1GH/s, 20w, $700 (was $500) — Butterflylabs, is it for real? (Part 2)

[uck]

72F is the desired "room temp"

Inaba:

When you picked up the new single, was it in a sealed box or was it just swapped out from open stock?

Does the box include a CD for driver(s)?

Is there an instruction manual?

Did they meet you outside the office or did you see their reception area?

When you were there, did you see any other singles in boxes awaiting shipping?

Is the new single another Rev 1 unit or a Rev 2?

[P_Shep]

Inaba:

When you picked up the new single, was it in a sealed box or was it just swapped out from open stock?

Does the box include a CD for driver(s)?

Is there an instruction manual?

Did they meet you outside the office or did you see their reception area?

When you were there, did you see any other singles in boxes awaiting shipping?

Is the new single another Rev 1 unit or a Rev 2?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60586.msg761728#msg761728

[antirack]

72F is the desired "room temp"

LOL, that kind of defeats the point of using FPGA instead of GPU's in hot climates, doesn't it? But it's probably easier to keep a small room air conditioned with a few singles mining away compared to a few PC's with GPUs. Eats into power consumption nevertheless.

[Inaba]

Yeah, it also defeats the purpose of using a tire iron to straighten out wrinkles in your clothes. 

Do you feel that the above sentence makes no sense?  You would be right.  Where did you ever get the impression anything in these 200 pages of threads said anything about using FPGAs in hot climates as being the purpose of FPGAs?

Just curious...

[antirack]

I am living in a place with hot climate, expensive rents and high cost of electricity. GPUs at my location are out of the question. FPGAs seem perfect for me. But not with the requirement of 72F. At least not without some adjustments.

Does that make sense to you now? Imagine the south of Florida during the peak of the summer, but further away and hotter for a much longer part of the year.

So to answer your question, it may not have been mentioned directly in this thread but the advantages are clearly:

- FPGAs are smaller
- FPGAs are producing less heat
- FPGAs consume less power
- FPGAs don't require as much cooling
- FPGAs aren't as noisy
- FPGAs don't need as many big noisy hot power supplies
- etc

If not that, what would you say are the advantages of FPGA miners?

[Inaba]

Well, I'm not sure how much BFL wants me to reveal with regards to what's in the works and what I saw at the 'labs.  I will say that something to fit your bill is likely in the works, Antirack both going forward and possibly as a retrofit for current hardware.  There is a lot of room to tweak on the current design, both physical and firmware wise, so I expect a few revisions to the hardware and firmware design to yield a significantly superior product to what they have now.

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

I am living in a place with hot climate, expensive rents and high cost of electricity. GPUs at my location are out of the question. FPGAs seem perfect for me. But not with the requirement of 72F.

It's not a requirement.   Sure they'll probably get hot, but so do my GPU's, and they're also noisy, ugly and prone to fan failures.    Sure the fans may eventually fail on the BitForce as well, at which point you go out and buy a new one for a few bucks.  Not quite so easy with a GPU.

Don't stress about the temps.   The forecast where I am is for 30C+ for the next 5 days straight and I'm not even slightly concerned (and there's no aircon in my study).

[DeathAndTaxes]

I am living in a place with hot climate, expensive rents and high cost of electricity. GPUs at my location are out of the question. FPGAs seem perfect for me. But not with the requirement of 72F. At least not without some adjustments.

Does that make sense to you now? Imagine the south of Florida during the peak of the summer, but further away and hotter for a much longer part of the year.

So to answer your question, it may not have been mentioned directly in this thread but the advantages are clearly:

- FPGAs are smaller
- FPGAs are producing less heat
- FPGAs consume less power
- FPGAs don't require as much cooling
- FPGAs aren't as noisy
- FPGAs don't need as many big noisy hot power supplies
- etc

If not that, what would you say are the advantages of FPGA miners?

Not all FPGA are created equal.

An HD 5970 can get 2.5 MH/W
An HD 7970 can get 3.0 MH/W
An underclocked/undervolted 5970/7970 can get up to 5.0 MH/W (i.e. 5970 @ 0.7V 525/180 w/ 40% fan).
Spartan-6 based FPGA gets 22MH/W
A 28nm FPGA based design should be ~40MH/W (estimate)
A 28nm SASIC based design should be ~100MH/W (estimate)

Inaba long term testing put BFL running at 700 MH/S using 90W.  700/90 = 7.8 MH/W.

