Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards with cryptomining limiter reportedly coming...

[jsilva]

Something to look forward to: Following rumors about Nvidia relaunching the RTX 30 series with new GPUs featuring a cryptomining limiter, a new report claims that AIB partners have been informed that these chips will start shipping in mid-May. The new GPUs are referred to as LHR (Lite Hash Rate) and should come with Resizable BAR support enabled by default.

Nvidia had previously stated that they wouldn't limit mining performance of GPU already sold, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't do it to GPUs not yet in the market. It's not in Nvidia's best interest to reduce any revenue originated by selling cards for mining, which is quite high. However, with the CMP HX series already out, the company can reclaim the RTX series for their original purpose, a graphics cards series for PC gamers.

Like the RTX 3060, the rest of the GeForce RTX 30 GPU family is expected to receive a similar treatment, as Nvidia reportedly plans to update the whole lineup with new graphics processors featuring anti-mining capabilities -- the kind that can't be bypassed.

The LHR GPUs will be named differently, ending with a '2' instead of '0' (GA102-200 is now GA102-202). The PCI Device ID will also differ, but performance-wise, both GAxx0 and GAxx2 chips will be the same.

The new GPUs are expected to start shipping in the middle of May, meaning that customers should start receiving them about a month later. This may result in improved GPU stock levels for PC builders and gamers if miners can't figure out a practical way to override the mining limiter, leading them to the CMP HX series.

The report further indicates that the RTX 3090 may not come with the cryptomining limiter because it already has a high ROI. Nonetheless, it'll still be revised with a new GPU code-name (GA102-302), which may have something to do with Nvidia's push to enable Resizable BAR support by default without the need for customers to update their card's vBIOS.

We benchmarked initial support for Resizable BAR on GeForce RTX GPUs and it's still a work in progress, especially if the drivers can't tell if the game will receive a boost or a decrease in performance once it's enabled.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/89480-nvidia-geforce-rtx-30-series-graphics-cards-cryptomining.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Yeah let's limit miners! *wink*
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Unless we conveniently make a mistake and "forget" to include the limiter on the beta drivers that will be available for miners a week or two before the cards are released.

I am seriously calling it now: Nvidia will "make a mistake" and just bypass this restriction themselves. At best this is a move to try and appease gamers out but I'm afraid that after 6 months and one previously and spectacularly failed attempt at limiting crypto, nobody believes Jansen anymore, nor should anyone.

 

[RagePizza]

Whatever 'measures' they put into place are DOA. All of the potential options Nvidia have to dissuade miners from using gaming GPUs have all been debunked at this point. Even the idea of a "Mining Only" GPU doesn't make sense in the wider picture.

 

[m4a4]

Nothing like punishing gamers (cheaping out to target a symptom) instead of trying to fix the market flow (the root of the problem).

If they actually wanted to be gamer-friendly, they would push for better sales practices that don't allow bulk purchasing for farming, and maybe even incentives for retailers that try. They have the power to do such a thing...

 

[pcnthuziast]

Nice publicity stunt to troll the gamers you no longer care about or cater too. Miners are already poised and ready to ensure these will be gone instantly.

 

[emmzo]

Even if by some miracle the miner limiter works and it`s not hacked in a matter of days, scalpers and limited supply will surely put the prices very close to the current line-up. All of this looks like another NVidia publicity stunt, because neither them or AMD for that matter, care where the money come from as long as they instantly sale everything they produce. It`s a very lucrative business where manufacturers, distributors and retailers blame each other for the current crisis while getting fat because of it. Unless it severely hits the gaming industry, I don`t see anyone lifting a finger or giving a fxck about the majority of gamers.

 

[Achaios]

The so-called limiter is just bad PR.

Baloney.

 

[Phylop]

All nvidia is doing with these CMP cards is ensuring that they have no resale value once they are unprofitable for mining. It's an attempt to avoid having the resale market flooded with cheap used graphics cards once the crypto market busts again like it did a few years ago. It's a roundabout way of nvidia price fixing the market. CMP cards do nothing to help put GPUs in the hands of gamers, they actually do the complete opposite.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Thank God I already got my GPUs because miner limiters ain't gonna do nothing to stop scalpers.

 

[Nobina]

Seems like every week or two Nvidia promises to limit miners but never actually does something. It's a carrot on a stick to keep you hoping. Not that screwing over miners is a good idea anyway.

 

[Adhmuz]

I'm calling BS on this, as previously stated, they will either F up and release a driver that circumvents the limits, or the driver will be cracked and the full potential unlocked within a week or two of release.

The only solution is to ship directly to customers/gamers if any real care was given to them. However due to the lucrative nature of the way sales are going right now why would they ever consider such an option.

 

[RedBlu]

If they actually wanted to be gamer-friendly, they would push for better sales practices that don't allow bulk purchasing for farming, and maybe even incentives for retailers that try. They have the power to do such a thing...

How? How do you enforce purchase quotas without punishing legit consumers? Do you have a magic bullet?

IP locking punishes people that share an IP like university campuses. It's trivial to mass register temporary emails and probably only marginally harder to cycle through gift cards or other methods of payment. You could restrict sales to older accounts but then you penalize new builders. You could tie purchases to SSNs but that's a dystopian privacy nightmare that would never get off the ground.

