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Nvidia could be set to become the preferred vendor for cyptocurrency mining enthusiasts.
The graphics specialist announced its latest GPU architecture ’Maxwell’ earlier this week, and the improved design has since been found to offer performance boosts for mining currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin.
Both Tom’s Hardware and Forbes have found that the Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 750 Ti card offers an improvement of 35 per cent performance per core, with double the performance per watt.
Power usage is a particular concern for those who mine cryptocurrencies using graphics cards, as substantial energy costs can outweigh or significantly devalue the money earned by mining.
Power efficiency is one of Maxwell’s touted benefits, with both the 750 and 750 Ti cards not requiring any additional power supplies to run, as well as a lower running temperature, meaning less energy is lost to heat or required to run additional cooling fans.
While AMD has been seated as the favourite vendor for many cryptocurrency miners due to its Radeon cards exhibiting quicker performance for mining in the past, that could be set to change with the new Nvidia cards.
“When Nvidia’s high-end Maxwell cards drop later this year (possibly by late March), they’re going to surpass the hashrates currently possible from AMD, consume less power, and do so while staying cooler and quieter,” Forbe’s Jason Evangelho suggests, predicting a coronation for Nvidia as the new king of mining in the near future.
