After frying Feifei graphics card, the currency circle started on PS5 and MacBook again…

A week ago, Ai Faner tweeted "Bitcoin plummeted by $13,000, and countless people left the market with blood loss and tears. Why is the "roller coaster" of the currency circle so exciting? "The article, I thought everyone would discuss Bitcoin unanimously, but surprisingly, the top few likes were all related to the graphics card.

Why is everyone talking about graphics cards under the Bitcoin article? The reason is simple- game enthusiasts watched RTX 3060 from 2499 yuan to 4,000 yuan, so many people shouted "bite mining disaster, everyone likes" the slogan to boycott Bitcoin . Regardless of the number of currency circles, virtual currency should be digging or mining, and graphics cards should be up or up.

At this moment, a more "terrifying" news came. After speculating on the graphics card, the currency circle started again on PS5 and MacBook…

Neither M1 nor PS5 are immune from "bad hands"?

Recently, it was revealed that the PS5 has been cracked due to the outstanding performance of the graphics card, and it may act as a "mining drudgery" in the future . As soon as the news came out, many people predicted that the price of PS5 would increase like the graphics card.

The message says this:

Previously, the use of PS5 for mining was restricted by the system, and various mining programs could not be executed. A few days ago, some netizens broke the news that the PS5 was cracked, and also released a screenshot of the PS5 host's interface for mining ETH.

From the mining interface, the mining performance of the PS5 host is quite powerful, with a computing power of 99.76MH/s and a power consumption of only about 211W. The energy efficiency ratio is still very good.

In less than 24 hours, this message proved to be a spoof .

Some people found that as long as they recognize the news QR code, the page will pop up with the words "entertainment and no software hahaha". People in the currency circle also quickly dispelled the rumors: "PS5 and Windows are two different systems, and the software is impossible to be compatible… If there is such a major breakthrough, we will definitely notify (everyone) as soon as possible."

It turned out to be a false alarm. However, the M1 version of the Macbook is not so lucky, and it has been confirmed to be cracked.

Software developer Yifan Gu (Gu Yifan) found a mining method for the M1 MacBook Air and put the software on GitHub as open source.

Experimental results show that the mining efficiency of the M1 MacBook Air is 2MH/s, the power consumption is about 17 to 20W, and the daily income is about US$0.14, which is less than 1 yuan. Calculated with a minimum of 7199 yuan, it will take 20 years to pay back .

Compared with NVIDIA's CMP dedicated "mining" graphics card, M1 is not at all an order of magnitude in mining. Some people ridiculed "MacBook escaped a disaster."

As the price of Bitcoin increases, its "reality distortion power" is expanding, not only indirectly "controlling" the prices of some digital products, but also extending its tentacles to the daily lives of ordinary people.

In order to mine, South Korean Internet cafes closed to thank guests

The Bitcoin rose, but the Koreans were dumbfounded. They wanted to go to the Internet cafe and found that the Internet cafe was closed.

Internet cafes have money and don't make money? of course not.

This is because with the skyrocketing Bitcoin, South Korean Internet cafes , which have been hit hard by the epidemic, have developed a new business-"mining." Take a South Korean Internet cafe with 200 computers as an example. It can make a profit of 100 by mining for 15 hours a day. It is about 10,000 won, or about 5800 yuan, which is higher than usual operating income , and there is no need to send someone to serve customers.

You are the owner of an Internet cafe, how would you choose?

Compared with pure Internet cafe business, the power consumption of "mining" far exceeds the former.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen believes that “transactions in Bitcoin are an “extremely inefficient way” and the energy consumed to process these transactions is staggering.” Bill Gates also said that "Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy and is not conducive to environmental protection ."

According to a report from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, the annual electricity consumption of "mining" has exceeded 120 terawatts (1 terawatt is equal to 10 to the 12th square watt) , and 1 terawatt hour is equivalent to 1 billion kWh of electricity, "mining" The scale of electricity consumption is basically close to that of Sweden's annual electricity consumption, surpassing Argentina, the Netherlands and other countries, and ranking among the top 30 in the world.

In order to reduce the cost of electricity bills as much as possible, some medium- and large-scale "mining" organizations have placed their computer rooms in reservoirs in deep mountains, areas with low average annual temperatures, and near coal production areas, frantically "swallowing" the cheapest electricity, and electricity consumption is increasing. Bigger. There are even news reports that some people in a certain community in Yunnan have been crazy about mining, causing a large area trip and the transformer burned down.

For the sake of energy conservation and environmental protection, on February 25, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission’s official website issued the "Several Safeguard Measures for Ensuring the Completion of the Energy Consumption Dual Control Targets during the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan Period (Draft for Comment)", which mentioned that it will speed up the elimination and resolution. Backward and excess production capacity, including "steel, titanium alloy, calcium carbide, coke, graphite electrodes, thermal power, and virtual currency mining", comprehensively clean up and shut down virtual currency mining projects, and all exit before the end of April 2021, and it is strictly forbidden to build new virtual currencies Mining project .

