those who have BCU1525s at home, how are you running them?

[vapourminer]

so my bcu1525 arrived yesterday, the upgraded air cooled version. i must say it looks to be a solid piece of kit.

currently running on the allmine shell with the "built in" lyra2 algo at blaze pool at ~40ish mhs (blaze auto switches to btc) for testing. its on a dedicated rig, a gigabyte Z97X UD3H with an evga 850. ubuntu 18.04, i ssh into it to control it. draws 350ish watts at the wall according to my killowatt meter. been running about 12 hours now, no problem.

now i know there are lots of bitstreams this thing can run but to do so you need specific settings in the shell (startup voltages etc) or bad things can happen. you also need to load some bitstreams (the non sqrl ones like whitefire/sensless stuff) via usb from a windows machine, and i havent got that far, mainly because im afraid of blowing it up.

anyone with a bcu1525 running other bitstreams? if so how did you set it up? i do have a windows rig next to it (my gpu/acorn mining rig) and have connected the usb cable from the windows box to the bcu. but thats about it.

btw the sqrl fan can get pretty loud, its running about 3800 rpm atm (perhaps half speed?). input power
around 260 watts, fpga temp 74C

i would love to play with more bitstreams and such but info is spread around so many places and so piecemeal its hard to find and digest. i hope we can consolidate some here.

[Rabinovitch]

Looks like nobody want to reply here...

I would like to understand does it matter whether I use PCI-E 3.0 (x8+x8 for 2 BCUs) slots or PCI-E 2.0 is OK too? Most of modern MoBos support SLI (since I want to place 2 BCUs on some MoBo that I can't choose yet), but not all slots can run as PCIe 3.0.

Also, what version of Windows is best for mining on 2 BCU1525s? I like (and always will...) Win7 - is there any advantages and disadvantages comparing to Win10 applied to FPGA mining?

[vapourminer]

right now all the BCU needs is 1 lane of PCIE (gen 2 is fine) and thats only if you use the allmine shell (minerator) for running bitstreams. minerator only uses the PCIE lane for the initial loading of the bitstream. which is why its supplied with and runs on 1x risers fine.. no advantage in plugging directly into a mobo slot or using more lanes right now. the board doesnt need to be sli or xfire certified.

the minerator shell is nice as its a prebuilt environment for running bitsteams that is more or less idiot proof but there are very limited bitstreams available at the moment.

but if you use whitefire bitstreams (currently the most profitable) you dont even need to plug it into a PCIE slot, whitefire does not use the allminer shell, he uses regular usb to program the bitsteams. right now mine is disconnected from the ubuntu rig i had initially set it up on (minerator need *nix to run) and running standalone in the riser (the usb cable the riser uses that goes from the riser to the PCIE slot it unplugged) as i only use whitefire streams. so i just have it sitting in the riser for power from a server PSU.

there is some talk about possibly using more PCIE lanes sometime down the road but thats just speculation. for example using the BCU as an accelerator for other stuff.. maybe mining, maybe some other use. but that way down the road and its just speculation.

if using whitefire streams win 7 should be fine. i use win10pro simply because the mining rig i use to run the BCU is already there next to it. just disable all updates. BUT if you use minerator you need *nix. ubuntu desktop 18.04 LTS is recommended. and even if you just use whitefire streams you still need to initially update the BCU firmware with minerator under *nix. other wise stuff like setting voltages (VERY IMPORTANT) may not work.

bit of a mess at the moment really. there is talk about unifying everything under one OS or the other down the line. but some devs like windows, some like the shell. its like herding cats.

[karim_hassan777]

what is the profit daily for this kit
and where can i buy it

[vapourminer]

currently about 2-4 dollars USD per BCU, maybe a bit more if you really stay on top of coins prices, which i dont.. there have been periods where i believe 10 dollars a day happened for a bit but you really need to pay attention and those periods didnt last too long. going from memory here so might be wrong. 

there should be more profitable streams later but i wouldnt count on anything tbh. while personally i think there will be decent streams coming i wouldnt base my decision on maybes. DYOR

you can get them here
http://squirrelsresearch.com/bcu-1525/

there are some variants of the BCU available from 3rd parties, some better, some worse so be careful. you can get them (used) a lot cheaper in the FPGA discord marketplace. use Dream as escrow if you do.

use this invite if you are not already on the fpga discord.
https://discord.gg/Bkycrv

[Rabinovitch]

as i only use whitefire streams

Could you pleeeaase share links with us? Where to get whitefire's bitstreams (if you talk about them in the plural), how to start the mining using these streams? All i could find is 18 GH/s 0xToken bitstream here. Did I miss something?

