GeForce RTX 30 'Lite Hash Rate' GPUs Shipping In May With These Updates

This new round of alleged GAxx2 GPUs will have a revised version of the cryptocurrency mining limiter (which halved Ethereum hash rates) in place, as we've discussed on several occasions. NVIDIA's first-generation crypto limiter introduced with the GeForce RTX 3060 is easily bypassed. Ethereum miners first fooled the limiter using a beta driver provided directly by NVIDIA. And NVIDIA's crackdown on multi-GPU mining rigs was thwarted using a dummy HDMI plug. The new limiter will employ additional hardware and BIOS hooks to block these existing workarounds.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will be the first of these new GAxx2-based GPUs to feature the new and improved Ethereum limiter, but new revisions of existing GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards will be roped in as well. According to VideoCardz, there will be no external changes (i.e., on the retail box) to differentiate the older, easily bypassed GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards from the newer GAxx2 revisions.

"Eventually, graphics card monitoring tools should be able to recognize which version is used," the publication states. "After all, GAxx2 GPUs will have a different PCI Device ID, and they will require a new driver."

Besides the new ETH limiter, the GAxx2 GPUs will bring another feature also first introduced on the GeForce RTX 3060: Resizable BAR support. This is how NVIDIA describes Resizable BAR:

Resizable BAR is an optional PCI Express interface technology. As you move through a world in a game, GPU memory (VRAM) constantly transfers textures, shaders and geometry via many small CPU to GPU transfers. With the ever-growing size of modern game assets, this results in a lot of transfers. Using Resizable BAR, assets can instead be requested as-needed and sent in full, so the CPU can efficiently access the entire frame buffer. And if multiple requests are made, transfers can occur concurrently, rather than queuing.

While the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will likely get official virtual announcements with subsequent reviews from websites like HotHardware, NVIDIA isn't expected to make any such announcements regarding GAxx2-specific enhancements to the rest of the GeForce RTX 30 family.