Skip to main content

AMD processors might be targeted as the next cryptomining tool

AMD CPUs might be the next target for miners.

With the recent launch of Intel’s new generation of CPUs, AMD’s Ryzen has been nudged out of the limelight. But thanks to rise of the cryptocurrency Raptoreum (RTM), Ryzen CPUs supply might become as scarce as graphics cards, therefore raising the price.

According to the Raptoreum Mining Profitability Calculator, one Ryzen 5950x with a hash rate of 4247 h/s can grab you 161 Raptoreum a day, with each Raptoreum worth $0.00215607 at the time of publishing, which equates to $3.47 at 125 watts from your power supply unit.

Ryzen 5000 APU on a red background.
AMD

The annual return mined from a single 5950x is no joke, as it can grab you $930.75.

Recommended Videos

Raptoreum isn’t necessarily a new cryptocurrency, but its hunger for CPU cache, especially ones with bigger L3 cache, including the Ryzen 9 5950x and the 5900x, raises some eyebrows.

Both the 5900x and 5950x have an L3 cache of 64MB, which can be argued as relatively affordable in price. However, miners may not go after those CPUs, as they might be looking at those larger, less practical AMD CPUs that cost an arm and a leg, like Epyc or Threadripper. For example, one Ryzen Threadripper 3970x, which is equipped with 128MB of L3 cache, has a hash rate of 8587 h/s and can farm 325 Raptoreum per day, which works out to $7.01, or $2,558.65 annually.

We have seen how much money crypto miners will spend on hardware, eventually turning a greenhouse into a mining farm, so the current price of AMD’s CPUs will be pocket change to them and can be scary for those looking to upgrade their rigs sooner than later.

Recently, we heard about third-generation Epyc, which will feature AMD’s simple, but genius vertical cache and a boat-load of L3 cache — 768MB. Even though those chips will come with a heavy price tag, miners won’t hesitate to spend a little bit more money to yield more crypto.

Thankfully, the current supply of AMD CPUs remains healthy at the most popular PC hardware stores, like Newegg, Amazon and Microcenter, with even the 8-core, 16 thread 58000x popping up on sale at Microcenter for just $330.

For now, it seems like Raptoreum isn’t much of a threat to consumer CPUs, but it is also something to keep in the back of your mind.

Myles Goldman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Myles has done many things within the hobby PC building, most notably deliding an Intel i5-4690k which he and his friend…
AMD’s upcoming 9950X3D might be surprisingly pricey at launch
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D installed in a motherboard.

AMD is soon set to launch a couple of its best processors, including the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. According to leakers, their launch date is merely a week away, as the CPUs are said to come out on March 12. Today, we got a peek at the pricing for the top chip in the lineup, the 9950X3D, and it looks like it might cost a hefty amount at launch.

The beastly gaming CPU was spotted by 9550pro on X (Twitter). The leaker used a price plugin to uncover how much it'll cost. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D was shown with a 5599 RMB (Chinese yuan) price tag, which translates to roughly $772 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the 9900X3D is said to cost 4599 RMB, which means $634 -- nearly $140 less.

Read more
AMD RX 9060 XT might not be the Nvidia-beating GPU we first thought
The RX 7600 XT graphics card on a pink background.

A new leak tells me that AMD's RX 9060 XT may repeat the same mistake as the RX 7600 XT, all the while missing out on a chance to win against rival Nvidia. While AMD's RX 9060 XT may not compete against some of the best graphics cards, it's going to be a mainstream card, which is great news for gamers. The downside, as is often the case, might lie in VRAM.

As shown in this listing filed with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Acer has just registered several new trademarks for its upcoming GPUs. This includes the Acer Predator Bifrost RX 9060 XT OC in two variants: One with 8GB VRAM and one with 16GB.

Read more
Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti might give AMD an unexpected edge
Logo on the RTX 4060 Ti graphics card.

Although still yet to be announced, Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti is coming -- and according to leakers, it's coming soon. The card is said to be launching in two different models, much like the RTX 4060 Ti. However, the RTX 40-series equivalent really struggled to find its place among the best graphics cards.

I've been keeping tabs on various leaks related to the RTX 5060 Ti, and although there are some good news, it does seem that Nvidia is essentially creating an updated carbon copy of the RTX 4060 Ti. If there's one party that will benefit from such a decision, it's AMD with its competing graphics cards. For gamers, the RTX 5060 Ti might end up being a GPU that sounds great on paper but comes with its own challenges.
The RTX 5060 Ti will have a lot in common with its predecessor

Read more