A new BIOS mod appears to completely bypass Nvidia's Lite Hash Rate mining restriction
It appears as though an enterprising modder has managed to completely bypass the crypto mining restrictions Nvidia places on several of its RTX 30 series graphics cards. The user, ‘Sergey’ has released a BIOS modification tool on Github (via Videocardz) that bypasses the checks Nvidia has in place to lower mining performance when Ethash mining is detected.
The tool can be used with any card from Nvidia’s Ampere generation GeForce RTX and RTX workstation lineups. Sergey goes on to say that the full performance is now available on all LHR cards, and even demonstrates the hash rates you can expect from the unlocked cards.
There is a catch though. For now, the mod requires the use of a modified driver which is reportedly private for now. For many users this will raise an instant red flag, as the crypto sphere isn’t exactly known for its honesty and trustworthiness. Perhaps that's overstating things as the private driver could just be in a testing phase before a ‘public’ release.
If the tool and software prove to be reliable and fully functional, it effectively ends the Nvidia LHR experiment. Low Hash Rate (LHR) GPUs were designed to be far less desirable for miners when compared to their Full Hash Rate (FHR) counterparts. The idea was that LHR cards would end up in the hands of gamers, rather than those of miners.
How to buy a graphics card: tips on buying a graphics card in the barren silicon landscape that is 2022
In the end, it may not make a huge amount of difference. There are signs that GPU availability is improving and prices are falling. Many second hand cards are failing to sell at previously exorbitant prices, and sales of retired mining cards appear to be on the rise as miners begin to exit and try to get as much
Read more on pcgamer.com
