Nvidia’s RTX 30 Series LHR mining algorithm has reportedly been bypassed

pcinvasion.com:

Nvidia’s plan to deter Ethereum miners may have just been foiled. The Lite Hash Rate algorithm designed for RTX 30 Series cards was a big step in favor of PC gamers. It made the RTX 30 Series graphics cards far less efficient at mining for Ethereum. That same limiter may no longer be enough though, as VideoCards reports that a bypass to get around it has seemingly been found.

If the bypass is indeed able to unlock the LHR mining restrictions on RTX 30 Series cards, it’ll be bad news for gamers. It would once again make these cards an appealing prospect for the cryptocurrency market, consequently increasing the risk that scalpers will buy up a large portion of available stock and increase their pricing.

This bypass was initially reported by My Drivers. The bypass itself will release on February 26, but an early access version is currently available as well. This should be obvious, but make sure to stay away from either version of the bypass. Using the tool on your graphics card could seriously impact its performance for gaming and other applications.

The tool installs a modified BIOS onto the graphics card, while apparently making a backup in the process. However, for the BIOS to work, custom drivers are necessary. And these drivers will likely make the card useless for things outside of mining. Obviously, it’s doubtful that this would matter to those who are strictly using the graphics card for mining Ethereum. Beyond that, this workaround highlights how sad the current situation is for this area of PC gaming.

(Image credit: Github)

There is some worthwhile information to point out here, though. A while ago, in May 2021, there was a push to kill graphics card-based Ethereum mining. The Ethereum Foundation previously said