Cryptocurrencies have taken over for now and this has diverted all consumer cards to large-scale operations. Did NVIDIA have a solution? Eh … I wouldn’t say it is exactly a solution, but a public relations movement to win the consumer’s heart and mind. Has fighting cryptocurrency mining always been a priority for NVIDIA? We don’t know the answer for sure, but it probably wasn’t.
What does a cryptocurrency mining boom look like normally? And how does it affect NVIDIA?
Before the current boom, cryptocurrency mining was popular in late 2017 and early 2018, when Bitcoin peaked at $ 20,000. We have learned a lot since that time about how the market looks for graphics cards during and after the boom. The most popular card at the time was the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti with an MSRP of $ 800. We quickly saw what happened to the cards doubling and tripling in price due to the extremely high demand from the miners.
Source: Investopedia
NVIDIA watched the whole thing unfold and stood before the whole situation, but to their surprise, as soon as Bitcoin’s value fell, the entire card market exploded in their faces. NVIDIA planned to launch the RTX 20 series of cards, but these cards were priced higher and did not have sufficient performance gains over the previous generation. For many reports, many saw 1080 Ti as the best card in general. The launch of the 20 series card compared to other launches would be classified as a failure.
The end of the crypto boom caused mining operations to try to sell all of their mining letters. A wave of used 10 series cards has become available on the second-hand market. For anyone building a system, 10 series cards were the best choice because they were priced below the MSRP in the second-hand market. The wave of old cards caused the launch of the 20 series to be overshadowed by a wave of more accessible options from the previous generation, which pleased everyone.
The hash rate limiter is a weak attempt to win over consumers, and the CMP series appears to kill the second-hand GPU market
As described above, the crypto boom a few years ago gave everyone a basis for what another crypto boom would look like, but NVIDIA has also witnessed this. Their response this year was to launch mining cards and limit the mining power of consumer cards. The CMP series and hash rate limiters through VBIOS and software were their solutions. Some people praised it, but they don’t deserve praise. This was just a public relations stunt that hid his true intentions. NVIDIA’s real intentions were not to help consumers and fight the crypto boom. It was to organize the market so that something similar to the RTX 20 series would not happen again. The end of a cryptographic boom always results in cards being sold cheaply in large quantities and this overshadows NVIDIA’s new releases. NVIDIA does not want a saturated market when it launches its new products, so the CMP series was born.
If we look at hash rate limiters, they are simply ineffective and a ploy to please consumers. The hash rate limiter is simply bad. I can’t put it any other way. It only targets Ethereum mining and is still profitable in a number of other cryptocurrencies. CryptoLeo tested the hash rate limiter on 3060 and found that it is only for Ethereum and 3060 is still profitable in many cases and can earn up to $ 6.5 a day. I recognize that developing something to limit all currencies is extremely difficult, so we can appreciate an attempt. The limitation of the hash rate is only limiting the retail consumer who wishes to mine, because large-scale operations will be able to break the limiter.
But, as most millennials will know, if SecuROM can be hacked, almost anything can be.
– Usman Pirzada (@usmanpirzada) February 18, 2021
I can overcome the hash rate limiter as it is very difficult to run successfully. However, I am very angry with the CMP series because, at the end of the day, there is nothing positive about them. I would even say that it is NVIDIA’s anti-consumer behavior. The CMP series will decrease the amount of stock for consumer cards because they use very similar silicon, but the card itself can only be used for mining. Silicon is not finite, but the way it is made makes it increasingly difficult to continue to produce at the same rate.
Why is this bad, you may ask? It is very simple, the current mining boom will end at some point and cards will flood the market. What happens when CMP cards are no longer useful? Players and consumers cannot use CMP cards for anything, so they are either recycled or thrown into a landfill. I must add that this is also bad for the environment, but it is certainly good for NVIDIA’s financial results. Older cards are usually passed on to budget makers, but now they won’t have that option. If the market is not saturated with graphics cards before launch, the product they are launching will perform better. Each card seen in the photos will be sold in the second-hand market at a cheap price so that consumers can buy them. What happens when the rack is full of CMP cards? All the cards end up in a trash can because consumers cannot buy them.
Even the specifications are below average in the CMP data table, which leads us to believe that smaller arrays will lead to more cards. The CMP series is ultimately an economical strategy to kill the resale market and promote the purchase of newer NVIDIA cards at launch. When the crypto boom ends, CMP cards go to waste and fewer used cards flood the market. It’s a win-win situation, but it’s bad for the environment and for the consumer, but does it matter? Absolutely not, Nvidia’s financial results and shareholders will be very happy with their increased returns.
The hash rate limiter and the CMP series come with mixed reactions. Some praise it, while others see it as an economic movement against consumers. Ultimately, it is up to people to decide whether or not they like this NVIDIA decision.