NVIDIA, "RTX 3060, drivers will limit cryptocurrency mining performance"

For months already, even used graphics cards have been seeded dry. Even the products sold have a price tag that is much higher than the list price. I won't list all of the detailed reasons, but the recent cryptocurrency mining craze has never helped. There was no room for improvement, so Nvidia even decided to rebuild the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti five years after it was released. But today, one week after the release date of the popularly priced GeForce RTX 3060 of $329, Nvidia announced that it was deliberately degrading the performance of the GeForce RTX 3060's cryptocurrency mining. 

Nvidia's Matt Webling said, "The RTX 3060 software driver is designed to detect the characteristic properties of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm and limit the hash rate or cryptocurrency mining efficiency by 50%. In other words, the cryptocurrency mining revenue of the GeForce RTX 3060 will be greatly reduced.”

First of all, good news.

In addition, NVIDIA also announced that it will release the NVIDIA CMP HX, a GPU for specialized mining. A total of four mining GPUs will be released within the next two quarters, which is meaningful in distributing the inventory burden of general GeForce graphics cards. Webling said, “CMP products will be sold through certified partners by optimizing mining efficiency and performance. It doesn't fit the GeForce GPU's requirements, so it won't affect gamer demand. CMP, for example, does not have a display output terminal, improves airflow by focusing on density, and improves mining efficiency due to low voltage and bandwidth.”

It is very refreshing that Nvidia is taking preemptive steps to prevent monopoly by mining specialists ahead of the launch of the new RTX 3060 next week. If PC gamers can get their hands on a graphics card, it is a victory in itself.

It won't change the game

However, it is better not to expect the situation to be reversed with this announcement.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 are renowned as useful products for mining. However, even if Nvidia's mining-related performance degradation measures are invoked, there is a possibility that a large professional mining company will overwrite its own driver or BIOS. Therefore, be careful when deciding to purchase after pressing the Check Availability button on the release date of the RTX 3060 on February 25th. Nvidia said it would be difficult for PC gamers to hack performance-limiting software, but it is worth seeing. 

It will be interesting to see how the Nvidia CMP HX product line will receive. Nvidia has previously released a specialized mining GPU without a display connection, but most miners prefer the existing gaming hardware to take advantage of resale as used. Even as of early 2021, the value of the cryptocurrency has soared without knowing that the value of cryptocurrency is high, and all of the latest graphics cards are worth more than the list price. However, if you refer to past trends, things can change quickly. When the price of the graphics card stabilizes quickly, there is no profit from the resale, and the value of the cryptocurrency is lower than the investment cost. Remember that the number of used Radeon graphics cards increased sharply after the price of cryptocurrency plummeted last year? Once again, such a situation would have nowhere to go for used CMP cards without display outputs.

The trend of mining is only one part that affects the stock supply and demand status of graphics cards. Long before the advent of the Ethereum currency, GeForce RTX 30 series or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards were experiencing a complex problem of the surge in demand, production and delivery, logistics, and tariff tensions. A crisis like Corona 19 may gradually ease, but it will have some effect in months. Currently released RTX graphics cards have not been adjusted for mining-related performance, and users can revert to previous versions even if the latest update is applied.

Of course, this announcement is a welcome step, and will slightly increase the likelihood of purchasing a graphics card for individual users. I hope so.