The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) raided a crypto mine in the city of Vinnytsia and seized hundreds of GPUs, dozens of processors, and ... 3,800 PS4 units.
In fact, the selection of components to increase mining speed is now diverse. Take the GPU, for example, which while lacking, is still sufficient. And of course an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) specifically for crypto mining.
However, this Ukrainian crypto miner has opted for a 2013 console, whose GPU capabilities are only comparable to the RX480 - specifically for the PS4 Pro -. In fact, the faster RX580 is already quite inefficient for mining Ethereum. So, what is the point of mining using PS4?
Its limited capacity is 'paid' with a very large amount, reaching 3800 units. Oh yes, the PS4 variant that mine is using is the PS4 Slim launched in 2016, which is no faster than the original PS4 and definitely slower than the PS4 Pro.
The PS4 seems to have been chosen because Ethereum mining also depends on memory bandwidth, not just computing power. This is where the PS4 and PS4 Slim shine, as these consoles have a bandwidth of up to 176GB/s from the GDDR5 memory chips used.
Indeed, the Pro variant has more bandwidth (217.6GB/s) as well as the same type of chip for PC (256GB/s). But it does not lag behind when it comes to calculating TFLOPS which is often used as the basis for measuring the console's capabilities.
Then what is also important to consider is the price of the PS4 and its availability. This console is sold at a relatively cheap price and a large supply, in contrast to other component options, which, although faster, are more expensive and in limited supply.
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CYBER LIFE
