Nvidia beta driver removes GeForce RTX 3060 crypto mining limiter

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Nvidia's controversial hash rate limiter for the RTX 3060 was thought to be unhackable but now less than three weeks after launch, we’re hearing otherwise. The source behind the software needed to unleash the card's full mining potential? Nvidia itself.

Nvidia in an attempt to address retail shortages of its latest RTX 3000 series graphics cards last month took the bold and controversial step of artificially limiting the effectiveness of the GeForce RTX 3060 for cryptocurrency mining.

For those who haven’t been keeping up, a wide variety of electronic goods including processors, graphics card and video game consoles have been in short supply since before the holidays in part due to continued fallout from the pandemic. With graphics cards in particular, it’s not only gamers that want them.

It just so happens that Nvidia’s latest generation of GPUs are also appealing to cryptocurrency enthusiasts mining Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. According to one mining calculator, a single RTX 3070 card can generate a profit of more than $180 per month mining ETH.

Ahead of its February 25 launch, Nvidia announced that the RTX 3060 would utilize a software driver designed to detect mining and limit its effectiveness by around 50 percent.

Hi Ryan. It's not just a driver thing. There is a secure handshake between the driver, the RTX 3060 silicon, and the BIOS (firmware) that prevents removal of the hash rate limiter.

— Bryan Del Rizzo (@bdelrizzo) February 19, 2021

VideoCardz.com is reporting that two publications, ComputerBase and HardwareLuxx, have noted that the Ethereum hash rate limiter can be rendered ineffective by using the GeForce 470.05 beta driver, which is available to developers under the Windows Insider Program.

Some reports suggested you might also need a hacked BIOS to disable the limiter but according to the latest reports, only the beta driver is needed.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/88928-nvidia-beta-driver-removes-geforce-rtx-3060-crypto.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

All new cards designed for gaming, should be shipped direct to the consumer until this crypto ponzi scheme is over.

Gamer cards should have a piece of hardware built in that detects mining and immediately disables the card.

Congress needs to get involved and make mining illegal based on the environmental impact due to wasting energy.

 

[MaxSmarties]

Hardly a news... It was marketing BS since the beginning. Nvidia couldn't care less about gamers. They only care about money.

 

[terzaerian]

At this point I'm no longer looking at Nvidia for my next graphics upgrade. I'll take the slightly lower gaming and hashing performance of an AMD vs the BS they're pulling right now.

 

[winjer]

nVidia just shat the bed...

 

[arrowflash]

Gamer cards should have a piece of hardware built in that detects mining and immediately disables the card.

Not only disable - it should be a hardware solution that kills the card and turns it into a paperweight, similar to how some old arcade boards would commit suicide if they detected someone trying to break the rom encryption.

Even better if they released this update without telling anyone.

 

[Inthenstus]

Lol.. NVIDIA is a joke, dishonest company, AMD drivers are littered with bugs. Who knows, if Intel can release a stable product, they’ll be my next purchase.

 

[emmzo]

Lol.. NVIDIA is a joke, dishonest company, AMD drivers are littered with bugs. Who knows, if Intel can release a stable product, they’ll be my next purchase.

Last hope: come on Intel, now it`s your chance to release a cheap minerfree card that`s at least half decent.

 

[VitalyT]

nVidia just wanted a good PR for itself, and then quickly reverted, because money is more important to Jensen Huang. He's like the *****ic ex-president who came forward to pardon himself from any wrong doing, before and after.

 

[Kosmoz]

Nvidia is getting more disgusting by the day in their deceitful PR and total disregard for gamers.

I can't wait for AMD to finally come with the DLSS competitor so naysayers can shut up about nvidia's advantage in RT + DLSS.

Since AMD wants to have a pretty much universal solution on all platforms (PC and consoles) and to be easier to implement in all games (not just a few like in nvidia's case), this is why it takes longer to come to fruition.
At this time next year this will be a non-issue. I actually expect this to be a non issue sooner, by Q3 2021.

I'm more interested in what intel does with DG2 than nvidia's next move, at this point.

Also have you guys seen the big L nvidia took with the Driver Overhead Issue posted by Hardware Uboxed?

 

[Dimitriid]

Nvidia is getting more disgusting by the day in their deceitful PR and total disregard for gamers.

I can't wait for AMD to finally come with the DLSS competitor so naysayers can shut up about nvidia's advantage in RT + DLSS.

Since AMD wants to have a pretty much universal solution on all platforms (PC and consoles) and to be easier to implement in all games (not just a few like in nvidia's case), this is why it takes longer to come to fruition.
At this time next year this will be a non-issue. I actually expect this to be a non issue sooner, by Q3 2021.

I'm more interested in what intel does with DG2 than nvidia's next move, at this point.

Also have you guys seen the big L nvidia took with the Driver Overhead Issue posted by Hardware Uboxed?

As we discussed on another thread, software isn't AMD's main issue at the moment. It's just meeting demand: they seem to be allocating most if not virtually all their TSMC waffers to Ryzen, Epyc and consoles.

I am not sure if what little RDNA 2.0 they're producing is going direct to miners or just gets lost as a drop of water in an ocean of demand but simple fact is that their cards just cannot be found, not even at a ridiculous price premium most of the time.

All that being said however, I don't really blame AMD: I think they're going to see far more profits and growth from Ryzen and from the consoles. But just to temper expectations here they seem to have trouble meeting demand even on top of whatever Nvidia is facing as well (Which is mosthy Ethereum demand)

 

[m4a4]

All new cards designed for gaming, should be shipped direct to the consumer until this crypto ponzi scheme is over.

