There are GPU crimes occurring, but this time it’s before they’ve been able to mine any crypto. Well yet, anyway. A literal truck load of graphics cards has been stolen in California, just a few days ago.
In a post on the EVGA forums (via Videocardz) by product manager, Jacob Freeman, he confirmed that a shipment of EVGA GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards had been nicked out of a truck on their way from San Francisco to Southern California.
He also states that the retail value of the cards onboard ranged from $329.99 to $1959.99, so there were almost certainly a few Nvidia RTX 3090s, but also some Nvidia RTX 3060's in the haul.
The post takes care to warn people about purchasing any of these cards that surface, as EVGA has listings of the serial numbers involved. So trying to register the warranty for any of these cards won’t work and may get you a visit from authorities. If you can register a card warranty, that’s a clear sign that your GPU is clean. It’s a better idea than ever to check the serial number before buying off Craigslist at the moment.
Tips and advice (Image credit: Future) How to buy a graphics card: tips on buying a graphics card in the barren silicon landscape that is 2021
Of course, the United States isn’t the only place to experience graphics card shortages in the current climate. People all over the world are struggling to get their hands on a new GPU thanks to chip shortages. Thanks to this demand, some GPUs are selling for around double the price in places like Germany and Austria.
But there’s new graphics cards to wait for anyway. Nvidia is reportedly said to announce RAM boosts to many of its cards next month, the potential specs on Intel’s Arc Alchemist are looking pretty good, plus AMD’s next gen flagship design being finalised. Maybe wait for these before deciding to pull any truck heists of your own.
xampl9 on November 5th, 2021 at 12:05 UTC »
Thefts of Pentiums by gangs used to be a thing. I recall seeing that by weight, they were more valuable than gold.
Edit: Not true today, it seems. A Ryzen 5950 ($800) weighs 1.6 ounces, and gold is $1700/oz
Malapple on November 5th, 2021 at 02:21 UTC »
When I worked in a smallish computer chain store in the 90's, a container ship carrying a vast amount of CPUs was stolen. Ship was recovered, CPUs were not. A month later, we were selling much-discounted Intel CPUs in our PCs. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but man...
EquivocalName on November 5th, 2021 at 01:50 UTC »
Bet they'll all be used for crypto mining.