Re: Black Arrow 28nm 100Ghash Bitcoin ASIC from $0.49/GH/s

[DebitMe]

Bobsag3 is it possible for you to see if payments have gone through to BA even though its not your site? I sent a wire 14th december and it still says waiting for payment. I'm getting a little worried that i sent to wrong place. BA's support seem to ignore emails unfortunately.

Haha... we're pretty much in the same spot. As per bob, just gotta be patience. Good luck to you nonetheless.

Did they change status of payment for you yet? I'm just really worried I sent the money to the wrong account or something. I sent the money 14th december so it left my bank 16th. Today it's the 24th, it does not take that long for international transfers. So I'm thinking I either sent the money to the wrong place or they just can't be bothered to change status of payment, leaving us customers in doubt. I don't think my bank can do anything about the money if I did indeed send it to someone else now after this many days either.

I'm also a bit worried I sent it to the right place but they view my order as late, putting it on the later shipment

btw, it seems like all the KNC customers are expecting knc to deliver more than 3/th, any chance we will get higher as well?

I think wire transfers can just take some time.  I sent one to bobsag on the 16th and it hasn't been credited yet, but bob has assured me that I will be in the first round of shipments, he said there were a bunch pending, but I also sent him a PM with my order info hoping to get some information, but haven't received anything yet.

[DebitMe]

I have 2 pending wires at this time, as well as a few wires that came unlabeled. Otherwise, All wire orders have been updated as of this time. If yours is not showing as updated, please send me a PM with your order number, and the bank you sent from. Thanks!

PM sent

[DebitMe]

Hopefully we get this resolved, but according to bobsag, he does not have the wire transfer that I sent on the 16th.  Apparently there is one from the same bank for the same amount on the right day, but it has a different name on it. This is very troublesome to me as I printed off the page from the minersource website and brought it to the bank when I did the wire, and my online statements shows a transfer to them for that amount.  Hopefully we get this resolved, as I said its troublesome because it is a lot of money that by the sounds of it was transferred to no where.
Hopefully this is getting looked into, I know I will be at my bank Thursday morning to get this resolved. My concern is that even though this was ordered before the date change, and I paid, I am not sure I will get the first day delivery because of this issue, which doesn't make it worth it to get these units.  Still have not heard anything either way as to when that order would be shipped when it is resolved.

[DebitMe]

Did order via BA website, sent wire transfer on December 11th, still no updates from BA.. opened ticket week ago, alas, no motion except it seems ticket was deleted from the system.
Overall this is very upsetting.

I'm rather unsettled with the untimeliness of their communication myself. Have been waiting for a while to resolve an order issue that is stuck in a customer service morass.

Something doesn't feel right with this operation right now It has certainly caused a red flag to be raised based on my experiences thus far

It should not take over 22 days to resolve an order.

They have a great infrastructure to take customer money quickly, but a poor one in resolving order issues in an expeditious manner based on what I've encountered so far.

Could have ordered from me and saved the trouble

Hopefully we get this resolved, but according to bobsag, he does not have the wire transfer that I sent on the 16th.  Apparently there is one from the same bank for the same amount on the right day, but it has a different name on it. This is very troublesome to me as I printed off the page from the minersource website and brought it to the bank when I did the wire, and my online statements shows a transfer to them for that amount.  Hopefully we get this resolved, as I said its troublesome because it is a lot of money that by the sounds of it was transferred to no where.
Hopefully this is getting looked into, I know I will be at my bank Thursday morning to get this resolved. My concern is that even though this was ordered before the date change, and I paid, I am not sure I will get the first day delivery because of this issue, which doesn't make it worth it to get these units.  Still have not heard anything either way as to when that order would be shipped when it is resolved.

Any upaid pending wire orders will have their order placed in the Q based on when the order was places, as long as the wire was sent within 48 hours. So you and the other who have pending wires all are taken care of.

Bob, thanks for your help. My wire transfer has been resolved and I am happy to be in the feb shipping date. Had a small heart attack but Bob fixed it and everything is good. Thanks again for your work in getting this resolved. Also I sent you the pm asking if I was in the Feb batch before I saw this thread where you confirmed that I was. So you can ignore that message.

