Ethereum: What Mining Performance Can We Roughly Expect from the Intel SHA Extensions of the Upcoming Skylake Processor Architecture
As the next generation of high-performance computing processors, Intel’s upcoming Skylake microarchitecture promises to deliver significant improvements in various aspects of performance and power efficiency. One of the key areas that will be heavily impacted by the new processor architecture is the mining performance of Ethereum.
The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) extension, announced as part of Intel’s x86 SkyLake microarchitecture, aims to provide a significant boost in hardware-accelerated SHA processing capabilities for various applications, including blockchain and cryptocurrency mining. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what mining performance can be expected from the Skylake processor architecture, specifically focusing on Ethereum.
Background: How SHA works
Before diving into the details of the Skylake processor architecture, it’s essential to understand how SHA works. Secure Hash Algorithms are used for data integrity and cryptographic purposes in various applications, including blockchain and cryptocurrency systems. The SHA-256 algorithm is a widely used example of this, which uses a hash function to produce a fixed-size string output from an input string.
SHA Extensions on the Skylake Architecture
Intel’s x86 SkyLake microarchitecture introduces several key innovations for SHA processing:
- Hardware Acceleration
: The Skylake processor architecture will provide hardware acceleration for SHA algorithms, allowing them to be executed faster and more efficiently using specialized hardware accelerators.
- Improved Instruction-Level Parallelism (ILP): The new architecture will feature improved ILP capabilities, enabling the efficient use of multiple processing cores to accelerate various tasks, including SHA computations.
Mining Performance Expectations
While we don’t have an exact release date for the Skylake processor architecture or its SHA extensions, we can make some educated estimates based on industry trends and previous advancements. Here are a few factors that will influence mining performance in Ethereum:
- Hash Rate: The hash rate of a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is directly proportional to its clock speed, memory size, number of cores, and shader model support.
- Clock Speed: As the Skylake processor architecture introduces higher clock speeds for its core processing units, this will increase the overall performance of GPUs in terms of SHA computations.
Roughly Expected Mining Performance
Assuming that we’re talking about a well-established Ethereum mining rig with a decent GPU (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 580) and an Intel CPU (Intel Core i7-6700K), here’s a rough estimate of the mining performance that can be expected from the Skylake processor architecture:
- Clock Speed: The new Intel CPUs will likely clock at speeds around 3.6 GHz to 4.2 GHz, depending on the specific model.
- Hash Rate: With an estimated GPU clock speed ranging from 1.5 GHz to 2.0 GHz (depending on the GPU), and a total system clock speed of around 3.9 GHz to 4.2 GHz, we can expect a hash rate increase of at least 20% to 30%.
- Mining Performance: This translates to an estimated 10% to 15% boost in mining performance compared to older architecture (e.g., Sandy Bridge or Haswell).
Conclusion
The introduction of SHA extensions on the Intel Skylake microarchitecture promises significant improvements in hardware-accelerated SHA processing capabilities for Ethereum miners. While we don’t have precise estimates, a rough estimate suggests that mining performance will increase by 10% to 15%, which can be achieved with a well-established gaming-grade GPU and an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU.