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Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

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Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#111

Post by 5e92cb50239222b »

donkarma wrote: post #86
poisonborz wrote: post #68

> Bitcoin miners rarely use GPUs anymore, but ASICs Seeing the title and the conclusions, how can this be the case? Computationally they're not much behind ASICs per $, are much more broadly available to buy and are easier to sell when needed.

Anyone who buys a GPU second-hand is an idiot. They would have been running at maximum silicon temperature 24/7 with the result of massive wear.

I'd be much more afraid of the GPU chip unsoldering itself from the mainboard (which is what happens usually if the card dies unexpectedly). If it wears out in 20 years instead of the expected 50… well, good riddance.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#112

Post by swalsh »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #103
optimalsolver wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better an AI researcher or scientist get one of these cards than some scumbag miner.

I’d rather a scumbag miner got it than a PoS “scientist” working on facial recognition technology for advertising or governmental use.

I too would rather see cards going to people working on protein folding AI and similar.... but I must admit your use cases are likely the more dominant ones.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#113

Post by wpietri »

benreesman wrote: post #65
optimalsolver wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better an AI researcher or scientist get one of these cards than some scumbag miner.

I’m annoyed as the next guy that my deep-learning rigs are costing 5 figures, but “scumbag” might be a little strong for people who arbitrage NVIDIA’s repeated failures to effectively segment their GPU offering?

It is deeply weird to me that of all the people involved you place the failure on Nvidia here. Regardless, I'm ok with the term "scumbag" for anybody who tries to profit from a negative-sum system.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#114

Post by gruez »

darthrupert wrote: post #98

Does increased demand raise prices?

But that's not the question. It asks whether they're to blame for high GPU prices, which presumes a certain threshold before the criteria is met. If there were a few hundred GPUs bought by miners, and that demand caused GPU prices to climb $10 over MSRP, I doubt that would qualify as them being responsible for "high" prices, even though they did raise it.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#116

Post by 5e92cb50239222b »

benreesman wrote: post #65
optimalsolver wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better an AI researcher or scientist get one of these cards than some scumbag miner.

I’m annoyed as the next guy that my deep-learning rigs are costing 5 figures, but “scumbag” might be a little strong for people who arbitrage NVIDIA’s repeated failures to effectively segment their GPU offering?

But they are. I ranted about this here a few weeks ago, but we're still getting intermittent rolling blackouts because of energy shortages caused by miners moving into the country (we have cheap electricity… for now at least).

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#117

Post by wpietri »

Zigurd wrote: post #80
vlovich123 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This nuance isn’t helpful for this discussion I think. 1.4T of overall cryptocurrency 2.2T is POW (68%). BTC and ETH alone account for 57% of all cryptocurrency market share [1]. Proof of stake is 9% of the overall market. I’m not sure where the other 23% go but I don’t think any one idea has captured a more significant piece. It’s like arguing that saying the energy sector is responsible for CO2 emissions. Like sure…

You have a point for the purpose of calculating the scale of the impact. But it is also true that a significant part of crypto does not drive demand for hardware or electric power. There are proof of stake coins with multibillion dollar valuations that bring a novel combination of smart contracts and other "platform" capabilities and low cost. This is important because these technologies ensure that crypto can surviv…

I have a hard time taking a gesture toward "multibillion dollar valuations" seriously in a realm where market manipulation is rampant.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#118

Post by swalsh »

I guess we'll find out. It's increasingly likely the merge will happen his year. When ETH moves to PoS, mines will likely move to other currencies, or sell their hardware, that said the return for alternative crypto's still on PoW is unlikely to match that of ETH. I would be very surprised if demand from miners is not reduced.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#119

Post by criddell »

CrazyStat wrote: post #21
gambiting wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All cryptocurrencies are the same scam anyway, really don't see the need to differentiate this way.

Some of them artificially inflate the cost of hard drives instead of GPUs, totally not the same!

What's artificial about it?

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#120

Post by neogodless »

atarian wrote: post #101

One of the craziest videos I saw last year was a mob of people rushing a Micro Center to get their hands on a 3080 TI: https://youtu.be/UNcx9JdC9VM?t=239

And those are all LHR cards. So in that specific case they were probably mostly gamers tired of waiting for an upgrade.
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