Mini-Rig from Butterflylabs

[Gomeler]

Really guys?  You're going to base your purchase decision on "can I fit 1 or 2 or 3 on a 15/20 amp circuit" ..??   We're talking $15,000 here .. If you have a doubt, bring in an electrician to run a dedicated circuit.

It is about maximum utilization, and efficiency.

It does not matter if you buy only 1 rig. But the larger your scale, the more you should care about these details.

I would rather spend 1 or 2 grands in mining hardware than in installing extra circuits because the BFL designers chose an awkward wattage that prevents me from utilizing my circuits to their maximum capacity.

This exactly. I'm already tired of balancing circuits to maintain 80% utilization. Something that REQUIRED a 20amp circuit would be a downer.

Still don't see why BFL wouldn't have a stepping stone build.. something in the 5-10 GH/s range would be perfect for the market of miners who already own 10-20 GH/s and want to expand to FPGA. But, I suppose this is just me wanting a product tailored to my price range and upgrade path.

[Transisto]

I"m in for one mini rig,

Know what you 15A worried guys gonna do ?

Convert your 110v outlet to a 220v by adding a breaker to the neutral and be done with it!

That's a 10min - cost nothing job. As said, we talking 15k$ per box ,,, just call an electrician !

Side note : My favorite PSUs are 750w because I can run 4 GPU on them and plug two on one 15A. (convenience)

[rjk]

Know what you 15A worried guys gonna do ?

Convert your 110v outlet to a 220v by adding a breaker to the neutral and be done with it!

That's a 10min - cost nothing job. As said, we talking 15k$ per box ,,, just call an electrician !

Sure. Just a few notes:

a) The breakers must have their handles tied together, per code. Easier to just get a dual pole breaker. Few bucks extra.
b) The neutral wire must be clearly marked on both ends to show that it is hot.
c) You must replace the wall outlet with a 240-only receptacle, such as 6-15R or 6-20R. Few more bucks.
    1) If the wiring is 14 gauge, you must use no more than a 15 amp dual breaker, and a 6-15R receptacle.
    2) If the wiring is 12 gauge, you must use no more than a 20 amp dual breaker, and a 6-20R receptacle.
d) This assumes that the rig supports 240v, which it should if it is using a standard PSU. You may need to chop off the plug end and install a 6-15P or 6-20P plug.

Hope this helps anyone that is planning to be cheap with their infrastructure upgrades.

[guruvan]

Have just ordered a single, and I'm very curious what the direct DC input requirements on this (and the full rig) are.

I'd be very interested in the mini rig, but would prefer a dc-only unit. We are running off the grid, and do not want to invert more power than necessary.

[P_Shep]

12V 7A (ish)

[Inaba]

If you are feeding it direct DC, it's 12v @6A

[guruvan]

LOL & thanks!

 I wasn't clear - by "this" , I meant the mini rig

the single is very straightforward.

[rjk]

LOL & thanks!

 I wasn't clear - by "this" , I meant the mini rig

the single is very straightforward.

In that case speculation only, since it only exists on paper.

If I were to go out on a limb, I might assume they are using a standard ATX PSU, which you may be able to replace with a properly sized DC-DC converter. But at such high wattage, it would not likely be cost effective. However, you might be able to drive it with 12v directly, in which case I would assume it to be between 1200 and 1400 watts DC.

[guruvan]

hmm. in most case inversion has higher up front costs, and more transmission loss, so I'm still thinking we can do better by not introducing AC into the box at all.

I did find some nice atx style redundant DC units - if it just has a standard atx we should be in business.  Waiting on a quote.

It would be super sweet to be able to order one of these dc, or w/o ac power.

[rjk]

I did find some nice atx style redundant DC units - if it just has a standard atx we should be in business.  Waiting on a quote.

I'd be interested in what you found. As you noted, the conversions back and forth between AC and DC have fairly substantial losses, but I have never been able to find a cost effective DC-DC converter. I have an extremely powerful 48VDC power source, and that would be perfect if I could find sufficiently powerful DC-DC converter that doesn't cost too much.

[wknight]

If you guys decide to do this I will be ordering one as long as I can get a decent turn around. Might even take two as I have a few possible investors at this price. The best of all these are Co-Workers that are very possible investors.

[JWU42]

If BFL could actually deliver products in 4-6 weeks they would be printing money 


The uncertainty of delivery is a major obstacle right now despite their very compelling ROI (so long as power costs are < $.20 Kwh).

[fulepp]

This concept sounds good. I am interested to buy one of these.

Before that i would like to know:
- can we get at least 1 year warranty? The payback time of this is around 6 months (with the current exchange rate)
- can you ship from Europe? Custom would significantly increase the price of this unit.
- do you have a better delivery ETA? 12-15 weeks as it was projected in an e-mail would be too long...

Also, i would like to see a rack mountable design where we could push some extra cards for expansion.

[Inaba]

And a pony.  I want a pony, too.

[JWU42]

And a pony.  I want a pony, too.

Thanks for the laugh!

[triplehelix]

And a pony.  I want a pony, too.

i can see how a pony fits in with the list as a whole.  i do however think a more respectable warranty for an expensive piece of hardware is a reasonable request.

[fulepp]

Inaba,

No thanks, not a big fun of the pony in the server room...

Do you know what is expected life time of these units? I don't understand why are you happy with the 6 month warranty. your device may die before you would see any profit from it...

The rest of the points maybe not important to you but i would like to see
a; improvement on the delivery time
b; thinking of costumers who want to ourder outside of USA.
c; see a modular design

And a pony.  I want a pony, too.

[stevegee58]

And a pony.  I want a pony, too.

OK.  This now a pony thread. 

[DeathAndTaxes]

If they do include ponies you can be as cool as these guys ...

[wogaut]

Can we pleeeeeease get back on topic?

I'd like to read news about the Mini-Rig, no interest in ponies.