By: Captain Obvious (lost.delete@this.in.a.cave), September 23, 2021 11:30 am
Room: Moderated Discussions
James (no.delete@this.thanks.invalid) on September 23, 2021 1:52 am wrote:
> Mark Roulo (nothanks.delete@this.xxx.com) on September 22, 2021 12:37 pm wrote:
> Nvidia, at least, seems to be much happier selling to gamers (and computer manufacturers)
> than miners, to the point that they'll cripple their own chips to make them less attractive
> to miners. They can be fairly sure, after all, that normal users will be back for more in
> a few years' time. They may well have compared the temporary profits they could make (through
> increased prices) to the longterm loss of goodwill, and decided it isn't worth it.
Except that when nvidia wants to "cripple their own chips", they typically do it (like anybody else) in a way that prevents you from unlocking the thing back (virtualization is an exception). Don't tell me miners are going to have any difficulty locating an old driver and installing it.
Back in 2004 nvidia sold the 6800LE. Half the chip was disabled, but could be trivially unlocked into a "real" 6800. Those days are long since gone, although I don't think they've clock locked anything.
Selling boards at MSRP at best buy (or similar) is another story (I'm sure they are taking a profit hit for it), but I bet plenty of them find their way to ebay immediately afterwards.
I guess the other question is just how insatiable is the AI market for nvidia chips? I suspect they are making plenty there, whether or not their highest end chips are any good for mining or not. I'm guessing the HPC market can wait like everybody else, but the AI market is more or less a gold rush.
> Mark Roulo (nothanks.delete@this.xxx.com) on September 22, 2021 12:37 pm wrote:
> Nvidia, at least, seems to be much happier selling to gamers (and computer manufacturers)
> than miners, to the point that they'll cripple their own chips to make them less attractive
> to miners. They can be fairly sure, after all, that normal users will be back for more in
> a few years' time. They may well have compared the temporary profits they could make (through
> increased prices) to the longterm loss of goodwill, and decided it isn't worth it.
Except that when nvidia wants to "cripple their own chips", they typically do it (like anybody else) in a way that prevents you from unlocking the thing back (virtualization is an exception). Don't tell me miners are going to have any difficulty locating an old driver and installing it.
Back in 2004 nvidia sold the 6800LE. Half the chip was disabled, but could be trivially unlocked into a "real" 6800. Those days are long since gone, although I don't think they've clock locked anything.
Selling boards at MSRP at best buy (or similar) is another story (I'm sure they are taking a profit hit for it), but I bet plenty of them find their way to ebay immediately afterwards.
I guess the other question is just how insatiable is the AI market for nvidia chips? I suspect they are making plenty there, whether or not their highest end chips are any good for mining or not. I'm guessing the HPC market can wait like everybody else, but the AI market is more or less a gold rush.