It seems that the energy consumption of "mining" is so great that even the management department can't sit still.

Coin circle and digital enthusiasts grab products

It is not easy to perceive the virtual currency to squeeze the power consumption, but buying notebooks in batches and hosting large-scale "mining machines" causes everyone to spend more money on digital products. This is a tangible impact.

The RTX30 series of graphics cards have been in a state of shortage and price increases since the release of the graphics cards. In the face of the rising tide of Bitcoin at the beginning of this year, it is even more difficult to find a card.

If you can’t buy a graphics card, then buy a laptop with RTX30 series graphics cards?

Can't buy it at the original price!

According to Weibo netizen "Shenyu BTCer", many notebooks equipped with RTX 30 series graphics cards have been "bred" by "miners". People who want to buy products can only set up "mining machines" to "mining". Spend higher prices.

Since the graphics card is at full capacity for a long time during "mining", many notebook graphics cards that have been used as "mining machines" are seriously aging, causing people to be extra careful when buying second-hand laptops and avoid buying "second-hand mining machines . "

In addition, the CPU temperature during "mining" is high, electronic drift may occur, the fan keeps running, the rollers are worn out, the temperature of the power supply capacitor is too high, and the life expectancy is reduced. The damage to the hardware is hell-level. .

"Mining" not only affects the secondary market, but also the primary market.

Some users revealed that some graphics card and notebook manufacturers have added unwritten regulations. If the hardware is found to be "mining", the hardware will no longer be warranted, even if it is still within the warranty period , and everyone is urged to try not to use your own The hardware goes to mining.

Just imagine, if someday products such as PS5, mobile phones, and tablets are also cracked, then the digital circle can only accept one result: the currency circle will benefit, and the digital enthusiasts will pay .

Protect the graphics card, NVIDIA zooms in

In order to persuade crazy "miners" and protect the graphics card, NVIDIA has made technical restrictions on the RTX 3060. If it detects that the graphics card is running a specific attribute of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, it will mine the hash rate or cryptocurrency The efficiency is limited to about 50%.

It is difficult for ordinary hackers to crack this limitation. It is also very difficult for “miners” to bypass the RTX 3060 mining limit. The latest actual test results show that the Hash performance of the RTX 3060 graphics card is reduced by at least 40% during “mining” .

At the same time, taking into account the needs of "miners", NVIDIA has launched a professional "mining" CMP ( cryptocurrency mining processor) HX series graphics cards , including 30HX/40HX/50HX/90HX four specialized "mining" chips, which will not do Graphics processing, there will be no display output, and a lower peak core voltage and frequency, so as to achieve the best mining performance and efficiency.

It is not so easy for the mine owner to retire.

"Miners" would rather buy the RTX 3060 "Real Fragrance Graphics Card" for 2,499 yuan, and it doesn't matter what the performance limit is. This caused the RTX 3060 to be fired for more than 6,000 yuan at one time.

The high price of graphics cards has completely angered gamers. Some people suspect that hardware manufacturers will inevitably be unable to control the "kneeling and licking the gold master father" when facing a newly emerging demand group that can afford high premiums. "100,000 people grab 3 "Zhang Graphics Card" is a starving marketing , and PS5 mining is a marketing with an extremely obvious purpose. However, the above suspicion has not been confirmed, and it is only a statement circulating among gamers.

The magic of “bits''

On Zhihu, someone asked, what are the negative effects of mining?

Someone answered: Think about it, it seems that there is really no negative impact.

Is it really like this?

Since electricity costs are only one-fifth of China's, Iran has become a "mining paradise" and is known as a third world Bitcoin producer. However, since “mining machines” from all over the world have been moved to Iran to “settle down”, Iran’s frequent power outages, and the local government suspects that it is caused by “mining”. It is hard to say that it has nothing to do with virtual currency.

At a lower level, game players have provoke anyone, and they can’t even upgrade the hardware at the original price. In the future, you will have to worry about buying first-hand and second-hand . Some merchants have even spotted the opportunity to speculate on graphics cards as "financial management products" and engage in bottomless marketing, saying that their own products can be mined to attract attention.

Whether Nvidia’s method of “locking” the graphics card is effective, whether adding professional "mining" graphics cards can save game graphics cards, whether there are more thorough technical means or supply chain control methods that can protect the interests of game players to the greatest extent. The industry works together to explore.

As a technology media, Aifaner believes that virtual currency should be tested by time, but as a big player in the digital circle, we can't help but shout to the currency circle:

Please, let go of the graphics card!

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Ai Faner | Original link · View comments · Sina Weibo