Intel Arc graphics cards will not have a built-in crypto mining lock.

That's a bit of a disappointment, as this will probably mean another GPU launch for miners and scalpers.
Meanwhile, gamers are left with the option to pay hyper inflated prices for not to upgrade.

 

There is a silver lining to this:
Since this is a 1st-gen product, it might not be worth getting in the first place. If scalpers help buy Intel more time to further polish the product, that means better competition in the future. Since Intel will see a huge interest in sales, they will likely dump more R&D into the products.

 

if crypto were to go extinct today, tomorrow would be like Christmas morning.

PS: if you see someone grumpy, nevermind them, that's the Grinch/scalper of yesteryear.

 

Intel is the new kid on the block. They need increase market share so that developers will take notice and optimize games for their GPUs.
If all of Intel GPUs are in the hands of miners, there's no reason for a studio to invest time and money optimizing and testing for Intel.
And that means that when a game is released, there is a higher chance of bugs and performance problems.

 

Can't optimize games when all your cards are used generating fake money.

 

Intel is a big enough name that devs will still optimize even if the gamer marketshare isn't as big as it otherwise could be. Intel also has enough money to throw at devs to further optimize games. So far with Xe, Intel has a lot of room for improvement with optimization so again, anything to buy them more time will help. There's a good chance this first gen will be unimpressive so if anything, it could hurt Intel's reputation if too many gamers get their hands on these GPUs. People cling on to first impressions pretty tightly.

 

Is this surprising???

Why would a company looking to make inroads into the GPU business handicap themselves from part of the market?

 

Since the rumor say that these wont be faster then Turing and for sure nothing faster then 3080 or 3090, i wont be buying one, so you guys can have my card, im large

 

Well...crap! Here we go again

 

Imagine all the money they'd save voiding warranties on this first gen of consumer cards.

 

I don't expect normal GPU availability until 2025 to be honest. Mining has to die and new fabs have to be built. It's going to take long enough that many of us will simply have forgotten about buying a GPU.

 

good, let's gamers buy real graphics cards.

 

That is also true because feedback will be lower but not 100% sure how that would affect development.

Right now drivers are biggest challenge for Intel in my opinion.

 

This.

Gimping a GPU's hash rate is not the solution anyhow.

Hopefully they can produce a lot. A lot.

But also:

"It may prove to be a moot point in the long run; with Ethereum switching from a mining-based proof of work
consensus mechanism to proof of stake with the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, GPU mining could well become a thing of the past."

https://decrypt.co/83290/intel-wont-limit-crypto-mining-new-alchemist-graphics-cards?

 

Well not only that but this is the sort of thing you can really only prevent in software, which Nvidia attempted and failed at. Unlike Nvidia, Intel has open-source drivers (albeit, not for Windows, but it is technically possible to port them), so miners can remove the restriction even faster/easier than they could on Nvidia.
So really, any attempts they have at stopping mining is futile, and people will just criticize them of incompetence should their efforts fail. It's better to just let it go.

 

As expected. No company says no to free money, specially free money with minimal effort...

 

Intel doesn't care who actually buys the cards once they launch. Intel only cares that the cards sell. NVidia and AMD are no different. A sold product is a sold product. Companies that want to make a profit in a new market, don't intentionally limit their potential market..... Reality is, NVidia is happy that miners have bought so many cards. The higher the demand, the further up NVidia can push prices, which means more profit.

Who's getting free money? Who exactly buys the card, has no bearing on how much money the manufacturer makes from the sale. The price, and profit, is the same whether a gamer buys the card, or a miner buys the card. All that matters, is that someone buys the card. In fact, neither NVidia, AMD or Intel care if the purchaser is a gamer, graphics artist, 3D modeler or miner. They only care that they get sales.

 

It's not sustainable, from a physics/ mathematics perspective. Eventually the crypto-miners/ holder would just buy all the fabs and GPU companies and make GPUs just for themselves. Then they'd make as much fabs as possible. Then they'd start buying all the resources that go into lithography. Then they'd just buy the entire world. Something has to give.

There is a reason why we don't mine every single corner of the planet for everything... laws. We will see GPU mining restrictions become more widespread. Soon, instead of illegally growing weed in a house, you will be illegally mining crypto. Then you'll still get busted once some notices your huge power bill.

 

This is actually already happening, one was in the UK if memory serves, they thought it was going to be a drug farm but instead found a crypto farm stealing electricity.