Graphics cards are still very expensive at the moment, and a drop in prices is not in sight. Now the prices have even become too high for the miners. Now miners are also buying processors, as they can mine currencies with them as well.
Here’s what it’s about: Anyone among you wanting to buy a modern graphics card right now is not having it easy. The prices are sitting at double the suggested retail price, and hardly anyone wants to pay those prices.
Here’s why miners have bought graphics cards: For crypto miners, the prices of graphics cards were almost irrelevant for a long time, as the rates for Bitcoin and Ethereum rose steadily. It was even so profitable, that people bought laptops to mine cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, the prices for graphics cards have risen so much that buying them is no longer worthwhile for miners. Instead, miners have now discovered gaming processors for themselves.
New currency now promises profit with processors
What currency is it about? Currently, it is about the currency “Raptoreum”. This currency uses a specific algorithm to mine the coins. Cryptocurrencies have been under criticism for some time and there are even considerations in some countries to ban cryptocurrencies. In China, mining cryptocurrencies has even been banned now.
This so-called GhostRider algorithm is said to run particularly efficiently on processors with a particularly large L3 cache. The L3 cache is supposed to simplify and accelerate data exchange between the cores. In theory, any processor can be used for mining.
Which processors are specifically involved? Currently, gaming processors from AMD are particularly sought after among the miners.
- The processors with the highest L3 cache sizes are AMD EPYC and Threadripper processors, but those are server or workstation CPUs and are usually very expensive.
- An alternative is represented by the Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 5900X. They have a 64 MB L3 cache and the costs are relatively low.
Even mid-range gaming processors are equipped with a decent L3 cache. The most popular gaming processor, the Ryzen 5 3600, already has a total L3 cache of 32 MB.
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Are processor prices rising now because miners are mining Raptoreum?
What do the prices look like currently? The prices for processors are currently rising slowly but steadily. If the price for a Ryzen 5 3600 was around 180 Euros in August 2021, the prices are now (as of: 15.11.2021) about 220 Euros. And the tendency is for prices to continue rising.
The price trend for the Ryzen 9 5900X is also showing a slight increase. However, here the prices are still somewhat more stable than with the Ryzen 5 3600.
How much does Raptoreum affect the prices? Overall, it is unlikely that the rising interest in Raptoreum will lead to a significant shortage of AMD processors. Because there are still not as many users interested in it as there are in Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Nevertheless, you should keep an eye on the prices for processors. Because once people start hoarding certain products, prices are likely to rise in the long term.
Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded the social network reddit with two other friends in 2005, even believes that cryptocurrencies will be very important for the future of gaming.
Reddit founder believes blockchain will radically change gaming in 2021 – What is that even?
