ZTEX USB-FPGA Modules 1.15x and 1.15y: 215 and 860 MH/s FPGA Boards

[DeathAndTaxes]

I guess there is a lot I don't understand about this industry.

Why would 15x 4-FPGA boards cost more than 60x 1-FPGA boards if 1x 4-FPGA board costs less than 4x 1-FPGA board?

If you purchase 15 4 FPGA Boards the volume price is 990 EUR, altogether 14850 EUR.
If you purchase 60 single FPGA boards the volume price 236 EUR, altogether 14160 EUR.

[ztex]

Why would 15x 4-FPGA boards cost more than 60x 1-FPGA boards if 1x 4-FPGA board costs less than 4x 1-FPGA board?

Having several board costs more development time, I need more capital for having the stock and production costs are higher.

In other words, if I sell 60 single FPGA boards I earn less than with 15 quad FPGA boards,  but I also need less time for development, less capital for the stock, ....

[pent]

I just wondering about USB bus throughput.

Does miner send every datablock for sha256 calculation to the board? If yes, then one unit will load USB bus significantly. How many units will load USB2.0 to 100%?

[ztex]

I just wondering about USB bus throughput.

Does miner send every datablock for sha256 calculation to the board? If yes, then one unit will load USB bus significantly. How many units will load USB2.0 to 100%?

The FPGA can count by itself. Makes one new data block (44 Bytes) every 11s or 4 Byte/s. Reading out the data costs another 48 Byte/s.

[pent]

Very good!

[ngzhang]

I just wondering about USB bus throughput.

Does miner send every datablock for sha256 calculation to the board? If yes, then one unit will load USB bus significantly. How many units will load USB2.0 to 100%?

The FPGA can count by itself. Makes one new data block (44 Bytes) every 11s or 4 Byte/s. Reading out the data costs another 48 Byte/s.

actually a 9600bps COM port is fairly enough for a 127 mining chain.

[Turbor]

Received my module today. Had a hard time to start it but that was my own mistake  . All is very well documented on his homepage and almost ready to start mining. ZTEX is the man. If you want a quality product and great customer service go with him. With his newest miner version i get a hashrate well above 200 MH/s  . I'm very happy. Again, thank you for the support !

[eleuthria]

Put in my order for a small cluster last night, can't wait to get back into mining (damn electric rates made even 5970s unprofitable!)

[gusti]

I highly recommend not buying anything from this vendor, their warranty is non-existent.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=53411.0

[Turbor]

Bring up all mails so we can see what is going on !

[gusti]

Bring up all mails so we can see what is going on !

I will make public all emails if Stefan says that anything I already said, is not true.

[Turbor]

Bring up all mails so we can see what is going on !

I will make public all emails if Stefan says that anything I already said, is not true.

Seems fair. Relax, give him time and i'm almost sure there will be a solution to your problem.

[ztex]

I highly recommend not buying anything from this vendor, their warranty is non-existent.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=53411.0

This is an (almost) cross post from: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=40047.140

Gusti returned two boards 2 days ago. Both voltage regulators on both boards are destroyed. These voltage regulators are over current and temperature protected. The only way to destroy them is by over voltage.

Since the valid range of is clearly specified on the products page (http://www.ztex.de/usb-fpga-1/usb-fpga-1.15x.e.html#con5), this is not covered by warranty.

Here is an image which shows the 3.3V regulator of one of Gustis board:


Gusti, In your mail from Nov 10 you wrote that smoke came out of one of the part. Why you destroyed the second board in the same way instead of asking me what is going wrong?

These regulator circuits are used in 4 other products. I sold a few hundreds of them. Gusti is the only customer I know who destroyed the regulators in this way.

BTW, I just counted it: I wrote Gusti 22 support mails. This was not always easy. His last mail is

no problem, bro
I will make sure you will not sell a single card in the forum anymore

[gusti]

I highly recommend not buying anything from this vendor, their warranty is non-existent.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=53411.0

This is an (almost) cross post from: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=40047.140

Gusti returned two boards 2 days ago. Both voltage regulators on both boards are destroyed. These voltage regulators are over current and temperature protected. The only way to destroy them is by over voltage.

Since the valid range of is clearly specified on the products page (http://www.ztex.de/usb-fpga-1/usb-fpga-1.15x.e.html#con5), this is not covered by warranty.

Here is an image which shows the 3.3V regulator of one of Gustis board:


Gusti, In your mail from Nov 10 you wrote that smoke came out of one of the part. Why you destroyed the second board in the same way instead of asking me what is going wrong?

These regulator circuits are used in 4 other products. I sold a few hundreds of them. Gusti is the only customer I know who destroyed the regulators in this way.

