Razer SoftMiner uses your GPU to mine cryptocurrency

Yeah I was gonna say something like 50-50 in my previous post, like for example a user generates $1 per day, they keep $0.50 and Razer gives the rest $0.50 in discount/store credits.

But no matter how I slice it or go about it, the whole thing it just seems wrong to me personally.

 

The GTX 1050 is a 75W card - not exactly a power guzzler. That extra heat could also help a bit during the winter months and save on heating bills. Any way you cut it, you still come out ahead (assuming the $0.49 figure is accurate).

I think most of the people who view this negatively are doing so because this involves mining. If it was for anything else (like rendering or cloud gaming) then they'd see it as being okay.

 

What happens if the value of whatever coin you're mining skyrockets in value? Is Razer going to increase the number of points you get per day? Probably not.

 

The electricity cost of any single graphics card currently on the market (at least here in Australia) would cost more per day than the worth of the points they give you per day, you would just be better saving up what you would be spending on extra electricity and using that cash to buy a product outright.

You basically get screwed on both ends, you wear out hardware that you otherwise wouldn't be using when not gaming, and you pay more in electricity than the worth of the credits they give you to spend in their store.

Also I would like to point out, they are recommending a GTX 1050 or RX 460, but nowhere do they say you earn 500 silver on those cards.

This is their wording:
How much Razer Silver can I earn within 24 hours?
That depends, as there is no cap on the Razer Silver earned. The combination of location, amount of time and the GPU of your gaming setup will contribute to your daily Razer Silver earned. If you have the proper setup, you can earn approximately 500 Razer Silver or more within a day!

And in a separate part:
We highly recommend running SoftMiner on a computer with a GPU of at least a Nvidia GTX 1050 or AMD RX 460.

Just looking at a few mining calculators, only a few nvidia cards are actually profitable these days, 1060 6gb apparently still is, the 1070 can be if set up right, the 2080Ti is profitable and the TITAN V is, most other cards are either break even or loose money.

AMD is doing a little better with most of their cards making a profit (if not much)

(mind you this is going off aussie electricity prices which are generally around 12c kWh for the cheaper side and up to 24c kWh for the more expensive end, though some plans can get as low as 10c its normally only for certain hours or for a certain amount per month, prices stated in AUD)

This is going to end up being something kids use on their gaming PC to get free or cheaper razer products, while their parents wonder why the electricity cost went up, that's about the only time I see someone benefiting from it as the kids don't pay for the electricity, any adult using this program is just throwing money away, well... unless they produce their own power, which if they are and want to mine would be better off mining ACTUAL currency and probably using an ASIC.

 

I recently bought the Razer Nommo but now I feel dirty doing that.

 

In my opinion they are targeting kids. No adult is going to go for this as they all will know the points barely cover the electricity costs. A kid though could kick the mining off every night and let it run all day while in school to eventually get free razer gear. It's not like the kid is paying the electric bill or worrying about the GPU dying early etc. I suspect this will get a few kids to use it.

 

And that makes it even more imoral!

 

IMHO it's also a war on Christmas.

Because they are stealing our moneys, and everyone knows damn well that Christmas without money is stupid
(runs)

 

I dont buy Razor products. This is dead wrong and a its going to appeal to kids who will use this without there parents knowing. All this mining should be banned IMO

 

Because we play on the PC 24/7 i guess..

 

now i need two 2080ti so i can have that awesome keyboard

 

I say it this way. If getting their HW through mining costs (electricity) more than what it does online, then it is scam.

 

Wow! Just wow! Oh man idk what to say about this.

 

rather than just saying its a myth, any "real" report that backing up 24/7 @ 100% dont wear the GPU ? aside ur own experience ?

no-ill effect = no failure/breaking OR no degradation ?

what i know is that the caps is rated by hours and temp.. so at 100% usage depends on ambient temp, but most gpu will be around 70℃ ...the caps might not that high but still warm with continous usage, which then of-course faster degrade

another thing that i recenty read is about CPU, because i curious about smaller node and reliability
some people saying that OC-ing degrade their zen-ryzen CPU in few months
i know this is OC situations... but this prove silicons is degrading with use
more use = faster degrading... except u can alternate the physic-law

 

wont be different imo
now rendering for who ? razer ? and we still only get paid $0.5 daily ?

or cloud-gaming, say it share ur GPU power so other with any gpu can play at 60FPS Ultra
1050(low-end) user might be happy, with their low-end GPU now they can play at 60FPS
but then how about 2080ti user? i bet only small amount of people willing to share their GPU power for other

the only make sense is to use for better-world, like what sony did with PS3 life (folding@home)

 

They do laptops, I know that much. I think they also do eGPU enclosures for connecting up to their own laptops, and perhaps they sell that included with a GPU within the external enclosure. Don't know if they do desktop PCs, either way I wouldn't buy anything Razer - everything I've seen they're overpriced and looks over performance.

 

@Hilbert Hagedoorn The end of your article in particular was an interesting thought - the point regarding future possibility of Razer silently embedding this GPU-Miner in their products. Initially I thought (Wow - lawsuit waiting to happen right?) but then I wondered well / changes to electronic T&C / product box labels etc... then again Courts have thrown out EULAs before... I think Razer would be silly to do this in the future. However when has a company ever done a silly thing right? Nice article interesting topic.

No they don't as an AIB that is - but they do manufacturer Razer-branded laptops and assemble their own brand of desktop SKUs ... in that sense they distribute NVIDIA GPUs...

Or just hyperbole on purpose? I'm not familiar with that member's posting history, perhaps you are - garnering your response... *shrugs* anywho...

So here's the breakdown of it below - while the $199 keyboard isn't all they sell - just reading the breakdown of the earning value it sounds like a carrot-and-stick mentality to me. It's a scam. Rather than cap out at 12 months. Cap out at a certain amount of points. The equivalent to the most expensive Razer product for example. After all you are using up the life span of their hardware, their electricity & earning currency off of them. smh.

 

Spoiler

 

Razer: These are the scum suckers who created the Razer Boomslang Mouse back in the ball mouse days. Remember? $120 for one and they were absolute super-hyped garbage to the point so many folks were returning them for replacements that Razer simply "went out of business" to avoid honoring the warranty...then re-emerged later with more over priced sh## they bought from the Chinese. Seriously, why are they even still a 'thing'.

 

This company really is a lot like Apple! Innovative gaming gear products that are different from the mainstream (read: you're cool if you own them) but has the quality of a clone shop in Tijuana but with a price that suggests it's the best. They make software that is bloated and designed to imprison you and your mouse and keyboard into some sort of cloud reality where unless you log into your account (requiring internet) you can't actually customize your crappy gear. And now this - which is something I don't think I've ever seen any company do quite like Razor has but all I can say is what a bunch of a douche bags.