[Unboxing] Butterfly Labs 7 GH/S Bitcoin Miner

[ShearMe]

Originally I pre-ordered a "Jalapeno" unit, but when BFL offered to upgrade to a 7GH/S unit for just a tad more money, I shrugged and said why not. Here's a link to BFL's product page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must admit, I stopped paying attention to the shenanigans going on with production of these products, and was quite surprised to find a mug included in my order. Packaging was nice and well thought out, and when I first tested my unit it was running at a nice 8.5 (ish) GH/S, but soon dropped and is holding at around 7.4 GH/S. Note that the temp reading in the second image is off - I've got the unit in front of a window A/C unit because this puppy puts out heat!

 

 

All-in-all, a nice little toy if your'e not expecting to make your money back. I wish it ran quieter, however and am thinking of opening it up and replacing the stock fan - kind of an oversight on BFL's part to think someone buying something this small and low power would want to put up with that noisy fan 24/7.

[M-ursu]

Could we have a link to that miner?

[ShearMe]

Could we have a link to that miner?

 

Updated with a link to their product page - the 7GH/S miner isn't exactly available for purchase, but the 5GH/S miner should be pretty much the same thing.

[M-ursu]

Updated with a link to their product page - the 7GH/S miner isn't exactly available for purchase, but the 5GH/S miner should be pretty much the same thing.

Another question, will this ever pay itself back?

https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage-new-products/600-gh-bitcoin-mining-card.html

[ShearMe]

Another question, will this ever pay itself back?

https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage-new-products/600-gh-bitcoin-mining-card.html

 

No one can determine that.

[coen113]

Another question, will this ever pay itself back?

https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage-new-products/600-gh-bitcoin-mining-card.html

propably not, but maybe in a couple of years. not including power required.

[whatthe_fuzz]

so this was a gimmick purchase?

 

i used a calculator and its says the thing should rake in ~$60 a month not including power. Thoughts?

[wkronbaek]

so this was a gimmick purchase?

 

i used a calculator and its says the thing should rake in ~$60 a month not including power. Thoughts?

Sounds right, but at the currnet rate It'll about halve each month.

[whatthe_fuzz]

Sounds right, but at the currnet rate It'll about halve each month.

 

so it MIGHT pay for itself in year...

 

crud guess i wont be buying one

[RuecanOnRails]

It could make a profit depending how much the hash continues to increase. http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/

While it might not bring in thousands, it should bring in something while adding to the overall security of the blockchain. Plus as a techie, mining is a very interesting and fun thing to get into.

 

Great unboxing, the mug is a little unexpected but a nice bonus... Depending how much heat the asic puts out, you could use it as a usb mug warmer to keep coffee hot

You should be able to easily open it, and add in a noctua fan or two.

 

To anyone interested in buying an ASIC, I'd stay away from butterfly labs. They have had and continue to have many issues, which will make your pre-order investment nearly worthless if they ever deliver. I probably wouldn't recommend purchasing any asics from any company at the moment due to the arms race we have in asic development. Wait until you can purchase and have the asic shipped next business day. Pre-orders will bite you in the ass in most cases.

[megadarkwood]

Man, I want one

All I have is a ASIC USB miner -.-

[wkronbaek]

so it MIGHT pay for itself in year...

 

crud guess i wont be buying one

Might? Not really http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/a/728bf11e0e <-- The only actually trustworthy mining calculator.

[whatthe_fuzz]

Might? Not really http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/a/728bf11e0e <-- The only actually trustworthy mining calculator.

Hm....

I havent looked at LC mining.

Maybe that'll be a better bet

[Whaler_99]

Nice unboxing. As @RuecanOnRails says, I would only ever buy on of these when I know I can have it delivered within a day or two. That way I know exactly what I can "expect", more or less, to be making. Not have it show up 6 months or even a year later... I have had my eye on Butterfly from some time, probably almost two years now, and their continued problems, performance issues and shipping problems stopped me from ever pulling the trigger.

[legopc]

they acutealy make dedicated stuff for that... oh cool  

[_ASSASSIN_]

they acutealy make dedicated stuff for that... oh cool

yeah, you can purchase these USB miners that go for ~$80 and they perform pretty well for the price, better than my GTX 680

[legopc]

yeah, you can purchase these USB miners that go for ~$80 and they perform pretty well for the price, better than my GTX 680

wut... so how much money do you get for 1 bitcoin and how long would it take to mine one coin with one of those usb thingys?? 

