HAVE A VIDEO YOU WANT TO FEATURE ON OUR PAGE?

Submit Video

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Not now
OK
Advert
Advert
Advert

A Quarter Of GPUs Bought In 2021 Were Purchased By Cryptocurrency Miners

Imogen Mellor

Published 

A Quarter Of GPUs Bought In 2021 Were Purchased By Cryptocurrency Miners

Featured Image Credit: Nvidia

If you thought getting a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X was a hassle, you should meet the gamers trying to get their hands on GPUs at the moment. The rise in cryptocurrency has led to a direct shortage of new GPUs as miners are buying up any stock they can find, in order to mine currency rather than run the latest games, before gamers are getting to them. And now, one analyst has stated that about a quarter of the GPUs that have been released this year have ended up in the hands of cryptocurrency miners.

Advert

According to PC Gamer, Jon Peddie Research has had a look at the numbers and concluded that about 25% of all the GPUs released in 2021 made it into mining rigs. The report says this isn't just those who have bought one or two GPUs to try their hand at mining, but professional farms with dedicated mining rigs.

Here is our Roundup of all the latest gaming news to keep you up to date...

Loading…

Advert

As PC Gamer notes, though, this isn't an official number, but rather an estimate that misses a few details here and there. For example, the most recent release of GPUs from Nvidia, like the 3080 Ti, have mining inhibitors - Ethereum hash rate limiters which attempt to discourage miners from buying its products. The hash rate limiter will halve the ability of the card to mine cryptocurrency, hopefully leaving these products to be bought by the gamers that want to use them for their original intended purpose.

Jon Peddie Research also makes assumptions that aren't necessarily proven, like how the cards are being used and how miners are purchasing these items. But with the huge rise in crypto and continued annoyance amongst those who want these cards for gaming, 25% doesn't seem out of the question.

Crypto and gaming are undeniably caught up in each other. Though PC hardware like GPUs are being used in mining rigs, it also seems that crypto is an attractive business venture to those into gaming, generally. So much so, that there are even currencies based on beloved gaming characters like Charizard.

Topics: News, Nvidia

Imogen Mellor
More like this
Advert
Advert
Advert

Chosen for YouChosen for You

Steam

Steam's new free Stardew Valley-like is blowing up right now

an hour ago

Most Read StoriesMost Read