Skip to main content

Here’s how Nvidia plans to stop crypto miners from buying gaming GPUs

Given that gamers have been unsuccessfully competing against cryptocurrency miners for GPUs amid a shortage of graphics cards, Nvidia is making some changes that will make the entry-level GeForce RTX 3060 less attractive to miners.

Don’t worry, pricing for the base graphics card in Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series remains the same, but Nvidia is limiting the hash rate of the RTX 3060 to make it less appealing for use as a miner.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

“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 wrote in a blog post, noting that “we designed GeForce GPUs for gamers, and gamers are clamoring for more.”

The limits on hash rates will be controlled by Nvidia’s GeForce software drivers, which will detect when the card will be used for Ethereum mining. Once the drivers detect that a mining algorithm is in play, Nvidia claims that it would limit the hash rate, which would then limit the mining efficiency for cryptocurrency by approximately 50%.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

“That only makes sense,” the company said in defending its solution. Nvidia claims that it is applying smart driver-based limits to the hash rate only when it detects mining algorithms to make the gamer-designed GPU less attractive to cryptocurrency miners and give more gamers and creatives a chance to be able snag the $399 graphics cards if they desire. “Our GeForce RTX GPUs introduce cutting-edge technologies — such as RTX real-time ray tracing, DLSS A.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 latest move is good news for the gaming community, as we’ve seen pre-order pricing for the RTX 3060 already skyrocketing ahead of the card’s February 25 availability. The desktop GPU was initially announced earlier this year during Nvidia’s CES 2021 presentation, and it will come with the same Ampere architecture and second-generation ray tracing core design found in Nvidia’s other RTX 3000 series GPUs.

In addition to solidifying the RTX 3060 as an arsenal for gaming, Nvidia also announced a new Nvidia CMP card, which stands for Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. Without a dedicated cryptocurrency mining card, miners were turning to dedicated gaming GPUs to do the work, but with the new CMP card, Nvidia hopes that miners will have a powerful tool to do the task and leave the GeForce RTX cards to gamers.

The CMP cards aren’t designed for graphics, Nvidia claimed, and the CMPs also lack display outputs. This helps to improve airflow and cooling while mining, and the design is intentional to allow 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,” the company stated. “With CMP, we can help miners build the most efficient data centers while preserving GeForce RTX GPUs for gamers.”

Nvidia’s CMPs will be sold through authorized partners, though the company did not disclose how much these mining-specific cards will cost.

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Even Nvidia’s partners don’t believe in the new RTX 4060 Ti
RTX 4060 Ti sitting on a pink background.

Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti 16GB is reportedly just days away from launch, but rumor has it that there may not be a lot of GPUs to choose from. This isn't a sign of another dreadful GPU shortage, though. It's more that the RTX 4060 Ti has very little chance to rank high among the best graphics cards you can buy.

We've just recently seen the release of the RTX 4060, but Nvidia still has another card up its sleeve -- a clone of the existing RTX 4060 Ti that comes equipped with twice the VRAM. However, due to certain factors, the GPU might be doomed to a life of subpar sales and unsatisfying benchmark results.

Read more
This mysterious Nvidia GPU is an absolute monstrosity — and we just got another look
Two Nvidia GPUs side by side.

The beast is back. Several new photos of what appears to be a quad-slot Nvidia GPU emerged today, revealing a monstrous prototype that's still yet to receive a name. In this iteration, it's more of a cooler than a GPU, as it doesn't appear to have a PCB.

Today's leak brings a lot of questions about what could one day be Nvidia's best GPU ever. Is Nvidia really working on a Titan GPU, or is this the RTX 4090 Ti?

Read more
Nvidia’s RTX 4060 might not be such a disappointment after all
Nvidia's RTX 4070 graphics cards over a pink background.

Nvidia's RTX 4060 is right around the corner, so it's really no surprise that the first benchmarks are already starting to leak out. Today, two tests have been spotted, and they bode pretty well for the GPU. The RTX 3060, which is still a favorite among Nvidia users, might be around 20% slower than the upcoming Ada Lovelace model.

Will the RTX 4060 become one of the best GPUs, or at least one of the most popular models in this generation?

Read more