ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It

[MrTeal]

Aus, 240V typically most power cabling is rated 10A = 2400W
Of course no one wants to be near the limit

Looking at the different replies - it seems that 1500W is probably about as high as any device should go to get general acceptance for everyone.

(aside, the whole advantage of 240V is it's the A that kills you not the V - thus also higher power with lower A)

What do you have for wiring in Australia, 16gauge? Here in NA the standard is 15A on a 14 gauge run and 20A on 12g.

Also, power lines aren't constant current sources. A 120V 15A line won't be more dangerous than a 240V 10A circuit despite the higher current rating since most electrocution scenarios won't pull anywhere near that current. The shock hazard is higher at 240V.

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[imsaguy]

Euro 230v seems to be 20a sockets the same as the average American home has 120v 15a.

New US homes all have 120v 20a since about the 70s.

[MrTeal]

Euro 230v seems to be 20a sockets the same as the average American home has 120v 15a.

New US homes all have 120v 20a since about the 70s.

Are you sure on that? I don't know of anything in the US NEC that requires 20A branch circuits and would be very surprised if homes from the 80s were all 20A branches.

[DiabloD3]

Euro 230v seems to be 20a sockets the same as the average American home has 120v 15a.

New US homes all have 120v 20a since about the 70s.

I've never seen 20a installed anywhere here in the US unless it was specifically requested... unless everyone has been installing 20a circuits and not installing the 20a plugs with the T shaped blade (NEMA 5-20) to go with them.

[LazyOtto]

The house I had built in 2001, in Texas, has only 15a sockets throughout. (Other than the 220v for the clothes dryer and oven/stove.)

[imsaguy]

Euro 230v seems to be 20a sockets the same as the average American home has 120v 15a.

New US homes all have 120v 20a since about the 70s.

I've never seen 20a installed anywhere here in the US unless it was specifically requested... unless everyone has been installing 20a circuits and not installing the 20a plugs with the T shaped blade (NEMA 5-20) to go with them.

I guess it must be a local thing.

[DiabloD3]

Aus, 240V typically most power cabling is rated 10A = 2400W
Of course no one wants to be near the limit

Looking at the different replies - it seems that 1500W is probably about as high as any device should go to get general acceptance for everyone.

(aside, the whole advantage of 240V is it's the A that kills you not the V - thus also higher power with lower A)

Most != high current. Here in the US we have "lamp cord" which is just enough to run a lamp or some other low wattage device, and high current devices use lower gauge (== thicker) wiring. I think its 14 AWG for low wattage, 12 AWG for higher current, and 10 AWG for 20amp or 208v or 240v (dryers, ovens, etc), but I might be wrong.

BTW, a lot of devices are using universal IEC 60320 plugs on the device side: C5 and C7 (2.5a, grounded and ungrounded respectively) are common on laptops, DVD players, some LCD monitors, etc; C13 (15a) is the plug thats on computer power supplies, and C19 (20a) is the enterprise high amp version of C13.

1800w is as high as you can go for temporary usage in the US (there are toasters and blenders and electric water kettles this high). Everything else seems to max out at 1400, and you don't see quality computer PSU's above 1200w. 1000-1100w continuous usage/1200w peak, is low enough that you can plug two into a 120v 20a line for rack mounting.

[malevolent]

Here in Finland it is not unusual to have 16A breakers in ordinary homes to supply simple wall sockets. That, and our higher voltage (230V) makes it possible to use electric appliances up to 2000-2500W without any special arrangements. I don't know about rest of the Europe though.

230V, 16A is a standard in Poland, in rare occasions one may find 8A, but 32A and 64A are also not uncommon.
I only have 16A at home and 400V in the garage (not sure about how much I can draw from that one) but I shouldn't have a problem getting even 1kV.

[novusordo]

Is Bitfountain ever going to get a website where people can order / pre-order, or just get general info?

[niko]

Is Bitfountain ever going to get a website where people can order / pre-order, or just get general info?

My hope: once the prototypes are up and running, so they can provide real information. Umlike the competition.

[friedcat]

Is Bitfountain ever going to get a website where people can order / pre-order, or just get general info?

My hope: once the prototypes are up and running, so they can provide real information. Umlike the competition.

