Biostar Reveals Mining-Focused Radeon RX 470D Graphics Card
Biostar joined the rush to capitalize on the cryptocurrency mining craze with a new VA47D5RV42 (Mining) graphics card.
The card is based on AMD's Radeon RX 470D GPU, which is currently available only in China, where it's marketed as the ideal GPU for "cost-effective players" and internet cafes. The RX 470D has fewer compute units and stream processors than the RX 470, but the clock speeds, memory, and typical power draw are the same. Those compromises help keep the price of RX 470D-based cards down without handicapping them too much.
Biostar's VA47D5RV42 (Mining) features 1,792 stream processors and 4GB of GDDR5 memory. The card also has a dual-fan design, and unlike the mining-focused cards Asus revealed in June, its display ports don't appear to have been disabled. That should allow Biostar to quickly rebrand the product to appeal to gamers if Bitcoin and Ethereum miners don't show enough interest in the compact-but-relatively-weak graphics card.
This rush to introduce mining-specific cards stems from the rise of the Ethereum cryptocurrency. Its exchange rate has risen to all-time highs over the last few months, which has prompted miners to scoop up as many graphics cards as they can. More graphics cards equals more Ether which could lead to a substantial return on investment. There's just one little problem: There aren't enough graphics cards to go around.
This has caused graphics cards based on AMD's Radeon RX 570 and 580, or Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060 and 1070, to jump in price or simply disappear from online retailers' digital shelves. Low-end (RX 560, GTX 1050) and high-end (GTX 1080) cards have been mostly unaffected by the mining frenzy, but anyone looking for middle-of-the-road cards is bound to be disappointed until manufacturers catch up to demand.
Biostar hasn't revealed pricing information or availability of the VA47D5RV42 (Mining) graphics card. We suspect it will remain exclusive to China, however, until AMD decides to bring the RX 470D to other markets. In the meantime, anyone looking for the mining-specific card will probably have to get ready to import it themselves.
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Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.
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bak0n A bit late to the party. The rush on mining and drop in coin prices mean lots of people aren't ever going to achieve cost parity without being able to sell their old cards.Reply -
mrmez I'm surprised Nv or AMD haven't invented a crypto currency that heavily favours their cards.Reply -
ZRace @mrmez AFAIK, Ethereum slightly favors AMD cards and zCash favors Nvidia cards. There's no need for thm to do that.Reply -
humorific I keep waiting for someone to to create a mining specific card that uses something other than a PCI-E slot, like SATA or USB 3.1. It would be bandwidth restricted, but, in the case of USB, you could attach many more units and cool them more effectively, externally.Reply -
BulkZerker >RX470Reply
>Relatively weak
Compared to what? A Titan? 470 is enough to run games @1080p with everything but AA pegged. Same as a 960 tbh. Both cards represent the best bang for the buck of last/this year. Till etherium mining took off.
@humorific
They already have adaptors for that. slot it into a pic connection, goes to USB 3 Back to the card -
humorific @BULKZERKERReply
You missed my point. I'm not talking about an adapter that happens to use a usb cable. I have that already. I'm talking about an actual usb device, probably with more memory than a graphics card and running at higher speeds to compensate for the lower bandwidth link.