NVIDIA and AMD are looking to design a GPU that could be used for cryptocurrency mining. According to CNBC, product listings or AMD- and NVIDIA-based cryptocurrency mining cards were recently sighted on the website of ASUS, a leading maker of graphics cards.
Powerful cards for cryptocurrency mining
Ethereum is one cryptocurrency that is really growing big and is on the verge of surpassing bitcoin in market cap, notes HotHardware. For now, there are many enterprising consumers who use gaming graphics cards to increase the hash rate for ethereum mining. To meet the demand, manufacturers are upgrading their hardware to excel in the competitive market and give miners just what they need. ASUS is the latest to join the list of these manufacturers.
At ASUS, manufacturing of the cryptocurrency mining video cards are in the works, where the AMD-based Mining Rx 470 and NVIDIA-based Mining P106 cards are running on off-the-shelf GPUs but are being upgraded to run around the clock. Both boards are equipped with special dual ball bearing fans that assist in the smooth running of the machine and are more dust resistant, notes Engadget.
These cards specifically designed for cryptocurrency mining reportedly come with heatsinks, a common term in gaming-oriented chips. These cards are clocked taking a cue from the reference clock speeds and are capable of supporting card mining smoothly around the clock, notes PC Perspective.
As of now, there is no word from ASUS on whether it is making an iteration of the RX 470 variant. However, the company does not shy away from claiming that irs P106 is approximately 36% faster when set against unoptimized cards in churning through cryptocurrency hashes.
Cryptocurrency is a growing economy
Cryptocurrency mining is growing popular, and the key to success is getting the ratios right. Those mining the cryptocurrency would be at a loss if the cost of running the PC is higher than that of the money received from the currency mining. Therefore, it becomes all the more important to use the right graphics cards. Equally sad is the case of those who look to mine cryptocurrency through smartphones.
ASUS has rightly identified the immense potential in cryptocurrency mining. Therefore, it has decided to come up with graphics cards which are specifically designed to give a smooth experience and lower the cost of mining for cryptocurrency miners.
As of now, neither NVIDIA nor AMD have confirmed the existence of the cards or if companies other than ASUS are making such cards. Companies are set to benefit a lot if they wish to join the cryptocurrency mining industry, as it would offer them a large and growing customer base requiring frequent upgrades.
Meanwhile, both NVIDIA and AMD shares took a dip this week, and experts are largely attributing the fall to the cryptocurrency drop, notes The Street. Ethereum tumbled almost 20% over the past few days, and a similar fall was seen in bitcoin. Now that we have seen that cryptocurrencies have a significant effect on these graphics card companies, it will be interesting to see how far they can establish themselves in the cryptocurrency market.
