High Efficiency FPGA & ASIC Bitcoin Mining Devices https://BTCFPGA.com

[DiabloD3]

So, Im curious will the fpga's themselves come w/ the heatsink pictured? Will this be suffecient enough cooling to perform @ 200mh/s / fpga?
Or will I need to go find HSF's for them as well?

No, We've updated the boards to allow for bigger northbridge /  older GPU heatsinks, the new design also includes 4 fan headers. We plan on putting a heatsink/fan combo on each fpga that will dissipate around 25 watts of heat which is more than enough cooling for these FPGA's. Heres some examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119079
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/93

It'd be nice if you could find a heatpipe-type solution so people can put quieter cooling on their rigs.

Also, the URL in your sig is 404.

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[GenTarkin]

So, Im curious will the fpga's themselves come w/ the heatsink pictured? Will this be suffecient enough cooling to perform @ 200mh/s / fpga?
Or will I need to go find HSF's for them as well?

No, We've updated the boards to allow for bigger northbridge /  older GPU heatsinks, the new design also includes 4 fan headers. We plan on putting a heatsink/fan combo on each fpga that will dissipate around 25 watts of heat which is more than enough cooling for these FPGA's. Heres some examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119079
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/93

So, that mean passive heatsinks wont cool enough? cuz those little fans really REALLY suck, they die nearly instantly LOL...

[TheSeven]

So, that mean passive heatsinks wont cool enough? cuz those little fans really REALLY suck, they die nearly instantly LOL...

There's generally no way to cool these FPGAs passively unless you have really huge heatsinks. Blame their nasty plastic package for that.
Actually I'm fairly happy with these deepcool northbridge heatsinks and their fans, they're almost silent and seem to work really well. However you can also just use those digikey heatsinks shown in the picture (or also the deepcools with their fans removed) and have a big case fan blow into them from the side.

[GenTarkin]

So, if ur putting on little fan / heatsinks, these things will be whiny little bastards huh? -- LOL

[stcupp]

It'd be nice if you could find a heatpipe-type solution so people can put quieter cooling on their rigs.

Also, the URL in your sig is 404.

The main problem in this design for cooling is the amount of space between each fpga card....  You may be able to find a small waterblock something like this:

So, that mean passive heatsinks wont cool enough? cuz those little fans really REALLY suck, they die nearly instantly LOL...

It all depends on what speed you run the FPGAs.... even with the big passive heatsinks like the Zalman northbridge shown below you still need fans to provide airflow of some sort when running your FPGAs at a high clock speed. with those black heatsinks you see in the pictures, to keep the FPGAs cooled we had to set 2 80mm fans side by side blowing on the FPGAs

[PatrickHarnett]

Just financed the sixth one of these and expect it (and the other five) to be shipped at the end of next week.  

[DiabloD3]

It'd be nice if you could find a heatpipe-type solution so people can put quieter cooling on their rigs.

Also, the URL in your sig is 404.

The main problem in this design for cooling is the amount of space between each fpga card....  You may be able to find a small waterblock something like this:

img

So, that mean passive heatsinks wont cool enough? cuz those little fans really REALLY suck, they die nearly instantly LOL...

It all depends on what speed you run the FPGAs.... even with the big passive heatsinks like the Zalman northbridge shown below you still need fans to provide airflow of some sort when running your FPGAs at a high clock speed. with those black heatsinks you see in the pictures, to keep the FPGAs cooled we had to set 2 80mm fans side by side blowing on the FPGAs

img

I was thinking something along the lines of http://thermalright.com/products/index.php?act=data&cat_id=8&id=106

That could almost work, just change the orientation, it should be able to cover three of the chips (one on the left, one on the right, one on the top) and the very front one could just use a http://thermalright.com/products/index.php?act=data&cat_id=8&id=107

But thats like $200 worth of heatsinks, but it also might not need fans.

Edit:
http://ultimatepccooling.com/thhrifxchco1.html $28
http://ultimatepccooling.com/thhrifxchco.html $27

So, $111 or so.

[Tyger]

I saw a linux miner, but is there a windows version too?

[TheSeven]

Both cgminer and MPBM run on both Linux and Windows.

