NVIDIA’s recently announced CMP line of graphics cards dedicated to cryptocurrency mining has been launched since the first quarter of 2021. Graphics cards are made to order, which means orders must be placed before they are shipped to customers, However, a bad luck batch of 300 CMP 30HX graphics cards that went to mining farms in China were seized by the Hong Kong customs authorities.
300 NVIDIA CMP 30HX Cryptocurrency for mining graphics cards seized by Hong Kong customs, destined for mining farms in China
NVIDIA in an attempt to combat the shortage of its video cards for GeForce games announced the line of CMP or Crypto Mining processors. The company also simultaneously tried to limit the hash rate of its latest GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards, although we know how it fared. Still, the NVIDIA CMP line allows cryptocurrencies a direct way to order graphics cards in bulk, which will be used primarily for mining operations.
Now a report has emerged on MyDrivers that Hong Kong customs authorities have seized a total of 300 NVIDIA CMP 30HX graphics cards. Graphics cards are labeled as smuggled units and were supposedly intended for mining farms in China. Note that China still has a ban implemented in several provinces against cryptocurrency mining operations, so that may explain what just happened here, otherwise there is no other logical reason behind the apprehension of such a large amount of GPUs. Chinese miners were also the cause behind severe power cuts in Iran and caused power surges in Inner Mongolia as they tried to circumvent the mining limitations imposed by their own country.
NVIDIA CMP 50HX, 40HX, 30HX with Turing GPUs
The NVIDIA CMP 30HX, 40HX and 50HX are all based on Turing architecture with 12 nm silicon. The 50HX is based on the GPU TU102 GPU-100 and has a card very similar to the PG150 seen on the RTX 2080 Ti. It has 10 GB of memory. The 40HX is based on the TU106-100 GPU and the PG161 card. It has 8 GB of memory. The 30HX is based on the TU116-100 and PG161 boards. It has 6 GB of memory. The 30HX and 40HX were both confirmed by updating the driver. The 50HX and 90HX are expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year.
As for the cards themselves, they appear to be NVIDIA CMP 30X models that feature a standard double slot design and double fan. The boards do not come with screen outlets and have an aluminum fin heatsink that is actively cooled by the fans. The CMP 30HX was recently listed for more than $ 723 in the US, however, it was just a retailer. The direct selling cost of the graphics card will be very low compared to what you would pay for a single unit at a retail store.
| Model | GPU | Edge | Memory | Wattage | Ethereum hash rate | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMP 30HX | TU116-100 | PG161 SKU 90 | 6 GB | 125W | 26 MH / s | March 2021 |
| CMP 40HX | TU106-100 | PG161 SKU 100 | 8GB | 185W | 36 MH / s | March 2021 |
| CMP 50HX | TU102-100 | PG150 SKU 100 | 10 GB | 250W | 45 MH / s | 2nd quarter of 2021 |
| CMP 90HX | GA102-100 | PG132 SKU 100 | 10 GB | 320W | 86 MH / s | May 2021 |
| CMP 220HX? | GA100 – *** | TBA | TBA | TBA | ~ 210 MH / s? | TBA |
News sources: MyDrivers, Videocardz