[goozman96]

For those that bought from minersource.net from within US and BankOfAmerica...
How did you wire your payment to minersource.net?  Can't seems to do it online
and online bofa rep can't seems to help me.

BofA kept asking me to do "account to account" transfer...

Thanks!

If you have BOA, then you can just directly transfer the money without having to do a wire and pay wire fees.

[DebitMe]

Hey bobsag3,

 I sent you a PM but I am not sure if you will see it in time, so I'll write it here . It's been about 12 days now since I sent the wire transfer and my order status has not changed. Did you receive anything yet or have any new info for me ? I'm heading to the bank tomorrow and I'm considering asking them to reverse the wire transfer and do an investigation because it seems like my money was sent to nowhere. I just wanted to check with you first before I did so.

I understand your worry and hope it get resolves, bob did good getting mine taken care.  But wires are irreversible, once a bank wire is sent you need the other side to initiate it back to go through, it wouldn't hurt to ask if they can provide any information, but as for reversing it, they won't be able to help with that.

[goozman96]

"If at any time, during the pre-order period, we drop the price under what you have already paid, you will be compensated by receiving more X-3 mining machines.
Example: If you have purchased an X-3 with 25% discount and we offer later 40% discount, your order will be recalculated at 40% discount and you will receive more X-3."

So is this just bad translation? It kind of makes me nervous. Receive more X-3?

It means that they can give you more hashing power to compensate for the price difference.

[DebitMe]

Black Arrow LTD:

Could we please have an engineering update on the progress of the Minion ASIC? Thank you for your time.

+1

[DebitMe]

i placed an order on 1-1-2014 for an X1 on minersource.net and after payment confirmation it said "## Delivery Date This is a PRE-ORDER, now on Round 2 Batch 1"

I just went and had a look a few min ago at my order and now it say "## Delivery Date This is a PRE-ORDER, now on Batch 2 Round 1"


WTF? Have I just been shafted?



I did a screen cap of the original back on 1-1-2014.

What's the significance of  Round 2 Batch 1  vs  Batch 2 Round 1?

Okay, same thing happened to me. Saying I am a little disappointed is an understatement. I would have considered differently had I know my orders were being placed into batch 2 when I ordered.

I could be wrong, but I think the site just lists the current description for the item. I'd ask the bobsag, but I think if you ordered before the cutoff of 1/2 you should be on round 1.

I agree with this.  I had noticed this on my orders as well, orders that were in early December.  They all have the same description of the current item in the store.  I didnt think much of it since that is what I thought was happening.

[DebitMe]

Tried to order directly through BlackArrow because it seemed the logical thing to do at the time.

 Boy was I wrong.

 25 days making zero effort to resolve a payment, and only 8 hours to cancel an order. They did ironically link me a "how would you rate our service ?" survey to fill out, and I gave them 1/5 stars *rolls eyes*

 Something about this enterprise doesn't seem entirely on the level based on this experience with their customer service.

 Got a bad feeling about Black Arrow

Well, I'm out trying to acquire one of these. Just wrapped up one of the most frustratingly unproductive email chains I've had in a while, about trying to resolve payment for a December 2nd order, and their support effectively told me to get to the back of the line and made some condescending remark about how I was supposed to request new information from them - Something I've been trying to do all along now for the last 25 some-odd days !!!

 *sigh*

Did you try to order from Minersource or from Black Arrow directly?... Black arrow doesn't support orders of individual units - and the US reseller has a better track record than what you indicated - so i'm genuinely curious here.

You may have gotten off easy with a cancelled order.  I am still on the bandwagon and feeling good about my order, but there is a feeling in the pit of my stomach that the timeline is in trouble.  All I continue to see as updates are, "we are on track" or "we have not changed from our deadline" and then teasers such as renderings of final products.

Now I am no electrical engineer (no matter how many of their taxes I do ) but based on what I have been able to gather tape out should be underway currently, which should be a fairly large milestone, and one that should be easily relayed to customers.  I would think that as soon as tape out begins, even the PR person should get a memo or something saying at the very least, "hey, tapeout has started"?  Unless I am sorely mistaken?  Any "updates" conveniently leave out any description of what has actually been accomplished.  Also, I have yet to see any actual dimensions put into place.  Renderings are useful, but I have seen quite a few different sizes being thrown about for both X-1 and X-3 units.  I can understand though if the design of the box isn't finalized yet, but knowing how the 2 boxes making up an X-3 are going to work together (1 or 2 power supplies, 1 or 2 ethernet cables, etc...) seems like something that needs to be known in order to finalize and order PCB's which as I understand take a few weeks to fabricate once an order has been placed.  I suppose that leaves a small window to finish PCB design, but these seem like fundamental questions that should have an answer or at least a design they are working towards?

