost is 700

now I went and looked at stock   I have 4 biostar 1080ti's   so  I can  do as many as 4 x 4 x 4  acorns  that is 64 acorns = 20k 

watts are under 1000
hash for x16r = 960mh

to be honest   I would order a lot of these  if they offer more stand alone  mining choices.

I like x16r
but equihash  144,5   allows me to mine  BTG  bitcoin gold  I would love that algorithm

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-gold/
https://bitcoingold.org/

[dragonmike]

It works more for a guy like me  I sold off a lot of gear in Jan and Feb

I have multiple empty mobos
I have many sticks of ram
I have a multitude of psu's
I have mucho cpu's

if a 2 card nest of acorn 215+  = 30mh and 30 watts  stand alone  on x16r    cost is 775

 compare it to a 1080ti  which is about 20mh and 200watts  cost is 700

now I went and looked at stock   I have 4 biostar 1080ti's   so  I can  do as many as 4 x 4 x 4  acorns  that is 64 acorns = 20k 

watts are under 1000
hash for x16r = 960mh

to be honest   I would order a lot of these  if they offer more stand alone  mining choices.

I like x16r
but equihash  144,5   allows me to mine  BTG  bitcoin gold  I would love that algorithm

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-gold/
https://bitcoingold.org/

Where did you read that a standalone 215+ could do 15Mh/s x16r?

[philipma1957]

It works more for a guy like me  I sold off a lot of gear in Jan and Feb

I have multiple empty mobos
I have many sticks of ram
I have a multitude of psu's
I have mucho cpu's

if a 2 card nest of acorn 215+  = 30mh and 30 watts  stand alone  on x16r    cost is 775

 compare it to a 1080ti  which is about 20mh and 200watts  cost is 700

now I went and looked at stock   I have 4 biostar 1080ti's   so  I can  do as many as 4 x 4 x 4  acorns  that is 64 acorns = 20k  

watts are under 1000
hash for x16r = 960mh

to be honest   I would order a lot of these  if they offer more stand alone  mining choices.

I like x16r
but equihash  144,5   allows me to mine  BTG  bitcoin gold  I would love that algorithm

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-gold/
https://bitcoingold.org/

Where did you read that a standalone 215+ could do 15Mh/s x16r?

http://www.squirrelsresearch.com/acorn-cle-215-plus/

I used the chart on the lower part of the page and extrapolated it


1080ti   1.43x   +7%   100%   1.76x   +8%   88


a 1080ti does 20mg at x16r and 200 watts

adding a 215+  jumps 1.76 or 76% of 20 = 15.2 mh  

power  jumps 8% or 16 watts as 8% of 200 = 16

so I think they do 15 or 16 mh at 15 to 17 watts stand alone

a x2g nest would be 30-32 mg at 30-34 watts cost 760
a x4g nest would be 60-64 mg at 60-54 watts cost 1450

mind you I am guessing  if true I want more algos I really want them to do equihash-btg algo 144.5

I am going to order more today but I am waiting for the error they made on my friday order to be corrected  i paid for 1 acorn 215+ and 1 x2g nest about 446.50 coin payments took the money and squirrels cancelled the order.

so for now I have 446.60 in limbo thus I need to wait.
gpuhoarder told me  it will be fixed via pm.

once fixed I will order more.

[dragonmike]

so I think they do 15 or 16 mh at 15 to 17 watts stand alone

They do not unfortunately, GPUHoarder just confirmed it in Discord. They can provide boost, but they need a GPU to do some of the work.

[dsmn]

Did some testing on TB250-BTC PRO the motherboard is not as starved for lanes as you would think.

CPU PCH ( 1 gpu here running full x16 8 GT/s per lane. )

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1c03 (rev a1)
                LnkSta: Speed 8GT/s, Width x16, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-

CHIPSET PCH ( 3 gpu here running x1 8 GT/s through risers. And then some extra cards just to show that running more ports is posible while doing 3 ports gpu at 3.0, but only had extra 2.0 cards :/ )

0a:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1b81 (rev a1)
                LnkSta: Speed 8GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
12:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1c03 (rev a1)
                LnkSta: Speed 8GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
13:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1b81 (rev a1)
                LnkSta: Speed 8GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-

02:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1184
                LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
08:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03)
                LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
0b:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1184
                LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
11:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2116 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Meteor] (rev 02)
                LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-

Now I only had those 2 pcie bridges and 2 sas controllers for pcie cards that are not gpu, but i guess some more pcie 3.0 devices works just as fine.
Downside is that with mining mode (in bios) enabled pcie is limited to 2.0 for some stupid reason most likely to not cause problems with shitty risers and otherwise default bios settings, and with mining mode disabled its 3.0 but it can only post with 4 gpu's.
If Biostar would provide a bios that allowed pcie 3.0 while in "mining mode" you could use this board for a 2 gpu : 1 acorn setup.
4x acorn in CPU PCH x16 port, 8x gpu in the chipsets x1 pcie 3.0 ports.
I have already written to biostar asking if this is something they are willing to do.

With the roi time atm I would rather use what hardware I have for this.

[philipma1957]

so I think they do 15 or 16 mh at 15 to 17 watts stand alone

They do not unfortunately, GPUHoarder just confirmed it in Discord. They can provide boost, but they need a GPU to do some of the work.

well I have gpus.  but to be clear the acorn 215+  is not capable of stand alone mining?

[dragonmike]

so I think they do 15 or 16 mh at 15 to 17 watts stand alone

They do not unfortunately, GPUHoarder just confirmed it in Discord. They can provide boost, but they need a GPU to do some of the work.

well I have gpus.  but to be clear the acorn 215+  is not capable of stand alone mining?

Not x16r.
The only algo so far I have heard GPUHoarder mention that the Acorn could be used for standalone mining is Keccak. There will probably be more, but that's the only one for now.

[philipma1957]

so I think they do 15 or 16 mh at 15 to 17 watts stand alone

They do not unfortunately, GPUHoarder just confirmed it in Discord. They can provide boost, but they need a GPU to do some of the work.

well I have gpus.  but to be clear the acorn 215+  is not capable of stand alone mining?

Not x16r.
The only algo so far I have heard GPUHoarder mention that the Acorn could be used for standalone mining is Keccak. There will probably be more, but that's the only one for now.

after a careful look

that seems to be the case.

however

1 x2g nest  should give a boost to 2 1080ti's

of   76%  and use 32 watts


1080ti   1.94x   +13%   100%   1.76x   +16%   44%

so 40  mh and 400 watts  add the x2g and go to

70mh  and 432 watts

so if you have a z170 board with 2 1080tis'  and add 770 worth of acorns

you go   up decently

40 mh 400 watts  2x1080ti's
70mh  432 watts  2x1080ti's plus the x2g with a pair of acorn 215+

Since:
I don't need cards 
I dont need  mobos
I don't need ram
I don't need psu's

the choice of adding a 600usd  used 1080ti 

vs adding this 770usd  2 acorn nest   is easy enough