Gamer cards should have a piece of hardware built in that detects mining and immediately disables the card.

Congress needs to get involved and make mining illegal based on the environmental impact due to wasting energy.

Wasting energy? Lol, I keep hearing that "argument", but I've seen nothing to back it up.

Care to do so? Or are you repeating something convenient based on your view of crypto?

 

[pildorman321]

Mediocre, overhyped ,overpriced GPUs = the norm for Nvidia. but also gimped? NO SALE.
that's why nvidia removed the lock.

 

[VitalyT]

Wasting energy? Lol, I keep hearing that "argument", but I've seen nothing to back it up.

That's a toilet reasoning. The resentment that a toilet can ever back up, till it finally overfloats, and you are up to your neck in crap.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Selling cards at msrp ever again would be charity. Companies exist to generate profit and that's it. This market is exactly what these companies want.

 

[punctualturn]

1- Nvidia using their drivers to screw their customers...been there, done that. They simply love it.

2- Involve congress so gamers can get their hands on GPU's, so they can....game....

3- Turn a device that you paid for into a paperweight because someone dared using it for mining, instead of ... gaming...

Lord, I heard of entitlement, but those two really knocked out of the park.

Once again, blame the manufacturers for not making enough, blame COVID because of how it has affected manufacturing, but this BS of blaming miners because they have a chance to make some money is beyond childish.

"Mining wastes electricity".... Tell me again, when you game for hours, does your gaming rig doesnt consume any electricity?

And no, I am not a miner, neither care for it, but the cries for moronic actions just so you can game are simply pathetic.

 

[NightAntilli]

All new cards designed for gaming, should be shipped direct to the consumer until this crypto ponzi scheme is over.

Gamer cards should have a piece of hardware built in that detects mining and immediately disables the card.

Congress needs to get involved and make mining illegal based on the environmental impact due to wasting energy.

Not only disable - it should be a hardware solution that kills the card and turns it into a paperweight, similar to how some old arcade boards would commit suicide if they detected someone trying to break the rom encryption.

Even better if they released this update without telling anyone.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

 

[terzaerian]

Not only disable - it should be a hardware solution that kills the card and turns it into a paperweight, similar to how some old arcade boards would commit suicide if they detected someone trying to break the rom encryption.

Even better if they released this update without telling anyone.

Yeah, the hell with it. Ban gaming. I've had enough of you entitled gamers wasting precious carbon on self-gratification and nothing good is coming out anyway, so yeah. You all can stuff it. It's high time your worthless hobby pay the price for its destruction.

 

[arrowflash]

"Mining wastes electricity".... Tell me again, when you game for hours, does your gaming rig doesnt consume any electricity?

And no, I am not a miner, neither care for it, but the cries for moronic actions just so you can game are simply pathetic.

Yeah, the hell with it. Ban gaming. I've had enough of you entitled gamers wasting precious carbon on self-gratification and nothing good is coming out anyway, so yeah. You all can stuff it. It's high time your worthless hobby pay the price for its destruction.

That's a pretty dishonest counterargument.

People don't use their "gaming rigs" only for gaming, and when they're not gaming, the card basically draws idle power (except for activities like 3D rendering or computing with GPU cores). And most games won't put the GPU at maximum power all the time either, unlike PoW mining where the GPU will be at 100% usage 24/7.

And how is mining virtual tulips to speculate not self-gratification too?

 

[VariableSpike]

I expected this considering the reports that Chinese / Vietnamese miners had already broken the limiter

 

[GLeader]

Not only disable - it should be a hardware solution that kills the card and turns it into a paperweight, similar to how some old arcade boards would commit suicide if they detected someone trying to break the rom encryption.

Even better if they released this update without telling anyone.

the problem with this aproch is let say you are a gamer and you get into a website with a miner on it.
RIP GPU. there is no way they could add this to a card

plus they will get a law suit in 0.1ms, I get that poeple don't get cards because of miners, but if manifacturers stated telling you what you can do with your hardware... .

its like buying a S20 and samsung tells you you can't watch specificly x or y youtuber.

PS: the arcade example you give is not the same , with GPUs no one is changing chips or code on the card.

 

[Nobina]

I'm laughing at people wanting extreme actions like "Nvidia should make their cards explode if they're not used for gaming!!!!!". Little Kim Jong Uns over here...At this point I don't know which is worse, crybaby gamers or miners.

Take all of this as a lesson if you've ever been a fan of a company like Nvidia/AMD.

 

[Shadowboxer]

As a pc gamer I don’t like this, I want to see graphics cards return to competitive prices. And yeah Nvidia were talking out of their anus as per. However, I’m not so sure that the mining limiter was a consumer friendly tactic in the first place, it’s gamer friendly sure but what did miners do to deserve being gimped?

 

[Irata]

Pull the driver ? What good would that do - if they‘re out, they‘re out. It‘s not like pro miners will need a driver update to fix a problem with Fortnite.

Lol.. NVIDIA is a joke, dishonest company, AMD drivers are littered with bugs. Who knows, if Intel can release a stable product, they’ll be my next purchase.

Or....you might end up getting a combination of the two things you are complaining about.

 

[Kosmoz]

I like how no one is talking about e-waste and how much more that is increased with miners buying by the pallet, instead of 1-2 GPUs, like regular gamers do.

And even worse, those dedicated mining cards that cannot be resold on the used market - that's guaranteed e-waste, if nothing else.