AMD and NVIDIA May Be Preparing Graphics Cards for Cryptocurrency Mining

Megalith

Megalith

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New rumors claim that AMD and NVIDIA are releasing graphics cards specifically meant for bitcoin mining. We’ll have to see what actually happens, but it doesn’t seem like a crazy idea: the popularity of cryptocurrency mining is having a great effect on the stock of certain power-efficient and cost-effective graphics cards.

...both AMD and NVIDIA are planning to announce special editions of their popular graphics cards designed specifically for cryptocurrency mining. NVIDIA is said to launch GeForce GTX 1060 with GP106-100 GPU, a custom edition for mining. This card would lack display connectors and most likely not support any gaming at all. According to our sources, these cards, unlike normal editions, would only have 90 days warranty. The good news is that these cards will be cheaper than the same models for gamers. These cards will be sold by add-in-board partners. AMD is also planning Polaris based model for mining, except the details are yet unknown.
 
Good, hopefully they put them out in such a way that they are slightly more efficient for mining per dollar than the regular cards, which would allow those who actually want to play games to purchase them without dealing with inflated prices.
 
Here is the right source VGZ forgot to quote:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20170605PD202.html

Seems to be failed (Display, decoder etc) GPUs without complete testing. Also why the warranty is 90 days. Also it wont be sold in Europe it seems for the same reason and any other country with some kind of consumer protection.

The cards will also be cheaper for the same reason than regular cards.
 
good. then those filthy crypto-miners can leave the gaming cards alone.
 
They would have to mark them down a good bit, the miners expect to recover part of the cost when they're done with cards by reselling them as video cards.
 
I'd have hoped they put measures in place to put a stop to mining once and for all. It's a waste of energy and resources all to generate monopoly money. Services and goods should be created to generate money flow, and not used up / wasted to create new money artificially . This lunacy must end.
 
Actually the article is wrong. You can't mine bitcoin with a gpu for about 4 years now. People are mining other crypto currencies like Ethereum and Zcash and then trading those for bitcoin. Bitcoin is here to stay and growing. But personally I would much rather have a regular gaming card and when I am not gaming let it mine. For instance a 1080ti could probably mine you about $7 of bitcoin a day, then subtract your electric costs and maybe it could pay for itself in a half year, not bad. But yeah guys who buy 100 or 1000 gpus to run a mining business are driving up the cost of cards for us gamers..
P.S. I wouldn't recommend mining with any gpu you want to last more than a year unless it is a blower type founders edition. Those blower fans last 10 years, but the dual and tri fans that are on most gpus now will fail in 1-2 years of constant use. Not to mention they dump all the heat into your case. I went from a 1080 with 3 fans to a 1080 ti with blower fan and I couldn't be happier, my case, mobo, and ram temps are so much cooler. And in all honesty the card overclocks just as high as a tri fan model with the fan at 90%, which you do hear a little whoosh, but not much over my 5 case fans.
 
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jimlite said:
Actually the article is wrong. You can't mine bitcoin with a gpu for about 4 years now. People are mining other crypto currencies like Ethereum and Zcash and then trading those for bitcoin. Bitcoin is here to stay and growing. But personally I would much rather have a regular gaming card and when I am not gaming let it mine. For instance a 1080ti could probably mine you about $7 of bitcoin a day, then subtract your electric costs and maybe it could pay for itself in a half year, not bad. But yeah guys who buy 100 or 1000 gpus to run a mining business are driving up the cost of cards for us gamers..
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1. Bitcoin is the go to catch all term. People don't think of them as Cryptocurrencies but as Bitcoin alternatives.

2. They explicitly mention this is for Ethereum mining if you click the link.

M76 said:
I'd have hoped they put measures in place to put a stop to mining once and for all. It's a waste of energy and resources all to generate monopoly money. Services and goods should be created to generate money flow, and not used up / wasted to create new money artificially . This lunacy must end.
Click to expand...


You're understanding of cryptocurrencies is limited. They have value precisely because they are software with functions you can't find supported in other software.
 
M76 said:
I'd have hoped they put measures in place to put a stop to mining once and for all. It's a waste of energy and resources all to generate monopoly money. Services and goods should be created to generate money flow, and not used up / wasted to create new money artificially . This lunacy must end.
Click to expand...

Sure, but its not going to happen. Spinning a hamster wheel to fuel the perception of value is a cornerstone of the economy.

