AMD denies loving crypto miners more than gamers

Date:
Mon, 13 Sep 2021 11:29:29 +0000

Description:
Has AMD really been concentrating on crypto miners at the expense of gamers? The company insists it hasnt, but some people are unconvinced.

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Some gamers are unhappy with AMD, feeling that they are being overlooked in favor of cryptocurrency miners - and while the company denies this, its clear that AMDs struggles to meet demand has caused some ill feeling.

First, lets take a look at the background. For over a year now, GPU stock
from both AMD and its rival Nvidia has been extremely limited, and it's lead to some gamers having to either pay considerably more than the recommended retail price for GPUs they actually find in stock, or put off their upgrade plans altogether. These are the best gaming PCs How about the best gaming laptops ? We pick the best PC games

The difficulty in getting new graphics cards is due a number of reasons that have unfortunately combined to create a perfect storm. Theres the ongoing global pandemic which seriously affected production and distribution, as well as a chip shortage which saw some chip makers struggle to meet the demands of their customers.

On top of that, theres been a cryptocurrency boom, which has meant that
miners have been snapping up any available stock. This has meant for many gamers, getting hold of a new GPU has been incredibly difficult if not downright impossible. AMDs promises

As Hot Hardware reports , at a recent Deutsche Bank of 2021 Technology Conference, AMD CFO Devinder Kumar, promised that supply of GPUs will be getting better, saying that from a supply standpoint, it's become more fortified right now," and that from our standpoint, as we get to 2022 and
look at all partners across the board, the supply situation continues to get better."

So, AMD appears to be hopeful that stock issues will sort themselves out, and as with other manufacturers, it seems AMD is betting on things returning to normal in 2022. Lets hope they are correct.

Kumar also addresses accusations that AMD is favoring cryptocurrency miners above PC gamers, saying that sales to those miners have been negligible, and that cryptocurrency is not a priority for us. We do not prioritize our
product or make them for the crypto folks, it is more for the gamers and that's a high priority from that standpoint.

Thats a pretty emphatic denial, then, but will it be enough to convince
people who feel they are being overlooked by AMD? (Image credit: Lordowski / Shutterstock) The case against AMD

So, what has led to gamers feeling neglected by AMD in favor of
cryptocurrency miners? As Hot Hardware explains, theres a few things that people have felt are evidence of this.

For a start, AMDs biggest competitor, Nvidia, has also been struggling to
meet demands. However, the company has been quite vocal about implementing artificial hash rate limiters in its recent GPUs . The aim of this is to cut the performance of the graphics cards when it comes to cryptocurrency mining, without impacting gaming performance. This, in theory, would make those GPUs less appealing to miners, and should make them more easily available to gamers.

While its not quite clear how successful this move has been for Nvidia just yet, what is noticeable is that AMD has not tried anything similar. While it may not be fair, if your main rival is making a big deal of addressing an issue, while you are not, then some people are going to take that lack of action as implicit support.

Why would AMD care? Well, thats kind of the point, in a way. It doesnt really matter who buys its products, as long as people are buying them, and as AMDs recent financial results show, the company is doing very well. Some people
may argue that AMD doesnt want to rock the boat and do anything such as
limit the desirability of its products for a certain market to risk its financial success.

But who is buying AMDs GPUs? This is another element that some people think shows that AMD is at the very least more popular with miners than gamers. A recent Steam Hardware survey, which asks people using Valves Steam store and game launcher, what hardware they are running, showed a rather astounding trend: Nvidias high-end and ultra-expensive RTX 3090 outsold all of AMDs RX 6000 GPUs combined .

This was remarkable because the RTX 3090 is a rather niche product due to its performance and price not to mention the fact its hardly ever in stock. The fact more people in the Steam Hardware Survey were using this GPU compared to all of AMDs new GPUs is quite shocking.

But, this led people to wondering if AMDs sales are doing so well, but it seems gamers arent buying the GPUs, then who is? For some people, that meant cryptocurrency miners.

Finally, there have been leaks about an apparent RDNA 2-based graphics card
in the works from AMD that is geared specifically for mining, with 10GB of GDDR6 memory and a 39MH/s hash rate. For people wanting to get hold of a GPU to game on, seeing AMD apparently working on a mining GPU probably would not go down well. (Image credit: AMD) Does AMD love crypto miners more than gamers?

So, whats going on? While theres some compelling reasons for believing that AMD may be favoring cryptcurrency miners over gamers, were not convinced
thats the case at all.

Take the Steam Hardware Survey results, for instance. While those results
wont have been comfortable reading for AMD, suggesting that it means cryptocurrency miners are buying up all of AMDs GPUs rather than gamers is still quite a stretch.

Its important to note that the Steam Hardware Survey only collects
information from PC gamers with Steam installed, and only from people who
have agreed to take part in the survey. This means that while Steam is incredibly popular, this isnt a terribly accurate glimpse of the hardware market.

Then theres the rumored existence of a GPU aimed at crypto miners. Regardless of whether or not it exists, the fact is that both AMD and Nvidia have made GPUs dedicated to cryptocurrency mining in the past, and that doesnt mean they're neglecting gamers in fact, its the opposite.

By creating a crypto currency GPU, the idea is that miners will buy that instead, leaving regular GPUs to gamers, which should make it easier for them to buy, as they are not competing with miners when stock does appear.

Of all the accusations, its probably the fact that AMD hasnt been seen to be doing as much as Nvidia to curtail crypto miners buying up its GPUs that has the most weight, and its something wed like to see the company do more of.

In the end, though, Kumars explanation of AMDs position on crypto mining
(that its not its priority) is pretty compelling. AMD is a huge company, and its been seeing success not just with PC gamers, but on the server and professional side of things as well. The amount of money it makes there would dwarf any revenue it makes from crypto currency sales which, after all, is still a relatively niche endeavour, so it wouldnt make sense for AMD to prioritise it over customers that make it a lot more money and which have been so instrumental in its success in the past.

We contacted AMD for comment and were told that it had nothing more to add to Kumars statements, and thats absolutely fair enough. It can sometimes be tempting to look for conspiracy theories, especially if youre frustrated with a company, but more often than not, the most simple (or obvious) explanation is the right one. These are the best GPUs of 2021



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-denies-loving-crypto-miners-more-than-gamer s/


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