By: Kester L (nobody.delete@this.nothing.com), September 23, 2021 2:17 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
Captain Obvious (lost.delete@this.in.a.cave) on September 23, 2021 11:30 am wrote:
> 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.
Aren't the GPUs for the datacenter market mostly being fabbed at a separate foundry (TSMC) from the ones being sold for gaming (Samsung)?
> 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.
Aren't the GPUs for the datacenter market mostly being fabbed at a separate foundry (TSMC) from the ones being sold for gaming (Samsung)?
