As players compete unsuccessfully against cryptocurrency miners to acquire new graphics cards, due to market shortages, Nvidia is introducing some changes that will make the initial GeForce RTX 3060 less attractive to miners and thus a more affordable gaming segment.
Don’t worry, the prices of the base graphics card in Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series remain the same, but Nvidia limits the “hash rate,” most importantly in cryptocurrency mining, to RTX 3060 models to make it less attractive for use in cryptocurrencies.
“With the launch of the GeForce RTX 3060, announced for February 25, we are taking an important step to ensure that GeForce GPUs end up in the hands of gamers,” the company wrote in its blog, noting that “GeForce GPUs are designed for gamers”. , and players don’t get them. ”
The spray rate limit will be managed by Nvidia’s GeForce drivers that will detect when the card will be used for Ethereum mining. Once drivers discover that the mining algorithm is in play, Nvidia claims it will limit the very “scattering speed” of graphics cards, which would then limit the mining efficiency for cryptocurrencies by approximately 50%.
“It just makes sense,” the company said defending its solution to the new problem. Nvidia claims to apply smart limits based on "scatter speed" drivers only when it discovers mining algorithms to make gaming-designed graphics processors less attractive to cryptocurrency miners and give gamers and creatives a chance to grab new graphics cards for $ 399 if they want to . "Our GeForce RTX graphics processors introduce state-of-the-art technologies - such as RTX" real-time air monitoring ", DLSS AI technology for accelerating image magnification, Reflex - super-fast response screen, with the best system latency and much more, all tailored to player needs and games. "
Nvidia’s latest move is good news for the gaming community as pre-orders for the RTX 3060 began immediately before the availability of cards scheduled for Feb. 25. The desktop GPU was originally announced earlier this year during Nvidia’s CES 2021 presentation, and will ship with the same Ampere architecture and second-generation air trail found in other Nvidia RTX 3000 series processors.
In addition to solidifying the position for the RTX 3060 as intended primarily for gaming, Nvidia has also announced a new Nvidia CMP card, which stands for Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. Without a special cryptocurrency mining card, miners bought anything from the high-end segment, although such cards had a dedicated gaming graphics processor, but with the new CMP card Nvidia hopes the miners will have a powerful tool to perform their tasks and Leave GeForce RTX cards to players.
Here's what the "hash rate" of Nvidia CMP cards should look like:
NVIDIA CMP HX mining hardware
AnandTech 30HX 40HX 50HX 90HX
Eth Hash rate. 26 MH / s 36 MH / s 45 MH / s 86 MH / s
Rated power 125 W 185 W. 250 W 320 W
Reference connectors. 8-pin 8-pin. 2 x 8-pin 2 x 8-pin
Memory size 6 GB. 8 GB 10 GB 10 GB
Availability Q1. Q1 Q2 Q2
NVIDIA hardware scatter rates
AnandTech. Dispersion Rate Power Efficiency. (MH / s / W)
RTX 3090 121 MH / s 290 W. 0.42
RTX 3080 98 MH / s 224 W 0.44
90HX 86 MH / s 320 W 0.27
RTX 3070 62 MH / s 117 W. 0.53
RTX 3060 Ti. 60 MH / s. 120 W 0.50
RTX 2080 Ti 49 MH / s. 240 W 0.20
50HX 45 MH / s. 250 W 0.18
40HX. 36 MH / s 185 W. 0.19
30HX 26 MH / s 125 W 0.21
From the tablets we see that the Nvidia CMP is not very good in terms of “scatter rate” compared to the classic next generation gaming cards. The only way these new CMP HX mining cards make financial sense is if they sell really cheaply, e.g. around $ 600 for a 90HX, otherwise the gaming GPUs still seem to be much more efficient.
CMP cards are not designed for graphics, Nvidia claims, and they also lack and come out on screen. This helps to improve airflow and cooling during continuous mining, and the design intentionally allows the cards to fit tightly into a so-called “mining rig” as in the picture.
“Creating a customer-tailored product with specific needs brings the best value to customers,” the company said. "With CMP, we can help miners build the most efficient data centers, while preserving GeForce RTX graphics processors for gamers." Nvidia’s CMPs will be sold through authorized partners, although so far the company has not revealed how much these mining-specific cards will cost.