Cooling requirements, noise, and power consumption are directly related to efficiency (MH/W).

Given the list above do you think its power, noise, and cooling requirements will be closer to other FPGAs or closer to GPU farm?

[kano]

I am living in a place with hot climate, expensive rents and high cost of electricity. GPUs at my location are out of the question. FPGAs seem perfect for me. But not with the requirement of 72F.

It's not a requirement.   Sure they'll probably get hot, but so do my GPU's, and they're also noisy, ugly and prone to fan failures.    Sure the fans may eventually fail on the BitForce as well, at which point you go out and buy a new one for a few bucks.  Not quite so easy with a GPU.

Don't stress about the temps.   The forecast where I am is for 30C+ for the next 5 days straight and I'm not even slightly concerned (and there's no aircon in my study).

Not expecting to have them before the temperature drops?

I was the one who brought up the issue about there being no temperature measurement due to the power these things draw.
(and it seems I had to say it a few times before I heard BFL had done anything about it)

Luke's cgminer temperature code got into cgminer on the 12-Feb but it may not actually work properly yet ...

Also remember they have already added a 2nd fan to the singles.

Suggesting that is something others should not care about is like telling someone it's safe to play with polar bears.

Take this post for what it is and don't shove your head up your butt and hide like you usually do - you will need to keep an eye on the temperatures since they are already quite high
... ... also if anything goes wrong with the FPGA, that will mean returning it and getting it repaired or replaced ... ...

[SysRun]

2 more days BFL Singlers. The bounty for the unboxing video WILL EXPIRE at the end of day Friday. 13BTC could be yours!

Does anyone have tracking information, or should i concede?

[Syke]

Didn't you get the message? You need to go pick up your Singles at their offices.

[RandyFolds]

Luke's cgminer temperature code got into cgminer on the 12-Feb but it may not actually work properly yet ...

Oh, it works...you just gotta have faith...

[jamesg]

2 more days BFL Singlers. The bounty for the unboxing video WILL EXPIRE at the end of day Friday. 13BTC could be yours!

Does anyone have tracking information, or should i concede?

I wanted to wait until the unicorn single arrived before I said anything but........

I'll be making a video this evening!     

Get those bitcoin wallets warmed up. I think there will be some bounties coming my way!

[rjk]

2 more days BFL Singlers. The bounty for the unboxing video WILL EXPIRE at the end of day Friday. 13BTC could be yours!

Does anyone have tracking information, or should i concede?

I wanted to wait until the unicorn single arrived before I said anything but........

I'll be making a video this evening!      

Get those bitcoin wallets warmed up. I think there will be some bounties coming my way!

Aw damn! I wanted to claim the bounty, and have a single to play with as well! Good luck gigavps!

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

2 more days BFL Singlers. The bounty for the unboxing video WILL EXPIRE at the end of day Friday. 13BTC could be yours!

Does anyone have tracking information, or should i concede?

I wanted to wait until the unicorn single arrived before I said anything but........

I'll be making a video this evening!     

Get those bitcoin wallets warmed up. I think there will be some bounties coming my way!

Hehe, well done   Bit of a longer trip to get here so well deserved to you    Spend it wisely (on beer and hookers).

[jamesg]

Here is some porn are some pics to keep you visually stimulated until I can upload a video.....

All the contents:


The instructions:


The modifications for the extra fan:


Another angle of the single:


The power adapter up close:

[SysRun]

boioioioioioioioing!

<edit> Now I see the DIY looking cuts Inaba wrote about. A bit hastily done, but if it works who cares!

[Epoch]

Here is some porn are some pics to keep you visually stimulated until I can upload a video.....

@gigavps, when did you place your order for this unit?

[SysRun]

Damn, SysRun is out 13 BTC.

I'd like to take credit, but its mostly Goat who put up the BTC. I'm in it for 3, he 10.

[Raoul Duke]

Damn, SysRun is out 13 BTC.

A fool and his money...