[_ASSASSIN_]

wut... so how much money do you get for 1 bitcoin and how long would it take to mine one coin with one of those usb thingys?? 

bitcoins fluctuate in price, it depends on how the market is, think of it like stocks, but instead it's a currency.

I think the USB miners cost around .175 bitcoins for it, so it would take ages, just go and purchase it

[legopc]

bitcoins fluctuate in price, it depends on how the market is, think of it like stocks, but instead it's a currency.

I think the USB miners cost around .175 bitcoins for it, so it would take ages, just go and purchase it

link ?? 

[ShearMe]

It could make a profit depending how much the hash continues to increase. http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/

While it might not bring in thousands, it should bring in something while adding to the overall security of the blockchain. Plus as a techie, mining is a very interesting and fun thing to get into.

 

Great unboxing, the mug is a little unexpected but a nice bonus... Depending how much heat the asic puts out, you could use it as a usb mug warmer to keep coffee hot

You should be able to easily open it, and add in a noctua fan or two.

 

To anyone interested in buying an ASIC, I'd stay away from butterfly labs. They have had and continue to have many issues, which will make your pre-order investment nearly worthless if they ever deliver. I probably wouldn't recommend purchasing any asics from any company at the moment due to the arms race we have in asic development. Wait until you can purchase and have the asic shipped next business day. Pre-orders will bite you in the ass in most cases.

 

Yeah, pretty much agree with all that. I'm a little disappointed with my "investment" but it is one of those cool toys none of your friends will ever own. The BFL forums are ripe with anger over people expecting to make their money back, and BFL's responses aren't exactly amiable.  :rolleyes:

 

 

link ?? 

 

This?

[RuecanOnRails]

wut... so how much money do you get for 1 bitcoin and how long would it take to mine one coin with one of those usb thingys?? 

 

Here's the the pricing per bitcoin.

http://bitcoin.clarkmoody.com/

https://bitcoinaverage.com/#USD - average price taken from multiple exchanges.

 

Do not get one of those small usb block erupter miners. They mine at only 333 M/hash. Which currently is about 15 cents per day or .0011 bitcoins per day. The difficulty of the hashing algorithm for bitcoin has been increasing roughly 70% each month. That 15 cents next month will be down to 10 cents and continue to lower making it unprofitable. It still is interesting to get one if you can find one for really cheap, just to experiment with how bitcoin works. But you would be better off purchasing the coins directly.

http://bitcoindifficulty.com/

 

If you want to find out what your current hardware is capable of, you can check out this hardware comparison chart https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

[Missioncode]

Ok I also got my miner about 4 weeks ago and have been mining 24-7 I'll have around $140 in bitcoins with in a bout 3-4 days or 1.0 BTC quite happy with that. Sounds good right? Well when I just hooked it up I was getting around $7-8 well now I'm getting about  $3-4 (depending on pricing). There is no point in getting any of the current rigs as it wont be profitable. **Edit: Wont see ROI for a long time** To really get on the train you'll have to get the 600GH/s one but its still probable to late I was lucky as I got my ASIC before the difficulty got to high. I'm hoping once the difficultly gets too night to be profitable that instead of doing integer operations I can do Floating point operations (so I can do folding at home), but I dont know much about the ASIC. (I also really doubt this is possible)

[Whaler_99]

Ok I also got my miner about 4 weeks ago and have been mining 24-7 I'll have around $140 in bitcoins with in a bout 3-4 days or 1.0 BTC quite happy with that. Sounds good right? Well when I just hooked it up I was getting around $7-8 well now I'm getting about  $3-4 (depending on pricing). There is no point in getting any of the current rigs as it wont be profitable. **Edit: Wont see ROI for a long time** To really get on the train you'll have to get the 600GH/s one but its still probable to late I was lucky as I got my ASIC before the difficulty got to high. I'm hoping once the difficultly gets too night to be profitable that instead of doing integer operations I can do Floating point operations (so I can do folding at home), but I dont know much about the ASIC. (I also really doubt this is possible)

 

No, unfortunately those ASIC miners are all software and are typically geared for one thing only - BC mining. You cannot use them for Folding, or even LC mining for that matter...

[Missioncode]

No, unfortunately those ASIC miners are all software and are typically geared for one thing only - BC mining. You cannot use them for Folding, or even LC mining for that matter...

 

 

Dont you mean hardware? as if it was software it could just be changed to do new things. But still think your right they dont call it an  Application-specific integrated circuit for nothing

[ShearMe]

If you found the right software, you could fold with an ASIC - whether it'd be worth it (vs other hardware) or not I don't know.