NVIDIA released a blog post today in which it confirmed that they are releasing new versions of the GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti graphics cards which will feature reduced hashing rates for crypto mining which help make them less desirable to GPU miners so that they end up in gaming systems instead of mining rigs. The new series for the revised GPUs will be called the Nvidia RTX 30 LHR series.
This was rumored for quite a while that NVIDIA is planning to revamp the complete RTX 3000 series graphics card which will limit the hashing capabilities of the cards so that miners do not go for them. And now, it has been made official that all the current RTX 3000 series GPUs excluding the RTX 3090 will be receiving new updated versions whose hashing capabilities will be crippled.
NVIDIA said the following about this in its blog post.
GeForce products are made for gamers — and packed with innovations. Our RTX 30 Series is built on our second-generation RTX architecture, with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores, delivering amazing visuals and performance to gamers and creators.
Because NVIDIA GPUs are programmable, users regularly discover new applications for them, from weather simulation and gene sequencing to deep learning and robotics. Mining cryptocurrency is one of them.
To help get GeForce GPUs in the hands of gamers, we announced in February that all GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards shipped with a reduced Ethereum hash rate.
Today, we’re taking additional measures by applying a reduced ETH hash rate to newly manufactured GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti graphics cards. These cards will start shipping in late May.
NVIDIA has also explained that the hashing rate reduction will only affect these new cards and the older, already available cards in the market will not be affected in any way whatsoever. To help with this, NVIDIA and its GeForce partners are labeling the GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti cards with a “Lite Hash Rate,” or “LHR,” identifier. The identifier will be in retail product listings and on the box.
Hopefully, this step deters the miners from buying up these cards which in result will improve the stock of these graphics cards for gamers in the market.
