Nvidia will transform the A100 into a mining GPU with 210 MH/s hashrate

According to hardware media tom's Hardware, hardware leaker kopite7kimi revealed that Nvidia is converting the A100 accelerator (PCIe) based on the GA100 chip into a dedicated mining GPU.

It is reported that the Ampere graphics card will be launched under Nvidia's Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) series, which is specially designed for professional mining, so users don't have to worry about the hash rate limiter that Nvidia previously introduced in gaming graphics cards. Although kopite7kimi did not share performance data, he claimed that it will be a "mining beast."

Another hardware leaker, I_Leak_VN, said that the A100 will be converted into the CMP 220HX, which will have a hash rate of up to 210 MH/s. Since the CMP is built for Ethereum, we assume that this number corresponds to the performance of the chip when mining Ethereum. If the number is accurate, the Ethereum performance of the 220HX will be twice that of one of the most efficient mining graphics cards on the market, the GeForce RTX 3090 from Nvidia.

The A100 PCIe has a dual-slot design and passive cooling, so miners don’t have to worry about heat. What’s more, the A100 PCIe is rated at 250W, so it should also help keep electricity bills in check.

Ethereum mining requires high-bandwidth video memory, which is arguably where the A100 excels. While it’s not clear how close the 220HX’s specs are to the A100, even a fraction of the A100’s would turn the 220HX into an Ethereum mining beast.

In terms of video memory, the A100 is equipped with HBM2 video memory with a maximum capacity of 40GB, a frequency of 2.4Gbps, and a bit width of 5120bit. The simultaneous increase in frequency and bit width allows the core bandwidth of the A100 to reach 1.6TB/s. However, since Ethereum mining does not use such high video memory, Nvidia is likely to cut some to reduce costs and make the graphics card more attractive in terms of price.

The A100 PCIe retails for well over $10,000. According to I_Leak_VN, the 220HX could drop to around $3,000.

While we've seen the CMP 30HX listed overseas for $723, pricing for the CMP HX offerings remains a mystery.

However, it is clear that if it is officially launched, it can be speculated that many mining factories and miners will buy it in large quantities. It is reported that Nvidia's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 came from sales to crypto miners. Selling specialized mining graphics cards will obviously be a very profitable business.

Image credit: Nvidia

By Sara Zhang

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