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So true. Nvidia can't not know how resourceful cryptominers are - and to what lengths a miner will go to modify the firmware for even a few percentage point imp

So true. Nvidia can't not know how resourceful cryptominers are - and to what lengths a miner will go to modify the firmware for even a few percentage point improvements. It'll just lead to a never-ending back and forth (will daily drivers become a thing?) until Nvidia decides it's not worth the effort. This just seems like a feeble gesture at appeasing gamers. What's interesting is that these "mining-crippling" changes will only apply to the 3060 GPU, not the rest of the RTX 3000 series. If it was a legitimate gesture, then Nvidia would've made it universally applicable.

lxgr 6y ago
Maybe there is some hardware enforcement involved? Also, retroactively capping functionality of a sold product seems like a PR and legal nightmare.
- g_p 6y ago
  The Sony PS3 precedent of removing OtherOS springs to mind regards retroactive restrictions.
- paulpan 6y ago
  From the announcement it seems this is driver-side only, so a big nope.
  - lxgr 6y ago
    Hm, then I guess that given that this is a so far unreleased product (and assuming it's not supported in current drivers), Nvidia can at least sidestep the issue of miners just using an old driver version to get the hashing functionality back.
cat199 6y ago
> This just seems like a feeble gesture at appeasing gamers. Color me cynical, but this seems like a strong gesture at increasing margins on GPU computing by upselling using cryptocurrency and gamers as PR pawns/scapegoats if Nvidia is selling more cards than they can produce/distribute at desired target prices they should produce more cards and improve their distribution networks..
- sujinge9 6y ago
  Or, even easier, raise prices...
  - snak 6y ago
    I don't think that would benefit gamers at all. Maybe it will offset the days it takes for a graphics card to pay itself by a few weeks? (e.g. previously RTX 3070 took x weeks to pay itself by mining 24/7, maybe it will change to x + 2 weeks?)

lxgr 6y ago

Maybe there is some hardware enforcement involved? Also, retroactively capping functionality of a sold product seems like a PR and legal nightmare.

g_p 6y ago
The Sony PS3 precedent of removing OtherOS springs to mind regards retroactive restrictions.
paulpan 6y ago
From the announcement it seems this is driver-side only, so a big nope.
- lxgr 6y ago
  Hm, then I guess that given that this is a so far unreleased product (and assuming it's not supported in current drivers), Nvidia can at least sidestep the issue of miners just using an old driver version to get the hashing functionality back.

cat199 6y ago

> This just seems like a feeble gesture at appeasing gamers. Color me cynical, but this seems like a strong gesture at increasing margins on GPU computing by upselling using cryptocurrency and gamers as PR pawns/scapegoats if Nvidia is selling more cards than they can produce/distribute at desired target prices they should produce more cards and improve their distribution networks..

sujinge9 6y ago
Or, even easier, raise prices...
- snak 6y ago
  I don't think that would benefit gamers at all. Maybe it will offset the days it takes for a graphics card to pay itself by a few weeks? (e.g. previously RTX 3070 took x weeks to pay itself by mining 24/7, maybe it will change to x + 2 weeks?)