Nvidia last month implemented a special system to lower the hash rate of Ethereum mining on its new RTX 3060 graphics card. This would limit mining performance by about 50 percent, but several reports claim that cryptominers circumvented the protection.
Japanese website PC Watch first revealed that Nvidia protection can be bypassed without having to change a driver or BIOS. ComputerBase has since confirmed PC Watch’s report, revealing that Nvidia’s latest 470.05 beta driver automatically unlocks the performance for most RTX 3060 owners. Andreas Schilling, an editor of Hardwareluxx, has backed up these findings.
The beta driver appears to unlock the performance of Ethereum mining on a range of RTX 3060 cards, which was probably not what Nvidia planned for its test drivers. The 470.05 driver is designed for developers to test the performance of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and new features like OpenCL 3.0 support.
Nvidia originally limited RTX 3060 mining performance in an effort to keep cryptocurrencies away from purchasing the cards. Nvidia would rather offer a new Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) for Ethereum miners. The diversion of the beta manager from the performance of Ethereum mining will definitely make the cards more attractive to cryptominers now.
Nvidia was confident in its software limitations regarding the performance of RTX 3060. ‘It’s not just a driver,’ said Bryan Del Rizzo, Nvidia’s head of communications, last month. “There is a secure handshake between the driver, the RTX 3060 silicone and the BIOS (firmware) that prevents the removal of the hash speed limit.”
We reached out to Nvidia to comment on this new beta driver, and we’ll update you accordingly.