FPGA development board "Icarus" - DisContinued/ important announcement

[BkkCoins]

Awesome and psychedelic - scrolling that up and down the screen makes me dizzy.

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[Peao]

 

[Turbor]

~650W - 11.4 GH/s  impressive sh!t !

[CA Coins]

Nice work!

[spiccioli]

~650W - 11.4 GH/s  impressive sh!t !

Not to mention the 18K USD price tag... impressive as well

spiccioli.

[Turbor]

Not to mention the 18K USD price tag... impressive as well

That separates the men from the boys 

[DeathAndTaxes]

Awesome FPGA Porn!

[P_Shep]

Awesome FPGA Porn!

+1

[freshzive]

Interested in ordering one from the new batch. Sent you a PM.

[it_guru]

Hi ngzhang,

I have a couple of questions about your board.  In your first post you state you are using a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I. While looking at digikey I see that this is about 182 USD, I also saw that there is a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484C part that is 158 USD.  This is a 24 USD savings on each FPGA and a 48 USD saving on the overall board.  I looked to the data sheet and I couldn't find any difference between the two parts, can you tell me why you would pick an "I" part over a "C" part. Also if you could upgrade the chip what would you look to move to.

The gold pins at the bottom what do you think they will be used for in the future?

What about the many hols on the side, it looks like it's going to be there for some type of future socket?

Thanks
  -IT

[sadpandatech]

Hi ngzhang,

I have a couple of questions about your board.  In your first post you state you are using a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I. While looking at digikey I see that this is about 182 USD, I also saw that there is a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484C part that is 158 USD.  This is a 24 USD savings on each FPGA and a 48 USD saving on the overall board.  I looked to the data sheet and I couldn't find any difference between the two parts, can you tell me why you would pick an "I" part over a "C" part. Also if you could upgrade the chip what would you look to move to.

The gold pins at the bottom what do you think they will be used for in the future?

What about the many hols on the side, it looks like it's going to be there for some type of future socket?

Thanks
  -IT

 I = Industrial Grade
 C = Commercial Grade
Looking at this link here you can compare the differences in operating temperatures; http://search.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=XC6SLX150+-2FGG484

Strangely the Commercial grade has higher voltage tolerances than its Industrial counterpart. shrug.

[ngzhang]

Interested in ordering one from the new batch. Sent you a PM.

pre-order/order will atart @ 1/1/2012

Hi ngzhang,

I have a couple of questions about your board.  In your first post you state you are using a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I. While looking at digikey I see that this is about 182 USD, I also saw that there is a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484C part that is 158 USD.  This is a 24 USD savings on each FPGA and a 48 USD saving on the overall board.  I looked to the data sheet and I couldn't find any difference between the two parts, can you tell me why you would pick an "I" part over a "C" part. Also if you could upgrade the chip what would you look to move to.

The gold pins at the bottom what do you think they will be used for in the future?

What about the many hols on the side, it looks like it's going to be there for some type of future socket?

Thanks
  -IT

XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I is the cheapest i can buy.

the DIMM finger and FX1 connector is for customer's own use.

[simonk83]

Ok, so I might be interested in a couple of these.  I run 4x 5870s at the mo but the electricity costs are killing me a bit.  I might be willing to take the reduced hash rate for the power savings, we'll see.

Now, I run bithopper on my rig as it's efficient, basically.   Is it possible to run the Icarus boards through Bithopper or are you limited to just one pool?

Also (and apologies if you've mentioned this and I've missed it), what sort of warranty is provided?

Thanks

[it_guru]

Interested in ordering one from the new batch. Sent you a PM.

pre-order/order will atart @ 1/1/2012

Hi ngzhang,

I have a couple of questions about your board.  In your first post you state you are using a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I. While looking at digikey I see that this is about 182 USD, I also saw that there is a XC6SLX150 -2FGG484C part that is 158 USD.  This is a 24 USD savings on each FPGA and a 48 USD saving on the overall board.  I looked to the data sheet and I couldn't find any difference between the two parts, can you tell me why you would pick an "I" part over a "C" part. Also if you could upgrade the chip what would you look to move to.

