CoinTerra announced today it has finally started shipping its highly anticipated TerraMiner IV professional rigs. The TerraMiner IV is the first professional miner to break the one terahash per second barrier.

It is based on CoinTerra’s new GoldStrike I processor, which the company describes as the most powerful SHA256 ASIC ever released. Its peak performance stands at over 500 gigahashes per second on a 28nm chip, built by GlobalFoundries.

“Handing over the first TerraMiner marks a major milestone for CoinTerra. It goes to show that through hard work and determination with the right team in place, great things can be accomplished in an incredibly short timeframe,” said Ravi Iyengar, CEO of CoinTerra, Inc.

The GoldStrike I is said to be clocked at 1.4GHz and up to four will be used in TerraMiner units. The chips run at 0.765 volts and, since it uses the latest Globalfoundries 28nm high performance plus node, the unit should be rather efficient as well. The same process is used in AMD’s latest Kaveri processors, which launched earlier this month. This means miners are getting cutting edge technology, as 20nm high performance nodes are still unavailable. The first 20nm ASIC rig should be KnCMiner’s new Neptune, when it comes to market.

Manufacturing process

“We are delighted to be the silicon supplier and physical design house for CoinTerra’s industry leading TerraMiner platform,” said Asim Salim, VP Operations for Open-Silicon.

“Manufactured on GlobalFoundries 28nm technology node, the silicon was delivered in a special custom package with testing completed in an unprecedented cycle time of 49 days from tapeout.”

Each TerraMiner IV rig features two PCBs with two GoldStrike I chips each. The rig employs two separate water cooling systems, one for each PCB. The heat exchangers feature three fans, while a couple of fans are mounted at the front of the rig to ensure plenty of airflow.

The TerraMiner IV is priced at $5,999, but CoinTerra says its order books are filled through April 2014. Only the sixth batch can be pre-ordered, with shipments scheduled for May 2014. If you are interested, you can check out the CoinTerra online shop for details.