[vapourminer]

as i only use whitefire streams

Could you pleeeaase share links with us? Where to get whitefire's bitstreams (if you talk about them in the plural), how to start the mining using these streams? All i could find is 18 GH/s 0xToken bitstream here. Did I miss something?

per whitefire, the private "RB" streams are only available to those who send a ~5 second video of their fpga mining his 0x bitstream to info@zetheron.com. i used vivado (free) to program my BCU for my video but you can probably use nextjtag ($20 USD) to load the stream instead as he does not specify one or the other. the video just need to show your fpga and his 0x bitsream running.

so basically you need to figure that part out on your own. sorry, thems the rules. apparently he just wants you to show 1) you have a fpga and 2) you can use it via windows without any handholdong as thats what his miners use.

originally i used the allmine shell to set voltages (0.76 is a safe bet for 0x) and vivado to program the BCU for runnung WF streams but now i just use nextjtag to set voltage and load bitstreams in one shot. well worth the 20 bucks IMO

Many bitstreams such as RB1, RB2, RB3, and RB4 are available to registered users only.  To register, please send a 3-5 second video of your FPGA cards mining 0xBitcoin to info@zetheron.com.  The video should show both your cards, and how many cards, and the PC monitor with one miner instance per card.  Once you register, you will be e-mailed the RB1/RB2/RB3/RB4 bitstreams along with mining instructions and coin/algorithm information. The registered users bitstreams are by far the most profitable, typically ranging from $10 to $30 per day based on your hardware, cooling system, and the market conditions.  These ‘registered’ bitstreams have been reviewed by independent youtubers such as The Technicals (https://youtu.be/2Er8C1ZRSeE?t=68) and Motorcycles Vancouver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1x7XYsvjQE).

per http://zetheron.com/index.php/downloads/

vivado: i used this edition  Vivado HLx 2018.3: WebPACK and Editions - Windows Self Extracting Web Installer (well pretty sure, its been a while) its free but you need to register.
https://www.xilinx.com/support/download.html

EDIT nextjtag is completely separate from whitefire/zetheron, they have nothing to do with each other.

[WhyMe]

currently about 2-4 dollars USD per BCU, maybe a bit more if you really stay on top of coins prices, which i dont.. there have been periods where i believe 10 dollars a day happened for a bit but you really need to pay attention and those periods didnt last too long. going from memory here so might be wrong. 

there should be more profitable streams later but i wouldnt count on anything tbh. while personally i think there will be decent streams coming i wouldnt base my decision on maybes. DYOR

you can get them here
http://squirrelsresearch.com/bcu-1525/

there are some variants of the BCU available from 3rd parties, some better, some worse so be careful. you can get them (used) a lot cheaper in the FPGA discord marketplace. use Dream as escrow if you do.

use this invite if you are not already on the fpga discord.
https://discord.gg/Bkycrv

Only 2-4$ daily profit for a 4000$ card ?

[vapourminer]

Only 2-4$ daily profit for a 4000$ card ?

right now, more or less yes. a bit more if youre really on top of the market prices and such.

partly because with the currently limited amount of bitstreams, and they being for smallish marketcap coins, everyone piles on them and crushes them. thus, the lower revenue.

more streams are available lately, and more are on the way (which i believe, DYOR though) so as more streams that target higher marketcap coins are released, revenue will go up as hash is spread around and the higher market cap coins can absorb much more hash as well.

as to ROI timeframe? unknown, if ever. just like most everything else in crypto.

[WhyMe]

So, in my case, it's better to stay on GPUs

[vapourminer]

So, in my case, it's better to stay on GPUs

at this point? yes, stay with whatever you already have. if or when BCUs prove themselves, well thats a different story. time will tell.

right now buying pretty much anything new for mining is a huge risk. even gpus unless you can get them cheaper than dirt and have crazy cheap electric as well.

[WhyMe]

For exemple, buying some 1660TI for little less your FPGA price gives me same profit as yours.
I've "cheap" electricity, I'm in Quebec.

[lunobird]

I was considering fpga but decided not too.  That's going "full nerd". Never go full nerd.   And the payout does not make any sense to make it worth my time and  I'm in it for the money so I decided it was a risky investment and the best thing you can mine is just a bunch of shitcoins which is something I dont' want to do.

And like you said a lot can go wrong.  You can screw up a card if you don't set it up right.  I even bricked my vega vii by installing latest bios update and then driver and bricked it some how.  Good thing i was able to easily get refunded on amazon.  fpga has no returns once you brick it bye bye 4k



If fpga can mine half decent quality coins I would go for it but as of right now its not appealing to me at all.  I'll stick with gpus and maybe asics.




 

[vapourminer]

figured id show what a klutz with a box of parts, a utility knife and too much time on his hands does.

added backplate cooling to my bcu1525. i ordered it with upgraded passive cooling with sqrl blower. but i wanted more cooling on the backplate as the stock backplate has no cooling at all. backplate cooling is highly recommended on the hi current bitstreams, soooo

1st thermal padding on the plate where the pcb thats hottest, which is near the 6 pin peg connector. after removing the mylar, 2 mm artic thermal padding applied.





found an old cpu heatsink from the pile. aluminum with a copper slug. used a bit of MX4 thermal paste on the copper slug, then the rest of it (the aluminum) with artic alumina thermal epoxy to affix it to the backplate. a 80mm delta 4000 rpm 47 cfm is on it.

finished and being tested. it will get moved back to a case as ill likely play with it a bit more.. possible another 0.5 mm thremal padding and covering a bit more area. running a bitstream now at 285 watts for testing, all temps are showing green in minorator: VRMs under 85 *C, FPGA is in the mid 70s *C