Crypto mining is nowadays a huge topic of debate. The number of crypto miners has been increasing ever since the launch of bitcoin in 2009. Crypto mining has received significant backlash from the gaming community in particular. This is because GPU-based mining has disrupted the supply of GPUs in markets. The resulting shortage means no GPUs are available for gamers.
What is Crypto Mining?
Cryptocurrency transactions are added to the blockchain after verification. This verification is done by different nodes on the block. Cryptocurrency miners make up these nodes. These miners verify the transaction upon which the newly mined block is added to the blockchain. This process is called cryptocurrency mining. GPUs and ASIC are hardware mainly used to participate in mining cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum mining.
You can get the best Ethereum miner hardware from Hushuni, a China-based company with many contributions to the crypto mining industry. They are one of the largest suppliers of crypto hardware that provide the best GPU for mining, including ETH Miner, BTC Miner, Arweave Miner, Filecoin Miner, and many other crucial high-powered computers hardware directly from factor to the customers at the most affordable prices.
What is GPU Mining and How to mine Ethereum?
GPU mining is a means of solving complex cryptographic equations using the computational power of a GPU. A GPU Miner is then paid when the transactions are verified and added to the blockchain.
Their architecture of rendering graphics makes them highly specialized in a single task. GPUs are capable of solving complex algorithms faster and in a much more efficient manner. This makes them suitable for mining cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum.
Hash Rates and how they impact mining eth miner
Each block of crypto is verified and added to the blockchain using specific computational power. This computational power translates the rate at which new blocks will be added to the blockchain. Due to their problem-solving capabilities, GPUs are able to produce higher hash rates.
Importance of GPU Mining And Why can’t CPUs be used for mining?
In its initial phases, mining was done using a CPU using Nakamoto’s original mining software. Soon more and more people started getting into mining. In order to earn higher mining rewards, crypto miners realized they needed higher computational power. These rewards can be calculated by using a GPU mining calculator.
The raw throughput on a GPU is much higher than on a CPU. CPUs and GPUs appear similar; they are both silicon-based microchips mounted to a PCB with heat sinks attached to them. However, due to differences in their microarchitecture, they have fundamental differences which impact their mining performance.
A CPU or a Central Processing Unit is built to manage multiple things rather than one particular thing. Unlike GPUs, all of the computational power of a CPU cannot be directed towards mining. This is why GPUs are preferred over CPUs when it comes to Ethereum mining or any other crypto mining.
Disruption of GPUs in the market due to miners
Several factors have led to the supply of GPUs being disrupted in the markets due to miners. Let’s look at some of the most common factors that caused these shortages.
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#1 The need for increased computational power in order to earn higher rewards
As more miners join the network, the rate of block generation expands. This increases the difficulty of mining a single block of that blockchain. This is the difficulty level of mining a blockchain. As of right now, the network difficulty of Ethereum is 12.67p. Due to this, more hash power is needed by miners in order to break even or increase their GPU mining profitability.
The required hash rate for Ethereum currently stands at 932.27 tH/s. In order to increase hash power and earn higher rewards, miners constantly upgrade their hardware to effectively run Ethereum mining software. Due to this constant up-gradation, the supply of the GPU gets dried up by the miners. This has been one of the main reasons for the shortage of GPUs in the market.
#2 Setting up of mining farms
Mining farms are mega setups in order to mine crypto. These large-scale operations are set up in big warehouses, sourcing cheap electricity to carry out mining operations. Arrays of mining rigs are arranged all over the warehouse. Each of these rigs contains multiple GPUs. To set up these farms, a large number of GPUS is required.
A typical mining farm houses 1000s of GPUs. From China to Iran to the US, mining farms have been set up all over the world. However, it is not as easy to set up a mining farm as it has been in the past. These mega operations of crypto mining have played an important role in disrupting the GPU market in the near past.
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#3 The high GPU mining profitability
Setting up a mining operation requires serious financial commitments. Before the advent of mining, GPUs were mainly used for gaming. It turns out that people tend to invest more when they see profitable returns.
Due to the incentives offered by mining and high GPU mining profitability. miners are willing to spend more to upgrade their setups. Most miners are ready to pay above the markup rate to buy a Graphics card. This sudden influx of demand has led to prices of GPU skyrocketing and supplies being disrupted.
#4 Hoarding on GPUs in order to make a profit
Increased demand for a specific product presents various opportunities. Sellers of GPUs were quick to realize this opportunity and started hoarding GPUs. The shortage of GPUs in the market meant that they could charge significantly higher profits.
A seller who could get their hands on the products before others would further dry up the supply. They would then sell the same product at a much higher price than the MSRP set by the manufacturer.
Since GPU is essential to the GPU mining operations, miners had no choice but to make these expensive purchases in order to maximize their GPU mining profitability. However, there are still some reputable crypto hardware suppliers like Hushuni who are supplying goods to the customer directly from the factory.How the GPU chip shortage magnified these effects?
The recent disturbance in the supply chain recently led to a shortage in the supply of semiconductors and microchips. Both of these parts are used heavily in the production of GPUs. Coupled with the GPU demand at its all-time high, these chip shortages have a key role in the disruption of GPU markets.
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Takeaway
The popularity of GPUs has soared in the last decade. GPUs have more than doubled in prices and are still short in the market. Their increasing use case and their role in mining mean they are likely to continue this growth. However, recent conditions have made it difficult for people to buy the best GPU for mining.
