Nvidia confirms it accidentally unlocked RTX 3060 Ethereum mining



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Nvidia did a lot to reduce the hash rate of Ethereum mining on its new RTX 3060 graphics card last month. A special system was supposed to make the RTX 3060 undesirable for cryptominers, but Nvidia has now confirmed that it accidentally unlocked those restrictions with a new driver.

“A developer pilot inadvertently included code used for internal development that removes the hash rate limiter on RTX 3060 in certain configurations,” an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to The edge. “The pilot has been deleted.”

While Nvidia has now removed the pilot, the genie is out of the bottle. Nvidia’s latest 470.05 beta driver automatically unlocks the performance of most RTX 3060 cards, increasing hash rates for Ethereum mining. Driver mirrors can easily be found online and Nvidia will not be able to prevent RTX 3060 owners from continuing to use this driver in the future.

Nvidia initially restricted the mining performance of the RTX 3060 in an effort to prevent cryptominers from buying the cards. The GPU maker seemed convinced its restrictions couldn’t be overcome, even claiming that it wasn’t just a driver slowing down performance. “It’s not just a question of the pilot” said Bryan Del Rizzo, Head of Communications for Nvidia, last month. “There is a secure handshake between the driver, the RTX 3060 silicon, and the BIOS (firmware) that prevents the hash rate limiter from being removed.”

Nvidia clearly didn’t expect to release a pilot who accidentally unlocks their own restrictions.



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