It's not about how hard you work. It's not about what you can produce. The market is solely, and has always been solely, about scarcity.

Wanting something that doesn't really exist can cost as much as something real that you need.
 
mutantmagnet said:
You're understanding of cryptocurrencies is limited. They have value precisely because they are software with functions you can't find supported in other software.
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Nope. The only reason BitCoin is worth a thousand dollars is because people are willing to buy and sell at that price. Their utility pales in comparison to their cost in resources. They're electronic tulips.

The computing horsepower used to mine them does f### all for the world. You don't need ASICs or petaflops of power to maintain a block chain. The intentionally inefficient mining protocols, however, do need that much because of intentionally deflationary supply curves.

The whole system is built as a get rich quick scam for early adopters.
 
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People said that about Paypal years ago, who needs it, I have a Visa or Mastercard. Bitcoin is the new Paypal. It is electronic currency that is accepted anywhere in the world. No need to convert to dollars, yen, francs, loonies, ect. Bitcoin is bitcoin everywhere. And as the value of it grows, so does the cost of equipment to mine it and secure the network. No one can say that this currency that has risen from no one using it and a few cents/coin in 2010 to the world using it and $2800/coin today is a get rich scam. It is a new global form of money, think Star Trek or Star Wars they always say credits or galactic credits, that is their money and bitcoin is the world's money, without any government able to print more and dilute it. 21 Million will be created and that is it, that is what gives it value , unlike Ethereum which has no coin limit and just prints like fiat. I agree that Ethereum is probably a scam/get rich scheme, but it is also a programming language and smart contract platform which is an incredible piece of software.
 
jimlite said:
People said that about Paypal years ago, who needs it, I have a Visa or Mastercard. Bitcoin is the new Paypal. It is electronic currency that is accepted anywhere in the world. No need to convert to dollars, yen, francs, loonies, ect. Bitcoin is bitcoin everywhere. And as the value of it grows, so does the cost of equipment to mine it and secure the network. No one can say that this currency that has risen from no one using it and a few cents/coin in 2010 to the world using it and $2800/coin today is a get rich scam. It is a new global form of money, think Star Trek or Star Wars they always say credits or galactic credits, that is their money and bitcoin is the world's money, without any government able to print more and dilute it. 21 Million will be created and that is it, that is what gives it value , unlike Ethereum which has no coin limit and just prints like fiat. I agree that Ethereum is probably a scam/get rich scheme, but it is also a programming language and smart contract platform which is an incredible piece of software.
Click to expand...
Except you know Amazon doesn't accept bitcoin. Ebay/paypal sorta accepts bitcoin.
 
290's are going for almost $300 on ebay. its insanity. I told my coworker about it and he's in a conundrum; he can sell his card and have money for something else... but he just bought a freesync monitor so he'd have to wait >month (or however long it takes for hash complexity to outweigh profits) before he could get another AMD card.

Meanwhile i'm barely chugging along with 10MH/s on my 770gtx expecting about ~$20 profit every 2 weeks like a jackass.
 
i dont care if bitcoin and co. are fake or real, what is real is the shortages of AMD cards. Make it so that stops as fast as possible.
 
I agree, but I see no reason to buy a current AMD card over an Nvidia one. Maybe Vega will change that, but all my gaming rigs have Nvidia because they are simply faster, cooler, and i don't mind paying a few dollars more to get better performance. And I am no Nvidia fanboi, I just go for the best. I just completed an AMD Ryzen 1800X build with a Nvidia 1080ti. IF AMD had Vega out and it was faster/cheaper, I would have went with that. Well maybe, I hate AMD's drivers and all their issues, whereas Nvidia's drivers always just work.
 
jimlite said:
I agree, but I see no reason to buy a current AMD card over an Nvidia one. Maybe Vega will change that, but all my gaming rigs have Nvidia because they are simply faster, cooler, and i don't mind paying a few dollars more to get better performance. And I am no Nvidia fanboi, I just go for the best. I just completed an AMD Ryzen 1800X build with a Nvidia 1080ti. IF AMD had Vega out and it was faster/cheaper, I would have went with that. Well maybe, I hate AMD's drivers and all their issues, whereas Nvidia's drivers always just work.
Click to expand...

Nvidia cards aren't far behind in mining by too much, I'm sure some miners are considering 1060s and 1070s next.
 
jimlite said:
People said that about Paypal years ago, who needs it, I have a Visa or Mastercard. Bitcoin is the new Paypal.
Click to expand...

