Cryptocurrency has been booming in 2021. Riding on the waves of the GameStop hype, there has been a surge in interest in buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.
Given the rising price of these cryptocurrencies, there has also been a growing interest in cryptomining - the blockchain process of validating cryptocurrency transactions. Cryptomining, however, requires a large amount of processing power- which means miners are buying up high-end GPUs for something other than gaming, which NVIDIA does not seem too pleased about.
With NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 releasing later this month, here's how NVIDIA is limiting cryptomining on its latest graphics card.
RTX 3060 is for the players
"We are gamers, through and through," said Matt Wuebbling, NVIDIA's VP of Global GeForce Marketing. "We designed GeForce GPUs for gamers, and gamers are clamouring for more."
This quote comes from NVIDIA's latest GeForce blog post, in which the company announced it is halving the hash rate of its latest RTX 3060 card. The 3060's driver will be able to detect attributes of the Ethereum cryptomining algorithm and subsequently halve the hash rate efficiency.
"Our GeForce RTX GPUs introduce cutting-edge technologies," Wuebbling said. "[These are] tailored to meet the needs of gamers and those who create digital experiences."
The reduced hash rate efficiency should not impact the GPU's performance when playing games. By deterring miners from buying tens of RTX 3060 cards for mining, gamers will be left to clash only with scalpers to buy the GPU when it launches on February 25.
NVIDIA CMP announced
Not wanting to lose the business of cryptominers entirely, NVIDIA has announced a new processor dedicated to cryptomining - the NVIDIA CMP.
The NVIDIA Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) will not come with display outputs and have a lower core voltage/frequency, allowing for more efficient cryptomining while also taking miners away from the GeForce RTX line of graphics cards.
NVIDIA has yet to announce the specifics around the CMP's release, but the 30HX and 40HX versions are expected to be available in Q1, with the 50HX and 90HX available in Q2. No pricing has been revealed.
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