The gold pins at the bottom what do you think they will be used for in the future?

What about the many hols on the side, it looks like it's going to be there for some type of future socket?

Thanks
  -IT

XC6SLX150 -2FGG484I is the cheapest i can buy.

the DIMM finger and FX1 connector is for customer's own use.

So that is good to know. 

What about an upgraded chip?  Is it worth it to go to something with more gates? Also what about swapping out the dimm finger for a PCIe x1 port being there is on chip logic for this?

-IT

[allinvain]

pre-order/order will atart @ 1/1/2012

Sorry if this has been mentioned already somewhere, but how can we ensure we get in the next pre-order? E-mail you or PM? Do you have a btc address to send the first deposit to, etc?

[CA Coins]

What about an upgraded chip?  Is it worth it to go to something with more gates?

I browsed through digi-key and it seems like anything with more gates costs in the thousands per chip.  My guess is that the spartan 6 offers the best bang for the buck ATM since it is kind of old but I could be wrong.

warranty is invalid for this product. before shipping, all boards test for weeks. and please test them in 48Hrs after you received them. if any hardware fault happened, you can send it to me and i'll repair it if i can, you only need pay the parts cost and factory cost and shipment cost.

My understanding is that the boards are tested before shipping but there are no warranties offered.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=51371.0

[Enigma81]

What about an upgraded chip?  Is it worth it to go to something with more gates?

I browsed through digi-key and it seems like anything with more gates costs in the thousands per chip.  My guess is that the spartan 6 offers the best bang for the buck ATM since it is kind of old but I could be wrong.

warranty is invalid for this product. before shipping, all boards test for weeks. and please test them in 48Hrs after you received them. if any hardware fault happened, you can send it to me and i'll repair it if i can, you only need pay the parts cost and factory cost and shipment cost.

My understanding is that the boards are tested before shipping but there are no warranties offered.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=51371.0

The LX150 is the largest part available in the Spartan-6 Family.  For the time being, the Spartan-6 is probably the most cost effective FPGA for bitcoin mining.  The Altera Cyclone IV might be close, but it hasn't had the development effort poured into it like the spartan has.

Unless someone comes up with a (much) more efficient sha-256 algorithm, the Spartan-6 will remain the most cost efficient part until the next generation of FPGAs are (widely) available.  These include parts like the Xilinx Artix.  I don't expect the Artix to be available in production quantities for at least another 6 months, and more likely, a year or more.

For the time being, it's going to be difficult to beat the Spartan - although I think the Cyclone IV deserves some additional attention.  Even if the Cyclone can beat out the Spartan though - it's not going to be by any remarkable amount.  The next-gen parts, however, should be able to manage a pretty good margin over the current Spartan/Cyclone parts.

Enigma

[it_guru]

What about an upgraded chip?  Is it worth it to go to something with more gates?

I browsed through digi-key and it seems like anything with more gates costs in the thousands per chip.  My guess is that the spartan 6 offers the best bang for the buck ATM since it is kind of old but I could be wrong.

warranty is invalid for this product. before shipping, all boards test for weeks. and please test them in 48Hrs after you received them. if any hardware fault happened, you can send it to me and i'll repair it if i can, you only need pay the parts cost and factory cost and shipment cost.

My understanding is that the boards are tested before shipping but there are no warranties offered.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=51371.0

The LX150 is the largest part available in the Spartan-6 Family.  For the time being, the Spartan-6 is probably the most cost effective FPGA for bitcoin mining.  The Altera Cyclone IV might be close, but it hasn't had the development effort poured into it like the spartan has.

Unless someone comes up with a (much) more efficient sha-256 algorithm, the Spartan-6 will remain the most cost efficient part until the next generation of FPGAs are (widely) available.  These include parts like the Xilinx Artix.  I don't expect the Artix to be available in production quantities for at least another 6 months, and more likely, a year or more.

