BFL Single in the wild (BOUNTY RECEIVED!!!)

[rjk]

Thanks for the pictures and report; very nice.

Does the second fan on the bottom interfere with the smaller third fan next to the VRM heatsinks?

No, it is held apart by standoffs.

On another note, it appears that the PSU is horribly inefficient - it is rated for 120 watts, and total power draw is 85 watts, and the brick is as hot as the sun. It might not melt or anything, but it uncomfortably hot to the touch. I'll need to get this hooked in to a rig with a more efficient PSU as soon as I can.

[jddebug]

Thanks for the pictures and report; very nice.

Does the second fan on the bottom interfere with the smaller third fan next to the VRM heatsinks?

No, it is held apart by standoffs.

On another note, it appears that the PSU is horribly inefficient - it is rated for 120 watts, and total power draw is 85 watts, and the brick is as hot as the sun. It might not melt or anything, but it uncomfortably hot to the touch. I'll need to get this hooked in to a rig with a more efficient PSU as soon as I can.

If you come up with a good replacement PSU please share the information. I'd like to get things set up as efficient as possible.

[P_Shep]

Pick one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657%20600112163&IsNodeId=1&name=80%20PLUS%20PLATINUM%20Certified

[wogaut]

Seems like rjk is running his BFL Single under Windows.

Anyone running your BFL Single under Linux and can tell me what you are using (Linux ver, miner...)?

Insight much appreciated!

[fred0]

Pick one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657%20600112163&IsNodeId=1&name=80%20PLUS%20PLATINUM%20Certified

Well, I have a Bronze Rated PSU unused, I'm sure it's better than the power brick.  But I know nothing about wiring the output of an ATX PS into a BFL Single.  Is there any obvious source I'm missing? Maybe even an adapter?

[P_Shep]

Not too difficult:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67627.0

[fred0]

Seems like rjk is running his BFL Single under Windows.

Anyone running your BFL Single under Linux and can tell me what you are using (Linux ver, miner...)?

Insight much appreciated!

I'm using cgminer under linux.  I also used ufasoft 0.25 under ubuntu 64-bit (the portable package listed in their thread).  I saw no performance difference between miners.  When terminating Ufasoft's miner, the number given is totally worthless.  You can get an accurate number by recording the shares and the number of seconds, then calculating the average MH/s.

shares*2^32/seconds/10^6 will yield the MH/s.

These number vary by the pool used and connection quality.  You just need to run your own benchmarks.

[fred0]

Not too difficult:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67627.0

Excellent, I'll be going through this! 

[triplehelix]

Not too difficult:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67627.0

Excellent, I'll be going through this! 

speaking of power supplies, the one for the rigbox is going to have to be a beast huh?

[wogaut]

I'm using cgminer under linux.  I also used ufasoft 0.25 under ubuntu 64-bit (the portable package listed in their thread).  I saqw no performance difference between miners.  When terminating Ufasoft's miner, the number given is totally worthless.  You can get an accurate number by recording the shares and the number of seconds, then calculating the average MH/s.

shares*2^32/seconds/10^6 will yield the MH/s.

These number vary by the pool used and connection quality.  You just need to run your own benchmarks.

Great, thanks!

[jamesg]

Seems like rjk is running his BFL Single under Windows.

Anyone running your BFL Single under Linux and can tell me what you are using (Linux ver, miner...)?

Insight much appreciated!

I am running on BAMT (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=65915.0) with cgminer. You'll need to run the /opt/bamt/fixer utility to get the single working but once you do, cgminer will auto find all of your singles.

[fred0]

I'm using cgminer under linux.  I also used ufasoft 0.25 under ubuntu 64-bit (the portable package listed in their thread).  I saqw no performance difference between miners.  When terminating Ufasoft's miner, the number given is totally worthless.  You can get an accurate number by recording the shares and the number of seconds, then calculating the average MH/s.

shares*2^32/seconds/10^6 will yield the MH/s.

These number vary by the pool used and connection quality.  You just need to run your own benchmarks.

Great, thanks!

Sorry, I forgot to add.  I also made a build of the ufasoft 0.28 version from source under 32-bit ubuntu.  I ran the single on a netbook, but didn't see any appreciable performance increase.  But it works fine.

