ASUS Mining P106 Review – Crypto Mining GPU
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As you probably know, Asus released two new mining GPU cards aimed to satisfy the growing demand in mining GPUs. Both models have little value for gamers, which mean that they will more likely be widely available for purchase. That’s definitely good news since as for today, most GPUs that are fit for mining ran out of stock even in big stores.
I already reviewed one of the cards – the Mining RX470, which is basically a cheaper RX470 without HDMI outputs and better cooling. The second one looks a bit more interesting, so I invite you to check this out.
Meet the ASUS Mining P106
The Asus Mining P106 (MINING-P106-6G) is based on the NVIDIA P106-100 GPU (Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB). It is basically the same card with some important modifications with the most important being that the Mining P106 features no display outputs whatsoever.
The specs are what you probably expected: the new GPU features GDDR5 6GB video memory with a Clock of 8008 MHz and a core clock of 1506 MHz. According to Asus, the core can be overclocked to 1708 MHz.
This huge resemblance of the Mining P106 with the GTX 1060 drove people crazy. Mining forums are full with discussions where people speculate about the performance of the upcoming mining card – some say that the Mining P106 has more aggressive memory timings, while others believe that the ‘good old’ GTX 1060 is still a better option.
Controversy
The new wave of GTX 1060-based GPUs became quite a controversial topic. For instance, Nvidia’s P106-100 proved to hash the same as a regular GTX 1060 6GB. Considering that the new series of GPUs are meant for cryptomining, people expect those GPUs to hash better than their gaming counterparts.
That’s the reason why some members of the community have a grin outlook on the GTX-1060-based mining GPUs, including the Mining P106.
On their website, Asus claims that “ASUS Mining P106 enhances the megahash rate by up to 36% compared cards in the same segment that are not tailored for mining”. If that will be the case, then the Asus Mining P106 will definitely stand out of the crowd. But we still got to test the GPUs once they come out to make sure that they actually outperform the GTX 1060 6GB.
Again, Asus said that the 36% hashrate improvement is “compared [to] cards in the same segment”; it does not specify what does “the same segment” means exactly. Is Asus talking about the GTX 1060 6GB or do they refer to the 3GB version of the GTX 1060?
So, What Is the Difference?
We still don’t have hard data on the hashrate the Asus Mining P106 will output. But what if it will be the same as the GTX 1060 one? Should we even consider it then?
Truth be told, the Mining P106 is more than just a lite version of the GTX 1060.
Here are some aspects where the Mining version shines, at least in theory:
Pros
- First of all, the Mining P106 should be more affordable than its predecessor. There are two reasons for that – (a) The absence of a display chip makes the card easier to manufacture and (b) less demand on the market will result in a smaller price tag – gamers and non-miners in general are not interested in the Mining P106.
- Mining P106 features innovative dual-bearing fans, which are way more durable than sleeve-bearing ones (that come in most modern gaming GPUs). The dual-bearing technology prevents the lubricant from drying out, reduces friction and the subsequent sonic output. This means that the Mining P106 should have less noisy and more durable fans. This is really important for a GPU that is meant to work on full load 24/7.
- The Mining GPU also features IPX5 certified cooling system. This means that the Mining P106 is less susceptible to dust than its non-mining counterpart. This is bad news for those of you who love vacuuming your mining rigs every week!
- Finally, this new GPU will be probably more newbie-friendly since it comes with a new version of the GPU Tweak software, which is aimed to help the user to overclock the card easily and painlessly.
There are some cons, too:
Cons
- 3 Months warranty. The Mining P106 comes with x4 times shorter warranty period than the GTX 1060. This might seem like a rip-off, however due to the “quick buck” nature of this GPU, we shouldn’t expect a different approach from Asus. The card should be great ROI, so with a bit of luck, those three months should be enough to cover the cost of the GPU.
- The absence of display outputs on the Mining P106 makes it cheaper to manufacture (which should affect the price tag), but it is also a downside. Say, if you build a mining rig out of GTX 1060s, you can always re-sell them and get at least part of your money back. Now, once the Mining P106 loses its profitability, you won’t be able to re-sell it anywhere. The card gotta have really got ROI in order to be worth it.
In Conclusion
It is probably too early to jump to any conclusions. However, hopefully soon we will have a clearer picture on whether this card will be worth it. Will the Mining P106 cause a difficulty bomb? I don’t know, but I doubt that it will cause any notable impact on the hashing difficulty. Even though it is considered a GPU for mining, it is still far from being an ASIC.
That being said, what is your take on this?
