Nvidia commenced releasing LHR (or “Lite Hash Rate”) graphics cards very last year to sluggish down their cryptocurrency mining performance and make them considerably less captivating to non-gamers. Late very last week, crypto-mining system NiceHash declared that it had eventually observed a way all around these constraints and unveiled an update for its QuickMiner software program that promises whole Ethereum mining performance on almost all of the LHR-enabled GeForce RTX 3000-series GPUs.
Contrary to past makes an attempt to disable the LHR protections, NiceHash’s workaround seems to be the true deal—Tom’s Components was equipped to verify the efficiency boosts making use of QuickMiner and a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.
For now, NiceHash says that the LHR workaround will only function in Home windows, with “no Linux help still.” The a lot more adaptable NiceHash Miner software package does not involve the workarounds nonetheless, even though it will shortly. NiceHash also suggests that the software won’t accelerate mining efficiency on newer GeForce cards that use variation 3 of the LHR algorithm, a record that (for now) features the RTX 3050 and the 12GB variation of the RTX 3080 but which will presumably mature as Nvidia releases new GPUs and up to date revisions for more mature GPUs.
Miners have been trying to locate methods to circumvent the LHR restrictions since they ended up launched. The 1st card to use LHR, the GeForce RTX 3060, was defeated by a botched driver release from Nvidia. Other workarounds have incorporated flashing alternate BIOSes and mining many cryptocurrencies on the identical card.
But LHR workarounds can also be far too excellent to be real. Yet another team promised LHR-defeating drivers in February, but they failed to do what they said they’d do and finished up currently being whole of malware.
No matter whether this LHR unlock has an affect on the pricing or availability of GPUs continues to be to be witnessed. Bitcoin and Ethereum selling prices have been slipping lately as fascination price raises and inventory market place turmoil have pushed investors towards safer bets. Ethereum’s “merge,” which will switch the currency from a mining-pushed “proof-of-work” process to an possession-pushed “proof-of-stake” method, is also allegedly a handful of months away, even though that has been the scenario for quite a few years now. At this position, acquiring up a bunch of new GPUs for cryptocurrency mining, even with the efficiency enhancements and price will increase, could still be a dangerous financial commitment.