Monday, May 17th 2021
Gigabyte Lists RTX 3060 Rev 2.0 Graphics Cards - Artificial Mining Limit FTW
Gigabyte has listed a range of five graphics cards in the RTX 3060 family sporting a new revision. Rev 2.0 of previously-released Gigabyte graphics cards include the RTX 3060 Gaming OC 12G, RTX 3060 EAGLE 12G, RTX 3060 EAGLE OC 12G, RTX 360 VISION OC 12G, and RTX 3060 ELITE OC. The new graphics cards are part of NVIDIA's second-wave attempt at curbing cryptocurrency mining on their RTX graphics cards by integration of a driver check that enables these graphics cards to actually function (meaning that only drivers which incorporate the mining limiter will enable these graphics cards to work).
It seems that manufacturers will be differentiating their pre and post-limiter graphics cards with a suffix that isn't normalized (GALAX uses LHR for Lite/Low Hash Rate), and Gigabyte here is seen using a simple Rev 2.0. It remains to be seen whether or not any packaging differences will make clear exactly which revision of a graphics card we're getting, but NVIDIA themselves apparently would prefer for that particular distinction to not be clear, so as to discourage any would-be miners from purchasing any graphics cards from the channels that aren't specifically mining-oriented (read, NVIDIA's CMP [Cryptocurrency Mining Processor] accelerators).
Sources:
AORUS Elite Rev 2.0, Gaming OC Rev 2.0, Vision OC Rev 2.0, EAGLE OC Rev 2.0, EAGLE Rev 2.0
It seems that manufacturers will be differentiating their pre and post-limiter graphics cards with a suffix that isn't normalized (GALAX uses LHR for Lite/Low Hash Rate), and Gigabyte here is seen using a simple Rev 2.0. It remains to be seen whether or not any packaging differences will make clear exactly which revision of a graphics card we're getting, but NVIDIA themselves apparently would prefer for that particular distinction to not be clear, so as to discourage any would-be miners from purchasing any graphics cards from the channels that aren't specifically mining-oriented (read, NVIDIA's CMP [Cryptocurrency Mining Processor] accelerators).
31 Comments on Gigabyte Lists RTX 3060 Rev 2.0 Graphics Cards - Artificial Mining Limit FTW
Both solutions have strengths and drawbacks. If people just behaved in a non-narcissistic way though, none of this would be required.
Let the miners get 3060.
The xx60 series has always been the mainstream card, and it's mainstream consumers who are suffering the most from the miners.
People with loads of disposable income have never cared as much about the cost of a GPU. Buying $2000+ graphics cards at scalper prices is proof that the $700 they were paying beforehand wasn't really their upper limit.
*Edit*
Found it:
videocardz.com/newz/galax-launches-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-and-rtx-3060-with-cryptomining-limiter
If you read the whole article, you can see, it's for everything, except the 3090, we know the 3070Ti and 3080Ti will get them from the get-go, so no need to confirm that.
whattomine.com/gpus
etherscan.io/chart/difficulty
*EDIT*
Oh and not to mention; the dedicated ETH miners from Bitmain will be sold in June, which will increase the difficulty substantially, as one of those machines is as powerful as 32x 3080's.
So yeah, here is hoping, my 660Ti needs replacing, but I know one thing is for sure, I will NEVER, buy them at scalper prices, even though my card is near death, I will use my 10-year-old iGPU and browse the web if it finally dies, but there is no way I am supporting this type of greed.
It's true that the high-end/flagship has shifted upwards because the x80 series is no longer the top dog - we used to get x80 Ti, and now we get x90 instead but the tiers are still very much defined by mainstream which isn't determined by GPU manufacturers, but what people are prepared to buy. For 90% of users, a GPU over $300 is too much, they'll look at a console instead. Here on a PC hardware enthusiast forum, you'll see a lot more high-end GPUs but take 1000 people off the street and maybe 10 of them have high-end GPUs.
Waiting since last summer for PC :D. Sold my pc as new ryzen was slowly coming to release with nvidia gpu soon as well. Bought 2 months ago ryzen 4650G enough for me too. Can play games as well, but I'm waiting to build a new pc. Have saved money as well really well. I can feel 3080 ti or 3090 if the prices will fall back close to msrp.I didn't say that people should buy rip-off/overpay. Maybe said my idea unclearly.
Rtx 3070 price is 499 msrp. When prices will be back to "normal" it will cost around 600. That is why I said people in these months should have saved at least few hunders euros and in the end buy something better.
Then again, with the new leaks about the Intel and AMD CPU's around the corner, with PCIe 5.0 / DDR5? Why not wait a bit longer? Since both the sockets from AMD / Intel are at their end-of-life, making a future upgrade path unavailable, as you need to replace everything again. So yeah, if I can't get an RTX3070Ti at a good price, I guess I will just have to wait for the new AMD CPU with the RDNA 2 integrated and call it a day.
If this ludicrousy continues, I will have to consider another hobby. Oh how I miss the days where gamers were mocked for being nerds/geeks and we didn't have to pay this much for sand with integrated copper.
There needs to be something that's a solid upgrade to people who have 5-year old $250 cards for about $300 or so. That's RX480/580 and 1060 6GB for the most part. A refreshed 3060 at $299 might be enough, if Nvidia can successfully make it useless to mine on and therefore only of interest to individual buyers. When you see the warehouses in China with 40+ GPUs mining per shelf, 30+ shelves per aisle and dozens of aisles, you know where the problem is! That's one customer using up graphics card instead of 80,000 people.
I think asking people to spend twice what they normally spend on a graphics card isn't going to fly; Most people will just choose to not buy anything at all.
I'm not from a wealthy country/don't live in a city and can't just simply save away bunch of money when I barely make any in this current situation from a part time job. 'even under normal circumstances I don't make more than 450-550$/month from a full time job where I live'
350-400$ is really my limit on a GPU and thats considering that MSRP does not really exist here with 27% VAT+whatever else they put on our prices, well not what some ppl call MSRP in USA and such for sure.
Currently there is exactly nothing and I mean nothing in that price range uprade wise, heck I would have to pay like 250$ for a used RX 570 if this one dies on me. :laugh: 'which I wont, rather buy a potato card and play indie/retro games'
My conscience is divided:
If I sell the cards for fat profits (I did sell my 5700XT for stupid money) It's a terrible deal for gamers who should just wait - No RX 5700 is worth €1000 for gaming and if I sell to miners/scalpers I'm not helping.
If I mine on the cards myself I'm contributing to the problem, but at least my electricity is relatively green so the GPUs are doing less damage to the environment in my hands than many other miners.
Sure, I could just park them all on a shelf or give them away but I'm not so wealthy that I can look a gift horse in the mouth.
What we want is a 1440p >120hz GPU that sells for less than $500 USD. All upgrades are cancelled until this precondition is satisfied. I hate being ripped off.