These are just the thoughts and feelings that have been in the pit of my stomach for a week or so.  Again, I am no engineer and/or ASIC/PCB expert.  My knowledge extends as far as what I have read in the various discussions of ASIC companies on these forums, and is this post in no way supposed to be defamatory towards BlackArrow who I still believe in and have given me no reason to doubt that they will hit their deadline.  Perhaps, they want to keep fabrication specifics a secret, I do not know, but given the level of PR support that they have been giving, I would think that they would have reported some of the above concerns.  Please take any of the above remarks with a grain of salt, and do not dwell on them, as I have previously said, I may just be spouting nonsense since I have no real idea of the complexity or work involved in the ASIC process, but I also feel that some of these fundamental questions should have a better description at this point.

[DebitMe]

Yea I was expecting 5 Billion by the end of Feb

[DebitMe]

Hi, I have a question about Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second).
- Is it ready for sale or waiting build up it?
- What payment method? Escrow?
- What price include shipping fees?
- How long shipping processing?
- Using X-3 with 2000Ghash/second, how much bitcoin can mining every day?

Please give me details information into PM. 

Most of these questions can be found on Black Arrow's website.  Please go there and do some research before clouding threads, by posting this I am wondering how you have even heard of BA, since you obviously haven't been to their website?

The only question that cannot be found there is how much will an X-3 make every day.
For this I would say do your own research, no one knows what difficulty will be, so take what your estimate of difficulty will be and plug it into one of the hundreds of calculators and do some math.

Please do more research in the future before wasting other peoples time.

[DebitMe]

Hi, anyone willing to buy my slot for a Prospero X3 50% was paid..

Order #20xx STATUS: Processed
DATE: 29 Nov 2013, 23:46
PAYMENT METHOD: Bitcoin
SHIPPING METHOD: DHL

Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second) Options: Payment option:  50% in advance

just send me a pm.. willing to do this through escrow or with BA just to be sure.. thanks

How much has been paid and how much is there left to be paid?

[goozman96]

I, too, would love an update on Tape-out. At this point I almost wish tape-out happened in secret.

Can Black Arrow take the time to tell us where they are sitting in this ASIC development process? 44 days until the end of Feb; 40 days until Feb 24th.

I hope you are right and they have already or now have the Minion in Global for production otherwise we're screwed. The last update from BA was on Jan/3/14 stating they had no more time to goof with the design and added more cores. I think most of us expected tape out at that time. If you watch the video link below of Global foundries at 08.46 they tell you how long it takes just to make the wafer let alone the rest of making it into an working Asic  

They've mentioned that they can use multiple foundries in parallel, if need be.

[goozman96]

How do you know they are using Globalfoundries? I'd think they'd use a more local foundry, not one in the USA/Germany.

[goozman96]

I made a post here:
http://ecointalk.net/topic/368-who-is-producing-the-minion/?p=1639
Let's see if we get some info.

[DebitMe]

Hi, anyone willing to buy my slot for a Prospero X3 50% was paid..

Order #20xx STATUS: Processed
DATE: 29 Nov 2013, 23:46
PAYMENT METHOD: Bitcoin
SHIPPING METHOD: DHL

Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second) Options: Payment option:  50% in advance

just send me a pm.. willing to do this through escrow or with BA just to be sure.. thanks

How much has been paid and how much is there left to be paid?

uh... 

There have been discounts so I am not sure exactly at what price point he got his at, and the 50% payment required a larger sum paid than if all was paid at once I believe.  So it was a very fair question and per his response it did not even sound like he knew how much was left to be paid.

[DebitMe]

Hi, anyone willing to buy my slot for a Prospero X3 50% was paid..