BTW, I just counted it: I wrote Gusti 22 support mails. This was not always easy. His last mail is

no problem, bro
I will make sure you will not sell a single card in the forum anymore

Sure, you need to honour the warranties and the design problems of the products you are selling.
If not, new customers need to be aware the risks they are facing by buying from you.
Again, I'm publicly asking you for a proper solution on this, at this point a full refund.

[tnkflx]

Warranties are void if you killed the board yourself...

[gusti]

Warranties are void if you killed the board yourself...

Please enlighten me, how can I kill myself a board with a proper rated PS, that is actually working with another device (3COM switch ) ?
I suspect a design problem, or lack of protection from consumer grade power supplies, which the manufacturer never warned about.

[P4man]

Warranty is to cover product defects, not user defects.
I might understand you if you had blown up a single board, if your point is that ztex gave inadequate information about what kind of powersupply you need (ie, regulated psu). I havent checked their documentation, so maybe it is made clear, but Im assuming maybe it isnt. But I can have no sympathy for the second board you smoked.

If I was ztex, I might consider giving you a 50% rebate on the first board (and explain the PSU requirements better if needed), but certainly no more than that. Id actually find that pretty generous already.

[gusti]

Warranty is to cover product defects, not user defects.
I might understand you if you had blown up a single board, if your point is that ztex gave inadequate information about what kind of powersupply you need (ie, regulated psu). I havent checked their documentation, so maybe it is made clear, but Im assuming maybe it isnt. But I can have no sympathy for the second board you smoked.

If I was ztex, I might consider giving you a 50% rebate on the first board (and explain the PSU requirements better if needed), but certainly no more than that. Id actually find that pretty generous already.

Certainly there was a problem with boards, manufacturer says it's a power supply problem. I say that same power supply is actually working with a 3COM switch, same 12 VDC rating. Please tell me where is the "user defect" you are talking about.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Warranty is to cover product defects, not user defects.
I might understand you if you had blown up a single board, if your point is that ztex gave inadequate information about what kind of powersupply you need (ie, regulated psu). I havent checked their documentation, so maybe it is made clear, but Im assuming maybe it isnt. But I can have no sympathy for the second board you smoked.

If I was ztex, I might consider giving you a 50% rebate on the first board (and explain the PSU requirements better if needed), but certainly no more than that. Id actually find that pretty generous already.

Certainly there was a problem with boards, manufacturer says it's a power supply problem. I say that same power supply is actually working with a 3COM switch, same 12 VDC rating. Please tell me where is the "user defect" you are talking about.

You also reported that the "working" power supply was pushing 13.5V.  That's 11% overvoltage.  Tell you what put 13.5V into an AMD video card and then when you see smoke try it on a second card.  Then try getting an RMA.  Be sure to tell them exactly what you did.

Most electronic warranties don't cover overvoltage. 

The one thing I would advise ztek to do is offer an optional power supply for sale.  If you already do then that makes gusti claim even weaker but if you don't you might want to offer one.  Users who may be concerned about their ability to verify a power supply before using it could just buy one from out.  Those of us who intend to power 20+ from a ATX PSU wouldn't need to.

[gusti]

Warranty is to cover product defects, not user defects.
I might understand you if you had blown up a single board, if your point is that ztex gave inadequate information about what kind of powersupply you need (ie, regulated psu). I havent checked their documentation, so maybe it is made clear, but Im assuming maybe it isnt. But I can have no sympathy for the second board you smoked.

If I was ztex, I might consider giving you a 50% rebate on the first board (and explain the PSU requirements better if needed), but certainly no more than that. Id actually find that pretty generous already.

Certainly there was a problem with boards, manufacturer says it's a power supply problem. I say that same power supply is actually working with a 3COM switch, same 12 VDC rating. Please tell me where is the "user defect" you are talking about.

You also reported that the "working" power supply was pushing 13.5V.  That's 11% overvoltage.  Tell you what put 13.5V into an AMD video card and then when you see smoke try it on a second card.  Then try getting an RMA.  Be sure to tell them exactly what you did.

Most electronic warranties don't cover overvoltage. 

The one thing I would advise ztek to do is offer an optional power supply for sale.  If you already do then that makes gusti claim even weaker but if you don't you might want to offer one.  Users who may be concerned about their ability to verify a power supply before using it could just buy one from out.  Those of us who intend to power 20+ from a ATX PSU wouldn't need to.

According to manufacturer, there cannot be overvoltage at 13.5 v, as the cards are rated from 5 to 16 v.
The "smoke" issue is a plain lie from manufacturer, I NEVER wrote that email.
And the "working" power supply, is currently working with it's original switch.

So please, do not make false assumptions beforehand, I worked on IT since 1983 and I never blowed a card before.