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Semiconductor shortages and crypto mining make graphics cards more expensive

Semiconductor shortages and crypto mining make graphics cards more expensive

These two industries share a common point, the need for specialized equipment and components with higher processing capacity. Components such as motherboards, processors, power supplies, RAM memories and coolers are basic components needed by those looking to build a computer for whatever purpose, gaming or mining.

However, the dispute comes hand in hand with the graphics cards. A resource that has become scarce, valued and expensive.

Using graphics cards in the gaming world

For gamers, video cards represent the display of detailed graphics, increased resolution and textures. The casual gamer seeks to enhance their visual and rendering experience. Taking full advantage of the fluidity of the image and every detail. For more specialized players or looking to become professional, this equipment also allows you to improve your performance by increasing the number of frames per second (FPS), the range of vision and of course enjoying the visual, to perform better and be more competitive.

In comparison, while for gaming it is a tool that seeks to improve the experience, for mining graphics cards are the base. Especially in recent years due to the way in which the main currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum are mined, since they require a processing capacity called “hash”.

For this mining task, computers called ASICs used to be used, which were programmed to solve the algorithm of each coin. That is, a bitcoin ASIC can only mine Bitcoin. This brought different problems, due to its cost and dedication, only certain people or companies could access the equipment and the volume of cryptocurrencies began to be centralized in certain hands, which could contradict the principle of joint validation of the blockchain, and that, if it was sought to change the way of processing, the ASIC became obsolete.

Semiconductor shortages and crypto mining make it more expensive graphics cards

This changed in recent years and it was noted that graphics cards could solve this volume of computations efficiently without the need to buy an ASIC, more dynamically, conforming to new protocols, and while not mining with the same efficiency, they have advantages of convenience of purchase, scope and assembly.

This has accelerated manufacturers' race to have the most powerful, fastest and most efficient graphics card on the market. Today we see launches of NVIDIA, ZOTAC, Gigabyte or Intel at the production level with which processors or CPUs were announced in the past.

In this fight for cards, as in all products that are in short supply, there has been a considerable rise in prices. Therefore, at the beginning of 2022 it is not uncommon to see standard processing graphics cards in Mexico for around 20,000 Mexican pesos, while the most efficient ones can exceed 100,000.

Resale and speculation have also become a common practice, and used cards are found on eBay or Mercadolibre at prices above 50,000 pesos, with no guarantee of how used they have been or how long they have been working.

This difference in use has discouraged some gamers who want to start building a computer, since while they seek to improve their experience, for miners it is a business model that, even with high prices, is profitable. While some think about what will be the best card to increase performance, the miner thinks about how much he can invest and how much he can earn. “How much will these 8 graphics cards make me in a year?”

Cryptocurrencies are looking for simpler protocols and formats that are more environmentally friendly and diversify among crypto holders. In particular, this paradigm seems to change with Ethereum 2.0, which promises to change the mining rules in favor of users and taking energy consumption into account.

Meanwhile, the fight for graphics cards between miners and gamers will continue, as well as prices and shortages, which have no end date yet.

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