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My understanding is that Ethereum PoW used traditional GPUs whereas for example Bitcoin uses ASICs - "PoW hardware" is not as interchangeable as you're implying

My understanding is that Ethereum PoW used traditional GPUs whereas for example Bitcoin uses ASICs - "PoW hardware" is not as interchangeable as you're implying.

bravetraveler 4y ago
Depends on the hashing algo -- some make sense for GPUs, others not so much. I think RandomX, the one related to Monero, is still relatively viable for example. Ironically this one is still a bit more friendly to CPUs, which everyone seems to have forgotten about.
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  RandomX is pretty GPU-hostile. If you have a lot of VRAM, you could theoretically make it work okay, but I don't know of a GPU miner that has any semblance of performance (or perf/watt) that is close to a CPU.
  - bravetraveler 4y ago
    Gotcha, CPUs have been most of my experience with it. I dabbled with GPUs but it seemed like I'd have to do a lot of clock/voltage tuning to make it worthwhile. This was way before energy prices jumping, too
throw1234651234 4y ago
There are a 1000 other coins using GPUs for mining. E.g. "Ethereum Classic". Miners will switch to these. There are ETH ASICs btw, they just aren't as dominant as BTC AntMiner ASICs.
- DennisP 4y ago
  Yes but Ethereum accounted for 94% of GPU hashpower. The other coins can't absorb all that and stay profitable. ETH ASICs weren't much better than just getting the latest GPU.
ajhurliman 4y ago
There are lots of other coins that still use GPUs to mine, though. I imagine most people who are running profitable operations will switch coins. Hopefully the popular coins will switch to PoS and the mining operations cease their profitability and shut down.
felipelalli 4y ago
But there are a lot of sh1tcoins that is similar to ETH POW and then can be exchanged to the real asset: Bitcoin.
- physicsguy 4y ago
  It is only worth it though if the shitcoin is worth more than the cost of electricity used to generate it. At the moment and for many miners, that just won’t be the case.
  - vineyardmike 4y ago
    Most shit pins probably have few miners, and are pretty susceptible to market manipulation. I large influx of miners across the market could dramatically change the price. Also, many miners are already using software that automatically changes their hardware to target whatever coin has the most profitability. It’s expected that this will continue just without ETH
    - physicsguy 4y ago
      The profitability of a GPU miner has dropped by about 2/3 with this overnight. So it remains to be seen where they actually go.

My understanding is that Ethereum PoW used traditional GPUs whereas for example Bitcoin uses ASICs - "PoW hardware" is not as interchangeable as you're implying.

bravetraveler 4y ago

Depends on the hashing algo -- some make sense for GPUs, others not so much. I think RandomX, the one related to Monero, is still relatively viable for example. Ironically this one is still a bit more friendly to CPUs, which everyone seems to have forgotten about.

pclmulqdq 4y ago
RandomX is pretty GPU-hostile. If you have a lot of VRAM, you could theoretically make it work okay, but I don't know of a GPU miner that has any semblance of performance (or perf/watt) that is close to a CPU.
- bravetraveler 4y ago
  Gotcha, CPUs have been most of my experience with it. I dabbled with GPUs but it seemed like I'd have to do a lot of clock/voltage tuning to make it worthwhile. This was way before energy prices jumping, too

throw1234651234 4y ago

There are a 1000 other coins using GPUs for mining. E.g. "Ethereum Classic". Miners will switch to these. There are ETH ASICs btw, they just aren't as dominant as BTC AntMiner ASICs.

DennisP 4y ago
Yes but Ethereum accounted for 94% of GPU hashpower. The other coins can't absorb all that and stay profitable. ETH ASICs weren't much better than just getting the latest GPU.

ajhurliman 4y ago

There are lots of other coins that still use GPUs to mine, though. I imagine most people who are running profitable operations will switch coins. Hopefully the popular coins will switch to PoS and the mining operations cease their profitability and shut down.

felipelalli 4y ago

But there are a lot of sh1tcoins that is similar to ETH POW and then can be exchanged to the real asset: Bitcoin.

physicsguy 4y ago
It is only worth it though if the shitcoin is worth more than the cost of electricity used to generate it. At the moment and for many miners, that just won’t be the case.
- vineyardmike 4y ago
  Most shit pins probably have few miners, and are pretty susceptible to market manipulation. I large influx of miners across the market could dramatically change the price. Also, many miners are already using software that automatically changes their hardware to target whatever coin has the most profitability. It’s expected that this will continue just without ETH
  - physicsguy 4y ago
    The profitability of a GPU miner has dropped by about 2/3 with this overnight. So it remains to be seen where they actually go.