Sapphire Launches Mining-Focused Radeon RX 570 with 16 GB of GDDR5 Memory
by Anton Shilov on January 23, 2019 4:00 PM EST
Sapphire has introduced one the industry’s first Radeon RX 570 graphics cards that carry 16 GB of GDDR5 memory onboard. The board is designed primarily for cryptocurrency mining, but it still has a display output and therefore can theoretically be used for other applications too.
Officially, the manufacturer positions its Sapphire RX 570 16GB HDMI Blockchain graphics card for Grin coin mining, as Grin's underlying algorithm benefits from the amount of onboard memory. This gives a 16 GB video card a distinct advantage on Grin. The card consumes 175 W (±10%) of power and has an 8-pin PCIe power connector, which is 25 W higher when compared to “regular” Radeon RX 570 GPUs that are rated for a 150 W TDP. It uses an air cooling system that is comprised of two fans and a large aluminum radiator with heatpipes.
Sapphire plans to sell its RX 570 16GB HDMI Blockchain graphics card directly at https://gpuminer.sapphiretech.com, and it remains to be seen whether the adapter will be sold by third parties. Interestingly, the board vendor has not disclosed pricing for the board, and given the unqiue market for the product I suspect it's going to be based on the quantity of the boards purchased. Though the company does note that the product will cost significantly less than other graphics cards carrying 12 or 16 GB of memory (e.g. Radeon VII, RTX 2080 Ti, and the like), which is logical given the positioning of high-end GPUs for prosumers and professionals.
In addition to graphics cards for miners, Sapphire also sells its INCA and MGI-series systems for cryptocurrency mining.
Related Reading:
- From $600 to $55: Prices of Mining Hardware Drop
- Biostar’s iMiner A578X8D Crypto Mining Machine Now Available
- Colorful Announces a Bay Trail Mining Motherboard with 8+1 PCIe Slots
- ASUS Announces H370 Mining Master: One Motherboard, 20 GPUs
- Mining Cards Update: Zotac, Manli and Biostar Products Formally Confirmed
Source: Sapphire
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PeachNCream - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
On Android, I just shut down javascript in the stock browser most of the time anyway which has the side effect of shutting down just about every modern attempt at delivering advertising content and blocks a lot of the other nasty stuff that lurks in most websites. Anandtech takes far too long to load on my little old quad core phone with js enabled anyhow.As for Tom's Hardware, I sympathize. I started using THG back in the days when Tom Pabst was still running the site (around 1999 for my readership IIRC) but advertising was what drove me away. I've been spreading my tech news reading out among other sites aside from Anandtech following the auto play video business in an attempt to find a new default tech news source. It doesn't matter that it can be blocked or not. I'd rather spend my time on a site that exercises prudence when it comes to advertising as that is now just as important as the journalism and content.
webdoctors - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
How did they double the memory for the part? Did they just happen to have DRAM that's twice as dense? Since the memory bus is fixed, that's the only thing that would make sense. Unless they increased the number of devices and it was already designed with an addressing bit for multiple ranks. Seems like it would be low volume and high enough labor that just buying a more expensive (highend) card would be cheaper.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
GDDR5 includes a feature called clamshell mode. Essentially each chip is put into 16-bit mode and shares a 32-bit memory channel. This doesn't improve performance at all (there's no additional memory bandwidth), but it does double capacity.Danvelopment - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell Grin is (aside from being a scam/cryptocurrency)?Or is everyone just ignoring that elephant in the room?
Alexvrb - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
I've learned to just Grin and bear it.Jorgp2 - Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - link
Could this possibly be flashed to a FirePro card?Lord of the Bored - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
Oh goddammit, I thought we were done with the buttcoin idiocy for a while!nfriedly - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
At least it has a HDMI port on it. There were some mining cards that had no video outputs, making them almost completely useless for anything except mining.zodiacfml - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
interesting. i guess, mining is picking up for some with cheap electricity as the mining difficulty has droppedPeachNCream - Thursday, January 24, 2019 - link
Although 16GB of VRAM paired up with a 570 isn't a very cost-effective option, the card isn't festooned with RGB and non-utilitarian bits and pieces. The fact that it has a video out of some sort means it might be practical for single monitor computers regardless of its intended role. If coin mining comes off the table, an owner might be able to retain some value either through resale or reutilization. Those GPUs that are built for mining and lack any video outs may not have as much appeal since their futures are limited to GPU compute tasks.