Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti’s Hash Rate Limiter Targets Other Cryptocurrency Besides Etherium

With the increase of GPU Miners all around the world, there is an ongoing global GPU shortage. GPUs are hard to get and are available at an exorbitant price. To control this outrage, NVIDIA introduced a hash rate limiter for Etherium crypto mining to its newly manufactured GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti graphics cards last time.

The idea is to make the cards less attractive to crypto miners so that they’ll be easier for consumers to find. It will label new cards with a “Lite Hash Rate” or “LHR” identifier to let the potential customers know the cards will be restricted for mining.

However, with the Latest RTX 3080 Ti’s, it seems that the hash rate limiter is not only limited to Etherium but affects other cryptos as well. A miner seems to have put the card through the paces (via @_Leak_VN on Twitter); the results were quite refreshing.

Starting with Ethereum, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti’s hash rate is around the 57MH/s range without any overclock. This is nearly half of the capacity of RTX 3090’s i.e 120MH/s rate. Even the lower-specced GeForce RTX 3080 can mine at around 85MH/s. The miner tried to use the Nvidia drivers that unlocked the hash rate limiter on the RTX 3060, but that didn’t work either. It isn’t surprising, given that the RTX 3080 Ti uses an entirely different GPU that didn’t technically exist back then. However, Nvidia’s efforts don’t matter now, as Ethereum will soon move to a proof-of-stake model. At the very least, gamers will be able to find plenty of hardware on used markets.

Interestingly enough, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti’s hash rate limiter also affects some lesser-known Altcoins, such as Ethereum Classic, Ergo, and RavenCoin. The only known cryptocurrency that appears to be unaffected so far is ConFlux. Unfortunately, we don’t know if the miner in question tried any known workarounds. So Prima facie, Nvidia’s hash rate limiter seems to be ironclad this time around. Whether or not it helps gamers secure more graphics cards for themselves remains to be seen.

Source: NOTEBOOKCHECK