FPGA Rig Photos

[P_Shep]

hi,

has anyone use a tp-link mr3420 with open-wrt to run a and control ztex boards ?

regards
pazor

My link should work for you. It's a mipsel processor so the binary should work. Have a bash and see how far you get. Let me know what changes you have to make.

Quote from: tarrant_01 on Today at 06:00:29 AM
I'd like to see a picture of how to hook up a single to a power supply instead of using the brick that comes with them.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67819.msg809820#msg809820
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74397.0

It's almost concerning how warm the cables get, even the PSU cables. I guess pulling 7A will do that!

[Cablez]

Hey P_Shep do you think I could get the dd_wrt running with cgminer on a linksys E2000?  It has half the ram and the chip runs at 354Mhz compared to the E3000.  I didn't want to start flashing and risk bricking if there was not going to be enough resources to do this.

It's almost concerning how warm the cables get, even the PSU cables. I guess pulling 7A will do that!

Are you still running those spliced 18AWG cables?  I have not noticed any unusual temperatures with the better insulated versions that I make 16 or 18AWG.  I have noticed some warmth on the cables from the PSU side.  They must really use some cheap wire to make these.

[P_Shep]

18AWG all the way from the PSU to the BFL. The splice is the last thing to get warm. Are there PSUs that use 16AWG?

You'll not brick the router running cgminer on it. It doesn't re-write the firmware or anything. CGMiner uses so little resourses I'm sure it'll be fine. Try it and see.

[shackleford]

Temps are (bottom to top) 33-36-36-37-38-38 @70f ambient. I will be playing with improving the cooling and adding more boards in the future.

[TheHarbinger]

Temps are (bottom to top) 33-36-36-37-38-38 @70f ambient. I will be playing with improving the cooling and adding more boards in the future.

I like it.  Are you getting any wicking effect of the oil seeping up the cables at all?  I had an oil cooled build (not a miner) a few years back and I found that I had to run the cables straight up about a foot and a half to stop the wicking.

[BR0KK]

I like it.  Are you getting any wicking effect of the oil seeping up the cables at all?  I had an oil cooled build (not a miner) a few years back and I found that I had to run the cables straight up about a foot and a half to stop the wicking.

Had that problem to but as u can see there no wire going into the oil. Its separated by the hub at the top of the miner?

[shackleford]

I like it.  Are you getting any wicking effect of the oil seeping up the cables at all?  I had an oil cooled build (not a miner) a few years back and I found that I had to run the cables straight up about a foot and a half to stop the wicking.

The hub and power splitter were origionaly hot glued to the back of the removable plank of acrylic the miner cards are attached to (like a blade). The Oil does not play nice with the hot glue and has essentialy deteriorated it and I had to remove the hub from the "blade" to troublsoot an issue.   I did have wicking but I have not put much effort into getting rid of it yet since it is pretty minimal and I have been messing arround with it. I have seprate  connectors for both the power and USB and I plan to make a connetor box on the back and epoxy seal everything on the oil side to eliminate seepage.

[arklan]

what kind of oil is that? talk about liquid cooling...

[shackleford]

what kind of oil is that? talk about liquid cooling...

Tech grade mineral oil http://store.steoil.com/crystal-plus-tech-grade-mineral-oil-70t-5-gal/

[Inspector 2211]

what kind of oil is that? talk about liquid cooling...

Tech grade mineral oil http://store.steoil.com/crystal-plus-tech-grade-mineral-oil-70t-5-gal/

A veterinarian uses this kind of oil to try to clear a colic (colon blockage) in a horse.
I saw a vet do that.
Thus, in other words, you could use it as a laxative, if you wanted. 

[spiccioli]

what kind of oil is that? talk about liquid cooling...

Tech grade mineral oil http://store.steoil.com/crystal-plus-tech-grade-mineral-oil-70t-5-gal/

A veterinarian uses this kind of oil to try to clear a colic (colon blockage) in a horse.
I saw a vet do that.
Thus, in other words, you could use it as a laxative, if you wanted. 

Inspector,

This oil also meets USDA requirements for H-1 lubricants for incidental food contact

I don't think it would be a good idea to take a glass of it

spiccioli.

[arklan]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

[shackleford]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

It is good for the amount of cards/surface area & amount of oil I have right now, however the more cards I add the more creative I will need to be to keep the temps down. Expanding to a metal lid with heatsinks on top and bottom is my first step. Doing something large scale could be more cost effective then purchasing a large number of waterblocks and it cools the whole card. IDK..If I had the money to buy a large number of FPGAs I would probably design an enclosure just large enough house all the FPGAs then run a the oil through a loop going through a 55galon drum of water with a radiator in it and then possibly cool the water if needed (or something funky). I don't think air is bad, my temps were low 30's across the board with a good copper heatsink and a single fan each.

[grubles]

My face after reading this thread:

[cuz0882]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

Oil can absorb more heat then air but that's it. It may cool the rig for a day or so while the oil heats up. After that, the oil will not have any effect. I don't really know what this guy is thinking. He must think the oil traps the heat and then stores it in another dimension.

[bulanula]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

Oil can absorb more heat then air but that's it. It may cool the rig for a day or so while the oil heats up. After that, the oil will not have any effect. I don't really know what this guy is thinking. He must think the oil traps the heat and then stores it in another dimension. 

Sorry had to post this but it was TOO funny

Also, anybody have received a setup of yohan's Cairnsmore boards in the wild ( except glasswalker guy ) ?

They look very nice indeed !

[notme]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

Oil can absorb more heat then air but that's it. It may cool the rig for a day or so while the oil heats up. After that, the oil will not have any effect. I don't really know what this guy is thinking. He must think the oil traps the heat and then stores it in another dimension.

It wouldn't be hard to run some copper tubing in that space and run water through it and a radiator if there isn't enough surface area to disburse the heat.  Plus 6 FPGAs isn't a whole lot of power.

[shackleford]

very interesting, the oil set up... with those temps it seems like a much moe effcient way to run a rig compared to air or standard liquid cooling. unless i'm missing something obvious.

Oil can absorb more heat then air but that's it. It may cool the rig for a day or so while the oil heats up. After that, the oil will not have any effect. I don't really know what this guy is thinking. He must think the oil traps the heat and then stores it in another dimension.

The temps I posted were after running a few days..2 weeks later and the temps are the same. So where you think the heat is going ..?  (perhaps another dimension) Oil transfers the heat to its container with a large surface area and dissipates. Not sure why I responded to such a dumb comment.

[BR0KK]

Only one out of the 20 Ztex FPGAs is broken. Not sure why it's not performing, but given the amount of unskilled electronics work performed by me (I've never done anything like this before), I'd put user error as the most likely reason, rather than any problem with Stefan's boards. If anything, I'm hugely impressed with how robust his kit is. It's expensive, but it's clear that you get what you pay for with Ztex.

i fully agree to that   One of my singles died and i can't explain it. Maybe i did something to it while moving them; got an replacement after sending it in.


Ill stick to Ztex for a while. I like what i get for my money. Even if ETs Bitstream won't work with them!   

[Cablez]

Snip...

That is just sexy sexy sexy there catfish. I love the large setup, it is just so clean.