Crypto miners have been using top-of-the-line graphics cards to optimize the gathering of cryptocurrency for a while now, but Nvidia is about to limit crypto mining on all RTX 3000 cards moving forward.
The upcoming re-release of Nvidia RTX 3000 cards and upcoming RTX 3080 Ti will offer a new cryptocurrency mining limiter that may create a dent in the crypto mining industry. The new GPUs are differentiated as “Lite Hash Rate," but this term is only visible to AIB partners and not on the packaging of the cards.
Lite Hash Rate isn't being used as a marketing term, and these Nvidia cards will offer the same performance in games as the cards already on the market. Because the packaging won't offer any insight into which cards have crypto limiting, many crypto miners may end up with a card they don't want. The only way customers can distinguish LHR from non-LHR chips will be by looking at the GPU itself moving forward.
These re-released Nvidia RTX 3000 and RTX 3090 Ti cards will only be compatible with drivers that limit crypto mining, a further measure to sort out the graphics card market through preventative measures. Nvidia is also adding Resizable BAR support for the new 3000 cards, boosting frame rates in certain games by up to ten percent. These adjustments may not require a vBIOS update according to a recent update from Nvidia to its partners.
Beyond this update for AIB partners, Nvidia hasn't clarified what to expect from the crypto limiters in the new RTX 3000 cards, potentially adding another layer to its attempt at reducing the amount of crypto mining utilizing the power of Nvidia cards.
By Summer, most of these graphics cards on store shelves will likely offer crypto limiting, which should help fix the graphics card stock issue from the reduced demand. Nvidia’s RTX 3090 graphics card is the only exception to these adjustments as the card will not limit hash rates in the same way that the other RTX 3000 re-released cards do. This is apparently due to the model being less popular with crypto miners due to its $1,499 price tag.
Nvidia's previous attempts at limiting mining performance on its chips released with the RTX 3060, but the preventative measures failed due to a released driver that didn't work as intended. Due to the new changes, Nvidia cards may become more readily available as crypto miners discover each of the new Nvidia RTX 3000's has reduced hash rates. If things go as intended, the PC gaming market may escape its graphics card slump.
Source: Video Cardz