Asus Debuts Specialized Motherboard for Cryptocurrency Miners
Computer hardware maker Asus has revealed a new motherboard with features geared specifically toward cryptocurrency miners.
Dubbed the B250 Mining Expert, the board was debuted over the weekend by Asus' Republic of Gamers, the Taiwan-based manufacturer's high-end gaming brand.
And while the product's release date and price aren't known yet, it nonetheless represents the latest signal that the mainstream hardware industry is expanding its cryptocurrency footprint. Further, the announcement comes months after Asus began rolling out GPUs designed specifically with crypto-miners in mind – aimed to take full advantage of the digital "gold rush" now taking place.
The B250 Mining Expert motherboard itself boasts a total of 19 PCI-Express expansion slots, compared to the 12, eight or six slots featured on competitors' products.
The idea is that cryptocurrency miners – who use computing power (and lots of electricity) to add new transactions to a blockchain, receiving newly minted coins as a reward – want to run as a many graphics cards as possible. The forthcoming board, according to the specs that are circulating, has roughly the capacity of two to three regular-sized motherboards.
The 19 expansion slots are split into three groups, each containing 24 dedicated pins. This allows the mining rig to be connected to three power supply units at once, stabilizing the rig for multi-GPU usage. The board also boasts a variety of features likely to appeal to miners, such as live visual statistics.
As previously reported by CoinDesk, other major GPU makers like Nvidia and AMD have moved in recent months to capitalize on the spike in demand for products that can be used for mining.
Earlier this month, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang issued bullish statements on the prospects for his firm's entry into the mining space, suggesting that it could be a long-term revenue driver.