Yes, the website will be online when we have our hardware running. Currently our budget and energy doesn't allow
a premature expansion with a sales department.

There will be no MPW phase. The first batch will be actual production-quality chips, not prototypes.
We did our best on RTL testing(via FPGA), netlist testing(via front-end and back-end simulation),
and netlist verification(via formality). MPW would take too much time(waiting for the shuttle),
more than what we could afford.

[HorseRider]

Yeah. I agree with friedcat. When we have the ability to provide the product, the ordering and sales team is quite easy. The product sell itself. But at this stage it will be a waste of the previous time of friedcat'.

Those ASIC devolopers who put up a site are in need of money. They want to finance their development by the prepayment from their customers. That's how they spend the money and time. But we are honestly finance the money through an equity tool. Friedcat has spend lots of time on communicating with the investors and made them invest while being aware of the risk.

[VeeMiner]

I own some shares of ASICMINER that I bought through GLBSE, I'm thinking about buying more but I would definitely like to have more information about current development. Is there any big shareholder with more information than we have that can at least vouch for the ASICMINER showing some progress other than words on the paper?

Thank you

[EskimoBob]

I own some shares of ASICMINER that I bought through GLBSE, I'm thinking about buying more but I would definitely like to have more information about current development. Is there any big shareholder with more information than we have that can at least vouch for the ASICMINER showing some progress other than words on the paper?

Thank you

Investors have forked over to you at least 14 226,2 BTC (if you sold shares only at 0.1 and have not bought back any at lover price).
Can you post your financial statements so we know how much and on what have you spent and what is left of it as of now?
Actually, a regular project update report with financial statement is more than welcome.

[DutchBrat]

I own some shares of ASICMINER that I bought through GLBSE, I'm thinking about buying more but I would definitely like to have more information about current development. Is there any big shareholder with more information than we have that can at least vouch for the ASICMINER showing some progress other than words on the paper?

Thank you

Investors have forked over to you at least 14 226,2 BTC (if you sold shares only at 0.1 and have not bought back any at lover price).
Can you post your financial statements so we know how much and on what have you spent and what is left of it as of now?
Actually, a regular project update report with financial statement is more than welcome.

Friedcat said they would give a detailed update with specs before tape-out if I remember correctly

The fact that they haven't done so yet, leads me to believe they haven't taped out yet, which makes it, unfortunately, hard to believe they will have ASICs up and running before the end of October

But I could be wrong....

Edit: This is the quote I was referring to and it is completely different than what I remembered:

Can you give a ballpark on the power requirements of the 50 ghash module?

friedcat may want to correct this with updated data, but based on their preliminary specs it'll be about 500 W (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91173.msg1062854#msg1062854).

That's 50GH/s = 1.25 GH/s / chip * 40 chips.
and 40 chips * 13.3 W / chip = 532 W

Of course you'd also need to add power consumption of the periphery.

We have done a lot in the past month and the power consumption is already much less than it.

I'm now collecting the tech details for announcement.

While investors are eager to learn about the progress, announcements of this kind have no positive effect on the progress of this endeavor. On the other hand, the announcements may offer important targets for competitors' engineering and marketing efforts.

Of course, this is just a short-and-random reply. It's not an announcement.

The forehand progress report has been sent to the board already. It will also be announced when there is no slight deviation about the date and materials.

[friedcat]

Update

Progress Report
We are in the taping-out process with the foundry.

July to Sep Financial Statement Brief
Total Expense: ￥58285.58

BTC Balance: BTC5,928.188
BTC Creditor's Right: BTC290.000
BTC Net Asset: BTC6218.188

RMB Balance: ￥550,465.66
Fixed Asset: ￥5775.00
RMB Net Asset: ￥556,240.66

Remarks:
1. The creditor's right is ours vs nedbert9.
2. The detailed financial report is sent to the board mailing list.
3. The specification and interface of our chips is also made public. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91173.msg1211518#msg1211518)

[AngryCatfish]

How exciting! Can't wait for more details!

[DutchBrat]

Thanks for the update !

[LoweryCBS]

Update

Progress Report
We are in the taping-out process with the foundry.

A good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape-out

(I shoulda bought a lot more of this IPO)

[DutchBrat]

How long from tape-out to an actual chip in your hand... that's the new question