GPU mining became a hot topic in the genesis of the crypto sector and it still continues to power the majority of Proof-of-Work blockchains. One of the leaders in GPU development, NVIDIA is rumored to launch its most-powerful dedicated GPU for professional mining – the CMP 220HX.
The new chip, however, may be powered by NVIDIA’s Ampere A100 flagship GPU, which is rumored to be over 100% more efficient than its predecessor, the CMP 90HX.
One of the main differences between the rumored card and other GPUs for mining is in the specifications. For now, NVIDIA didn’t provide any specifications or performance numbers, but if rumors turn out to be true, NVIDIA’s mining card would have 40 or 80 gigabytes of RAM, depending on the configuration. Тhe calculated income per chip is around $17 per day, which is almost double from the current GPU leader - the NVIDIA’s newly-announced RTX 3090 card, which makes around $11 daily. If tuned, the A100s could have the capacity to overcome the $20 income per day.
However, the Ampere A100 architecture allows for daisy-chaining GPUs, which would be targeted directly towards current miners looking to upgrade their systems. But its price is steep, starting at around $11,000 per GPU, while the RTX 3090 has an MSRP of $1,499 and a retail price of around $3,000.
Given today’s price rates and Ethereum mining rewards, it can take as much as two years to break even from such an investment. NVIDIA may undertake another route – basically that could be stripping down the A100 chip and leaving only the mining-specific features. For instance, the 220HX may be left with a single HMB2 die per stack, which would equal 5GB of memory, but without sacrificing the 5120-bit bus interface. Also, the power rating of the A100 chip compared to the A120 is lower – sitting at 250w versus the 350w power consumption of the CMP 90HX. The drop in power would lead to better thermal efficiency and higher hash-rate capabilities. The price for the stripped-down version of the A100 HPC chip is rumored to be around the $3,000 price mark.
Source: Wccftech
Meanwhile, the stripping-down of A100 chips may also be beneficial for NVIDIA, as this way the company may repurpose scrapped chips and cut down operational costs.
However, with no confirmed information from the GPU giant, the future of the 220HX still remains a rumour.