Couldn't Microsoft/AMD/NV release a firmware update to disable mining on standard graphics cards?

[bris]

Dedicated mining cards will have little resale value if and when mining crashes again where as a gaming card will get most of it's money back.

 

[g67575]

More details about the RTX 3060 hash rate limit implementation:

 

[Grim5]

Playing devil's advocate, why can't they?

I don't recall reading any GPU spec that talks about hash rate performances. As long as nerfing doesn't impact any of the quoted specs*, then they absolutely could do it without legal recourse.

*whether that is physically possible or not I don't know

Not a bad point

go to Nvidias website for your graphics card, what does it say? Oh yes this graphics card is for GAMING so Nvidia can block you do long anything but gaming

 

[bisoner]

Gfx cards makers don't care, they are selling cards.
Power companies love it, more usage, more money.
Crypto holders and speculators like it, price is going up.

This may not change for quite some time. Crypto bull market only just got going and may last years.

I wonder when the world will wake up to proof of work, mining, and the environmental impact. They probably don't care about it if they are making money. Even Greta probably has a couple of Bitcoin!

 

[Mark1989]

So the firmware update would be a mandatory Windows 10 update, and would either disable Ethereum mining altogether or wreck the crypto hash rate of GPUs. It would be applied in the factory to new graphics cards.

It could also be applied to Linux distributions and Windows 7 if needed. In my view, this would be a fair restriction, because these graphics cards weren't intended or designed for GPU crypto mining.

It would be applied /checked whenever an internet connection if detected.

It would only be applied to ordinary graphics cards - Mining dedicated graphics cards would be unaffected, like the MSI Ampere mining GPUs.

This assume AMD/Nvidea care, they do not there a business

The graphics cards are selling, realistically they don't care if you game on it or mine it, they have they sale and the money already

 

[Hedge]

So us common folk get screwed out of an opportunity to mine while industrial scale miners just pay some experts to circumvent any bios changes.

Dont pretend nvidia are doing us a favour.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

This assume AMD/Nvidea care, they do not there a business

The graphics cards are selling, realistically they don't care if you game on it or mine it, they have they sale and the money already

That’s often said, but I’m not sure it’s entirely true.

To be clear I’m not saying they “care” as such, but PC gaming forms a huge chunk (over 40% iirc) of Nvidia’s revenue.

Crypto is currently surging and driving a demand, but as history has shown we can expect it to fade out again... either the price crashes, the mining difficulty increases sufficiently to make it uneconomical for most, or a combination of both. It’s been very cyclical over its entire history thus far, and I see no reason why it should be different this time. In the meantime however PC gamers are being increasingly frustrated with the hobby, and it is especially not in Nvidia’s interest for PC gaming to decline... AMD at least benefits somewhat from people moving to consoles, but no where near the margins of PC GPUs of course.

So no, I honestly do think they are protecting their own interests when trying to “help” gamers get GPUs. Short term obviously as you say it doesn’t matter because a sale is a sale, but if it results in the decline of PC gaming it is potentially extremely deleterious to Nvidia’s gravy train in the more medium-long term.

 

[Mark1989]

That’s often said, but I’m not sure it’s entirely true.

To be clear I’m not saying they “care” as such, but gaming forms a huge chunk of Nvidia’s revenue.

Crypto is currently surging and driving a demand, but as history has shown we can expect it to fade out again... it’s been very cyclical over its entire history thus far. In the meantime PC gamers are being increasingly frustrated with the hobby, and it is especially not in Nvidia’s interest for PC gaming to decline... AMD at least benefits somewhat from people moving to consoles, but no where near the margins of PC GPUs of course.

So no, I honestly do think they are protecting their own interests when trying to “help” gamers get GPUs. Short term obviously as you say it doesn’t matter because a sale is a sale, but if it results in the decline of PC gaming it is potentially extremely deleterious to Nvidia’s gravy train in the more medium-long term.

I'd like to see them do something but I just don't see it happening

I don't see PC gaming going away but I do see people swaying to consols more than before if these prices keep going the way they are.

That being said we put blame on them abit too much, overclockers are just as bad as some scalpers with what there charging

I don't doubt there cost to get the GPU has gone up but not to the extent there selling them at

Same with a competitor won't name as rules won't allow but they were selling a 6800XT for £1090

Mining will always be around and some times go into a crazy spell which inflates costs but I don't doubt for a second retailers and amd/nvidea themselves don't cash in on it too

Interesting think is that take members market here, GPU used are going up for sale at inflated prices too with no mods batting an eye lid on it.

There is just no good way to get a GPU, even if the current mining phase ends as the cards have sold at crazy prices I just suspect AMD/Nvidea will set this as there new msrp as its proven people will pay it

 

[Zeeflyboy]

I'd like to see them do something but I just don't see it happening

I don't see PC gaming going away but I do see people swaying to consols more than before if these prices keep going the way they are.

yeah absolutely, it won’t vanish but a smaller PC market is not remotely in Nvidia’s interests for medium term profitability. Someone that gets moved to console now may well be perfectly happy to sit tight for the next 5 years before they look at pc again (if they even bother!).

Just for the record though Nvidia are in fact doing something in case you missed the news - the 3060 is trying to lock out mining by reducing the hash rate to 50%, and simultaneously launching dedicated mining GPUs using rejected dies to avoid them impacting production of gaming cards (or so they claim).

That being said we put blame on them abit too much, overclockers are just as bad as some scalpers with what there charging

I don't doubt there cost to get the GPU has gone up but not to the extent there selling them at

Agreed, some retailers are just cashing in while they can and in my opinion not thinking about their own longer term prospects... but whatever, that’s their choice. My choice was not to play their game and was only in the market for an msrp FE.

Mining will always be around and some times go into a crazy spell which inflates costs but I don't doubt for a second retailers and amd/nvidea themselves don't cash in on it too

Of course, they make a mint on it. But I think they honestly realise that the spikes from mining are ephemeral and that looking after the PC gaming industry is in their financial interests.

Interesting think is that take members market here, GPU used are going up for sale at inflated prices too with no mods batting an eye lid on it.

Only rule is that you can’t make a profit right? So if you are selling your GPU used for less than you bought it for there’s not much they can do... nor is it their job to fix the market in all honesty. While definitely overpriced at the mo, the MM is still the cheapest place to snag a GPU, most members willing to take a lower price than eBay etc to avoid fees and hassle.

There is just no good way to get a GPU, even if the current mining phase ends as the cards have sold at crazy prices I just suspect AMD/Nvidea will set this as there new msrp as its proven people will pay it

Maybe, but that strategy didn’t work out well for Nvidia with Turing. AMD is now competitive even at the high end (and likely to be even more so next gen), Intel is entering the discrete GPU market this year... so there’s more competitive pressure on Nvidia than last time too.

For what it’s worth the only “good” way to get a GPU currently is to use a free stock alert bot. Sad that it’s needed but that’s where we find ourselves at the moment. I have managed to grab both a 3070FE and a 3090FE at msrp using those.

 

[D1craig]

And then not sell every single card they produce?

No matter what these card sellers tell you they are doing nothing to stop miners buying them. If they did they would lose profit.