Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator

[mfurman]

Once again, what really bothers me is that (regardless of what GPUHoarder suggested), I am not getting any responses to my questions from SQRL support. It is one thing to have some very smart people designing new system and the other (often neglected in Crypto world) providing a support structure of a company that deals with customers efficiently.

[GPUHoarder]

Once again, what really bothers me is that (regardless of what GPUHoarder suggested), I am not getting any responses to my questions from SQRL support. It is one thing to have some very smart people designing new system and the other (often neglected in Crypto world) providing a support structure of a company that deals with customers efficiently.

That could have something to do with the announced 1525 delay from Xilinx and resulting volume. I’m checking with them now.

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

On delays - the Acorn project has approximately nothing to do with the 1525 except they both use Xilinx FPGAs. There are no delivery problems with the FPGAs. It has always been announced as shipping late August - that’s not new. If any unforeseen delays were to occur we will of course be transparent about them just as we have with the 1525.

[mfurman]

Once again, what really bothers me is that (regardless of what GPUHoarder suggested), I am not getting any responses to my questions from SQRL support. It is one thing to have some very smart people designing new system and the other (often neglected in Crypto world) providing a support structure of a company that deals with customers efficiently.

That could have something to do with the announced 1525 delay from Xilinx and resulting volume. I’m checking with them now.

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

On delays - the Acorn project has approximately nothing to do with the 1525 except they both use Xilinx FPGAs. There are no delivery problems with the FPGAs. It has always been announced as shipping late August - that’s not new. If any unforeseen delays were to occur we will of course be transparent about them just as we have with the 1525.

Thank you, GPUHoarder

[VoskCoin]

BCU-1525 delayed. I am wondering what would happen to Acorn release schedule

They're in the same boat (maybe literally one day too!)




If you'd like to read their press release
http://squirrelsresearch.com/press-bcu-1525-delivery-delayed

[mightyzug]

Once again, what really bothers me is that (regardless of what GPUHoarder suggested), I am not getting any responses to my questions from SQRL support. It is one thing to have some very smart people designing new system and the other (often neglected in Crypto world) providing a support structure of a company that deals with customers efficiently.

Hi, I'm Nate with SQRL Support. Please DM me your email address and support ticket number. I will be happy to track down what happened here and answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

[vapourminer]

Hi, I'm Nate with SQRL Support. Please DM me your email address and support ticket number. I will be happy to track down what happened here and answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

it sure would be nice if gpuhoarder or some official rep from squirrel confirmed this. otherwise i would not send any info to this person.

[GPUHoarder]

Hi, I'm Nate with SQRL Support. Please DM me your email address and support ticket number. I will be happy to track down what happened here and answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

it sure would be nice if gpuhorder or some official rep from squirrel confirmed this. otherwise i would not send any info to this person.

Yes - Nate is one of ours.

[vapourminer]

Yes - Nate is one of ours.

thanks. one can never can be too careful.

[mfurman]

Hi, I'm Nate with SQRL Support. Please DM me your email address and support ticket number. I will be happy to track down what happened here and answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

it sure would be nice if gpuhorder or some official rep from squirrel confirmed this. otherwise i would not send any info to this person.

Yes - Nate is one of ours.

Thank you, GPUHoarder.

[Ramon1]

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

Nevertheless they are claiming all FPGAs will be 4x slower on CNv2. Is this true for the Acorns?

[Bazzaar]

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

Nevertheless they are claiming all FPGAs will be 4x slower on CNv2. Is this true for the Acorns?

That 4x slower statement is only true when an FPGA is running the whole algo.
Acorns assist GPU mining by taking over the parts that GPUs are less capable at.
So its not definite one way or the other in the case of Acorn acceleration,
IF there is any part of CNv2 that can be done faster on an FPGA, then an Acorn can improve the GPU miner.
So far from what I've read about CNv2 it has parts in the algo that ASIC or FPGA can not process as well as a CPU or GPU.
That will make implementing CNv2 on ASIC or FPGA not viable, economically.
Or at the very least no massive performance gain over a GPU, levelling the field for GPU miners.
That still leaves the possibility that GPU/FPGA combo might have an advantage over any single technology implementation.
How far it is possible to exclude FPGA from mining is unknown at the moment, I think the competition has only just begun.

Baz

[mfurman]

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

Nevertheless they are claiming all FPGAs will be 4x slower on CNv2. Is this true for the Acorns?

Do you please have a link to this Monero release? I heard of it numerous times but I do not see any reference to it on Monero "official" Web site and I cannot really find detailed information. Thank you.

[Iamtutut]

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

Nevertheless they are claiming all FPGAs will be 4x slower on CNv2. Is this true for the Acorns?

