Interesting. As poorly as Crypto Currencies have been doing lately I wouldn't have expected to see new mining specific cards being released. I guess if doubling the memory from 8 gb to 16 gb makes a significant difference for Grin this could a relatively simple way to corner a small niche market.
I have a friend that just got into mining a few months back and he said when he started it was pretty bad as in a low return rate. He has since said his return rate has gotten much better and that what he is mining is doing a lot better now than it was. My own thoughts were when he said this was OMG not again please please please do not make mining into the circus it was when we could not find a graphics card any where and of you did they were like 150%-200% priced over their value. All I did was nob my head say hey good for you I'm happy you are showing some profit form those cards you bought to mine with.
It's actually not as bad as some of you guys are thinking.. I mine on my gaming rig even now. Not looking to make millions off of it (although.. that would be nice) but it has afforded me the opportunity to have a better overall gaming system then I'd normally have purchased. I get the hate on due to low hardware availability and overpricing .. I do.. but gamers in general should be taking advantage of their systems when not in use.
We did this back in the day with folding @ home and competitive benchmarking.. except now? You have a chance to have your system paid for and game as well. Wth is not love about that?
They're only doing 'poorly' relative to a transient peak. They're still doing about well as before that peak, and mining specific cards were in demand and profitable then too. No reason that would no longer be the case.
Product development cycles are long; stuff that was already a decent way in progress kept going hoping the slump would be brief. But even with the ponzi coin market swirling deeper down the toilet getting something back by launching the product after it's finished still has a better return than just dumping the idea completely unsold.
The crypto market is still alive. If there's demand, it's reasonable to fulfill it. GPU makers have only benefitted from crypto. I'd prefer that nobody encouraged mining, but I do think that this card will bring Sapphire some money.
Gosh, this site has turned into a monster. Auto playing ads, ads in the header, ads in the footer, ads everywhere. I'm sure soon enough I won't be able to find the content I came for.
Just did a quick network profile, it takes 200+ requests to load the site from a cold start. This takes time (and I'm on 100mbps fiber). And some times a script won't load at all, stalling the whole page.
This is atrocious.
I'm sure lots of people would gladly subscribe for a paid version of the site without all this crap, but there's no such option. Instead we have a rudimentary comment section and tons of ads. Just wonderful.
Wanted to comment on the article but here we are, doesn't matter any more. /rant
I haven't seen an ad on this site other than the idiotic "from the web" static ads in years. I would be willing to pay a nominal annual subscription for this site as I do with Ars.
"Wanted to comment on the article but here we are, doesn't matter any more."
All comments matter.=)
The ad situation is up to our publisher, Future. But user feedback is very valuable, as it's something I can take to Future when having these kinds of discussions.
The ad situation is horrible. There has been a few times where the ads were infected. I've been visiting this site for years and would gladly pay a subscription.
On a fun note, adding ads increases the likelyhood of users adopting to use an adblocker for your site. So if you can't get them to drop ads, perhaps suggest they add some more? Like 10x? This will drive up the adblocker adoption rate and improve the overall user experience :)
I second sorten and Manch. The situation is horrible, especially considering that other sites have had fair and useful subscription models since years now.
I think it's imperative to bring this topic up, the site just makes a bad impression right now. If I weren't reading anandtech for years I'd consider it just another cheap tech outlet with nagging stuff all around.
This reminds me of an article I read on Tom’s Hardware years ago. They had the nerve to publish an article calling readers who use Adblock thieves. Their ads were obtrusive and in-your-face kind, much worse than ads on AT. Browsing TH on mobile devices was almost impossible. And that was the last time I visit TH after being their loyal reader for years.
If a website wants to make money to keep on going, they should have visitors pay for subscription or have limited number of ad banners. Header and footer ads are acceptable. Not the hijacking, malicious, power hungry ads TH have on their site. They are the thieves for slowing down my device, consume my precious battery power, stealing my screen estate and my time with their obnoxious ads.
If you think the ads are too much, there’s an adblocker called 1Blocker for all non-jail broken iOS devices on AppStore. For Android, just root and install Adaway and everyone knows Adblock Plus for PC.
On Android, I just shut down javascript in the stock browser most of the time anyway which has the side effect of shutting down just about every modern attempt at delivering advertising content and blocks a lot of the other nasty stuff that lurks in most websites. Anandtech takes far too long to load on my little old quad core phone with js enabled anyhow.
As for Tom's Hardware, I sympathize. I started using THG back in the days when Tom Pabst was still running the site (around 1999 for my readership IIRC) but advertising was what drove me away. I've been spreading my tech news reading out among other sites aside from Anandtech following the auto play video business in an attempt to find a new default tech news source. It doesn't matter that it can be blocked or not. I'd rather spend my time on a site that exercises prudence when it comes to advertising as that is now just as important as the journalism and content.
