Boinc now supports ASIC
18 Nov 2014 6:37:27 UTC
Topic 197805
(moderation:
Any plans for a ASIC app? :D
Release Notes for BOINC 7.4 http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Release_Notes_for_BOINC_7.4
Quote:
Changes in 7.4.26/7.4.27
Add support for notices that contain images and videos.
Add support for generic OpenCL devices. (Parallella, etc.)
Add support for ASIC Miners.
Add new AMD GPU descriptions.
Add new Windows version descriptions.
Add support for Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite)
Add support for Windows 10
ASIC MinersBOINC now has support for ASIC Miners. An ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) is a device that is specialized to perform a single task very quickly, and a miner is a device that mines cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in order to generate value.
To configure an ASIC Miner coprocessor type in BOINC, you will need to add a "coproc" XML element to your cc_config.xml configuration file, including child elements for type and count. Type should be miner_asic, and count should be the number of such devices that you plan on using in BOINC. Additionally, depending on the project and the application, you may need to specify certain application command line parameters in an app_config.xml file, in order to properly run multiple ASIC Miners or to overclock them. See BOINC Configuration for general information on configuring those files.
Bitcoin Utopia is a BOINC project that has developed applications designed to utilize this new resource type. Please see their website and forums, for details and support.
Boinc now supports ASIC
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There are cryptocurrency projects in BOINC, like "Bitcoin Utopia".
RE: Any plans for a ASIC
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If you're asking Einstein to develop an app for those Bitcoin-ASICs the answer is a resounding no. These things are called "application specific" because they're only built for one specific application and can hardly be used for anything else. So unless someone builds Einstein-ASICs (which would probably look like rebalanced Maxwell GPUs and be extremely expensive) these things are completely useless for Einstein and all other projects, apart from that Bitcoin thing.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
Just thought it was
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Just thought it was interesting. I do not own any. My apologies.
No offense taken.. it just
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No offense taken.. it just sounded like you were not aware of what an ASIC is, what it can do and what it can not do.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
I was aggravated with myself.
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I was aggravated with myself. I speak(post) without thinking sometimes(too often).
I did the Litecoin thing for awhile. I know a bit about scrypt and SHA256 and also know they are encryption algorithms. But when I saw the thing about Boinc supporting ASIC my thought was "Oh cool. USB bitcoin ASIC for $15 from Amazon and E@H. Cheap and fast crunching. And I posted, not meaning it seriously. But I did not make that clear. I should have said "Wouldn't this be nice if we could crunch this cheap".
Anyway I am old and have gotten bad about not being clear and not seeing things.
Got to admit, it would be nice though. $15 for 300m/hash on E@H @ like 2-3 watts......
Back to reality.
RE: I was aggravated with
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Right now the only Boinc project that supports asic miners is Bitcoin Utopia, and it is being used as a way to fund projects, and other things, that need money and could shut down without an influx of cash. It is kinda sorta a crowd funding type thing, but not exactly. Right now Milkyway and Boinc Stats are the ones being funded, but other projects and things have been suggested. I believe Seti could be the next project being funded, but as of right now there are no workunits for it.
It would be nice if they could be adapted to other projects directly, but as ExtraTerrestrial Apes said that is not likely in the foreseeable future, if ever, due to the way asic miners work.
Well, if Einstein (or any
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Well, if Einstein (or any other project) needed to calculate massive amounts of hashes, the mining hardware could be used. That's pretty unlikely, though. Even if those hashing functions could be used for parts of the code, there'd be a serious bottleneck transferring data to the miners over USB and getting results back. From the point of view of a CPU or GPU PCIe is already extremely slow ;)
Regarding Bitcoin Utopia to finance BOINC projects: considering the 'coin hype I can understand why people would want to do this. However, those 'coins are set up so that you can only win if you're way more efficient than the others. As soon as you use the the same equipment and software as them, everyone "looses" (=pays more for electricity than they get back). When that cross-over happens obviously depends on your local electricity price. But overall I don't think it's a "sustainable business".
And when I see alternative 'coin schemes being created, simply because the ASICs for Bitcoin are too strong to compete with using less efficient hardware.. I could simply puke. It's like "Damn it, they've got far better hardware. Let's create a slightly different task, which is essentially the same, but can not be performed by their hardware. Then our inefficient hardware is best for that job again!"
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
RE: Well, if Einstein (or
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Add to that, the people who design, build, and *ahem* "test" ASIC hardware get first dibs at sweeping up the easy pickings from the new alternative coins.
RE: Regarding Bitcoin
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To be honest cpu or gpu crunching isn't 'cost efficient' for anyone but the projects either, we users do all the works and spend all the money, on electricity and hardware, and the projects get free results. YES I am aware that the projects can spend HUGE amounts supporting us, but I was talking just about the crunching of the units.
I think that's why BU has grown in popularity as it has gone along, people are spending their own money to crunch anyway, why not send some of it back to the projects to then support the workunits, which can support even more users. The one thing I don't know though is if there has been a slowdown in the workunit crunching as a result of BU's popularity.
RE: RE: Well, if Einstein
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I'm not sure most people at BU have much of clue how to 'mine' on their own, so that wouldn't be a big concern for them, I think they are just blissfully ignorant.