Due to the competition between gamers and crypto miners for GPUs, while there is a shortage of graphics cards, Nvidia has decided to take some steps that will maybe push miners away from the entry-level GeForce RTX 3060.
The prices won’t change, but Nvidia will be limiting the hash rate of the RTX 3060 so that miners won’t see it as a great investment.
“With the launch of GeForce RTX 3060 on February 25, we’re taking an important step to help ensure GeForce GPUs end up in the hands of gamers,” the company mentioned in a blog post, saying that “we designed GeForce GPUs for gamers, and gamers are clamoring for more.”
The limit for the hash rates will be controlled by Nvidia’s GeForce software drivers, which can detect if a card is being used to mine Ethereum. The plan is that once the mining algorithm is detected, Nvidia will limit the hash rate, thus limiting the mining efficiency for cryptocurrency by somewhere close to 50%.
“That only makes sense,” the company commented trying to defend its solution. “Our GeForce RTX GPUs introduce cutting-edge technologies — such as RTX real-time ray tracing, DLSS A.I.I-accelerated image upscaling technology, Reflex superfast response rendering for the best system latency, and many more — tailored to meet the needs of gamers and those who create digital experiences.”
Nvidia’s decision is great news for the gaming community since the pre-order pricing for the RTX 3060 already went sky-high even before the card’s release set for February the 25th. The release of the desktop GPU was announced earlier this year, and it will feature the same Ampere architecture and second-generation ray tracing core design that is included in all other Nvidia RTX 300 series GPUs.
But that is not all, as a new Nvidia CMP card was also announced. CMP stands for Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. Without a dedicated crypto mining card, miners were using the dedicated gaming GPUs for their work, but with the release of this CMP card, Nvidia believes that miners will turn to this tool and leave the GeForce RTX cards for gamers to use.
These CMP cards weren’t created to aid graphics, and they also don’t come with display outputs, so they will enjoy better airflow and cooling when mining takes place. The design was also created to permit the cards to be densely packed together in a mining rig.
“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.”
Nvidia hasn’t yet mentioned how much these CMP cards will cost.