NVIDIA tried to dissuade cryptocurrency miners from buying its latest GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards but failed. Reports indicate the company is now changing tactics to prevent cryptocurrency mining by going old-school.
NVIDIA recently announced it was committing to a new motto ‘GeForce Is Made for Gaming’. Needless to mention, the company failed spectacularly. However, its new technique at making RTX 3060 GPU ‘unattractive’ for cryptocurrency mining might just work.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU SKU never truly managed to dissuade cryptocurrency miners:
Recently, NVIDIA introduced its GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card with GA106-300 Ampere GPU SKU. This card was the first to feature NVIDIA’s latest additions like Resizable BAR and crypto mining algorithm limiter.
The “limiter” reduced the performance of the graphics card if the firmware detected the card was mining cryptocurrency. Needless to add, NVIDIA’s attempts to keep the card out of the hands of crypto miners were quickly thwarted.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 To Silently Get New GA106-302 GPU, Will Once Again Limit Hash Rate In Cryptocurrency Mining Algorithms https://t.co/13oSmfhZLJ
— QuickCart (@QuickCartWP) April 15, 2021
There were persistent reports about talented cryptocurrency miners overcoming the software-based limitations. Some even discovered a simple physical plug that resembled an HDMI male connector, could do the trick.
Surprisingly, the company itself released a driver that actually removes the limiter. The accidentally released driver enables the GPU to mine at full capacity, making the company’s efforts useless.
New NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU SKU with GA106-302 ID to truly limit cryptocurrency mining?
Perhaps understanding and learning from its past follies, NVIDIA appears to be going old-school. Reports indicate NVIDIA will launch an updated GeForce RTX 3060 GPU SKU that features a different ID.
NVIDIA is reportedly producing GeForce RTX 3060 GKU SKUs with GA106-302 ID. The company could launch these graphics cards next month.
Nvidia taking another swing at its cryptocurrency mining limiter? https://t.co/KgnasbPghK
— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) April 15, 2021
The currently available NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU has GA106-300 ID. NVIDIA hopes software and the drivers will use the new ID to identify new SKUs.
NVIDIA noted the GeForce RTX 3060 computing power limiter is based on the handshake between the GPU, the driver and the VBIOS. When the software detects the card is performing a Hash operation, it would force the GPU operation to slow down by 50 percent.
I've said before, maybe not GA106 only.
For example, we would meet GA102-302/202 and GA104-302/202. https://t.co/pGghHbikbV— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) April 15, 2021
Similar to the previous approach, if the software detects new IDs, it will limit the performance of the card at mining tasks such as Ethereum mining. NVIDIA reasons, as no driver version or bypass, can trick the software to enable the card to use its full mining power, these cards will become unprofitable to cryptocurrency miners.
In addition to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, NVIDIA may be readying updated GPU SKU IDs for GA104 and GA102 GPUs. They could arrive as GA102-302/202 and GA104-302/202 variants in the near future. In the meantime, cryptocurrency miners have special hardware.