Can an Ethereum miner successfully replace NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 GPUs in cryptomining? Bitmain says yes and introduces the Antminer E9 Ethereum miner .
Chinese mining company Bitmain has released a teaser of its upcoming Antminer E9 Ethereum miner. While it didn’t mention a specific date, the company said that the Antminer E9 will be released very soon.
The Antminer E9 could solve the problems that gamers lately. If cryptominers switch to this new ASIC miner, they might stop buying NVIDIA products, putting an end to the graphics card shortage. This is of course a hypothetical scenario. Furthermore, the shelves won’t magically fill up, as cryptominers aren’t the only cause of the card shortage. However, there could be more inventory on the market.
Learn more: Problems in the gaming laptop market due to… crypto-miners
The Antminer E9 is said to provide Ethereum hash rates of up to 3 GH/s, which is equivalent to mining 32 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (Ampere) graphics cards . If Bitmain delivers on its promise, the Antminer E9 will be the fastest ASIC miner available , even surpassing Linzhi’s Phoenix Ethash ASIC miner which provides up to 2,600 MH/s.
Bitmain hasn’t revealed too many details about the Antminer E9. But some of the little information that has been leaked suggests that the Antminer E9 will not only be faster than the Phoenix miner, but also more energy efficient. The Antminer E9 miner is said to consume 14.8% less energy.
Obviously, an ASIC miner equivalent to 32 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards won’t come cheap. There have been various speculations on Twitter, with some suggesting that the miner could cost upwards of $20,000. Linzhi’s Phoenix miner retails for between $11,300 and $13,700. Even at $30,000, the Antminer E9 could be a very attractive option for mining farms, as GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards start at $2,500 and 32 cards can cost upwards of $80,000.
See also: NVIDIA employee suggests a solution for gaming problems
On the other hand, NVIDIA may not be too happy about the release of such a miner, as its graphics cards are currently in high demand. In the fourth quarter of 2020, a large portion of the company's revenue came from cryptomining-related sales.
See also: Grace CPU: NVIDIA's first data center ARM-based processor
Additionally, Nvidia recently introduced its Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) products that focus on Ethereum mining.
Of course, the Antminer E9 miner won't have a significant impact on Nvidia's cryptomining business unless the Ethereum miner is mass-produced. That will certainly be a challenge given the global shortage of electronic components that is affecting all industries.
Source: Tom's Hardware
