U.S. hardware manufacturer ASUS formally announced the release of its “second generation” cryptocurrency mining motherboard on May 30.
The new product, dubbed the H370 Mining Master Motherboard, sees the company attempt to corner the increasingly crowded market by targeting high-demand users. It follows the release of the B250 Mining Expert in August 2017. ASUS meanwhile said plans to launch its new offering in North America beginning in Q3 2018.
“Since its release last year, the ASUS B250 Mining Expert made ambitious cryptocurrency hobbyist farms more accessible and industrial-scale operations more efficient,” an accompanying press release states, continuing:
“It was hugely successful, with a sales volume that far exceeded expectations. With the concept proven in practice and more insight gained on what miners need, we redefined the formula for a second generation.”
An indicator of the extent to which the hardware industry has changed on the back of crypto mining, the H370 features space for a total of twenty graphics cards.
Mining has vastly increased demand for the GPU chips needed for such cards, with manufacturers such as Nvidia going head-to-head with cryptocurrency industry competitors such as Bitmain. Various operators now produce mining-oriented motherboards, including Gigabyte, Biostar and MSI.