NVIDIA is not going to be happy – NVIDIA is the main seller of graphics cards with more than 80% market share. However, it is not particularly happy with the massive adoption of its graphics cards by Ethereum miners, including those of NiceHash. Thus, the company had to find a solution to stock shortages.
NVIDIA at war with Ethereum miners
Consensus and network security Ethereum rely on a mechanism called Proof of Work. In this mode of operation, miners secure transactions by performing complex calculations. To do this, they deploy significant computing power, generated by graphics cards.
Obviously, most of the cards used come from NVIDIA. At the beginning of 2021, supply problems coupled with growing demand led to significant shortages of graphics cards.
Quickly, gamers pointed to minors as the source of this shortage. To overcome this problem, NVIDIA has taken a decision that is surprising to say the least. The brand announced a clamping of its graphics cards to discourage their use in cryptocurrency mining.
Thus, the voluntary reduction of the hashrate of these cards was to “will put more GeForce cards at better prices into the hands of gamers around the world.”
A disaster for many miners, who nevertheless saw the Holy Grail in the new generation of GeForce RTX 30 cards.
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NiceHash bypasses NVIDIA throttling
A year after the events, NVIDIA does not seem to have reviewed its position. However, a major news could well delight holders of NVIDIA graphics cards.
Indeed, on May 7, the company NiceHashfacilitating the mining of cryptocurrencies, announced that it had succeeded in circumvent the restriction set up by NVIDIA. Thus, finished the restricted hashrate, the RTX 30 cards will now be able to operate at full power at NiceHash.
For the moment, this jailbreak is only accessible via the NiceHash Quickminer software and more precisely the test version QuickMiner v0.5.4.0 RC (release candidate).
A glimmer of hope that could well encourage other mining pools and software to continue their research to also unlock the full potential of NVIDIA cards.
For their part, Ethereum miners know that their days are numbered. Indeed, the network is preparing to move from proof of work to proof of stake. Fortunately for them, this transition, titled The Merge, keeps getting pushed back.
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