NVIDIA Confirms Upgraded GeForce RTX Anti-Crypto Mining Limiter Coming In Mid-May

If you look at the release notes for the GeForce 466.24 driver, you'll find the following passage: "This driver updates the hash limiter for the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and is required for product shipped starting mid-May."

The folks at VideoCardz dug deeper into the new driver and discovered that the latest revision of the GeForce RTX 3060, which will carry the GA106-302 GPU, has a unique Device ID. While the first run of GeForce RTX 3060 cards carry the Device ID 2503, the new revision has the Device ID 2504.

With this Device ID change, new GeForce RTX 3060 cards shipping next month won't simply be able to use the older 470.05 beta driver to churn away at Ethereum with unfettered hash rates. Ethereum miners will need to find a new workaround -- which they most likely will given enough time -- to enable maximum hash rates with these new GeForce RTX 3060 cards.

However, it should be noted that it's not just the GeForce RTX 3060 that will receive the new limiter enabled with the latest drivers. The incoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will also allegedly have the revised GAxx2 GPUs. Furthermore, existing family members -- i.e., GeForce RTX 3080, GeForce RTX 3070 -- will eventually [quietly] adopt the new silicon.

Even if cryptocurrency miners are blocked in the short-term by these new software/hardware limits, NVIDIA will gladly sell them CMP HX cards designed primarily for Ethereum mining. It's a win-win solution for NVIDIA, as it can offload defective GPUs not fit for GeForce duty to miners while shoring up GeForce GTX/RTX supplies for customers that actually want the cards to play games.