NVIDIA Reduces RTX 3060 ETH Performance By 50%, Intros Mining GPUs
Cryptocurrency Mining Processors Are Coming
By now you may have heard that NVIDIA will be intentionally reducing the mining performance of their upcoming RTX 3060 graphics card, as they have announced that ETH hashrates will be halved when mining is detected – and this goes for Linux as well as Windows.
While this would in theory improve potential availability, one wonders how long it will take for workarounds to be released, be it a software workaround or VBIOS flash. Regardless, the company is sending the message that they are serious about giving gamers the opportunity to buy the new GPU – though supply was unable to catch up with demand this generation even before cryptocurrencies hit the all time highs we’ve seen so far this year.
Don’t think this means that NVIDIA is anti-mining, as clearly there is a demand for GPUs that will never see a gaming rig. To this end NVIDIA will be offering the mining-only NVIDIA CMP HX series, working with their board partners for these crypto-only cards. You might recall that this is not the first time that NVIDIA has offered mining-specific GPUs (and of course Linus made a video about them last time).
The blog post over at NVIDIA is pretty short, and reproduced here in its entirety:
We are gamers, through and through. We obsess about new gaming features, new architectures, new games and tech. We designed GeForce GPUs for gamers, and gamers are clamoring for more.
Yet NVIDIA GPUs are programmable. And users are constantly discovering new applications for them, from weather simulation and gene sequencing to deep learning and robotics. Mining cryptocurrency is one of them.
With the launch of GeForce RTX 3060 on Feb. 25, we’re taking an important step to help ensure GeForce GPUs end up in the hands of gamers.
Halving Hash Rate
RTX 3060 software drivers are designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50 percent.That only makes sense. Our GeForce RTX GPUs introduce cutting-edge technologies — such as RTX real-time ray-tracing, DLSS AI-accelerated image upscaling technology, Reflex super-fast response rendering for the best system latency, and many more — tailored to meet the needs of gamers and those who create digital experiences.
To address the specific needs of Ethereum mining, we’re announcing the NVIDIA CMP, or, Cryptocurrency Mining Processor, product line for professional mining.
CMP products — which don’t do graphics — are sold through authorized partners and optimized for the best mining performance and efficiency. They don’t meet the specifications required of a GeForce GPU and, thus, don’t impact the availability of GeForce GPUs to gamers.
For instance, CMP lacks display outputs, enabling improved airflow while mining so they can be more densely packed. CMPs also have a lower peak core voltage and frequency, which improves mining power efficiency.
Creating tailored products for customers with specific needs delivers the best value for customers. With CMP, we can help miners build the most efficient data centers while preserving GeForce RTX GPUs for gamers.
Based on the pics that are floating around some of these mining facilities must have several $100,000 of dollars invest in just hardware. If they can afford that and everything else associated with it they can afford to create custom drivers and BIOSs for these cards from the ground up if need be. In fact I’d be surprised that if they are at least using customized versions of the drivers now to gain an edge in efficiency and unlock features of the card that the consumer driver doesn’t have access to. So yeah locking the RTX/GTX cards down isn’t going to do much good.
Making custom parts designed for mining that are more efficient in both space and power will appeal to the big mining installations I’m sure so maybe if they can get all the big players to buy into those (assuming they can supply enough) mabye, just maybe…. that would keep the RTX and GTX cards out of the hands of those with the resources that would otherwise just build custom drivers and BIOS versions. The cynical part of me though says nVidia will make like 8 of these mining cards and this all a PR move… I guess we’ll see.