For the time being, it's going to be difficult to beat the Spartan - although I think the Cyclone IV deserves some additional attention.  Even if the Cyclone can beat out the Spartan though - it's not going to be by any remarkable amount.  The next-gen parts, however, should be able to manage a pretty good margin over the current Spartan/Cyclone parts.

Enigma

I was looking at the Artix-7. It's twice the number of gates form the spartan-6.  right now it looks like you could fit 2.5 almost 3 hashing branches into the147k gates so with 330k gates I would hope you can get 6.

  -IT

[CA Coins]

For the time being, it's going to be difficult to beat the Spartan - although I think the Cyclone IV deserves some additional attention.  Even if the Cyclone can beat out the Spartan though - it's not going to be by any remarkable amount.  The next-gen parts, however, should be able to manage a pretty good margin over the current Spartan/Cyclone parts.

Good point on the Cyclone.  I think fpgaminer compared the 2.  Has anybody seen any non-eval boards using the Cyclone?

I was looking at the Artix-7. It's twice the number of gates form the spartan-6.  right now it looks like you could fit 2.5 almost 3 hashing branches into the147k gates so with 330k gates I would hope you can get 6.

It would be interesting to see how the new generation of Xilinx 7's do in hashing.  My understanding is that the Artix and the Virtex series are not not widely available yet.  6 months to a year would be my guess too.  It looks like they are/will be fab by TSMC on the 28nm so that should start to ramp next year.  The Kintex7's with 326K gates are selling for $1560/chip with limited quantity so let's hope the Artix can deliver on price. 

[DeathAndTaxes]

What about an upgraded chip?  Is it worth it to go to something with more gates?

I browsed through digi-key and it seems like anything with more gates costs in the thousands per chip.  My guess is that the spartan 6 offers the best bang for the buck ATM since it is kind of old but I could be wrong.

warranty is invalid for this product. before shipping, all boards test for weeks. and please test them in 48Hrs after you received them. if any hardware fault happened, you can send it to me and i'll repair it if i can, you only need pay the parts cost and factory cost and shipment cost.

My understanding is that the boards are tested before shipping but there are no warranties offered.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=51371.0

The LX150 is the largest part available in the Spartan-6 Family.  For the time being, the Spartan-6 is probably the most cost effective FPGA for bitcoin mining.  The Altera Cyclone IV might be close, but it hasn't had the development effort poured into it like the spartan has.

Unless someone comes up with a (much) more efficient sha-256 algorithm, the Spartan-6 will remain the most cost efficient part until the next generation of FPGAs are (widely) available.  These include parts like the Xilinx Artix.  I don't expect the Artix to be available in production quantities for at least another 6 months, and more likely, a year or more.

For the time being, it's going to be difficult to beat the Spartan - although I think the Cyclone IV deserves some additional attention.  Even if the Cyclone can beat out the Spartan though - it's not going to be by any remarkable amount.  The next-gen parts, however, should be able to manage a pretty good margin over the current Spartan/Cyclone parts.

Enigma

I was looking at the Artix-7. It's twice the number of gates form the spartan-6.  right now it looks like you could fit 2.5 almost 3 hashing branches into the147k gates so with 330k gates I would hope you can get 6.

  -IT

Sure except you aren't getting any Artix-7 at any price in volume unless your sister is married to the CEO of xilinix or your company does a couple billion in sales with them.

That is what people mean by 'next gen'.  Artix-7 is a 28nm chip.  It is available in low volume for testing & analsyis by prefered partners.  It likely won't be available in volume until Q2 2012.  The smaller you are the longer you likely will wait and the more of a premium you will pay.  Even then there is no guarantee the Artix-7 would be cheaper.  It would need to be priced below $500 to be more cost effective than Spartan-6.  Likely it is be >$1000 for a some time.  Maybe even into 2013.

For the time being there is no chip AVAILABLE which is more cost effective than the Spartan 6 and the LX150 is the largest one in the line.