[wogaut]

I am running on BAMT (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=65915.0) with cgminer. You'll need to run the /opt/bamt/fixer utility to get the single working but once you do, cgminer will auto find all of your singles.

Looks interesting. I'm running OpenSuse 64bit here, as it was the best compromise for the work I'm doing.

cgminer looks most attractive to me, especially since there's so much support for it here on the boards.

[fred0]

Also,  the temp of the operating single is a pretty much between 61C and 63C.  I'm assuming that this is normal, but my subjectivity is messed up by my GPU thinking.  This is a normal range right? I probably should just email Sonny, but he seems busy processing orders for singles.

[kibblesnbits]

Argh.  Choice between new iPad3 and Single... Slowly drifting towards single.  Quick question:  can a Single be used for anything else or only bitcoin mining?  Just thinking if BitCoin falls apart or becomes impractical to mine with it after the reward split date. 

[jddebug]

Argh.  Choice between new iPad3 and Single... Slowly drifting towards single.  Quick question:  can a Single be used for anything else or only bitcoin mining?  Just thinking if BitCoin falls apart or becomes impractical to mine with it after the reward split date. 

With a "The New iPad", you can't easily make money to buy a single. With a single you can probably generate enough bitcoin to by a "The New iPad".

Odd that they called the new iPad "The New iPad". I don't like the name much.

[fred0]

Argh.  Choice between new iPad3 and Single... Slowly drifting towards single.  Quick question:  can a Single be used for anything else or only bitcoin mining?  Just thinking if BitCoin falls apart or becomes impractical to mine with it after the reward split date. 

I think that buying a single is a bad, BAD idea. You don't want the single you want an iPad. The single has no purpose other than bitcoin. Don't buy it!
 

[rjk]

What's the size of the power socket on that thing?

The power-jack is 5.5 Outer-Diameter, 2.5 Inner-Diameter. Outer cylinder is ground and
inner core is +12V (Acceptable range: 10V to 14V).

How long is the outer cylinder (13mm, 14mm, 15mm?)

The jack is 12mm.


Regards,

BFL, I am having a hard time finding connectors to fit this spec. The closest I have found are Switchcraft 760's, which are 5.5 x 2.5mm, however the pin length is only 9.5 mm and the current rating is only 5 amps. By my calculations, the Single needs closer to 7 amps; will it be a major issue to use 5 amp rated plugs on this?

I don't know how much power is actually being lost due to PSU inefficiencies, so I don't know how much the actual DC power draw is. I have been using 75 watts for my estimations.

[DeathAndTaxes]

What's the size of the power socket on that thing?

The power-jack is 5.5 Outer-Diameter, 2.5 Inner-Diameter. Outer cylinder is ground and
inner core is +12V (Acceptable range: 10V to 14V).

How long is the outer cylinder (13mm, 14mm, 15mm?)

The jack is 12mm.


Regards,

BFL, I am having a hard time finding connectors to fit this spec. The closest I have found are Switchcraft 760's, which are 5.5 x 2.5mm, however the pin length is only 9.5 mm and the current rating is only 5 amps. By my calculations, the Single needs closer to 7 amps; will it be a major issue to use 5 amp rated plugs on this?

I don't know how much power is actually being lost due to PSU inefficiencies, so I don't know how much the actual DC power draw is. I have been using 75 watts for my estimations.

Got a clamp meter?

Carefully cut the DC power cords so the two wires (12V & ground) are separated.  Put the 12V wire in center of clamp meter and read amperage.  BTW it looks like the PSU is rated for 10A @ 12V.   Even a relatively inexpensive clamp meter should be pretty accurate on DC current.  It is AC especially for inductive loads which is tricky.

[coblee]

Not too difficult:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67627.0

Excellent, I'll be going through this! 

speaking of power supplies, the one for the rigbox is going to have to be a beast huh?

Well speaking of the rigbox, can you even run these at home? If i'm doing the calculations correct, I = 2500W / 110v = 22.72A. Most US home fuses can only support 15A to 20A. So these will not work without doing some electrical work, right? I guess with such a large investment, you'd probably want to run it in a datacenter.