Butterfly Labs - Bitforce Single and Mini Rig Box

[rjk]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

[Inspector 2211]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

I mean the black protruding one. I'm not kidding.

[Turbor]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

I mean the black protruding one. I'm not kidding.

WTF ? Why did they do this ?

[Epoch]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

I mean the black protruding one. I'm not kidding.

WTF ? Why did they do this ?

As our friend Forrest Gump might be inclined to point out, BFL Single shipments are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you will find.

[BFL]

Silicon is an organic process giving each chip it's own personality.  In the case of the singles, their operational heat signature is slightly different from unit to unit.  As we test them, we may place a fan under some units to increase it's thermal range.  You can take the fan off if you like.

I should also point out that faster firmware (when released) will perform more reliably in cooler environments.  

[jddebug]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

I mean the black protruding one. I'm not kidding.

WTF ? Why did they do this ?

As our friend Forrest Gump might be inclined to point out, BFL Single shipments are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you will find.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as it shows up and has 800+ MH/s at 80 watts I'm happy as can be. All mine have the older heatsink and .... 3 fans. They churn away happily. No problems whatsoever. They are lonely though. They want more friends to play with.

[jamesg]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

If this makes anyone unhappy, I will happily send you $630 in BTC and you can ship them on to me.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as it shows up and has 800+ MH/s at 80 watts I'm happy as can be. All mine have the older heatsink and .... 3 fans. They churn away happily. No problems whatsoever. They are lonely though. They want more friends to play with.

EXACTLY. Sounds like someone has a level head about these things.

[SgtSpike]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

I think some earlier pics showed the small copper colored one still on the bottom, behind a grille - do you mean that one, or do you mean the full sized big black fan protruding from the bottom?

I mean the black protruding one. I'm not kidding.

WTF ? Why did they do this ?

As our friend Forrest Gump might be inclined to point out, BFL Single shipments are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you will find.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as it shows up and has 800+ MH/s at 80 watts I'm happy as can be. All mine have the older heatsink and .... 3 fans. They churn away happily. No problems whatsoever. They are lonely though. They want more friends to play with.

Yeah, I never understood why people make such a big deal about a bottom fan or not.  Makes zero difference to me.  In fact, I might prefer one WITH a fan so it would run cooler regardless of which heatsink it is using.

[jamesg]

Yeah, I never understood why people make such a big deal about a bottom fan or not.  Makes zero difference to me.  In fact, I might prefer one WITH a fan so it would run cooler regardless of which heatsink it is using.

Cooler AND faster....

[bitpop]

How do i put it on a table with a fan on the bottom?

[rjk]

How do i put it on a table with a fan on the bottom?

Works fine, it has standoffs to keep the fan away from the table.

[JWU42]

If this makes anyone unhappy, I will happily send you $630 in BTC and you can ship them on to me.

And I will pay $631 

[Epoch]

To jddebug, gigavps, sgtspike and others who don't care about 1 fan or 2 fans: I'm glad that's working out for you. It means you'll be happy no matter what shows up in the BFL USPS box.

For others, who cannot hide these things in a basement or closet or datacenter, the difference between 1 or 2 fans is more important. In fact, even the CHOICE of fans is important. There was a post earlier about someone trying to set a Single up in their bedroom. It doesn't matter why: Maybe they have no room elsewhere; maybe that's where their only computer is. The point is that a stock Single, with its dual 43 CFM 2100RPM 27dbA fans, is TOO LOUD for a bedroom in which you are trying to sleep. Perhaps it is even too loud for a living room you use to entertain guests, or a study in which you are trying to ... gasp ... study.

So if a Single arrives with just 1 fan, it's going to be significantly quieter than the 2-fan version (or the dreaded 3-fan version). In my personal case, I've put Singles into a basement office. They are the 2-fan style, and I found them to be disturbingly loud. Much louder than the SLI gaming PC I have in the same room. My solution was to replace the stock fans with quieter ones. Now, even with all other equipment turned off in that room, the Singles can barely be heard. Paradise.

So for me (and perhaps for others), the amount of noise coming from the Singles is very important. Yes, I care that they mine away relentlessly and reliably and that will always be the #1 priority. But I demand they do it with the least amount of disturbance as possible. And I'm happy with the balance I've been able to achieve.

If I had a datacenter next door, an empty garage, or unused basement I wouldn't care what fans they used or how many fans they had or how much noise they made ... because I wouldn't have to deal with that. But when they are in my face, in the same room, and I'm trying to think, they need to be quiet.

