Alongside the iPhone 12 Pro and PlayStation 5, a hot technology item that is “sold out” globally is NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3000 series GPUs. With significant performance improvements over the previous generation, combined with increased home gaming demand due to the pandemic, high-end GPUs like the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 are facing severe shortages.
Acquiring a new generation NVIDIA GPU has been quite challenging for most users, yet Simon Byrne from Las Vegas, USA recently shocked everyone by revealing he owns as many as… 78 RTX 3080s.
Clearly, Simon doesn’t need 78 RTX 3080s just for gaming; rather, he uses them to mine cryptocurrency, specifically ETH (Ethereum). People have even roughly calculated the costs incurred and profits earned by Simon after investing in such a large quantity of expensive GPUs.
First, let’s talk about the costs:
– Each RTX 3080 has a listed price of 699 USD. However, as mentioned earlier, this GPU is currently in short supply, forcing buyers to purchase from “resellers” at a higher price of around 1199 USD. Thus, Simon would have to spend 1199 USD x 78 = 93,522 USD. Let’s round this up to 100,000 USD, as Simon also has to cover costs for other components like power supplies, racks, etc.
– A large number of GPUs running 24/7 will consume a significant amount of electricity. One RTX 3080 has a power consumption of about 300W, and 78 RTX 3080s have a power consumption of 23.4 kW. In Las Vegas, the price for one kWh is 8.43 cents. Adding the costs for air conditioning (which is also a crucial factor for maintaining such a large number of GPUs), Simon will have to pay around 2166 USD per month for electricity.
Now, let’s discuss revenue and profit:
– Using the Ethash algorithm, each RTX 3080 achieves a rate of 83.57Mh, generating 0.22236870 ETH per month, equivalent to 165 USD. Thus, 78 RTX 3080s will generate 17.3 ETH per month, amounting to 12,840 USD.
– If sustained over a year, the amount Simon could earn is 154,080 USD. After deducting the aforementioned electricity costs, the setup of 78 RTX 3080s could net 128,088 USD per year. Even after accounting for equipment costs, Simon would still profit over 28,000 USD a year.
Of course, this level of profit can only be achieved when the price of ETH is between 700-800 USD.