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Couldn't Microsoft/AMD/NV release a firmware update to disable mining on standard graphics cards?
- Thread starter g67575
- Start date
I don't think the GPU mining craze will just go away / cease with the transition to Ethereum phase 1.5/2, or government regulation - In this instance, a cryptocurrency will still be able to prosper in countries where there are no cryptocurrency regulations.
There's also Ethereum Classic, which will carry on using the a similar Proof-of-Work algorithm called Etchash (used by Ethereum GPU miners currently), but at a less profitable rate at this time.
Then there's a another proof of work based cryptocurrency called Conflux, which uses an algorithm called Octopus for GPU mining. This one appears to be more profitable for Nvidia GPU miners, than mining Ethereum Classic would be, here we can see possible GPU mining profitability on different mining algorithms:
https://whattomine.com/gpus
The Conflux GPU mining profits appear to be only be a bit lower than mining Ethereum.
So, I hope these facts won't go unnoticed by AMD and Nvidia, and they don't just hope the high demand problem (which is partly a result of GPU miners buying graphics cards in bulk) will resolve itself...
There's also Ethereum Classic, which will carry on using the a similar Proof-of-Work algorithm called Etchash (used by Ethereum GPU miners currently), but at a less profitable rate at this time.
Then there's a another proof of work based cryptocurrency called Conflux, which uses an algorithm called Octopus for GPU mining. This one appears to be more profitable for Nvidia GPU miners, than mining Ethereum Classic would be, here we can see possible GPU mining profitability on different mining algorithms:
https://whattomine.com/gpus
The Conflux GPU mining profits appear to be only be a bit lower than mining Ethereum.
So, I hope these facts won't go unnoticed by AMD and Nvidia, and they don't just hope the high demand problem (which is partly a result of GPU miners buying graphics cards in bulk) will resolve itself...
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Except it isn't really - unless they are noticeable cheaper than the equivalent geforce then miners will continue to buy geforces that have guaranteed resell value
the other side of the coin though is they are artificially gimping the 3060 hash rate... unclear exactly how but I guess it has to be either bios level or driver level.
If driver level, it’s too late for the other cards I guess... and no idea how long it’ll be before someone manages to bypass it (probably not long when money is involved!).
If you ended up in a situation where gaming cards were artificially limited to 50% hash rates and there were cheaper mining specific cards that ran unlimited it could change the balance. Perfect world and all that, but I get the theory at least.
Like I said, existing cards aren't affected, only unreleased products.
Yes, but people keep whining and saying that they should do it for existing cards... I was just pointing out why they can't
they could still do it for any new cards they make - add it in with the resize bar update
if it a driver they can do it for all cards if they want to, your performance isn't gone you can just use an old driver no one forces you to upgrade driver and Nvidia doesn't have to give you a driver - I've never seen anything in a review or advertising saying "you will get 1 year driver updates from Nvidia for this"
Indeed. They can't subsequently nerf something that people have already bought, hence why they are doing it for just the 3060. Can't have complaints/lawsuits then.
Still a very dodgy position for Nvidia to take and i doubt they would want to invite the inevitable legal challenges. It isn't worth it.
Doing it at the aib vbios level would be great then, all new cards = nerfed, all existing cards = high hash rate. Miners can play pass the hot potatoe for all existing cards on the market and gamers can get new cards without having to fight with miners
Well they would have to lock the vbios or people could just bios flash over it
I expect we're going to have several cycles of new PoW coins being "invented", inflated briefly because they're profitable to mine and trade, then dumped/deflated. And crucially there needs to be more evidence that these investments can lose money. Enough that the "get-rich-quick" brigade lose some confidence in them.
I don't think PoW is going away any time soon, but in order for mining to be profitable you need an endless supply of coins to be mined. That in turn requires that somebody out there will pay for the mined coins, which in turn requires that the coins have some value.
It's all the very height of absurdity. But since we can't have an infinite amount of (valuable) mined coins, at some point people have to start losing confidence in buying the mined coins. We're not close to that point currently; like I said, we probably need a lot more evidence of people *losing* money through buying crypto, before these mined coins start to lose their (inexplicable) value.
We know BTC has a cap of coins that can be mined. But there's an infinite amount of new coins that can be invented, and goodness knows where this is all going to end up. At some point people just have to lose confidence that these coins have any value at all. But right now we're in the grip of get-rich-quick mania. Tulips, tulips everywhere.
Anything in software can be defeated. Firmware is a little more tricky. But...
In a first, researchers extract secret key used to encrypt Intel CPU code | Ars Technica
Even firmware can be defeated. Actually that link above is really quite scary. Even your CPU firmware can be hacked now. Yikes. That was pretty secure previously.
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
As opposed to your preferred option, which I assume is for Nvidia to do absolutely nothing and pretend it's not happening. I agree with you though the success of the plan depends on the (lower) prices of the CMP series.
I find it interesting that some are saying Nvidia can't nerf the hash rates of existing GPUs - I think they could through optional updates. As Semple pointed out, the specs make no mention of hash rates - that's because Ampere graphics cards aren't designed or intended for GPU mining. I don't think NV will take further action yet, they will want to test the impact of the RTX 3060 hash rate nerf, and test how long it will take for GPU miners to circumvent it.
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