So, yes, 1 fan or 2 makes a big difference to me. But I fully understand and respect jjdebug, gigavps, and sgtspike when they say they don't really care.

[SgtSpike]

To jddebug, gigavps, sgtspike and others who don't care about 1 fan or 2 fans: I'm glad that's working out for you. It means you'll be happy no matter what shows up in the BFL USPS box.

For others, who cannot hide these things in a basement or closet or datacenter, the difference between 1 or 2 fans is more important. In fact, even the CHOICE of fans is important. There was a post earlier about someone trying to set a Single up in their bedroom. It doesn't matter why: Maybe they have no room elsewhere; maybe that's where their only computer is. The point is that a stock Single, with its dual 43 CFM 2100RPM 27dbA fans, is TOO LOUD for a bedroom in which you are trying to sleep. Perhaps it is even too loud for a living room you use to entertain guests, or a study in which you are trying to ... gasp ... study.

So if a Single arrives with just 1 fan, it's going to be significantly quieter than the 2-fan version (or the dreaded 3-fan version). In my personal case, I've put Singles into a basement office. They are the 2-fan style, and I found them to be disturbingly loud. Much louder than the SLI gaming PC I have in the same room. My solution was to replace the stock fans with quieter ones. Now, even with all other equipment turned off in that room, the Singles can barely be heard. Paradise.

So for me (and perhaps for others), the amount of noise coming from the Singles is very important. Yes, I care that they mine away relentlessly and reliably and that will always be the #1 priority. But I demand they do it with the least amount of disturbance as possible. And I'm happy with the balance I've been able to achieve.

If I had a datacenter next door, an empty garage, or unused basement I wouldn't care what fans they used or how many fans they had or how much noise they made ... because I wouldn't have to deal with that. But when they are in my face, in the same room, and I'm trying to think, they need to be quiet. They need to be SEEN and not HEARD.

So, yes, 1 fan or 2 makes a big difference to me. But I fully understand and respect jjdebug, gigavps, and sgtspike when they say they don't really care.

Okay, fair enough.    I guess I'm just one of the types to deal with the noise.  I don't need a quiet study, etc.  The only place I'd be really concerned is in my living room, as the TV can be only so loud before waking up the baby, and if it has to compete with some other noises, it makes it difficult to hear.

[Syke]

Yeah, I never understood why people make such a big deal about a bottom fan or not.  Makes zero difference to me.  In fact, I might prefer one WITH a fan so it would run cooler regardless of which heatsink it is using.

It points to the poor design of the system in the first place. Poor design means long-term reliability is a serious concern.

[Inspector 2211]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!   
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

If this makes anyone unhappy, I will happily send you $630 in BTC and you can ship them on to me.

Hey, I was just reporting an observation.
Of course I'll keep the "ugly" ones, too.

[Epoch]

I just received three rev. 3 Singles yesterday and have unpacked and installed one of them, and the bottom fan is back!
No, it's not a rev. 2 single, it has the new heat pipe-based heat sink inside, but the weird bottom fan is back now!  
(I haven't taken a look at the other two Singles yet.)

If this makes anyone unhappy, I will happily send you $630 in BTC and you can ship them on to me.

Hey, I was just reporting an observation.
Of course I'll keep the "ugly" ones, too.

It was a very interesting observation, Inspector.

Prior to that, I was expecting (from BFL's photos of the different Single generations side-by-side, and the few 'eye witness' reports from people receiving their Rev3's) all current shipments of the heat-pipe designs to have only 1 fan. There was no indication, until now, that the Rev3's have both 1-fan and 2-fan versions.

So I'm not sure how much they've actually improved their thermals with the heat-pipe if a bottom fan is still needed for some of them. For example, I have a Rev2 that mines at 55C; another at 62C. The point at which they throttle seems to be ~75C (I experimented with some lower CFM fans which turned out to be inadequate) so there is a lot of headroom already.

Can anyone report how hot (as reported by cgminer) their Rev3 units run? Curious to see how they compare to the Rev2 units.

[P_Shep]

Mine run at 50-58C. One seems to remain 3-4C hotter than the other. Can't tell you ambient, no idea. I guess 20-24C.

[Epoch]

Mine run at 50-58C. One seems to remain 3-4C hotter than the other. Can't tell you ambient, no idea. I guess 20-24C.

Encouraging. Are yours the single-fan or the dual-fan version of the Rev3?

[ice_chill]

Basically the heatsink's thermal capacity is too small if it heats so much even with a fan blowing at it at full speed. They should have made the unit bigger and used bigger heatsinks right from the start.