Nvidia’s GeForce limits hash rate to divert crypto miners to new CMP line

The California chipmaker says GeForce RTX 360 is for gamers, not cryptocurrency miners. The latter camp will get its own CMP mining infrastructure in the near future.

Nvidia, a California-based hardware company known for developing industry-leading graphics cards, is doing everything it can to ensure that its upcoming GeForce RTX 3060 GPU ends up in the hands of gamers. To achieve that end, the company announced Thursday that it will limit the GeForce hash rate to make it less desirable to cryptocurrency miners. 

The company said the new RTX 3060 software drivers are designed to detect Ethereum cryptocurrency mining and limit their hash rate by around 50%. “That only makes sense,” Nvidia said, since the GeForce RTX is “tailored to meet the needs of gamers,” not crypto miners.

While gamers are still Nvidia’s masters, as Cointelegraph reported last month, crypto miners will soon be able to purchase specific hardware for their operations.

Nvidia explained:

“To address the specific needs of Ethereum mining, we’re announcing the NVIDIA CMP, or, Cryptocurrency Mining Processor, product line for professional mining.”

CMP products “don’t meet the specifications required of a GeForce GPU and, thus, don’t impact the availability of GeForce GPUs for gamers.”

Supply and demand may be at the crux of Nvidia’s decision to limit the appeal of RTX 3060. Gaming demand alone has outpaced Nvidia’s GPU supply capacity. With crypto miners also in the fold, this issue may have gotten worse, leading to inflated prices for various graphics cards.

Earlier this year, the company said that GPU supplies are likely to be “lean” throughout the first quarter.

“Our overall capacity has not been able to keep up with that overall strong demand that we have seen,” said Colette Kress, Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.