The effects of the most recent cryptocurrency mining phase are having a direct impact on various markets, most notably on the GPU product lines from Nvidia and AMD. Without going into the details of what a cryptocurrency is or how it is created and distributed on a shared network, you only need to understand that it is a highly speculative market and gold rush that is accelerated and profitable because of its ability to run efficiently on graphics cards usually intended for the PC gaming markets. Potential investors need only purchase basic PC components and as many GPUs as they can afford to begin a mining operation with the intent to turn a profit. As we look at the sales channels today, AMD AMD, +2.86 Radeon graphics cards from the current and previous generation of GPU are nearly impossible to find in stock, and when you do come across them, they are priced well above the expected manufactured suggested retail price. This trend has caused the likes of the Radeon RX 580, RX 570, RX 480, and RX 470 to essentially disappear from online and retail shelves. This impact directly hit AMD products first because its architecture was slightly better suited for the coin mining task while remaining power efficient (the secondary cost of the mining process). But as the well dries up around the Radeon products, users are turning their attention to Nvidia NVDA, -0.69 eForce cards from the Pascal-based 10-series product line and we are already seeing the resulting low inventory and spiking prices for them as well.via