The great GPU shortage has prompted Nvidia to restrict the cryptocurrency-mining capability on three additional graphics card models.
“We’re reducing the hash rate of newly manufactured GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti graphics cards so they’re less desirable to miners,” Nvidia said on Tuesday.
The company’s “Ethereum hash rate limiter” was originally introduced in February, but only for the RTX 3060, which starts at $399. Nvidia’s goal was to discourage cryptocurrency miners from buying up the product by halving its ability to generate the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
However, the strategy had an obvious loophole: To get around the limiter, miners have been buying up the other models in the RTX 3000 series, which are better at generating cryptocurrencies anyway.
Tuesday’s announcement from Nvidia promises to close the gap. The company plans to start shipping the first RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti models equipped with an Ethereum hash rate limiter late this month. “We believe this additional step will get more GeForce cards at better prices into the hands of gamers everywhere,” the company said.
It also means the RTX 3090, which starts at $1,499, will be the only desktop graphics card in the lineup to be free of the hashrate limiter.
Nvidia and its vendor partners are going to label the graphics cards with the identifiers “Lite Hash Rate,” or “LHR,” which can be found on the product box and on the online retail listings. “This reduced hash rate only applies to newly manufactured cards with the LHR identifier and not to cards already purchased,” the company added.
Of course, we’re betting cryptocurrency miners will try to crack the Ethereum hash limiter, which is baked into the GPU’s firmware. In March, Nvidia itself accidentally introduced a workaround to the limiter. But since then, the company has improved it, likely making it even harder to bypass.