RTX 3080 Mining Rig in a BMW’s Trunk Meant ‘Just to Annoy Gamers’

Big-time miner Simon Byrne went the extra mile and made a portable RTX 3080 mining rig that is capable of going 0-60mph in under 4.5 seconds. 

The vehicle Byrne used is the BMW i8, and in the trunk is a small RTX 3080 farm with six GPUs. Simon uses this machine to make money on the go when he is away from his massive 78 RTX 3080 mining farm.

We reached out to Byrne to verify this system is real, and he confirms that he made it himself. In fact, when we asked if it was real, he responded: "Indeed, just to annoy gamers."  

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Byrne also gave us some additional info on how well the farm functions inside the car. As it turns out, the BMW i8 has more than enough power from its battery pack to power the miniature RTX 3080 farm. The car can output up to 3500W from its main outlet, and the mining rig consumes just 1500W. The only "issue" is that the rear hatch/trunk needs to stay open, or the mining rig will overheat. (He also says that the system is connected using an inverter.)

If you are unfamiliar with the BMW i8, the hybrid car is optimized towards performance with 369 horsepower in total, but just 141hp comes from the i8's combustion engine, which means more than half of the car's power output comes from electric motors. To cope with all that power, the i8 comes with an 11.6kWh 353V lithium-ion battery pack; in layman's terms, the i8's battery pack is more than adequate to power several gaming/mining rigs if necessary.

Byrne also shared his broader opinion of cryptocurrencies, saying, "Cryptocurrency is open-sourced & decentralized. It's trustless, and there isn't interference from a third party. No one owns or controls it, and it does not have a governing body."

"Crypto may be driven by code, but it's fueled by a passionate, altruistic, open-sourced community. Individuals who voluntarily invest their time & energy helping others without coercion or the threat of violence. They recognize that their success is dependant on the success of others. I'm not in Crypto to make a fast buck, but I'll take the bonus; I'm in it because it's a vision of a utopian world where services are acquired through voluntary relationships."