Crypto mining doubled GPU prices, critics say

"Mining doubled the price of graphics cards"

According to the information cited in the thread, a 3,250-watt rig that cannot be plugged into a home wall socket performs 1,000 times better than the most powerful graphics card on the market. It costs around $5,000. Even so, those who blame mining argue that GPUs were selling for double or triple their technical value. The paradox becomes clear as soon as the focus shifts to cryptocurrency mining: purpose-built mining hardware crushes any graphics card, yet consumer cards remain sky-high. The complaint from these participants is direct — graphics cards were used to generate coins while anyone who wanted to game or work couldn't buy one — and they cite a figure from the thread: a high-end RTX at 1,200 euros.

Why does cryptocurrency mining use graphics cards?

Because a GPU processes many mathematical calculations in parallel, which is exactly what mining requires. The most common explanation is historical: in the past it was possible to mine with a computer's processor, until the graphics card displaced it. CPUs are optimized for sequential execution, despite the multithreading found in any processor on the market, while GPUs are vector architectures designed for data parallelism. That's why the boom hit the consumer catalog and not processors.

How much did graphics card prices rise?

A little or a lot, depending on what you compare it to. The figures mentioned in the thread: a high-end RTX at 1,200 euros; a Radeon 6900 XT at 1,800; and a three-year-old GPU priced at 340 euros. The most painful contrast: a current-year CPU, motherboard and memory, all together, for less than half the cost of the card. All other components kept their prices; the imbalance was in the GPU.

Not all analyses point in the same direction. Some remind us that manufacturers and distributors also play with supply and demand, and that it's not all the miner's fault. On the other side, the other camp's core argument: mining is the variable that explains the price swings, and anyone who needed a graphics card had two options — wait or turn to the second-hand market. One participant even claimed his graphics cards come free, because he puts a few euros into cryptocurrency and every two years gets a new one as a bonus.

ASICs perform a thousand times better than a GPU

The figure that catches most people off guard: the Antminer S19j reaches 90 TH/s with 3,250 watts of consumption, three orders of magnitude — about 1,000 times — above the most powerful graphics card. Its price is around $5,000, roughly 4,200 euros. The fine print is that this contraption cannot be plugged into a home. And one participant corrects: ASICs for Bitcoin have actually sold for more like $12,000, close to 10,000 euros, and he points out that Bitcoin stopped being mined with graphics cards years ago. The nuance matters, because the bulk of the problem lies with Ethereum, which is indeed mined with graphics cards. Anyone seeking pure profit uses ASICs — faster and with lower energy costs.

Could Ethereum stop using graphics cards?

For one of the participants, yes: by changing the mechanism. Instead of proof of work, proof of stake eliminates the fruta race and, with it, the pressure on hardware. His argument: when a financial technology causes problems, it gets modified; with traditional finance, the adjustment comes through other channels. One critic's complaint: less harmful systems existed and were not implemented.

The mirror of the 2008 housing bubble

The comparison came up early: someone who bought GPUs in 2021 resembles someone who bought property in 2008, just on a different scale. Real estate saw cheap credit and the conviction that prices always rise; here, it's the cost of electricity and the expectation that the coin will be worth more tomorrow than today. On responsibility, opinions are divided: some argue the financial institutions made the escalation possible, because buyers paid the maximum they could borrow; others reply that banks didn't manipulate prices, they simply handed out credit, and individual blame lies with whoever signs.

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With energy costs squeezing margins, several participants argue that mining is becoming less and less profitable, and some predict that when it stops being so, graphics cards will be given away with a two-liter bottle. It sounds like a joke. But what if prices don't come back down even when mining stops paying the bill?