Jakarta - The higher intensity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining activities, affecting the scarcity of GPU stocks.
With the growing interest of investors from various layers of cryptocurrency, it makes the value of digital currency will experience a tendency to increase.
One way to get Bitcoin and other virtual currencies is to do 'mining'. This activity is concerned with solving complex computational cryptographic puzzle problems.
For that, hardware required with a qualified specification in solving the cryptographic puzzle using microchips called ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) or through a series of GPU are combined.
The rise of mining action is indirectly affect the skyrocketing price of GPU (graphics processing unit). This is because of the high demand for the graphics card, which makes the retailers experiencing shortage of stock.
Moreover, the number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who buy these devices in bulk to build a capable miner's machine.
This phenomenon is not indiscriminate, reflecting on the fact that the graphics card from AMD to NVIDIA, both middle and high-end, experiencing scarcity.
Here's the price increase on some of AMD's and NVIDIA's GPUs by comparison between MSRP (recommended retail price), or suggested retail price, at market prices based on data collected by GameSpot:
Increasing the price of GPU is bad for fans of PC games, because they will think twice to continue to build the computer for better. Worse yet, an estimated increase in the price of this GPU also affect the world.
Related to this problem, NVIDIA has provided advice for retailers who work with him to better prioritize gamers compared to miners. Nevertheless, the high margins that can be dredged by retailers make these suggestions difficult to realize.
As reported by detikINET from GameSpot on Thursday (1/2/2018), one solution for those who like to build a PC is to buy a computer that is half so.
Although building a PC from scratch is more economical than buying a half-finished one, it does not apply to current trends in GPU prices.
For those still persistent to keep the PC from scratch, there's no harm in using browser extensions, like Honey, which can provide some kind of notification when GPU prices have gone down. (rns / rns)