How did they double the memory for the part? Did they just happen to have DRAM that's twice as dense? Since the memory bus is fixed, that's the only thing that would make sense. Unless they increased the number of devices and it was already designed with an addressing bit for multiple ranks. Seems like it would be low volume and high enough labor that just buying a more expensive (highend) card would be cheaper.
GDDR5 includes a feature called clamshell mode. Essentially each chip is put into 16-bit mode and shares a 32-bit memory channel. This doesn't improve performance at all (there's no additional memory bandwidth), but it does double capacity.
At least it has a HDMI port on it. There were some mining cards that had no video outputs, making them almost completely useless for anything except mining.
Although 16GB of VRAM paired up with a 570 isn't a very cost-effective option, the card isn't festooned with RGB and non-utilitarian bits and pieces. The fact that it has a video out of some sort means it might be practical for single monitor computers regardless of its intended role. If coin mining comes off the table, an owner might be able to retain some value either through resale or reutilization. Those GPUs that are built for mining and lack any video outs may not have as much appeal since their futures are limited to GPU compute tasks.
Used for stuff other than mining I can't see it being more appealing than a used RX 580, but as you say for someone who buys one for mining, the use retention later is kinda handy, ditto if it then ends up on the used market. Have you seen LTT's video about their trying to get a mining NVIDIA card working that doesn't have outputs? It's shocking how many thousands of otherwise perfectly viable GPUs are being thrown away just because they lack outputs, and NVIDIA gimps the drivers (LTT found a way to get it to work, but it's tricky, and not a method they recommend).
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kpb321 - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Interesting. As poorly as Crypto Currencies have been doing lately I wouldn't have expected to see new mining specific cards being released. I guess if doubling the memory from 8 gb to 16 gb makes a significant difference for Grin this could a relatively simple way to corner a small niche market.rocky12345 - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
I have a friend that just got into mining a few months back and he said when he started it was pretty bad as in a low return rate. He has since said his return rate has gotten much better and that what he is mining is doing a lot better now than it was. My own thoughts were when he said this was OMG not again please please please do not make mining into the circus it was when we could not find a graphics card any where and of you did they were like 150%-200% priced over their value. All I did was nob my head say hey good for you I'm happy you are showing some profit form those cards you bought to mine with.drexnx - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
nothing's profitable for gpus anymore, not unless (until?) coin prices come back up will it be worth doing.unless you don't pay for electricity, that is
Samus - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
In colder climates like here in Chicago, mining is all the rave during the winter months November-May. People heat their homes :Pjust4U - Friday, January 25, 2019 - link
It's actually not as bad as some of you guys are thinking.. I mine on my gaming rig even now. Not looking to make millions off of it (although.. that would be nice) but it has afforded me the opportunity to have a better overall gaming system then I'd normally have purchased. I get the hate on due to low hardware availability and overpricing .. I do.. but gamers in general should be taking advantage of their systems when not in use.We did this back in the day with folding @ home and competitive benchmarking.. except now? You have a chance to have your system paid for and game as well. Wth is not love about that?
OolonCaluphid - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link
>but gamers in general should be taking advantage of their systems when not in use.I take it you don't pay the electricity bills then?
you cannot turn profit now, if you pay market rates for energy.
edzieba - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
They're only doing 'poorly' relative to a transient peak. They're still doing about well as before that peak, and mining specific cards were in demand and profitable then too. No reason that would no longer be the case.boozed - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
I love that these companies are *still* pumping out scamcoin-oriented hardware long after the Titanic has sailed. Brings a tear to my eye.DanNeely - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Product development cycles are long; stuff that was already a decent way in progress kept going hoping the slump would be brief. But even with the ponzi coin market swirling deeper down the toilet getting something back by launching the product after it's finished still has a better return than just dumping the idea completely unsold.boozed - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
You'd think it would be better to simply can the product than to continue throwing money into a black hole...ET - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
The crypto market is still alive. If there's demand, it's reasonable to fulfill it. GPU makers have only benefitted from crypto. I'd prefer that nobody encouraged mining, but I do think that this card will bring Sapphire some money.npp - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Gosh, this site has turned into a monster. Auto playing ads, ads in the header, ads in the footer, ads everywhere. I'm sure soon enough I won't be able to find the content I came for.Just did a quick network profile, it takes 200+ requests to load the site from a cold start. This takes time (and I'm on 100mbps fiber). And some times a script won't load at all, stalling the whole page.
This is atrocious.
I'm sure lots of people would gladly subscribe for a paid version of the site without all this crap, but there's no such option. Instead we have a rudimentary comment section and tons of ads. Just wonderful.
