[Announcement] Butterfly Labs

[KIDC]

Oh, how this thread has drifted. This was supposed to be about Josh's good news that he has joined BFL, instead it's become a big debate and drama thread. Shouldn't we be moving this over to the "ASIC mining processor" thread?

[mrb]

Plug will be the same (5.0mm OD, 2.5mm ID), so it's possible to use the same plug.

Regards,
Nasser

Nasser,

Are you Nasser Ghoseiri, as reported in this interview?: http://codinginmysleep.com/interview-with-sonny-vleisides/
Is this you, a senior FPGA engineer?: http://fr.viadeo.com/en/profile/nasser.ghoseiri
Is this your Facebook page?: http://www.facebook.com/nasser.ghoseiri (this person "liked" BFL)
How can you be BFL Chief Technology Officer... http://news.yahoo.com/butterfly-labs-announces-next-generation-asic-lineup-054626776.html
...when you post on Facebook, this month, that you started working for a large european bank: http://www.facebook.com/nasser.ghoseiri/timeline/story?ut=32&wstart=1346482800&wend=1349074799&hash=10151430077673378&pagefilter=3&ustart=1
Did you recently resign, or significantly reduced your involvement with BFL?

I have no doubt BFL will continue to succeed and grow without you, but if the above is true, I think customers would like answers.

Regarding employement for a bank, I'm a senior IT consultant / architect there. It is necessary to be an employee for maintaining your residency permit until you obtain nationality. The time I dedicate to our corporation has dramatically increased during the last 4 months, to about 7 hours during work days and a minimum of 25 hours during the weekend.

I hope this answer helps.

Regards,
Nasser

Thank you for the honest answer. I am satisfied.
(I could not imagine someone in your position working 2 jobs. Crazy workload!)

crazyates: what I did is called due diligence, not stalking.

[peasant]

Whatever you say, Stalker! 

[Grouver (BtcBalance)]

Bitforce Sc Single casing


Bitforce Sc Single board front


Bitforce Sc Single board back


http://codinginmysleep.com/first-look-at-bfls-asic-hardware/

[davidspitzer]

OOOH SHINY! I can't wait to fire some up!

[Mobius]

Is that a light cycle doing a figure 8 on the BFL logo?

[tbcoin]

Bitforce Sc Single casing

If that's a single SC, what is this?


BFL Mini-Rigs and BFL Singles hard at work.

Source: http://www.btcmu.info/

[bitcoindaddy]

Bitforce Sc Single casing

If that's a single SC, what is this?


BFL Mini-Rigs and BFL Singles hard at work.

Source: http://www.btcmu.info/

All that money sitting on a PLASTIC table? Son, we need to talk.

[davidspitzer]

Bitforce Sc Single casing

If that's a single SC, what is this?


BFL Mini-Rigs and BFL Singles hard at work.

Source: http://www.btcmu.info/

All that money sitting on a PLASTIC table? Son, we need to talk.

All that gear sitting on carpet makes me cringe a little bit

[Bitinvestor]

  Very nice! I'm impressed! 

[Epoch]

By the looks of the Single's PCB, we clearly have a total of 8 ASIC chips @ 5Ghps apiece, yielding 40Ghps. There are mounting holes for what appears to be a single monolithic heatsink to cover all 8 chips.

The case render is not particularly convincing. Someone took the earlier Jalapeno render and merely extended it vertically. In practice, the Single will dissipate 30-40W and the corresponding heat generation in such a small device needs active cooling. i.e. a fan. It cannot be a closed case as shown. The 92mmx92mm PCB is essentially the same size as the existing Single, suggesting BFL will continue to use a 92mm fan to cool it. Probably from the top, as the current Singles. It will also need exhaust vents; likely on the side as the current Single. So I wouldn't place too much stock in the current render. The Jalapeno one is fine, since at 2.5W max dissipation it can get by with passive cooling.

It would follow that the Jalapeno uses a single ASIC downclocked to 3.5Ghps. Why downclocked? To fit inside the 2.5W USB2.0 power envelope. One BFL ASIC running at the full 5Ghps, with its associated glue circuitry, may exceed 2.5W; looks like it does, forcing the need to downclock it.

