AMD seems to be following in the footsteps of Nvidia releasing dedicated graphics cards for cryptocurrency miners.
This information is based on a leaked photo from the Twitter account @I_Leak_VN which shows off a photo of a graphics card bearing the XFX logo -- the maker of graphics cards with AMD chips --.
Uniquely, the black graphics card does not have any display ports, either HDMI, Display Port, or USB-C. From this it is assumed that this graphics card is specifically for crypto miners, which does not require a display port.
From the layout of the capacitors on the graphics card, it can be seen that the GPU chip used is Navi 21. Meanwhile, the two-slot design used is similar to the Instinct M100 Accelerator card made by AMD.
For power there are two 8 pin connectors on the back of the card, which also confirms that the chip used is Navi 21, not Navi 22 or Navi 10.
Previously, Nvidia seemed to have tried to ensure its graphics cards were only used by gamers and not miners. They released Nvidia CMP which was specifically for miners and released a Lite Hash Rate (LHR) version of graphics cards whose mining capabilities were limited, namely in the RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti series.
Meanwhile, in March, AMD said it had no plans to limit the capabilities of its RDNA 2 graphics chip. It can be seen from the fast RX 6600 XT's ability to mine Ethereum, with a hash rate of 32MH/s and a power consumption of 55W.
The mining capability of the Navi 23 chip is twice as efficient as the RTX 3060. Even though AMD itself states that the graphics chip is more optimal for gaming than mining crypto.
"RDNA was designed from the start for gaming, and RDNA 2 is twice as capable (compared to RDNA). Features such as Infinity Cache with smaller data path widths were deliberately chosen specifically for games," said AMD product manager Nish Neelalojanan.
"While mining requires or scales up with higher power lines, so these restrictions are already in place at the architectural level," he added.