What you need to know
- NVIDIA released a new GeForce driver today.
- It contains a hash limiter update to combat crypto mining.
- The limiter is updated for the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB, and will be required for all products shipped after mid-May.
NVIDIA's had enough of everyone gobbling up its GPUs and going to the digital mines to fetch cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Dogecoin. That's why, as of today's NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 466.27 Game Ready driver update, hashrates are getting limited. As spotted by Neowin, NVIDIA included the following bullet in its 466.27 notes:
- This driver updates the hash limiter for the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and is required for product shipped starting mid-May.
You can see the full list of 466.27 driver notes here and grab the driver itself here unless you're a crypto enthusiast and aren't so keen on having your hashrates limited. 466.27 also includes perks such as support for Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition, Resident Evil Village, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition, in the event you don't care about crypto and just want to play games with enhanced performance and optimization.
The fight against cryptocurrency mining is a tricky one, as shown by the fact that NVIDIA needs to release an enhanced hash limiter since the original didn't work out. And how could it have, given that the GeForce RTX 3060 (specifically, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti) is one of the best GPUs for crypto mining? Miners won't give up so easily.
Not to mention, companies such as AMD won't even give hard figures regarding the impact crypto mining is having on hardware sales and subsequent hardware shortages. Just because NVIDIA's taking steps to combat the issue doesn't mean it's alone in the struggle.
Will gamers ever get access to GPUs again or have the global semiconductor shortage and crypto mining frenzy locked them out for the foreseeable future? Time will tell, and so will we, when we report on developments as they arise.
