Razer launched a new scheme where you let it use your graphics card’s dormant cycles to “mine” Razer Silver which can then be spent as part of Razer’s loyalty program on certain products. It even has its own application to make the process simple to set up. It’s called Razer SoftMiner and it runs and accrues as much as 500 Razer Silver in a day. Unfortunately, it’s not worth it.
“Razer SoftMiner is the mining reward software that lets you earn Razer Silver when your PC is idle or when you are [away from your keyboard],” Razer’s SoftMiner FAQ reads. “Razer SoftMiner desktop application utilizes your idle GPU processing power to supplement distributed network needs for the mining process. You will be rewarded with Razer Silver, which varies depending on the amount of idle time and strength of your hardware or graphics card.”
That may sound all well and good, but as with any digital mining endeavor, you need to look at the economics of what you’re taking part in. Razer suggests you can earn upwards of 500 Razer Silver per day with a powerful graphics card churning away when you aren’t gaming. To buy a Razer DeathAdder Essential, a $50 gaming mouse, you’d need 51,000 Razer Silver, meaning you’d need to run the SoftMiner application for more than 100 days. That’s a big investment in time, but also in money. Your system will be pulling a lot more power than it would be if it was idling or turned off, which is going to increase your electricity bill.
Consider, too, that when the SoftMiner is running, your ability to play games will be affected. Your GPU will not be able to render games as well as it would if you weren’t running the software, if it can at all. The load you’re putting on the hardware will also shorten its lifespan, though by how much is difficult to say.
Unfortunately, buying mid-level hardware with the Razer Silver you earn will be about the best you can hope for, because, as PC Gamer points out, Razer only lets you use your Silver within a year of earning it. Good luck trying to pay for something that would take you more than a year of mining to accrue enough Silver for.
You should also be aware that the reason Razer is giving away Silver is because it’s keeping whatever cryptocurrency you’re mining. It doesn’t state what it’s mining, but you can bet it’s worth more than the Silver you’re given in return.
Why not just heat your home with your own cryptocurrency mining rig instead?