The screenshot on their website shows MPBM, but some more recent posts in this thread suggest that they're moving to cgminer.

[Tyger]

anyone buyed one of these yet?

[matthewh3]

anyone buyed one of these yet?

Yes people have paid for them and the first major shipment is hopefully going to happen towards the end of next week.

[nandika]

what do you say about these coolers?
Are they too small to cool these fpgas?

By the way, just ordered one to test it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copper-NorthBridge-Cooler-Cooling-Fan-Heatsink-/260922590702
http://www.ebay.com/itm/55mm-North-Bridge-Chipset-Cooler-Fan-55mm-302-/120905209496

[TheSeven]

Hm, they looks like they only have a small contact area in the middle? That might be a problem...

[stcupp]

what do you say about these coolers?
Are they too small to cool these fpgas?

By the way, just ordered one to test it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copper-NorthBridge-Cooler-Cooling-Fan-Heatsink-/260922590702
http://www.ebay.com/itm/55mm-North-Bridge-Chipset-Cooler-Fan-55mm-302-/120905209496

On first look my only concerns are the first one I'm not sure what the exact dimensions are with the fan and without..... A lot of these coolers are unclear about this. you may have to take the fan off and put it beside the board blowing on the heatsink to get more cards in.
Oh and no they shouldn't be too small to cool a FPGA

Hm, they looks like they only have a small contact area in the middle? That might be a problem...

The first one does look like it has a small contact area in the middle. Should be fine though as long as it covers the whole chip. The second one just looks like theres a square of thermal paste from previous use.

Everyones been asking for more pictures I'm sorry I can't provide some real pictures of the REV4 just yet as were still waiting on getting them from the manufacturer.... but I've got some 3D renders..... I'll post up some pics of my REV3 board in a bit also. Theres only a few small changes between REV3 and REV4.

[matthewh3]

Will these boards be compatible with "eldentyrell" new 250MH/s bitstream for the Sparten6?  If so this will take the boards to 1GH/s will the heatsinks/fans be sufficient?

[stcupp]

Will these boards be compatible with "eldentyrell" new 250MH/s bitstream for the Sparten6?  If so this will take the boards to 1GH/s will the heatsinks/fans be sufficient?

I can't really give you a answer as eldentyrell  hasn't given any numbers on power consumption yet..... However the power converter is made for 40 Amps but will go up to 70 before it enters "Hiccup mode". You could probably run it at 50-60 Amps pretty safely and I really doubt you would need more than that. Going past the 40 Amp mark would probably also require that the power converter gets lots of airflow so it doesn't overheat.

As a comparison ZTEX uses 8A per FPGA which would be 32A for 4
This is just a guess but I think the new bitstream will use around 10A - 12A per FPGA

A nice thing about this board design is if the board cant supply enough power for 4 FPGA's on the new bitstream you could always just unplug one of the FPGAs. Another option is new backplanes with larger power converters could be made and you could just plug your FPGAs into the new backplane.

[matthewh3]

Will these boards be compatible with "eldentyrell" new 250MH/s bitstream for the Sparten6?  If so this will take the boards to 1GH/s will the heatsinks/fans be sufficient?

I can't really give you a answer as eldentyrell  hasn't given any numbers on power consumption yet..... However the power converter is made for 40 Amps but will go up to 70 before it enters "Hiccup mode". You could probably run it at 50-60 Amps pretty safely and I really doubt you would need more than that. Going past the 40 Amp mark would probably also require that the power converter gets lots of airflow so it doesn't overheat.

As a comparison ZTEX uses 8A per FPGA which would be 32A for 4
This is just a guess but I think the new bitstream will use around 10A - 12A per FPGA

A nice thing about this board design is if the board cant supply enough power for 4 FPGA's on the new bitstream you could always just unplug one of the FPGAs. Another option is new backplanes with larger power converters could be made and you could just plug your FPGAs into the new backplane.

So as long as it's at or under 40A all the Sparten6's should hash at 250MH/s each taking the boards to 1GH/s each.  Or if it needs to much power just use three of the Sparten6 modules per board at 750MH/s.

