Re:Nvidia cripples cryptocurrency mining on RTX 3080 and 307...
by mrgordon on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @04:58PM
(#27201010)
The issue is the resale value for actual working GPUs is higher so the miners will often buy the normal cards anyway
Re:Nvidia cripples cryptocurrency mining on RTX 3080 and 307...
by banana_giraffe on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @05:00PM
(#27201048)
My understanding is there is a concern that cryptocurrency miners are buying GPUs, using them for a few weeks to determine which ones they can overclock, and selling the ones they can't (and have probably limited the life of in the process) since you can probably sell a 30 series GPU for more than you got it for, even if you're upfront about it being used.
All of that isn't possible with the mining-focused line, so Nvidia feels they need other tools to help convince the cryptocurrency miners to move over, hence the block.
So either the mining cards will be cheaper than regular, which makes this block a moot point in near future, or they will be more expensive per hash than normal graphic cards. In which case the block makes sense but in my opinion is a bad move by Nvidia. Making the mining cards more expensive than regular cards is throwing a gauntlet to the whole world to break the drivers or workaround the hardware. It will be fascinating to watch the cat-and-mouse game of hackers and Nvidia developers, but it will not fix the horrible GPU market situation we're in now and that is a shame.
Disclaimer: I want to buy a new GPU soon but for the MSRP and not the price equivalent of a small car. So I may be biased...