Question FPGA mining may make GPU mining obsolete.

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126

Red Fox Crypto demos an FPGA mining card on ETH. Super-efficient!

BTW, AMD now owns Xilinx, an FPGA maker. So perhaps GPUs in the future, will have an FPGA block that can be used for mining, in conjunction with the GPU VRAM.
 

Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,617
5,363
136
Last edited:

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
8,686
3,785
136

Red Fox Crypto demos an FPGA mining card on ETH. Super-efficient!

They are perf/watt efficient but probably a dog in terms of perf/$ efficient. Probably cost $2500 USD.

Also running nothing but Eth makes it even worse. GPUs have resale value, and you can be gentle enough to make it last years even after mining for a year or two. FPGAs are going to be a $2500 brick.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ozzy702

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
They are perf/watt efficient but probably a dog in terms of perf/$ efficient. Probably cost $2500 USD.

Also running nothing but Eth makes it even worse. GPUs have resale value, and you can be gentle enough to make it last years even after mining for a year or two. FPGAs are going to be a $2500 brick.
:rolleyes:

Someone doesn't seem to know what an FPGA is. It's not locked in functionality like an ASIC, so no, it won't be a "brick".
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: scineram and Leeea

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
8,686
3,785
136
:rolleyes:

Someone doesn't seem to know what an FPGA is. It's not locked in functionality like an ASIC, so no, it won't be a "brick".

It might as well be, unless they make the update so user friendly that it's just like installing a driver.

Also I've NEVER seen a dedicated mining device cheaper than just buying a GPU.

The Eth team did a pretty good job in holding back such devices from taking much traction.
 
Last edited:

Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,617
5,363
136
They are perf/watt efficient but probably a dog in terms of perf/$ efficient. Probably cost $2500 USD.

Also running nothing but Eth makes it even worse. GPUs have resale value, and you can be gentle enough to make it last years even after mining for a year or two. FPGAs are going to be a $2500 brick.
I linked the buy it now page above. $1293 per board.

It might as well be, unless they make the update so user friendly that it's just like installing a driver.

Also I've NEVER seen a dedicated mining device cheaper than just buying a GPU.

The Eth team did a pretty good job in holding back such devices from taking much traction.
Um, no.

Watch the video, the guys mining OS recognized it immediately, he had no problems at all getting it to work.

Literally easier then installing a driver.
 

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
8,686
3,785
136
I linked the buy it now page above. $1293 per board.

Wow, an actually affordable Ethereum non-GPU miner. On the eve of PoS release.

Watch the video, the guys mining OS recognized it immediately, he had no problems at all getting it to work.

Literally easier then installing a driver.

This is in reference to if they update it to work on other coins than Ethereum.
 

Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,617
5,363
136
What's stopping AMD from mining ETH using a whole data center of these FPGAs?
Could not help but notice the 5-6 week lead time on ordering these boards.

Looks like they are manufactured on demand. Seems AMD is a bit bear-ish about the long term prospect of cryptocurrency.


Betting a 182 billion dollar company on crypto seems like a bad idea.


Better off letting miners take the risk, reward, and negative publicity.


Who made more money in the gold rush, the guy mining the mine, or the guy selling the mining tools?
Thomas Larkin, a San Francisco based equipment supplier, died the richest man in America in 1858.
 
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: igor_kavinski

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,400
2,437
146
Interesting. Could work well for other ethash based coins in the future, as well as ETC, even if it has trouble with other algorithms. Remember, forks are possible. But if it can run other algos, even better. Or could it do compute work in general?
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,400
2,437
146
50MH at ~150w doesn't seem that good does it?
An old Vega 64 can get close to that IIRC.
5700 series cards can do that at under 100W. I wonder about how much they are going for these days. I guess, or at least last I checked, was around $900 to $1100.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,783
7,117
136
Looks like global instability driving up energy prices might make coin mining obsolete even sooner than any technical solution.

I know this isn't P&N but Russia's invasion of Ukrane is driving down coin prices. Looks like we saw a pretty big drop yesterday and a dead cat bounce today...
 

RnR_au

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2021
1,706
4,154
106
I found it weird that crypto prices dropped on the invasion. I thought it should have risen given its 'digital gold' status amongst its supporters ie a safe habour during troubled times.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,783
7,117
136
I found it weird that crypto prices dropped on the invasion. I thought it should have risen given its 'digital gold' status amongst its supporters ie a safe habour during troubled times.

-Folks might be pulling out of crypto in anticipation of buying a monster "dip" in the stock market.

Market has been skying for a while, most folks know growth was going to either be slow or steady or we're ready for a correction. Crypto was the place to go to get rich quick.

Now that the market has entered correction territory, might be smarter to take crypto gains and put them there, assumption being either the war in Ukraine resolves and things stabilize and market goes up again, or none of it matters everything goes pear shaped and nuclear Holocaust.