NVIDIA has announced a new range of GPUs dedicated to cryptocurrency mining in order to avoid GeForce GPU availability issues for gamers.
The Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) series cards are said to be optimized for “the best mining performance and efficiency” and “don’t do graphics”. Unlike GeForce GPUs, the CMP cards lack display outputs for the sake of better airflow and have lower peak core voltage and frequency.
"With CMP, we can help miners build the most efficient data centers while preserving GeForce RTX GPUs for gamers," NVIDIA said in a blog post.
NVIDIA also revealed the upcoming RTX 3060, which launches on February 25, was designed to make mining less efficient. NVIDIA says that the RTX 3060’s software drivers can detect “specific attributes” of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm and limit the hash rate by around 50 percent in response. In the case of other RTX 30 Series cards, NVIDIA told The Verge that it is "not limiting the performance of GPUs already sold".
As for why the RTX 3060's hash rate reduction is targeted at Ethereum, NVIDIA told the Verge, "Ethereum has the highest global mining yield for any GPU-mineable coin at the moment and thus is likely the main demand driver for GPUs in mining. Other algorithms do not contribute significantly to GPU demand and this cannot change quickly due to network effects within a given cryptocurrency. The rate limiter applies to anything that uses Dagger Hashimoto or Ethash-like algorithms."
You can check out the CMP series specs below:
