• Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Digital technology
  • Cloud
  • Data analytics
  • Digital leaders
  • IoT
  • Opinion
  • Events
  • Whitepapers
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  • Events
    • Follow V3 Events

      Sign up to receive email alerts about our events

      Sign up
  • Whitepapers
    • V3resources 120x194
      Network Security Forensics For GDPR Compliance

      An effective network security forensics strategy can assist an organization in providing key compliance-related details as part of any post-incident GDPR investigation.

      Download
      V3resources 120x194
      10 ways to increase productivity with managed Office 365

      For businesses large and small, relying on a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite such as Microsoft Office 365 is becoming the norm. Enhancing productivity in your organisation is vital to get ahead in 2017 - and using Office 365 can help, if it's used right...

      Download
      Find whitepapers
      Search by title or subject area
      View all whitepapers
  • Data Strategy Spotlight
  • Sign in
  •  
    •  

      You are currently accessing V3 .co.uk via your Enterprise account.

      Personalise your on site experience

      Download and use the apps

      Access your subscription from outside of the office

      Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

      • Sign in
     
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
  • Follow us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Register
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Digital technology
  • Cloud
  • Data analytics
  • Digital leaders
  • IoT
  • Opinion
 
  •  

    You are currently accessing V3 .co.uk via your Enterprise account.

    Personalise your on site experience

    Download and use the apps

    Access your subscription from outside of the office

    Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

    • Sign in
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
V3.co.uk
  • Networks

Rise in cryptocurrency mining is hindering search for alien life

High-end GPUs have become increasingly hard to buy, say astronomers

Rise in cryptocurrency mining is hindering search for alien life
Even aliens are having a hard time finding high-end graphics cards
  • Lee Bell
  • Lee Bell
  • @llebeel
  • 15 February 2018
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  •  
  •  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

The surge in current cryptocurrency mining has pushed demand for high-end graphics cards - particularly AMD graphics cards - so high that it's hindering scientists from the task of looking for signs of alien life.

As the GPUs become increasingly hard to buy - and eye-wateringly expensive if they are available - it appears that people looking to mine for cryptocurrencies, such as Monero, are buying up graphics cards in large quantities straight from the factory. 

And while companies such as Nvidia are trying to help make it easier for normal customers to buy such cards, they are ridiculously expensive when they do come back in stock. 

This is preventing progression in the search for alien life, astronomers have claimed. 

[Crypto-currency mining] is limiting our search for extra-terrestrials, to try to answer the question, 'Are we alone? Is there anybody out there?'

According to researchers at SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), attempts to expand operations at two observatories have been hindered because scientists are unable to source the GPUs the need to perform the complex calculations these actions are in short supply.

"We'd like to use the latest GPUs [graphics processing units]... and we can't get 'em," radio-astronomer Dan Werthimer, who is also the chief scientist at the Berkeley SETI Research Center, told the BBC. 

"[Crypto-currency mining] is limiting our search for extra-terrestrials, to try to answer the question, 'Are we alone? Is there anybody out there?'," he added. "This is a new problem, it's only happened on orders we've been trying to make in the last couple of months."

Mining a digital currency like Monero involves connecting computers to a global network and using them to solve complex mathematical algorythms, which forms the process of validating transactions made by people who use the currency.

The number of people doing this has rocketed in recent years, mainly due to the fact there is a reward for this work; the miners receive a small cryptocurrency payment for their mining efforts, making it profitable. 

As the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies took off at the tail end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, so did GPU - and, by extension, the price of graphics cards. 

When AMD launched its first Vega 56 cards at the end of July last year, they had recommended retail prices starting around £399. Today, the cheapest Vega 56 is £956.99 on Ebuyer, and graphics cards bearing the more powerful Vega 64 GPU aren't available. 

Further down the food chain, mid-range graphics cards bearing AMD RX 580 GPUs have increased from between £229-£350 in November, to as much as £529.98. 

They had originally gone on the market just under a year ago from £184.99 for the four gigabyte memory version and from £219.99 for the 8GB version. 

Nvidia graphics cards, meanwhile, have been less affected by the cryptocurrency mining craze, but have still spiked in price.

Top-of-the-range cards based on the GTX 1080 have increased from around £500 to £750, while even lower-end GTX 1050-based cards have increased in price from around £130 to £185 - or more. 

Graphics cards with less memory - 2GB or less - have largely been left on the shelves by cryptocurrency miners, but they're much less use to both gamers and astronomers alike. 

Further reading

  • Security
Thousands spammed by [email protected] hackers
  • 01 Jun 2001
  • Strategy
Stop wasting SETI money and resources
  • 20 Jan 2007
  • Strategy
[email protected] finally finds something
  • 23 Feb 2007
  • Software
SETI search faces shutdown
  • 12 Apr 2006
  • Web
[email protected] celebrates major milestone
  • 01 May 2002
  • Software
[email protected]
  • 14 Aug 2001
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  •  
  •  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Networks
  • Communications
  • Hardware
  • Components
  • Bitcoin
  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Vega 56
  • AMD
  • Nvidia
  • SETI
  • Monero
  • Dan Werthimer
  • RX 580

V3 Latest

First plant to grow on the Moon, err, dies
First plant to grow on the Moon, err, dies

Cotton seedling freezes to death as Chang'e-4 shuts down for the Moon's 14-day lunar night

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Fortnite news and updates: Fortnite made $2.4bn in 2018, according to SuperData
Fortnite news and updates: Fortnite made $2.4bn in 2018, according to SuperData

Fortnite easily out-earns PUBG, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018

  • Software
  • 18 January 2019
Japanese firm sends micro-satellites into space to deliver artificial meteor showers on demand
Japanese firm sends micro-satellites into space to deliver artificial meteor showers on demand

Meteor showers as a service will be visible for about 100 kilometres in all directions

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data

New findings contradict conventional belief that Saturn's rings were formed along with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago

  • Communications
  • 18 January 2019
Back to Top
  • Contact
  • Marketing solutions
  • Enterprise IT Events
  • About
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017