AMD, Unlike Nvidia, Won't Try to Block Crypto Miners From Using Its Chips: Report

AMD may not have had much of a choice because its drivers are all open source.

Mar 21, 2021 at 7:19 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:29 p.m. UTC

Bitcoin mining crypto hashrate — Bitcoin mining equipment

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices said it's not going to restrict its graphics cards from being used for mining cryptocurrencies after rival Nvidia installed a limiter on some of its chips to prevent their use in mining ether, according to a report in PC Gamer.

"The short answer is no," PC Gamer quoted a product manager at AMD as saying regarding a potential mining limiter during a call.
That stance is in contrast to Nvidia, which last month installed a limiter to ensure its GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards “end up in the hands of gamers” instead of cryptocurrency miners after gamers complained how mining demand was causing shortages.
Of course, AMD may not have had much of a choice in not trying to limit how its chips are used. Not only is Nvidia's 24GB GeForce RTX 3090 the best GPU chip for mining but because AMD's drivers are all open source, there is a limit to the company's control over them, PC Gamer noted.

CORRECTION (March 23, 14:17 UTC) Corrects Nvidia card name to RTX 3060.

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