We received BFL reaction regarding sample chips request and hash test of produced chips before escrow release possibilities.
I can provide you with sample chips prior to the chip purchase, yes. It would obviously be a limited number of chips, but we can certainly spare a few of course.
How are you proposing to do the random chip selection hash test prior to release? In principal I don't have a problem with this, however there are some practical pitfalls here, chiefly what if you don't have boards or a test rig ready to do a proper test of the chips, do we then wait until you are ready?
I hope to have the reference documentation done this week. We are pretty time crunched getting the singles and MR ready to ship, which should also start this week. Once that starts rolling we can focus more on the technical documents.
By now, I'm sure you've seen the new pricing and the fact that the chips will be shipped as a mixed lot, so it probably renders your final question invalid. If not, let me know.
I'm glad BFL agreed on shipping 65 nm chip samples to community mining board devs.
If developers get chips and quality documentation (*might* be even this week), they would be able to estimate board design/prototyping period(/feasibility). That is crucial info to have before actually opening the group buy.
Sample chips distribution is my top priority right now.
BFL also agrees on HASH test prior to escrow release. I would like them to make few Short Boards (Jalapenos) available for testing. (If there is no 65 nm community mining board at hand already.)
Mixed lot structure:
- 60% Grade A (16 engines - equals to 4.00 GH/s)
- 20% Grade B (15 engines - equals to 3.75 GH/s)
- 15% Grade C (14 engines - equals to 3.50 GH/s)
- 5% Grade D (no less than 12 engines - equals to no less than 3.00 GH/s)
Clock rate (speed) of engines is between 250 and 294 mhz. That means about +/- 7,5% individual hash rate fluctuations. Price for 60/20/15/5 quality lot is $75/chip.
I have yet to find out whether Grade of the chip is known prior to usage (Group Buyers would be compensated for buying lower quality chips) or not (lottery style).
I get quite a lot of PM's of people asking how to join the Group Buy. Please notice, we are still in preparation phase. Making sure our deal with BFL is safe and sweet.
Some also asked about shipping/VAT, whether this is a US/EU/Asia based group. Well, this is international group. All of the chips will be sent from warehouse in California directly to costumers/chosen board manufacturers with possibility of merged shipment to EU.
Thank you so far. I'll keep you posted.