AMD could be working on mining-specific graphics cards based on its RDNA1 architecture, at least that’s what these patch notes from fixes for the AMDGPU Linux kernel driver are pointing.
As spotted by Phoronix, these kernel driver patch notes are for the NV12 SKU. Now if you’re wondering what does this SKU have to do with mining, then know that it’s a headless graphics card using the Navi 12 core that does not support Video Core Next (VCN) (meaning this graphic card doesn’t support video capabilities at the driver level which is good for mining purposes).
Previously the same AMDGPU Linux kernel based on Navi 10 was spotted which also had its video and display outputs disabled at the driver level. Now both of these graphics cards point that there could be a possibility of AMD building a lineup of graphics cards dedicated to mining cryptocurrency, as Nvidia has also announced a mining dedicated GPU lineup recently.
While having RDNA2, going back to the older RDNA1 architecture, And can save a lot of time, resources, and development costs, especially with seeing today’s graphics card shortage. And also as RDNA2’s Infinity Cache doesn’t benefit crypto-mining and doesn’t need the ray tracing hardware, going back to RDNA1 could be a great decision.
Well, all of this is not confirmed yet, but to see AMD entering the current crypto-mania with its ‘mining-GPU’, will be interesting and will also bring a new level of competition in the GPU space.