A power budget for the Single could be roughly approximated as: 2.5W x 8 chips x 5/3.5 ~= 30W. The support ICs, fan, and voltage regulators will bump that up closer to 35W. And it will likely continue to use an external PSU (I don't see any 120/240V conversion circuitry on the PCB renders), so another low-efficiency power brick. Say, 80% efficient. That will bring the power consumption closer to 40W at the wall. We won't know for sure until they have a working prototype.

[MrTeal]

By the looks of the Single's PCB, we clearly have a total of 8 ASIC chips @ 5Ghps apiece, yielding 40Ghps. There are mounting holes for what appears to be a single monolithic heatsink to cover all 8 chips.

The case render is not particularly convincing. Someone took the earlier Jalapeno render and merely extended it vertically. In practice, the Single will dissipate 30-40W and the corresponding heat generation in such a small device needs active cooling. i.e. a fan. It cannot be a closed case as shown. The 92mmx92mm PCB is essentially the same size as the existing Single, suggesting BFL will continue to use a 92mm fan to cool it. Probably from the top, as the current Singles. It will also need exhaust vents; likely on the side as the current Single. So I wouldn't place too much stock in the current render. The Jalapeno one is fine, since at 2.5W max dissipation it can get by with passive cooling.

It would follow that the Jalapeno uses a single ASIC downclocked to 3.5Ghps. Why downclocked? To fit inside the 2.5W USB2.0 power envelope. One BFL ASIC running at the full 5Ghps, with its associated glue circuitry, may exceed 2.5W; looks like it does, forcing the need to downclock it.

A power budget for the Single could be roughly approximated as: 2.5W x 8 chips x 5/3.5 ~= 30W. The support ICs, fan, and voltage regulators will bump that up closer to 35W. And it will likely continue to use an external PSU (I don't see any 120/240V conversion circuitry on the PCB renders), so another low-efficiency power brick. Say, 80% efficient. That will bring the power consumption closer to 40W at the wall. We won't know for sure until they have a working prototype.

Just because the render doesn't show airflow slots doesn't mean that there won't be any in the actual metal. It's not uncommon for concept renders to leave out those details. Similarly, some of the details on the 3D PCB render won't be accurate. There's a lot of strange looking ceramic caps on there.

BFL_Engineer/Inaba, did you have the ASICs packages in a QFN? It kind of looks that way in the render, but it's tough to draw any conclusions from that. If so, are you primarily dissipating heat through the bottom metalization?

[mc_lovin]

https://www.facebook.com/ButterflyLabs

Hm, November plastered in big letters, yet if you go place an order..



Might want to update that.

[WhiteShum]

the government of the USA didn't bring action on violation of conditions the conditional period for fraud Sonny??

[Rassah]

the government of the USA didn't bring action on violation of conditions the conditional period for fraud Sonny??

^^^ What??? 

[davidspitzer]

the government of the USA didn't bring action on violation of conditions the conditional period for fraud Sonny??

^^^ What??? 

Lol I was thinking the same thing

[WhiteShum]

what about-
He violation his parole.

---------------"The defendant shall not transfer, sell, give away, or otherwise convey any asset with a fair market value in excess of $500 without approval of the Probation Officer until all financial obligations imposed by the Court have been satisfied in full."

[SLok]

what about-
He violation his parole.

---------------"The defendant shall not transfer, sell, give away, or otherwise convey any asset with a fair market value in excess of $500 without approval of the Probation Officer until all financial obligations imposed by the Court have been satisfied in full."

Did he sell, give away, convey? Or not? If so, with or without approval? What do you know that we don't?


                                        

[Rassah]

what about-
He violation his parole.

---------------"The defendant shall not transfer, sell, give away, or otherwise convey any asset with a fair market value in excess of $500 without approval of the Probation Officer until all financial obligations imposed by the Court have been satisfied in full."

Not sure that even applies if it's the company that's doing the selling, and he's not the company owner.

[MrTeal]

what about-
He violation his parole.

---------------"The defendant shall not transfer, sell, give away, or otherwise convey any asset with a fair market value in excess of $500 without approval of the Probation Officer until all financial obligations imposed by the Court have been satisfied in full."

He wasn't ordered to pay restitution, so there's no reason to believe that he's violating his probation for that.
He's not on parole, BTW.