Wanted to comment on the article but here we are, doesn't matter any more. /rant
olafgarten - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Sites like this are why I still need an Adblocker.sorten - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
I haven't seen an ad on this site other than the idiotic "from the web" static ads in years. I would be willing to pay a nominal annual subscription for this site as I do with Ars.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
"Wanted to comment on the article but here we are, doesn't matter any more."All comments matter.=)
The ad situation is up to our publisher, Future. But user feedback is very valuable, as it's something I can take to Future when having these kinds of discussions.
Manch - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
The ad situation is horrible. There has been a few times where the ads were infected. I've been visiting this site for years and would gladly pay a subscription.igavus - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
On a fun note, adding ads increases the likelyhood of users adopting to use an adblocker for your site. So if you can't get them to drop ads, perhaps suggest they add some more? Like 10x? This will drive up the adblocker adoption rate and improve the overall user experience :)npp - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
I second sorten and Manch. The situation is horrible, especially considering that other sites have had fair and useful subscription models since years now.I think it's imperative to bring this topic up, the site just makes a bad impression right now. If I weren't reading anandtech for years I'd consider it just another cheap tech outlet with nagging stuff all around.
ET - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
Just remove the autoplaying video in the middle of each page and I'm good. I don't mind having ads to support a site, but that one is a real bother.sonny73n - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
This reminds me of an article I read on Tom’s Hardware years ago. They had the nerve to publish an article calling readers who use Adblock thieves. Their ads were obtrusive and in-your-face kind, much worse than ads on AT. Browsing TH on mobile devices was almost impossible. And that was the last time I visit TH after being their loyal reader for years.If a website wants to make money to keep on going, they should have visitors pay for subscription or have limited number of ad banners. Header and footer ads are acceptable. Not the hijacking, malicious, power hungry ads TH have on their site. They are the thieves for slowing down my device, consume my precious battery power, stealing my screen estate and my time with their obnoxious ads.
If you think the ads are too much, there’s an adblocker called 1Blocker for all non-jail broken iOS devices on AppStore. For Android, just root and install Adaway and everyone knows Adblock Plus for PC.
PeachNCream - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
On Android, I just shut down javascript in the stock browser most of the time anyway which has the side effect of shutting down just about every modern attempt at delivering advertising content and blocks a lot of the other nasty stuff that lurks in most websites. Anandtech takes far too long to load on my little old quad core phone with js enabled anyhow.As for Tom's Hardware, I sympathize. I started using THG back in the days when Tom Pabst was still running the site (around 1999 for my readership IIRC) but advertising was what drove me away. I've been spreading my tech news reading out among other sites aside from Anandtech following the auto play video business in an attempt to find a new default tech news source. It doesn't matter that it can be blocked or not. I'd rather spend my time on a site that exercises prudence when it comes to advertising as that is now just as important as the journalism and content.
webdoctors - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
How did they double the memory for the part? Did they just happen to have DRAM that's twice as dense? Since the memory bus is fixed, that's the only thing that would make sense. Unless they increased the number of devices and it was already designed with an addressing bit for multiple ranks. Seems like it would be low volume and high enough labor that just buying a more expensive (highend) card would be cheaper.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
GDDR5 includes a feature called clamshell mode. Essentially each chip is put into 16-bit mode and shares a 32-bit memory channel. This doesn't improve performance at all (there's no additional memory bandwidth), but it does double capacity.Danvelopment - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell Grin is (aside from being a scam/cryptocurrency)?Or is everyone just ignoring that elephant in the room?
Alexvrb - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
I've learned to just Grin and bear it.Jorgp2 - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Could this possibly be flashed to a FirePro card?Lord of the Bored - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
Oh goddammit, I thought we were done with the buttcoin idiocy for a while!nfriedly - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
At least it has a HDMI port on it. There were some mining cards that had no video outputs, making them almost completely useless for anything except mining.zodiacfml - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
interesting. i guess, mining is picking up for some with cheap electricity as the mining difficulty has droppedPeachNCream - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
Although 16GB of VRAM paired up with a 570 isn't a very cost-effective option, the card isn't festooned with RGB and non-utilitarian bits and pieces. The fact that it has a video out of some sort means it might be practical for single monitor computers regardless of its intended role. If coin mining comes off the table, an owner might be able to retain some value either through resale or reutilization. Those GPUs that are built for mining and lack any video outs may not have as much appeal since their futures are limited to GPU compute tasks.mapesdhs - Monday, January 28, 2019 - link
Used for stuff other than mining I can't see it being more appealing than a used RX 580, but as you say for someone who buys one for mining, the use retention later is kinda handy, ditto if it then ends up on the used market. Have you seen LTT's video about their trying to get a mining NVIDIA card working that doesn't have outputs? It's shocking how many thousands of otherwise perfectly viable GPUs are being thrown away just because they lack outputs, and NVIDIA gimps the drivers (LTT found a way to get it to work, but it's tricky, and not a method they recommend).