It is uncertain whether players will look angrily at mining rigs like this again in the case of the RTX 4000 and RX 7000.
In order to digitally mine the Ethereum cryptocurrency, you need a lot of computing power, which gaming graphics cards also offer. That should have changed long ago due to a new system behind it, but now this change to version 2.0 has been postponed again. More precisely, it is about the change from the computationally intensive Proof-of-Work
-Method to Proof-of-Stake
-Procedure.
We already reported on the exact background more than a year ago. According to a recent tweet by Ethereum developer Tim Beiko, the changeover will not take place in June as last planned, but a few months later – and thus possibly only after the release of the new GPU generations from Nvidia (RTX 4000) and AMD (RX 7000 ), which are expected at the end of 2022.
link to Twitter content
Exact dates and impact uncertain
the statement It won’t be June, but probably a few months later
from the tweet above leaves quite a long period of time open for the final implementation of the process change in Ethereum 2.0. The fact that it has already been postponed more than once does not necessarily give hope for it to take place as early as possible.
In the course of which there is already fears about negative effects on the prices of graphics cards. Lately they had been moving down bit by bit. At the same time, it is difficult to estimate to what extent a delayed switch to Ethereum 2.0 will also affect the costs of the coming graphics card generations from AMD and Nvidia.
In addition to the still unanswered question of the exact timing of the change and the release of the RTX 4000 and RX 7000, how well these new models are suitable for mining plays a major role. If this is the case to a large extent – for example due to particularly fast video memory, which is very important in mining – AMD and Nvidia could still take other countermeasures.
What are AMD and Nvidia doing against mining?
Mining lock with a difference: The RX 6500 XT is hardly suitable for mining Ethereum due to its small amount of VRAM.
There are still no official statements about the new GPU generations and their suitability for mining. However, it can be assumed that Nvidia will also offer its graphics cards in the new RTX 4000 generation as an LHR variant (LHR stands for Light Hash Rate
) with reduced mining performance. As in the current RTX 3000 generation, the decisive factor is how easily and largely these locks can be levered out.
AMD has not taken any comparable measures so far, the only exception being the RX 6500 XT. According to the manufacturer, it deliberately only has 4.0 GB of VRAM because it is significantly less suitable for mining than models with more VRAM. Such a step is only possible for entry-level models. At the same time, we do not expect a mining ban for the faster GPUs of the RX 7000 generation.
You can also find out what to expect from the new graphics cards in terms of performance, efficiency and prices in our large hardware podcast on gaming GPUs 2022:
link to Podcast Content
No end to the crypto boom in sight
If the manufacturers do not provide sufficient remedy, this could alternatively also be done by significantly falling prices. In the case of Ethereum, however, there are currently no clear signs of a permanent price decline.
Compared to the all-time high of just over 4,000 dollars at the end of 2021, the value initially fell sharply to around 2,100 dollars at the beginning of 2022. At the moment, however, we are again more in the area of the 3,000 euro mark.
It remains exciting to see how the courses will develop until the change to Ethereum 2.0, which has been postponed several times, and especially afterwards – and when this change will finally come.
How do you assess the situation? Would it be important for better prices for the new graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia to switch to Ethereum 2.0 as quickly as possible, does that not matter so much or is it impossible to predict? Feel free to write it in the comments!