No, Paypal was/is a platform for getting money (which you already have) to online stores (which you want stuff from). MyDollars -> Store. Paypal is just the arrow.

Bit Coins, and the like, stick an unwanted middleman in between those two end points. Now instead of simply sending money via PayPal (or your platform of choice) you now have to acquire Internet Disney Dollars, keep track of them in your wallet and send those to whoever.

MyDollars -> FunMoney -> Store

But that's not all! Bank accounts, credit cards, and PayPal all come with some level of gaurantee against fraud and theft. If the bank is a sham and collapses, the FDIC bails you out. If someone steals your Amex, they eat the cost of the unauthorized charges. They'll even thow an extra warranty on top of whatever you buy. That's a value ad. Bit Coin? Oh man, the robberies are most of the fun! (from the sidelines) And the victims are left with nothing, because nobody backs Bit Coins. There is no reserve to reimburse you. You are off the reservation.

Which isn't to say there isn't some good stuff in the tech itself. Block chains might find a niche outside the Itchy & Scratchy Cash games.
 
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arnemetis said:
Good, hopefully they put them out in such a way that they are slightly more efficient for mining per dollar than the regular cards, which would allow those who actually want to play games to purchase them without dealing with inflated prices.
Click to expand...
Why would it affect prices? If a graphics card manufacturer has limited manufacturing capacity, and the bitcoin market is volatile (which it always has been) so they can't count on consistent demand, then how would market fragmentation help you and me? I think it would hurt, if anything.

Also, bitcoin mining is only as difficult as they want it to be, so the better the graphics cards are at mining, the more crunching they'll require. At least, that's how I understand it works as a layman.

I see the obvious incentive for Nvidia and AMD to tap these markets and encourage mining, but I don't see a benefit to us or miners really. If anything, it might even just hurt our used video card market prices. *shrugs*
 
I think most miners know that at any given time the rug might be pulled out from them and they then can sell the 6+ cards they have on the open market.

With cards made specifically for cryptomining there wouldn't be that safety net. Unless you factor that into your RoI, and they are significantly cheaper, I doubt they'll be as popular as their gaming counterparts.

And while its true that I can't go I to a Fry's within 250 miles and find a 570/580 card, there are plenty of Nvidia cards to be had. I don't understand why nvidia is also following this trend unless they're going to make a card that performs better than their gaming counterparts parts. As it stands, in mining terms, you pay a price premium for less performance for Nvidia cards.
 
Hey the black market will always need a currency and one of it's main draws.
 
Shintai said:
Here is the right source VGZ forgot to quote:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20170605PD202.html

Seems to be failed (Display, decoder etc) GPUs without complete testing. Also why the warranty is 90 days. Also it wont be sold in Europe it seems for the same reason and any other country with some kind of consumer protection.

The cards will also be cheaper for the same reason than regular cards.
Click to expand...

Consummer protection. BAH we don't believe in that communist BS he in the World of the Free.
 
jimlite said:
People said that about Paypal years ago, who needs it, I have a Visa or Mastercard. Bitcoin is the new Paypal. It is electronic currency that is accepted anywhere in the world. No need to convert to dollars, yen, francs, loonies, ect. Bitcoin is bitcoin everywhere. And as the value of it grows, so does the cost of equipment to mine it and secure the network. No one can say that this currency that has risen from no one using it and a few cents/coin in 2010 to the world using it and $2800/coin today is a get rich scam. It is a new global form of money, think Star Trek or Star Wars they always say credits or galactic credits, that is their money and bitcoin is the world's money, without any government able to print more and dilute it. 21 Million will be created and that is it, that is what gives it value , unlike Ethereum which has no coin limit and just prints like fiat. I agree that Ethereum is probably a scam/get rich scheme, but it is also a programming language and smart contract platform which is an incredible piece of software.
Click to expand...