Order #20xx STATUS: Processed
DATE: 29 Nov 2013, 23:46
PAYMENT METHOD: Bitcoin
SHIPPING METHOD: DHL

Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second) Options: Payment option:  50% in advance

just send me a pm.. willing to do this through escrow or with BA just to be sure.. thanks

How much has been paid and how much is there left to be paid?

uh... 

There have been discounts so I am not sure exactly at what price point he got his at, and the 50% payment required a larger sum paid than if all was paid at once I believe.  So it was a very fair question and per his response it did not even sound like he knew how much was left to be paid.

oops, true i forgot about the discounts.  my bad, sorry

hi, its 2974,5 USD is left to be paid, 3,114.62usd was the total amount paid, (61.07usd is for the exchange fees and 79 usd is for the shipping cost.)

I was going to say, I am not sure how transfer of orders works, but I would probably offer like 2500 to 2750 to buy your order out, and then if BA cannot do a transfer to my account, it will have to sit in escrow until delivery of unit, and if units are not deliverd in Feb, then I get the money back.  Some kind of deal like that for this.

[DebitMe]

Hi, anyone willing to buy my slot for a Prospero X3 50% was paid..

Order #20xx STATUS: Processed
DATE: 29 Nov 2013, 23:46
PAYMENT METHOD: Bitcoin
SHIPPING METHOD: DHL

Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second) Options: Payment option:  50% in advance

just send me a pm.. willing to do this through escrow or with BA just to be sure.. thanks

How much has been paid and how much is there left to be paid?

uh... 

There have been discounts so I am not sure exactly at what price point he got his at, and the 50% payment required a larger sum paid than if all was paid at once I believe.  So it was a very fair question and per his response it did not even sound like he knew how much was left to be paid.

oops, true i forgot about the discounts.  my bad, sorry

hi, its 2974,5 USD is left to be paid, 3,114.62usd was the total amount paid, (61.07usd is for the exchange fees and 79 usd is for the shipping cost.)

I was going to say, I am not sure how transfer of orders works, but I would probably offer like 2500 to 2750 to buy your order out, and then if BA cannot do a transfer to my account, it will have to sit in escrow until delivery of unit, and if units are not deliverd in Feb, then I get the money back.  Some kind of deal like that for this.

Looking at the website, it seems that I would need to take control of your BA account and change shipping details.  I offer 2750 in Btc at MTgox price when we decide on deal, for control of your BA account.  I will need control before I pay, so that I can be satisfied that I am able to change login details and email and shipping details.  After that I will pay you the agreed upon amount.  If you accept please let me know.

[DebitMe]

Hi, anyone willing to buy my slot for a Prospero X3 50% was paid..

Order #20xx STATUS: Processed
DATE: 29 Nov 2013, 23:46
PAYMENT METHOD: Bitcoin
SHIPPING METHOD: DHL

Prospero X-3 (2000Ghash/second) Options: Payment option:  50% in advance

just send me a pm.. willing to do this through escrow or with BA just to be sure.. thanks

How much has been paid and how much is there left to be paid?

uh... 

There have been discounts so I am not sure exactly at what price point he got his at, and the 50% payment required a larger sum paid than if all was paid at once I believe.  So it was a very fair question and per his response it did not even sound like he knew how much was left to be paid.

oops, true i forgot about the discounts.  my bad, sorry

hi, its 2974,5 USD is left to be paid, 3,114.62usd was the total amount paid, (61.07usd is for the exchange fees and 79 usd is for the shipping cost.)

I was going to say, I am not sure how transfer of orders works, but I would probably offer like 2500 to 2750 to buy your order out, and then if BA cannot do a transfer to my account, it will have to sit in escrow until delivery of unit, and if units are not deliverd in Feb, then I get the money back.  Some kind of deal like that for this.

This just doesn't seem like a fair deal at all.. You are getting an early pre-order for the initial payment and take zero risk? I am selling my x-3 and even I would give a better offer than that.

He ends up paying more than 6k since he only paid 50% up front, and its an early pre-order for a device that as of now, no one knows where in the production process they are.  Many other companies said time and time again they were on track for delivery, and yet, look where most of them are.  I am taking a discount of less than 400 dollars for this purpose.

I would think that if it was such a bad deal, others would be jumping in front of me to bid higher, but we do not seem to have anyone doing that either.