[stcupp]

So as long as it's at or under 40A all the Sparten6's should hash at 250MH/s each taking the boards to 1GH/s each.  Or if it needs to much power just use three of the Sparten6 modules per board at 750MH/s.

Yep. The power converter can operate over 40A, up to 70A, but care should be taken to keep it cool and operating over 40A would make the lifespan of the power converter shorter

[matthewh3]

So as long as it's at or under 40A all the Sparten6's should hash at 250MH/s each taking the boards to 1GH/s each.  Or if it needs to much power just use three of the Sparten6 modules per board at 750MH/s.

Yep. The power converter can operate over 40A, up to 70A, but care should be taken to keep it cool and operating over 40A would make the lifespan of the power converter shorter

Looking at "eldentyrell" thread it looks like the MH/J goes down a bit when it's pushed.  So the boards with fans it looks like it would to need up to 50A.  Reading what he saying is that three Sparten6 at 245MH/s would use 39W so with the boards also powering fans maybe three Sparten'6 per board would be best unless the boards can operate at 58W instead of 45W at 800MH/s with the fans.  58W tho for 980MH/s is still good tho beating the BFL-Single on both hashrate and efficiency.  Or with just three Sparten6 modules with fans per board/backplane on the new bitstream at 44W for 735MH/s saving $250 per board or a fourth board for every three you buy.  Tho maths could be wrong and "eldentyrell" could change his figures.

"eldentyrell" is going to be selling this bitstream is this FPGA company thinking of licensing it?

[stcupp]

Looking at "eldentyrell" thread it looks like the MH/J goes down a bit when it's pushed.  So the boards with fans it looks like it would to need up to 50A.  Reading what he saying is that three Sparten6 at 245MH/s would use 39W so with the boards also powering fans maybe three Sparten'6 per board would be best unless the boards can operate at 58W instead of 45W at 800MH/s with the fans.  58W tho for 980MH/s is still good tho beating the BFL-Single on both hashrate and efficiency.  Or with just three Sparten6 modules with fans per board/backplane on the new bitstream at 44W for 735MH/s saving $250 per board or a fourth board for every three you buy.  Tho maths could be wrong and "eldentyrell" could change his figures.

"eldentyrell" is going to be selling this bitstream is this FPGA company thinking of licensing it?

First off the fans don't run off the power converter they tie directly to the 12v supply from the molex so we dont have to worry about the power used by those. Using the number he posted 18.4 MH/s per watt at 245 MH/s you would be using 13.31 watts per FPGA or 53.24 watts for the whole board another thing to note is he says this is for the whole board including power loss in the power converters these spartan 6 chips run off of 2 power supplies 1 3.3v and 1 1.25v(actually 3 but VCCAUX and VCCIO can be combined on the 3.3v) so to get the actual wattage used by the 1.25v power converter it would be 53.24 watts - power lost in converting 12v to 1.25v - power lost in converting 12v to 3.3v - power used by the 3.3v supply - power lost from copper trace resistance

I'm not sure what the end number would be but I know theres not very much power used from the 3.3v

A lot of power is lost in converting 12v to 1.25v I think most power converters will loose 10-20% power doing a 12v to 1.25v conversion at full load so lets just say 15% you come out with 45.9 watts then you still have to subtract the power used by the 3.3v supply I'll just take a wild guess and say 3 watts(may be more may be less idk?) 45.9 - 3 = 42.9watts used by the 1.25v supply

the power converter can output 40 Amps and actually more than that but its not recommended.

1.25v @ 40 Amps = 50 watts

when 42.9 are needed

These numbers really arn't accurate at all though just a rough estimate

Another thing eldentyrell stated:

I expect the power numbers to get slightly better when I switch from SRL16s to RAM32M's, but otherwise it's probably safe to assume that the current MH/J numbers are an upper bound on the final numbers.  Note that the final MH/s is not yet known, so the final power consumption is not known either.

"eldentyrell" is going to be selling this bitstream is this FPGA company thinking of licensing it?

Yes we are.
I'm not sure how eldentyrell is going to be selling it.... I sent him a email asking about licensing and power requirements but he wouldn't give up any info, he just told me to wait until later this month when he announces it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.