Bitcoin can be zero'd at a days notice by pretty much any large government. Bitcoin is primarily supported by illegal activity via money laundering and speculation on that illegal activity. All a government has to do is disallow commercial conversion to/from bitcoin and it dies.
 
aaronspink said:
Bitcoin can be zero'd at a days notice by pretty much any large government. Bitcoin is primarily supported by illegal activity via money laundering and speculation on that illegal activity. All a government has to do is disallow commercial conversion to/from bitcoin and it dies.
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Yes the global Rothschild banking dynasty will, if it isn't already, become threatened by this new uncontrollable currency. Then they will exert their power over superposed democratic countries, like they have done throughout history, commanding their paid for puppets to do their bidding.
Good I say. I welcome the fight. About time. If personally you can not see what this new currency has to offer then in my opinion you are a short sighted sheeple of a person. Status-quo isn't an obligation. It is a decision.
 
aaronspink said:
Bitcoin can be zero'd at a days notice by pretty much any large government. Bitcoin is primarily supported by illegal activity via money laundering and speculation on that illegal activity. All a government has to do is disallow commercial conversion to/from bitcoin and it dies.
Click to expand...

make it illegal and it will go away without a trace, what a novel idea... wonder why we haven't tried that with drugs... hrmm...
 
DracoDan said:
They would have to mark them down a good bit, the miners expect to recover part of the cost when they're done with cards by reselling them as video cards.
Click to expand...


Not the serious miners, they toss em away when they are done or they are not producing, they made enough money they could care less about selling the 10's or hundreds of cards they have gone through.
 
aaronspink said:
Bitcoin can be zero'd at a days notice by pretty much any large government. Bitcoin is primarily supported by illegal activity via money laundering and speculation on that illegal activity. All a government has to do is disallow commercial conversion to/from bitcoin and it dies.
Click to expand...

So explain to me how any government could stop the conversion to/from bitcoin...

Just like any government could stop the exchange of drugs to/for money, as FELCOM noted already....wait, they cant!
 
It's funny, I was just thinking it would be worth doing this... The RX 480 is no longer produced and sold out everywhere, however the RX 580 is a less efficient crypto miner... Why not? There are tens of billions of dollars being poured into the market and it has to be tangibly helping their bottom line.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
It's funny, I was just thinking it would be worth doing this... The RX 480 is no longer produced and sold out everywhere, however the RX 580 is a less efficient crypto miner... Why not? There are tens of billions of dollars being poured into the market and it has to be tangibly helping their bottom line.
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Did you just go crazy Grandpa on us?
 
The problem with coin mining is you never know the future of the coin. Not to mention a lot of a cases where its not profitable anyway due to coin price fluctuations.

Currently Zcash is a trendy thing. Even in DK you can make ~100$ a month on a 1080. But who knows next month.
 
Shintai said:
The problem with coin mining is you never know the future of the coin. Not to mention a lot of a cases where its not profitable anyway due to coin price fluctuations.

Currently Zcash is a trendy thing. Even in DK you can make ~100$ a month on a 1080. But who knows next month.
Click to expand...
Uh Hmm, Sounds like every other form of investing. High risk-high reward, low risk-global slavery. Yup, safe is safe, and pays so well right!
 
FLECOM said:
make it illegal and it will go away without a trace, what a novel idea... wonder why we haven't tried that with drugs... hrmm...
Click to expand...

Bitcoins are not drugs. They are completely ephemeral and derive all their value from the trade to/from global currencies for primarily nefarious uses.

MrGuvernment said:
So explain to me how any government could stop the conversion to/from bitcoin...

Just like any government could stop the exchange of drugs to/for money, as FELCOM noted already....wait, they cant!
Click to expand...

Governments already prevent banking systems from trading in all types of things. The Gov can issue via multiple avenues new rules restricting the trade and/or conversion of bitcoin and all the banks will follow. Its the exact same methods they use to prevent terrorist and criminal organizations from being able to freely use the banking system. Bitcoin relies on its conversion to/from fiat currency for its value. Without that conversion, Bitcoin loses all its value and all of its transfer-ability for goods. Sure, you could still do in person exchanges for cash, but the amount of people willing to do that will be very small and very inconvenient. It basically collapses both the illegitimate and (what little) legitimate markets for bitcoin.
 
I wonder if they will be just using gpu chips that failed testing and are just piling up in the discard bin.
 
I see Microcenter and Best Buy already upped most of the 570 and 580 cars $50 to $75.00.
 
STR said:
Sure, but its not going to happen. Spinning a hamster wheel to fuel the perception of value is a cornerstone of the economy.

It's not about how hard you work. It's not about what you can produce. The market is solely, and has always been solely, about scarcity.

Wanting something that doesn't really exist can cost as much as something real that you need.
Click to expand...
Just because there is demand for something doesn't mean fulfilling that demand is a good thing in the long run for the whole of society. Sure it's beneficial to the few individuals engaged in it. But it doesn't create any viable product or service in return to society.
 
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