 

[m4a4]

How? How do you enforce purchase quotas without punishing legit consumers? Do you have a magic bullet?

IP locking punishes people that share an IP like university campuses. It's trivial to mass register temporary emails and probably only marginally harder to cycle through gift cards or other methods of payment. You could restrict sales to older accounts but then you penalize new builders. You could tie purchases to SSNs but that's a dystopian privacy nightmare that would never get off the ground.

How? By starting to do something. There's practically no incentive to even try relegating high demand items for big retailers (because $$$). The most I've seen is LTT doing drops for GPUs/CPUs where they go through the effort to verify the person on the buying end (which, at the least is a great PR move for those allocating the cards to them).

I'm not asking for a heavy handed poorly thought out approach, nor expecting a silver bullet. Just more than what they're doing right now, especially if they want to pretend to care with this laughable attempt...

 

[Geralt]

And if Nvdia tries to get rid of miners by putting a big bomb inside every new graphics card so the entire farms will blow up. Maybe this method would be more effective than that stupid thing they are trying. Evil must be eliminated one way or another.

 

[Geralt]

Thank God I already got my GPUs because miner limiters ain't gonna do nothing to stop scalpers.

Yes, all of us already knew about your GPU's. Why to repeat it?

 

[PEnnn]

Does ANYONE really believe or care what nGreedia plans to release next??

99% of us won't see any of their usual scalper-edition BS cards.

 

[JamesBlond]

Simple fix to this problem

STOP BUYING NVIDIA, make them suffer like they are trying to make the consumer suffer.
If they chose to punish us for something they lack the power to fix then we should punish them.

Support companies that believe in your personal right to chose what when how and who you buy from.

I buy 1 GPU a year and it pays for itself mining on NiceHash, the next GPU cost me nothing, so why would I buy a GPU that is going to lose value in 2yrs, I'm not. NVIDIA will lose, not us

 

[bravesgood]

It seems pretty obvious that ampere was designed with some accommodation to mining efficiency, based on my limited experience mining with a 1080 ti and 3070. That's why its hilarious Nvidia is pretending to 'limit' it now. Soo original 3070s and 3080s may go up in value even more?

 

[EdmondRC]

I hope so, maybe I can snag a 3080 Ti and sell my 3080 haha and still make $1000. That would be great since I only use it for gaming.

Honestly, no I really don't hope this will happen. I am just being factious.

 

[EdmondRC]

Maybe I missed this along the way, but how do these chips differ in a way that will allow more gaming units to the market? Wouldn't these just be pulling resources that could be used to produce the gaming chips? Are these rejected gaming chips perhaps?

 

[Markoni35]

I was expecting a huge metal switch sticking out from the back of the card !!

 

[JamesBlond]

Maybe I missed this along the way, but how do these chips differ in a way that will allow more gaming units to the market? Wouldn't these just be pulling resources that could be used to produce the gaming chips? Are these rejected gaming chips perhaps?

Who knows, so how the manufacture process works is
3090 TI - fails in 3 places becomes 3090 - Fails in 2 more places becomes 3080 - fails in memory - becomes 3070 - fails in Cuda cores becomes 3060 Ti
The same process works in all chip manufacturing, which prevents them from losing billions.
The point is, they only have to physically disable sometime to make it a new card as all software picks up what the output is from the bios on the card.

 

[EdmondRC]

Who knows, so how the manufacture process works is
3090 TI - fails in 3 places becomes 3090 - Fails in 2 more places becomes 3080 - fails in memory - becomes 3070 - fails in Cuda cores becomes 3060 Ti
The same process works in all chip manufacturing, which prevents them from losing billions.
The point is, they only have to physically disable sometime to make it a new card as all software picks up what the output is from the bios on the card.

Well we know the 30 series works. The 3090 comes from a perfect die, the 3080 Ti and the 3080 are both cut down version of that die. The 3080 Ti is very minimally cut down, performance wise it will not be far from the 3090 at all. So from the most expensive and biggest die they will get 3 different SKUs. The next die is the GA 104 which will be the 3070 Ti. A cut down version is already used for the 3070 and the 3060 Ti. So 3 SKUs come from the GA 104 die as well. Finally there is the GA 106 which is currently only being used for the RTX 3060, but there will likely be a 3050 Ti and a 3050 SKU in the future to take advantage of less than perfect dies. Unless Nvidia has another die up its sleeves, the 3090 is as good as it gets for the RTX 30 series. The price reflects that it comes with 24 GB of VRAM and Nvidia expected to be used in more workstation applications where the higher price is not as big a factor. Only the real enthusiast gamers would purchase it at that price.

The RTX 3070 Ti and the RTX 3080 Ti will likely become the Nvidia GPUs to get going forward. I have an RTX 3080 and if the resell prices are still high when the 3080 Ti is released, I'm going to do my best to get one and sell my 3080 to cover the delta between them. I don't cryptomine, so probably there will be someone willing to pay $1200 + for my 3080 since it will still be crypto unlocked.