Crypto currency is booming. In the past few months, there has been a huge focus on the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin from investors and crypto miners alike.
For those intending on mining crypto currency, a pretty beefy setup is required. Mining needs processing power, which can be found in graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD, for example.
As a result, AMD and NVIDIA have been overwhelmed by the demand for their GPUs. With more miners and scalpers attempting to purchase the latest GPUs, few PC gamers are receiving these products - which NVIDIA views as a problem.
While we've seen massive crypto mining farms in the past, miners are still coming up with innovative methods for mining - and this latest report is an example of that.
Mineral oil cooled crypto mining
As first reported by NotebookCheck, the Twitter account @I_Leak_VN recently shared footage of a eight-piece NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 crypto mining setup - cooled by mineral oil.
Mineral oil cooling is a pretty expensive and time-consuming method of cooling, but it can prove effective in extending the lifespan of GPUs - a key consideration for crypto miners. The oil is non-conductive, meaning it behaves differently than water and will not damage the GPUs. Heat from the PC is transferred into the mineral oil for much faster, and more effective cooling than an air-based system.
There are still problems with oil cooling, however. Disposing of the oil can be a difficult task, and there is still a slight chance that the oil can damage the components.
In terms of comparing this to a normal mining farm, the video's low quality means the exact results (such as the hash rate) aren't clear. There is still a slight chance the video might not be real, but given that this would require somebody to risk eight RTX 3090's to do (approximately $12,000 worth of equipment), we'd expect this to be real.
What's next for crypto mining?
As fun as it may be to see a mineral oil-based mining farm in action, NVIDIA is not exactly enthused by the use of its graphics cards in crypto mining.
As a result, the company has imposed hash rate limits on its recent RTX 3060 GPU, crippling the efficiency of Ethereum mining when using the card. While NVIDIA has stated these restrictions will not be retroactively imposed on the older cards in the RTX 30 Series, rumours suggest hash rate limits may be the standard in upcoming GPUs.
Alongside these restrictions, NVIDIA has announced a range of crypto mining processors - the NVIDIA CMP. These processors are designed specifically for mining, and will not include display outputs to increase efficiency. The CMP 30HX is slated for launch before the end of the month. AMD is also rumoured to be creating a similar product.
READ MORE: No, the RTX 3060’s crypto mining limits haven’t been hacked
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