The recent uptick in Bitcoin’s value has initiated a domino effect, propelling the prices of alternative cryptocurrencies. These surges have started impacting the cost of specific CPUs, particularly within the AMD Ryzen 7000 series.
Not traditionally the go-to hardware for cryptocurrency mining—a task usually reserved for powerful GPUs—the high-end AMD CPUs, particularly the Ryzen 9 7950X, have emerged as highly effective tools for mining certain types of cryptocurrencies.
The charm of the Ryzen 9 7950X lies in its robust 16-core infrastructure and advanced AVX instruction support, a feature not present in its Intel Core counterparts. Moreover, it boasts a considerable L3 cache and efficient power use.
This efficiency has prompted miners to turn their attention to less conventional currencies that can generate profits with these CPUs. For instance, the Ryzen 9 7950X can profitably mine with an energy consumption significantly lower than that of high-end GPUs such as the RTX 4090, making AMD’s flagship processor an attractive alternative.
Consequently, this demand has led to many US retailers running out of stock, with the Ryzen 9 7950X being particularly hard to find, both online and in physical stores.
And here we go again, hardware prices skyrocketing because of crypto. Can’t say I’m surprised, but definitely not pleased.