AMD is no longer coy about the fact that its Radeon graphics cards perform well in the cryptomining market. As spotted by Phoronix’s Michael Larabel, recent Linux patches include references to an all-new “navi 10 blockchain” GPU that is clearly meant for mining purposes.
While the patches do not offer any insight into the card’s specifications, they do include changes that indicate a lack of display support.
“From the AMDGPU Linux kernel driver perspective, the only difference from the existing Navi 10 GPU support is these patches disable the Display Core Next (DCN) and Video Core Next (VCN) support,” Larabel noted.
The timing of these patches also suggests that the card may not be released until next year.
“The few patches will likely not be mainlined until Linux 5.11 unless AMD developers push it through as a ‘fix’ for Linux 5.10 given that it’s just adding the new device ID and a few tweaks specific to that unreleased SKU,” Larabel explained. “In any case given the timing it’s possible AMD might not be launching this Navi ‘blockchain’ card until early 2021.”
Cryptomining may not be as feverish as it used to be, but having a blockchain-focused SKU on the market should help ensure that gamers get their fair share of cards. Could NVIDIA be planning a mining GPU as well?