Do you please have a link to this Monero release? I heard of it numerous times but I do not see any reference to it on Monero "official" Web site and I cannot really find detailed information. Thank you.

Reddit monero forum / chanel if not mistaken.

[mfurman]

CNv2 and General: SQRL Miner loads bitstreams onto the Acorn and will get updated to handle various things. The Acorn in particular works on a part of CN that isn’t much affected by the fork.

Nevertheless they are claiming all FPGAs will be 4x slower on CNv2. Is this true for the Acorns?

Do you please have a link to this Monero release? I heard of it numerous times but I do not see any reference to it on Monero "official" Web site and I cannot really find detailed information. Thank you.

Reddit monero forum / chanel if not mistaken.

I will. Thank you. I have to admit that I am becoming frustrated with the current GPU/FPGA mining scene.

Ps. I still do not see a clear time line for the fork after going through many posts on Reddit

[Iamtutut]

A new generation of GPU is coming + clever devs want to use more of the CPU / GPU advantages to make them much more relevant against FPGAs and ASICs. I think the relevant CN coins will follow Monero then adapt the changes to their algo (CN FAST, HEAVY, LITE, SABER...).

FPGA devs will have to adapt.

[mfurman]

A new generation of GPU is coming + clever devs want to use more of the CPU / GPU advantages to make them much more relevant against FPGAs and ASICs. I think the relevant CN coins will follow Monero then adapt the changes to their algo (CN FAST, HEAVY, LITE, SABER...).

FPGA devs will have to adapt.

If new algos are going to be as unpredictable/difficult to optimize as X16R is, I do not see any long term revival. It is not about how viable a coin is - it is about mining it in a predictable manner. Most people do not handle uncertainty well.

[GPUHoarder]

A new generation of GPU is coming + clever devs want to use more of the CPU / GPU advantages to make them much more relevant against FPGAs and ASICs. I think the relevant CN coins will follow Monero then adapt the changes to their algo (CN FAST, HEAVY, LITE, SABER...).

FPGA devs will have to adapt.

FPGAs are NOT “ASICs” - they are actually much closer to GPUs. They are fully programmable and reprogramable and capable of any algorithm a GPU is in principle (not saying every algorithm will have better performance or even the same, just that it can be done). FPGAs with HBM bandwidth matching or exceeding GPUs and dedicated logic are coming, and can be in the same price range. It isn’t a winnable fight - and shouldn’t be a fight at all. It would be like trying to make an AMD CPU only coin.

Lumping ASICs and FPGAs into the same category is bad for mining. It wastes resources fighting something that is inherently good general purpose hardware that should be made widely available. There will be hundreds of thousands of FPGAs in the general market at some point in the future.

[Iamtutut]

I agree with you, but some coin devs put the FPGAs in the same categeory as ASICs, for good or bad reasons depending mostly on a personnal point of vue.

I'm ok with ASICs and FPGAs as long as the game is fair, meaning companies develop and sell them without retaining them and mining with for months and throwing them on the market only when it's more profitable compared to mining. That's what all major ASIC maker do, they compete against their "customers".

That's the reason why I like the initiatives here, BCU1525, ACORN M2...They give a chance to the people, not only deep pockets companies or investors who don't give a crap about blockchain / crypto, those which would invest in any business as long as it's profitable.

Mining should be for the people by the people.

[MA3A]

I'm ok with ASICs and FPGAs as long as the game is fair, meaning companies develop and sell them without retaining them and mining with for months and throwing them on the market only when it's more profitable compared to mining. That's what all major ASIC maker do, they compete against their "customers".

- its a business, there never will be fairness when it touches profit.
(added) in order for one to win, other has to lose.

[nsummy]

I agree with you, but some coin devs put the FPGAs in the same categeory as ASICs, for good or bad reasons depending mostly on a personnal point of vue.

I'm ok with ASICs and FPGAs as long as the game is fair, meaning companies develop and sell them without retaining them and mining with for months and throwing them on the market only when it's more profitable compared to mining. That's what all major ASIC maker do, they compete against their "customers".

That's the reason why I like the initiatives here, BCU1525, ACORN M2...They give a chance to the people, not only deep pockets companies or investors who don't give a crap about blockchain / crypto, those which would invest in any business as long as it's profitable.

Mining should be for the people by the people.

Many of the posts in this thread illustrate why more companies mine the hardware before they sell it, require bulk orders, provide poor customer service, etc.  I mean really what is the point of providing a product in a transparent manner at a reasonable price?  SQRL is the the perfect example of a company building fpga miners internally that decided to throw a bone to everyone and sell the same hardware at a very small markup.  What did that get them?  A bunch of accusations about scams and fake products, and this was before they even took a cent from anyone!  Fast forward to the first half of August and people are already blowing up support, asking pointless questions about a product that is not past its shipping deadline.