Cryptocurrency has been on the rise lately, given the continued growth of Etherium, with gaming GPUs like the GeForce RTX 3080 now being used for cryptocurrency mining. And now reports are circulating that Nvidia may be creating a new, extremely powerful Crypto Mining Processor (CMP) based on the Ampere A100 GPU, the first Ampere-based model designed solely for computing tasks and not gaming.
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Nvidia won't stop providing hardware to mining enthusiasts, having recently announced an upcoming new CMP series, although these cards will be based on the older Turing.
This rumored information was first provided by Twitter user Kopite7kimi, who has provided reliable leaks in the past. He claims that Nvidia will introduce a fifth CMP HX model with the said GPU and that the A100 is a “mining monster,” though he did not share hash rates or mining performance figures to support his claims.
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The lack of evidence doesn't mean we should dismiss Kopite's claims, although as with all unfounded rumors we can't be completely sure they will come true.
However, this is not something that is unlikely, as Nvidia has previously attempted to push mining enthusiasts away from its gaming GPUs, having drastically limited the cryptocurrency mining capabilities of graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 3060. As all currently confirmed CMP cards are still based on the Turning architecture, some miners may still feel compelled to buy powerful cards like the GeForce RTX 3090.
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The RTX 3090 can achieve an average mining performance of 115-120 MH/s on 1ethereum using the Daggerhashimotto algorithm, while the current fastest HX CMP GPU to be officially announced is the 90HX with a mining performance of 86 MH/s. Any CMP built using the A100 architecture will likely dominate the numbers of any existing product available, but there are concerns about its availability and price. If these dedicated mining cards are unaffordable (or unavailable due to low inventory), then it would make sense for miners to stock up on existing gaming GPUs that offer better performance.
