NVIDIA released their crypto mining processor (CMP) cards as a way for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to stop snagging gaming graphics card stocks. But with prices of CMPs being like this, perhaps these miners would be better off with RTX 3090s.
The flagship NVIDIA CMP card, which is the CMP 170HX, has been spotted on sale for an insane $4400 in Dubai. WCCFTech that a Dubai-based retailer called Vipera is carrying the card.
With that price, the NVIDIA CMP 170HX costs so much more than even the most price-gouged RTX 3090 on the market today. Current eBay prices for 3090s as of this writing are almost all under $3000, with the most expensive tipping the scales at $2900 at most.
A Twitter user who goes by the handle @KOMACHI_ENSAKA spotted the sale price for the card, which seems to be available overseas for now:
According to Vipera, they have a total of 886 units (from a high of 1,427 a few days ago) in stock. But as of this article's publishing, the stocks have likely gone down further.
Crypto mining with a graphics card hasn't hogged headlines recently, but it's still there--and making people a lot of money in the process.
One can see this in the low stocks and still-inflated prices of NVIDIA and AMD's current-generation GPUs, whose recent price drops have noticeably slowed down.
What Kind Of Hardware Is In The NVIDIA CMP 170HX?
For those who are wondering what kind of crypto mining power the NVIDIA CMP 170HX has, the short answer is a lot. And it's got something to do with the hardware.
According to Tom's Hardware, the graphics card is featuring the GA100 chip. This silicon is not found in mainstream RTX cards, but only in the super-expensive A100 GPU, which is used for building data centers.
The GA100 packs a total of 4,480 CUDA Cores, which is a bit less than the original ones on the A100 (which has 6,912). But the mining performance, despite the lower CUDA core count, is still off the charts.
As per WCCFTech, the CMP 170HX can mine at insane speeds of 164 MH/s. This is far beyond the performance of the erstwhile top-end card, the 90HX, which can only manage 86 MH/s.
Should Crypto Miners Buy This Card?
Judging by how the Vipera website claims that stocks are going away fast, it seems like miners are indeed buying it.
That's because for the mining performance (and the insane price), the NVIDIA CMP 170HX has something extremely attractive to miners: a low power draw. Its rated TDP is only 250W, and it's only using one 8-pin power connector.
Compare that to mining with scores of RTX 3090s, and you'll see the massive difference. A single 3090 can consume around 360 watts of power, and produce less than half the MH/s of the 170HX.
It would be far easier to balance power bills and profits with the NVIDIA CMP 170HX with that kind of power draw. That is, if you're fine with paying almost $4500 for a card.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
