For months now, it’s been damned close to inconceivable to discover a graphics card—even a used one—at a sane worth. I received’t get into the laundry record of causes, however the latest Ethereum cryptocurrency growth has poured gasoline on the issue. It’s so dangerous that the five-year-old GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is being referred to as in as backup. But right this moment, every week earlier than the launch of the mainstream-priced GeForce RTX 3060, Nvidia outlined steps it’s taking to maintain GeForce GPUs within the arms of avid gamers, whereas nonetheless retaining miners equipped.
First up: Nvidia is nerfing the GeForce RTX 3060’s cyptocoin mining capabilities. “RTX 3060 software drivers are designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50 percent,” Nvidia’s Matt Wuebbling says. That means the GeForce RTX 3060 will change into a lot much less worthwhile for mining.
Good!
Next, Nvidia additionally plans to introduce the Nvidia CMP HX, a devoted GPU optimized for skilled mining. Four completely different GPUs will change into accessible over the subsequent two quarters, and higher but, the Nvidia CMP shares received’t vulture from correct GeForce playing cards. Here’s Wuebbling once more:
“CMP merchandise—which don’t do graphics—are bought by way of licensed companions and optimized for the very best mining efficiency and effectivity. They don’t meet the specs required of a GeForce GPU and, thus, don’t affect the supply of GeForce GPUs to avid gamers.
For occasion, CMP lacks show outputs, enabling improved airflow whereas mining to allow them to be extra densely packed. CMPs even have a decrease peak core voltage and frequency, which improves mining energy effectivity.”
It’s very refreshing to see Nvidia take lively steps to discourage miners from hoarding each RTX 3060 that drops subsequent week. Every GeForce card that winds up within the arms of an precise gamer is a win.
A game-changer? Probably not
Don’t anticipate miracles from this announcement, although.
And don’t overlook that the mining crunch is only one of a number of components affecting graphics card availability. Long earlier than Ethereum popped, it was already very tough to get your arms on a GeForce RTX 30-series or AMD Radeon RX 6000-series graphics card, due to a mix of insane demand, manufacturing constraints, and delivery and logistics woes attributable to the pandemic. Some of these points could also be lessened now, however even months later all of them doubtless stay considerations to some extent. Also observe that RTX graphics playing cards presently in the marketplace aren’t having their cryptocurrency effectivity nerfed, and if future updates halve their capabilities as effectively, miners might simply revert to older drivers that deal with compute duties at full power.
All that mentioned, it is a welcome transfer by Nvidia, and one that may hopefully make availability a bit higher. Fingers crossed. The $329 GeForce RTX 3060 hits the streets on February 25, and because the first next-gen GPU providing with a semi-affordable MSRP, it has a powerful probability of touchdown on our record of the very best graphics playing cards.
