Headless XFX AMD Navi 21 RDNA 2 Card Spied For Potential Ethereum Cryptomining Assault

Images of this alleged cryptomining card were taken by a local Vietnamese PC hardware retailer, and they show a dual-slot design with an unadorned blower-style cooler. Instead of the standard outputs you’d see on modern graphics cards (HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.), the I/O plate is dominated by exhaust vents to help cool the beastly GPU.

Power connectors for this XFX-branded card are located on the end of the card opposite the I/O plate. The dual 8-pin connectors and the capacitor layout point toward a Navi 21 GPU, according to VideoCardz. There are currently three Navi 21-based GPUs -- the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT – and they have the following Ethereum hash rates:

• Radeon RX 6800: ~ 61 MH/s
• Radeon RX 6800 XT: ~ 65 MH/s
• Radeon RX 6900 XT: ~ 65 MH/s

Compared to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics card – pre LHR neutering – the mining potential of AMD’s RDNA 2 GPUs is subpar. For example, the GeForce RTX 3080’s hash rate is 100 MH/s, while the GeForce RTX 3090 boosts that figure to 125 MH/s.

So we’d be interested in seeing who these dedicated Navi 21-based cryptomining cards will be aimed at going forward. Of course, the mining profitability swings heavily in favor of [older] NVIDIA GPUs, so perhaps it will simply be a matter of availability. With the GeForce RTX 30 Series LHR GPUs dominating [new] shipments from NVIDIA, a Navi 21 alternative could be an attractive option. Couple that with the fact that we haven’t seen any of NVIDIA’s higher-end dedicated CMP 90 HX cards hit the streets yet (86 MH/s), and these new headless AMD cards make are starting to make a bit more sense…