So getting to the bottom of the 4/8 VRM thing, it was just brought up within an interview for a new engineer, which was cool as I have an answer from Marcus and it was definitely not a cost saving issue. The reason; KnC bought the entire world's supply from General Electric of those VRMs and could not get anymore without a month's wait, meaning a lot of people would have been without their kit if every board required them. They were indeed a margin and as you can see not necessary to reach the promised spec. GE could not supply more for any money, and there was actually a scary period where it was believed 8 may be necessary, in which case then there would have been a problem fulfilling all orders.
Thanks! I think you did post them but I couldn't remember if it was in this thread or somewhere else..but thank you for indulging me
And that's quite different from the reading in Sweden @ 850-ish watts, so I think one can safely say that there was something different between those two, and by extension what eventually made it out for customers. And thanks for the background on the VRMs...very interesting and makes perfect sense in the timing of it and why it was rolled out without extensive testing. I withdraw my "reckless" statement and replace it with "unfortunately timed".And finally we have an answer. Not the endless ignorant mocking of orama about this issue. (planking anyone?)
KNC just had to own up and say, "guys, we are low on VRMs but good news we can still power the chip fine with 4. But, there is a power issue we are working to fix with firmware ASAP so please use a higher than 850W PSU to be safe or just wait until we get the firmware fixed before running your miner. We know you can't wait, so please keep the VRMs cool just in case. (they are running 30% over spec in regard to amps out) Heat on the chip will stay safely in spec, no worries there."
As I said all along, just own up to it. Thanks finally
Nice to get some background info about the VRMs thing.
Thanks!
These guys have been pulling allnighters. I hate you all. By the way, there is a reason as to why there was a slight delay. Rem I said Marcus is a perfectionist, and Sam is the one cracking whip about delivery being the greater priority. Well some middle ground was reached somewhere in between which I can't talk about. I'll let Sam take the honour there. 
I'm still curious what else took place in September..
More background stories would be really appreciated as it helps to understand better what KnC actually achieved and under which conditions..
edit:
If Sam would have some time left (not realistic I assume), he should write a book about it or even record an audio book together with all original characters involved - including O'rama (on open day & at last weekend of September chapter)
I'd even preorder one in hope BFL doesn't ship one earlier --with approx. same page-size, number of word per page and all those relevant specs-- as it might give me a better ROI (return on invested-time [fore reading])
"BFL: Preorders - The Golden Cash Cow!" - hey Josh if you read this and want to go for it, hereby I claim the copyright on this title
I mean it has potential to become part of history if Bitcoin will become relevant to the masses at some point in time.
And better they capture reality themselves than some smug making up a deformed story for profit only several years later..