Time for some new equipment

[bitlane]

It's about that time.... time to do a bit of shopping, but first, a little gut-check.
To begin with, I am considering 3-4 of whatever I choose, then more later on if I am satisfied (especially with the BitForce unit)

Is there any reason why (providing availability is certain) that anyone would NOT consider a Butterfly Labs BitForce Single ?

As far as my upgrade goes, I really only have 2 (well, 3) items in mind...but I will stick with 2 for now.

Item #1
Radeon 7970
$550-600 CAD local (CAD = Canadian Dollars, most times 1:1 with USD anyways)
650 MH/s
Peace of Mind Warranty (as always)
300+W ?

Item #2
Butterfly Labs BitForce Single
$630 CAD Shipped.
830 MH/s
Scarry Warranty (do I recall reading 90 days somewhere ?)
80W

NOW, taking Resale value COMPLETELY OUT OF THE EQUATION, let's imagine that we are comparing a 7970 with a 2 year warranty to a BitForce Single and assume that the 7970 will DIE a horrible death on day# 731......(2yrs + 1 day)

Let's also assume that as far as performance increases are concerned, via either Firmware updates or kernels/miners....that BOTH would be on par, percentage-wise.

Once again, RESALE VALUE IS OUT OF THE EQUATION.

At this point, my only concern would be that the BitForce Single would also last for 2yrs+1 day for this little experiment (or longer hopefully).

Item #3
Radeon 7990
Price TBA (I can only assume 1.5x $7970)
Performance (again, assuming 1.8-1.9x 7970 MH/s)

Is anyone else even considering going the Butterfly Labs BitForce route still ?

I honestly didn't expect the ATI 7xxx series cards to be such hash-mongers..lol. The performance seen on some of the 7970's aruond here was been quite impressive.

Thoughts ?

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[rjk]

If power is free, by all means wait for 7990. Otherwise, extremely expensive power warrants having a look at ztex.

If you want space savings and power is sort of expensive but not too much, BFL should work if they deliver. However, only 6 month warranty.

Not sure what the warranty is on Ztex though, perhaps there isn't one?

[siggy]

ok.. assuming you are running 4 7970's on a single motherboard.. did you add in the extra costs?

175 - 1000W power supply
60 - motherboard
35 - sempron processor
10 - memory

total 280 .. divided by 4, that adds an additional $70 to each 7970 unit...    So your final price would be ~630 each... exactly on par with BFL.

the BFL's, I believe, could be added to yer existing rigs just hanging off usb ports.

Sigg

[TheHarbinger]

ok.. assuming you are running 4 7970's on a single motherboard.. did you add in the extra costs?

175 - 1000W power supply
60 - motherboard
35 - sempron processor
10 - memory

total 280 .. divided by 4, that adds an additional $70 to each 7970 unit...    So your final price would be ~630 each... exactly on par with BFL.

the BFL's, I believe, could be added to yer existing rigs just hanging off usb ports.

Sigg

Yes, but the BFL gear is still vaporware.

[rjk]

Yes, but the BFL gear is still vaporware.

No shit, who ever said they weren't? Honestly, I don't even know why I bother to hedge my statements with dozens of "if"s when inevitably people jump in to "reveal the scam". Even OP realizes that they don't yet exist, and said so at the top.

[Fanatic]

assume that the 7970 will DIE a horrible death on day# 731......(2yrs + 1 day)

And what if it dies before day-731?

My job is to check for "the defects in materials or workmanship under normal use", or if there was some "improper usage". So there is a real chance of failure in next two years. And there is some "non-accidental accidents", let us say +12V cable accidentally hits VGA PWM controller 3-5 times in a row. Terrible, terrible accident! VGA card DIES in a blink of an eye! And when you RMA it, it looks like the ordinary defective hardware.

Yes, it's not fair. It's fraud. But who cares? Oh forgot, if you gonna try this - do it on your own risk. Improper hits can burn to ashes smd components and no RMA, no warranty, no money, no hardware!

And I don't know how is it doing in Canada, but in Russia you can request your money back for some defective goods during warranty period.

[TheHarbinger]

And I don't know how is it doing in Canada, but in Russia you can request your money back for some defective goods during warranty period.

In Soviet Russia, you don't RMA the card, the card RMAs you!

[ragingazn628]

are butterfly products legit?

[bombo999]

yes

[cypherdoc]

yes

how do u know?

[ragingazn628]

850 mh/sec for 80w sounds too hard to believe...

[Davyd05]

the ztex and other fpga's gaining traction, are giving out atleast 200mh/s per 20w draw

so the 80w gives us a   per 20w  a 212.25mh x 4 = 850mh/s not to crazy isn't ngzhang getting up to 400mh/s almost on his fpga solution

[kjlimo]

I think I will be waiting for the butterflylabs shipment to deliver within the coming weeks.  As soon as people deliver some stats and get some Q & A going, I'll make my decision.

I like the appeal of plugging in a USB rather than needing to build a whole second rig with motherboard, powersupply, etc.

The 25k rig seems tempting as well though.. haha

[kjlimo]

Anyone get a butterfly lab shipment yet?  Or an update on when they will be arriving?

[CA Coins]

Not sure what the warranty is on Ztex though, perhaps there isn't one?

According to Ztex, there is a 2-year EU mandated warranty which covers any errors that existed at the time of
delivery.  No sure how it would cover the board after you starting mining on it 24/7 since the warranty doesn't cover issues from cooling/overclocking.  Don't think any of the FPGA boards have been out long enough to see how long they last in mining.  Any thoughts on how stable FPGAs would be mining 24/7?

As to BFL, I will believe it when I see one shipped.  According to the thread, it should be soon and no longer 4-6 weeks. The latest incarnation doesn't look confidence-inspiring with its two fans though.  Looks jerry-rigged IMO.

ngzhang is getting about 400 MH/S on his Icarus for about 20w.  I am getting about 4GH/S on 245W on a cluster of ztex boards.

[Unacceptable]

BFL has stated a 6 month warranty,its on their website or the first post of one of the two threads.

No other FPGA is offering such a warranty,Icarus does offer a 48 hr warranty though

I've been watching the threads & haven't heard of any dieing as of yet.

$600+(even $400+) is alot of cash to me,so no warranty,no sale:(

[bitlane]

And I don't know how is it doing in Canada, but in Russia you can request your money back for some defective goods during warranty period.

I wish....
Although we do have a 'Gift Cards NEVER Expire' Law that went into effect a couple years back.

I am still hoping that BFL come through with this product, because with mining at home (within your home), there's only so many circuits to drain and blowing breakers when the wife fires up her hair dryer sucks because a miner is on the same circuit.

At this point, I am simply focussing on upgrading all my cards (while keeping close to the same total) with 7xxx series cards to increase hash density while observing better 'power management'

[rjk]

According to the thread in Offtopic, BFL says they will start shipments on Monday.

[TheHarbinger]

According to the thread in Offtopic, BFL says they will start shipments on Monday.

Did they say which Monday?  Because personally, I am holding my breath over here.