Some players are not happy with AMD, thinking they are being passed over in favor of cryptocurrency miners, and while the company denies this, there is no doubt that AMD's struggles to meet demand have caused some concern. First, let's take a look at the bottom. For a little over a year now, GPU stock from AMD and rival Nvidia has been extremely limited, with some gamers having to pay significantly more than the recommended retail cost for the GPUs they actually find in stock, or put off upgrading. plans completely. The complexity of getting new graphics cards is due to a number of reasons that unfortunately combined to create a perfect storm. There's the ongoing global pandemic that has seriously hurt production and distribution, such as a shortage of chips that has made some chipmakers struggling to meet customer demands for service. Apart from that, there has been a heyday for cryptocurrencies, which means that miners have collected any free stock. This has meant for many gamers, getting a new GPU has been impressively difficult, if not outright impossible.
The promises of AMD
As Hot Hardware reported, at a recent Deutsche Bank technology conference in XNUMX, AMD CFO Devinder Kumar promised that the GPU offering would improve, saying that "from one supply, it's gotten more better now." and that "from our perspective, as we move into XNUMX and look at each and every partner at every level, the supply situation continues to improve." So AMD seems to be waiting for the stock issues to resolve themselves and, like other manufacturers, it seems AMD is betting on getting back on track in XNUMX. Let's hope they are correct. Kumar is also responding to allegations that AMD favors cryptocurrency miners over PC gamers, saying that sales to these miners have been "negligible" and that cryptocurrencies are "not a priority for us." We don't prioritize our product or make it for the crypto people, it's more for the gamers and it's a high priority from that point of view. So that's a pretty compelling denial, but is it going to be enough to persuade those who feel ignored by AMD?
(Image credit: Lordowski / Shutterstock)
The case against AMD
So what led gamers to feel ignored by AMD in favor of cryptocurrency miners? As Hot Hardware explains, there are some things that people think are proof of this. For starters, AMD's biggest contender Nvidia is also struggling to keep up with the lawsuits. Nonetheless, the company has been vocal about implementing artificial hash rate limiters on its recent GPUs. The goal is to reduce the performance of graphics cards when it comes to mining cryptocurrencies, without affecting the performance of the games. This would theoretically make these GPUs less attractive to miners and should make them more attainable for gamers. While it's still unclear how successful this move has been for Nvidia, what's notable is that AMD hasn't tried anything like it. While it may not be fair, if your main opponent does everything they can to fix a problem when you're not, some people will take that inaction as tacit support. Why would AMD care? Well, that's the point, in a way. It doesn't matter who buys its products, as long as people buy them, and as AMD's recent financial results show, the company is doing really well. Some people may argue that AMD doesn't want to do something, like limit the appeal of its products to a certain market, to jeopardize its financial success. But who buys AMD GPUs? This is another element that some say shows that AMD is, to say the least, more popular with minors than with gamers. A recent Steam Hardware survey, which asks users of the Steam store and Valve's game launcher what hardware they're running, showed a rather surprising trend: Nvidia's ultra-expensive RTX 10 outperformed every single one. of the GPUs. AMD RX six thousand combined. This was notable as the RTX 6 is quite a niche product due to its performance and cost, not to mention the fact that it's hardly ever in stock. The fact that more people in the Steam Hardware Survey have used this GPU compared to any and all newer AMD GPUs is pretty amazing. But that has led people to wonder if AMD's sales are doing so well, but it seems gamers aren't buying GPUs, so who is? For certain people, that meant cryptocurrency miners. Lastly, there have been leaks regarding an apparent RDNA 39-based graphics card in AMD's work developed particularly for mining, with XNUMXGB of GDDRXNUMX memory and a hash rate of XNUMXMH/s. For people looking to get their hands on a gaming GPU, seeing AMD supposedly working on a mining GPU would surely not go down well.
(Image credit: AMD)
Does AMD love crypto miners more than gamers?
So what's up? While there are compelling reasons to believe that AMD favors cryptocurrency miners over gamers, we're not entirely persuaded that this is the case. Take the Steam Hardware Survey results, for example. Although these results were not comfortable for AMD to read, suggesting that this means that cryptocurrency miners are buying all AMD GPUs instead of gamers is still pretty far-fetched. It is essential to note that the Steam Hardware Survey only collects information about computer players that have Steam installed and only people who have admitted to taking the survey. This is to say that while Steam is impressively popular, it's not a very accurate overview of the hardware market. Then there is the rumor that there is a GPU for crypto miners. Whether it exists or not, the point is that AMD and Nvidia have made dedicated GPUs for cryptocurrency mining before, and that's not to say they neglect gamers; in truth, they do. It is quite the opposite. When creating a cryptocurrency GPU, the idea is for miners to purchase it on your site, leaving the regular GPUs up to gamers, which should make it easier for them to acquire as they don't compete with miners when stock appears. Of all the accusations, it's probably the fact that AMD hasn't been seen to do as much as Nvidia to reduce the amount of crypto miners buying the heavier GPUs, and that's one thing we'd like. . See the company do more. Ultimately though, Kumar's explanation of AMD's stance on cryptocurrency mining (which is not their priority) is pretty strong. AMD is a big company and is successful not only with PC gamers, but on the server and professional side as well. The amount of money he makes there would dwarf any income he makes from cryptocurrency sales which, after all, is still a partly niche business, so it would make no sense for AMD to prioritize him over heavily earning customers of the service. further. money, and who have contributed so much to your success before. We reached out to AMD for comment and they said they didn't just have to add to Kumar's statements, and that's entirely appropriate. Sometimes it can be tempting to investigate conspiracy theories, especially if you're frustrated with a business, but more often than not, the simplest (or obvious) explanation is the appropriate one.
