Why is there only one GPU miner for NVIDIA cards?

Question

I've just started mining (0.8 XMR so far, woo!) with some NVidia cards (4x GTX750ti), mainly due to the low power draw.

As far as I know, the only GPU miner for the cryptonight algorithm is ccminer-cryptonight. I know there are a couple of forks, such as this one by KlausT but considering there are a few different options for AMD GPU mining, and CPU mining, I'm surprised there isn't at least one alternative.

FWIW, I'm happy with ccminer, I just think it's good to be able to compare miners for efficiency and ease of use, etc.

Is there a reason for this or is it just that ccminer works well so why make another?

Answer 1

There was a proposal on the Monero Forum Funding System for someone to create an improved NVIDIA miner. Unfortunately, the developer never followed through and the project was closed.

Answer 2

This problem is a symptom of a larger issue, namely why any developer would give something away for free and maintain it through driver cycles when they could instead program their own version that is significantly better than the others and make a lot of money mining, or make a lot of money by selling their miner to a mining conglomerate who includes a clause in their contact that gives them exclusive use of the code.

People like Claymore, who codes one of the ATI mining software options, are few and far between, particularly for an altcoin like Monero. Coding mining software requires a great degree of technical skill, yet almost all of those who already have a free version but still want somewhat faster software are unwilling to pay for it. That mismatch is the crux of the problem.