Apparently it is designed for mining the new Grin cryptocurrency. Sapphire has a new graphics card on the way, based upon the Radeon RX 570 design. So far, so ordinary, but this new graphics card, its first product announcement of 2019, is designed to pack a hefty 16GB of GDDR5 RAM. If you haven't guessed already (or haven't read the story subheading), the lashings of VRAM will be of great interest to a niche of buyers looking to mine a new cryprocurrency.

It might be odd to hear about a major AIB maker preparing to launch a specialised crypto-card in this day and age. More common-or-garden RX 570 designs are now priced quite reasonably, and on the green team, Nvidia blamed the 'crypto hangover' for a downturn in its fortunes last November. Recently HEXUS got several emails 'yelling' about a big sale of cryptomining (ASIC) equipment and I thought - no surprise. However, Sapphire must see some potential; otherwise it would not invest in developing such a product.