Sizzling on the heels of Nvidia’s unveiling of its personal Cryptocurrency Mining Processors, these Turing-based CMP playing cards, AMD seems to be prefer it’s about to announce its personal Navi-based model. Each little helps they are saying, and so if AMD could make just a little splash within the cryptocurrency ocean by releasing its personal mining-specific GPUs, then we are able to solely hope that may liberate the odd graphics card right here and there for us avid gamers.
The information comes from an AMDGPU kernel driver update announcement (by way of Tom’s Hardware) that listed sure fixes for the Linux surroundings. The ‘Handle new NV12 SKU’ element within the notice refers to a brand new model of the Navi 12 GPU that has up to now solely seen the sunshine of day within the AMD Radeon Professional 5600M (exclusively for Apple) and Radeon Professional V520 playing cards (for professional rendering).
What makes this look like an ideal candidate for a mining-specific launch, nonetheless, is the truth that it’s listed as not having help for VCN (Video Core Subsequent). That makes the cardboard primarily a dumb GPU with no means to output, and a great crypto-mining possibility.
There have been studies in direction of the top of final yr a few equally output-less SKU of the Navi 10 GPU (the facility behind the usual RX 5700 and RX 5600-series playing cards), which all appears to level to a brand new line of previous RDNA 1 chips being repurposed to take among the pressure off the newer RDNA 2 playing cards.
To be honest, the most recent gaming-centric model of the structure does not ship significantly efficient mining silicon, not compared with how efficient one thing just like the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is in relation to gaming body charges. So the place Nvidia dipping into its reserves to floor some Turing chips for its crypto playing cards may very well be seen as a little bit of a slap within the face for the mining neighborhood, AMD’s RDNA 1 GPUs are as efficient as Radeon chips get.
And if it is the identical Navi 12 GPU that the Apple and professional peops acquired out of AMD within the final technology then that may even be the one RDNA 1 chip to come back with HBM (excessive bandwidth reminiscence). Although latency is extra essential than bandwidth for mining Ethereum, and HBM is not nearly as good as GDDR5 on that entrance, in order that may very well be much less impactful than it’d in any other case appear.
With the latest AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT announcement there was zero point out of the pressures that the rise in cryptocurrency mining has had on the supply of graphics playing cards world wide, and the one point out the pink workforce made about inventory points was to recommend that releasing its reference playing cards and the third-party designs on day one could be a repair.
With the launch of a particular mining SKU it might no less than present that it is doing one thing to try to maintain gaming GPUs within the arms of avid gamers. We do not assume, due to the proclivity for Linux inside the mining neighborhood, that AMD is able to do the same sort of Ethereum limiter Nvidia seems to be to be doing on its future GeForce playing cards. Which makes repurposing its previous GPU designs for the trigger virtually all it will possibly do.
Although, in the identical approach that we’re not sure in regards to the efficacy of Nvidia’s CMP push on that entrance, mining particular playing cards are far much less interesting to miners due to the whole lack of any resale worth. That finally ends up making them a final resort for the crypto crew as soon as all the opposite gaming playing cards on provide have already been swallowed up.
