The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series may be a powerhouse for next-gen gaming, but what about its crypto mining performance?
The NVIDIA RTX 30 Series is still a relatively scarce product. However, this hasn't stopped attention turning to the next generation of GPUs, alongside the Intel Bitcoin Mining ASIC, and how it could affect the likes of Ethereum mining.
Here’s what we know about the RTX 40 Series so far.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Crypto Mining Performance
NVIDIA has yet to release the full specs of any upcoming RTX 40 Series GPU, or even acknowledge their existence. This means it is impossible to work out the crypto mining performance or hash rate of the RTX 40 Series.
Indeed, given the range of products within a single RTX Series, it's likely that the RTX 3090, with its 114 MH/s hashrate, will outperform several cards from the next generation.
According to Twitter leaker @TtLexington (via TechAdvisor), the RTX 40 Series will receive the same performance increase over its predecessor as the RTX 30 Series received over the 20 Series.
While this might not translate directly into crypto mining performance, it allows us to estimate a potential hash rate.
If we take the RTX 2080 to have a hash rate of 40 MH/s, and the RTX 3080’s hash rate to be 100 MH/s, this marks an increase of 60 MH/s, or 150%. However, the RTX 2070 has a hash rate of 40 MH/s compared to the RTX 3070’s 62 MH/s. This is an increase of 22 MH/s, or just over 50%.
Given the discrepancies between cards, there won’t be a uniform trend in the hashrate changes for the RTX 40 Series. Based on the above numbers, we could expect an RTX 4080 to have a hash rate of around 150 MH/s. The RTX 4070 hash rate could be around 80 MH/s.
However, rumours from YouTuber Moore is Dead said that the 40 Series could have a power consumption of up to 600W. In comparison, this much higher than the 350W needed by the RTX 3080. If these power consumption levels are accurate, then the mining profitablity could decrease.
However, there is another factor that needs consideration.
With the ethereum merge approaching, the demand for Nvidia GPUs may slow down considering the blockchain will soon be transitioning to the PoS consensus.
The Nvidia sales have also slumped possibly due to the ongoing bear market. However, crypto mining is still a lucrative business and we need to wait and watch to see if the mining yet again gains its former momentum back.
- Read More: Can Cryptocurrency Mining Damage Your GPU?
Will the RTX 40 Series Have Crypto Mining LHR Limits?
NVIDIA would prefer its GPUs to be used for gaming rather than crypto mining. This led the company to implement hash rate restrictions on all new RTX 3070, 3080, and 3060 Ti GPUs earlier this year. These GPUs now come with the Lite Hash Rate (LHR) identifier.
According to Hashrate.no, the RTX 3080 LHR and RTX 3070 LHR have hash rates of 70 MH/s and 46 MH/s, respectively. This marks a reduction of 26-30% for the LHR models.
We don’t know whether NVIDIA will implement the LHR restrictions on the RTX 40 Series. However, component shortages continue to hurt the GPU supply. NVIDIA may opt to deter miners from purchasing these cards with LHR due to these shortages.
Current rumours suggest the RTX 40 Series could launch in late 2022. However, by then, Ethereum mining may be a thing of the past.
The Ethereum 2.0 release date will see the replacement of proof-of-work with proof-of-stake. This will remove the need for miners in the Ethereum network, with Ethereum staking becoming the method of validation instead. While this was expected to launch in mid-2022, continuous delays suggest this launch will be at a later period, perhaps even after the RTX 40 Series' launch.