- Graphics card reviewers have finally been able to test Nvidia’s crypto mining throttling mechanism on their newest graphics cards
- The RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 ranges have a built in the hashrate cap
- Early previews show the cap working more effectively than previously thought
Graphics card giant Nvidia made a splash earlier this year when it announced that its new range of RTX 3060 cards would include a capping facility that would limit the hashrate when users tried to mine Ethereum with them. After much waiting, and an embarrassing mistake from Nvidia, reviewers have finally been able to get their hands on the new range of Nvidia graphics cards and test the new crypto mining capping facility.
Nvidia Error Leads to Delays
Nvidia announced the hashrate cap in February, stating that the RTX 3060 range would top out at 50% of the hashrate capable on the card. This cap was introduced in response to gamers’ complaints that crypto miners were buying up all the stock of new graphics cards, forcing prices up towards five times the retail value for gamers. This was in addition to the development of a chip specifically for crypto miners, to be released later this year.
However, in an embarrassing oversight, Nvidia accidentally released drivers that circumnavigated the hashrate reduction feature, leading to them having to abandon production of cards with the GA106 GPU chip.
Crypto Mining Throttle In Evidence
A new version of the chip, GA106-302, has been recently released and included in a new range of cards:
- RTX 3080 Ti
- 3080
- 3070 Ti
- 3070
- 3060 Ti
- RTX 3060
Specialist website Videocardz.com got hold of a new RTX 3060, which has so far only been released in China. Reviewers found that the hashrate reduction mechanism was very effective, throttling the hashrate to around 20-22 MH/s at 119W. They also reported that RTX 3080 Ti benchmarks had been leaked, with the hashrate capped at 58.04 MH/s compared to the most recent card without the cap, the RTX 3070, which yielded 96 MH/s.
These results show that Nvidia’s crypto mining throttling mechanism is very effective, although as reported at the time it only prevents against Ethereum mining, meaning that other coins can still be mined with the latest round of powerful Nvidia graphics cards, something noted immediately by the gaming community at the time.