It’s very risky to buy one when at the end will not provide you profit in a long run plus you are not sure if you can sell this piece of device since there’s no ports for display output, not unless, ASUS would provide info that in the future you can still use this on other stuff like helping your own video card to extend the performance… How much is this by the way? We should also include the price vs the amount that you can earn with 3 months period..
I’m afraid we will not know the exact price until the card is released. Even then, the price might fluctuate wildly until the GPU demand will be somehow satisfied.
Same goes about the hashrate – it should be somewhere between the one of a GTX 1060 6GB and the one advertised by Asus. Either way, if I were you I wouldn’t expect anything way better than a GTX 1060.
You are right, though. Mining cryptocurrencies always involves risk. We are dealing with Terra Incognita. This is why there are so many people who prefer to stay away from the cryptocurrency world for now. However, big risks sometimes mean big opportunities.
I checked availability with ASUS Switzerland. Here is their response:
ASUS MINING GTX 1060 will not be delivered in european markets.
MINING RX470-4G will be sold in Switzerland (date unknown), yet not over retailers and only in quantities 50+
This cards will have the same effect as ASIC’s had when first availiable. Bye bye GPU home mining 🙁
“This cards will have the same effect as ASIC’s had when first availiable. Bye bye GPU home mining” – what makes you think that this GPU will have the same effect as ASICs?
i dont think that claimed asics effect will be caused because of tec (dont see that big of a technolocical leap in these cards).
my point comes from the economical way these cards come to their buyers and mostly so, who these buyers are. target customer has to buy 50+ of these cards (in my country that is). that equals to 8.33 mining rigs. which home miner has 8+ rigs in usage?
i know none. its the big players that get over the current retail-gpu shortage this way. gpu farms will get more cards for less bucks (high quantity orders = lower price per unit). they can have better deals for electricity too.
as difficulcy is going to rise, the weakest will have to quit earliest.
in sum, these are the reasons and market advantages for big players and why i think this is bad news for home miners.
smartest play = buying traditional stocks of the gpu producers…? glad for any view that contrasts my assumption.
That’s not a good idea… when GPU mining no longer becomes as profitable we will have a market flooded with discounted GPUs as miners attempt to recoup some costs. No one will pay retail for new GPUs when you can buy cards at half price…
Good point. In fact, any newly installed GPU mining rig will affect difficulty levels. No matter what kind of GPU is installed, it will make life for other miners a bit harder.
However, personally I am reluctant to compare this new GPU to an ASIC by the effect it will produce on the mining difficulty.
Here’s why.
Let’s take SIA Coin as an example. Originally, the coin was meant to be mined using GPU. There was no ASIC for the coin till the Obelisk SC1 was announced some days ago. The ASIC is meant to perform like 100 GPUs. With 10.000 ASICs sold (which is the expected sale volume in the next 12 months), the difficulty will be affected the same was as if one million of GPUs were added to the global mining pool. THAT is a considerable difference.
Same can be said about Bitcoin, Dash and any other coin affected by ASICs. Now, I doubt that Asus will sell more than 10.000 mining GPUs.
What do you think about it?
Same here minimum is 100+… is crash..
We have few left in stock Asus Mining P106-6g
[email protected]
hi for asus vga u can contact me +971558131278
We have few left (+36) in stock Asus Mining P106-6g
[email protected]
Europe based 😉
price ?
Write me an email, please
So if the P106 has no video output, does that mean we’ll have to use it in conjunction with another video card?
Also, what motherboard should be paired with this GPU?
You should plug the monitor to mobo 🙂
My mobo has no video out
what mobo do youn have ?
Then u have to use another gpu for output. 🙁 After the setup process, you can plug it off.
Well, my customer just bought 12 of these POS cards. Why POS you say?
Why would ASUS would engineer a “MINING” graphics card (P106-6G) and then make the driver for Windows ONLY? How stupid is that when 95% of all Mining machines use UNIX based OS’.
I just got offline with their tech support and they said NO Unix support for this card.
ASUS used to be an intelligent company, So disappointed.
USEDTO BE ! :/ You can make two rigs with 6x GPUs each!
Already built. Just finished installing everything under Windows 10 instead of Ubuntu 16.04
Pics? 🙂
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f8062b2a84b4f33de627acf28de7790f0d109e520fd468d4aee82af79d6457f.jpg
looks great 🙂 strange mode to place the GPUs btw 😛
Otherwise the heat from each GPU will be blowing straight into the PCB of the next card. This will allow it to run much cooler. I angled each to just wash over the cooling tubes of the next.