The two boards use special dual ball bearing fans that are smoother-running and more dust-resistant. You won't have to worry so much about your card dying after running 24/7 for months on end. ASUS isn't making any further optimization claims about the RX 470 variant (the tuner software is the same as for its regular cards), but it claims that the P106 is up to 36 percent faster than an unoptimized card at churning through cryptocurrency hashes.

Neither AMD nor NVIDIA is confirming the cards, including whether or not companies beyond ASUS will be selling mining-optimized models. A CNBC source is backing the existence of the NVIDIA board, though, and AMD would be a logical fit when it recently credited the "resurgent" digital currency market for a jump in GPU sales. And there's clearly a strong incentive for the companies to hop aboard the mining bandwagon. It gives them a customer base full of frequent upgraders, of course, but it also reduces the chances that avid miners will cut into GPU shipments intended for gamers.