I don't really see the point of testing without the PCB, since the PCB is only going to have one chip.  It's not like a motherboard where you have lots of expensive chips, or an Avalon module where you have lots of chips in parallel - you can think of the PCB as simply being a larger package for the chip.

And, it would be much simpler to test the PCB then to test the chip.  The chip itself has a 1mm ball pitch and thousands of balls.  Aligning it might take time, and it will generate a lot of heat in the tester (I guess you could test one engine at a time, though)

On the other hand the PCB has an edge connector (at least the demo ones they showed in the video) All you'd need to do is plug it into a slot to test.  Much easier and quicker.

So on the one had it might be slightly more expensive as you'd lose a PCB, but on the other hand you'd save time by not passing each chip through a second stage.

If their confident their yeilds will be high, they've got nothing to worry about. ORSoC has probably fab'd chips at this resolution before  and knows what to expect.  If their yeilds are high enough they can actually just assemble the units, then test them, and only replace PCBs that have a fault.

Remember they are selling these chips for about $1750 a pop, and delivery speed is the most critical thing for the customer. How much could the PCB ex-chip cost? $20?  Even if they threw out 2 PCBs for every shipped module it would barely eat into their margins (although I'm sure the low chip yeild would suck)

Um, yeah I agree that it's not a problem.  That's what I said. Did you get me confused with the other guy?

I think it is at the end of September though, so, like September 30th.

At this point the only "milestone" I am aware that they have missed is to provide Kano and Ckolivas with a mock-up device in July.  This may not be significant but it would have been nice for KNC to have updated Kano and Ckolivas.

lol.

I love this line in particular... "Nothing is more important than shipping your order as fast as possible." 

If sample boards comes out next week, then, does that mean they are ahead of schedule or behind schedule? What usually happens in the time line? where are we?

Of course they do, that's why they take pictures together and circle jerk eachother. You think if they were true competitors they would be all purple nurple friendly with eachother?

Hi Apple, Hi Microsoft can we hold hands and kiss? Hey get Linux in here we love eachother so much.

It doesn't matter though one or two members of the cartel will think about themselves and their business and truly compete and undercut their prices.

I can only hope that is true. Customer service told me last month that upgrade option would last until the end of August, but it is the middle of August right now and they closed that option. So, they must be at least two weeks ahead of schedule towards shipping.

those are smiles of hatred lol