Gigabyte Lists RTX 3060 Rev 2.0 Graphics Cards - Artificial Mining Limit FTW

[Raevenlord]

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).



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[silentbogo]

Would be nice to list the rev. number on the box, so scalpers and dishonest retailers woudn't bother selling them at $1000.

 

[Raevenlord]

Would be nice to list the rev. number on the box, so scalpers and dishonest retailers woudn't bother selling them at $1000.

I understand what you mean, and there's merit to it. However, there's also the merit of adding a "lottery" system of sorts to miner demand. If they don't know which card goes into their hands, they're less likely to make a blind jump into getting them.

Both solutions have strengths and drawbacks. If people just behaved in a non-narcissistic way though, none of this would be required.

 

[ixi]

How about limit on 3070, 3080 and 3090?

Let the miners get 3060.

 

[Chrispy_]

How about limit on 3070, 3080 and 3090?

Let the miners get 3060.

Uh, no.
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.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

How about limit on 3070, 3080 and 3090?

Let the miners get 3060.

All the new cards from May 15 2021 will have the limiter, the whole range.

 

[silentbogo]

I understand what you mean, and there's merit to it. However, there's also the merit of adding a "lottery" system of sorts to miner demand. If they don't know which card goes into their hands, they're less likely to make a blind jump into getting them.

It's a lottery for miners, but not for gamers. If they get A2, they'll simply resell it at $1000 a pop. If revision is on the box - dishonest online retailers and scalpers won't be able to sell it to miners, and will be forced to lower their price. I'd even settle for $500/ea just to have a decent gaming card and not worrying about mining for half-a-year on it just to compensate part of its cost. Maybe even build a gaming rig for my firend's kid, which we've been planning for the past year or so.

 

[lexluthermiester]

All the new cards from May 15 2021 will have the limiter, the whole range.

Are you sure?

 

[DeeJay1001]

These must not be out yet. I just got in a 3060 Vision OC. It runs just fine on the 470.05 driver, mining @ 48 MH/s

 

[ixi]

Uh, no.
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.

You are right. But then again, we can't buy GPU already over 6 months. People should have saved alot in these months to afford 3070... for 550 - 600 euro... 3060 and 3060 ti in my opinion for last two generation is below middle class... middle class now i will say is rtx 3070...

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Are you sure?

Yep, all SKU's except for the RTX3090. erm, let me try and get the link... Argh, I can't find it, but I know I read somewhere in an article at Videocardz.

*Edit*

Found it:

GALAX launches GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3060 with cryptomining limiter - VideoCardz.com

GALAX releases RTX 3060 series with cryptomining limiter NVIDIA GA104-202 and GA106-302 GPUs. Last week we reported that GALAX has begun releasing its new series called ‘FG’ which probably stands for ‘For Gamers’. This way Galax will be differentiating its new LHR-based graphics card from the...

videocardz.com

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.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yep, all SKU's except for the RTX3090. erm, let me try and get the link... Argh, I can't find it, but I know I read somewhere in an article at Videocardz.

*Edit*

Found it:

GALAX launches GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3060 with cryptomining limiter - VideoCardz.com

GALAX releases RTX 3060 series with cryptomining limiter NVIDIA GA104-202 and GA106-302 GPUs. Last week we reported that GALAX has begun releasing its new series called ‘FG’ which probably stands for ‘For Gamers’. This way Galax will be differentiating its new LHR-based graphics card from the...

videocardz.com

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.

Nice!

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Nice!

Yep yep, gamers will finally see some cards, I am sure they will still be a little expensive at the start but maybe by the end of July we might see prices become normal? There are still a lot of us that don't have them yet so yes, there will be high demand. For miners, it might not look too appealing, if you look at the current profit rates they make, slash that by -50%, then, the new limited cards will make around $3 a day and with the difficulty ever increasing, soon it won't be profitable for them and could very well be near $1 a day in profit to them in the near future. I wouldn't "invest" in new cards if I were them.

GPU profitability ranking - WhatToMine

Most profitable GPUs currently on the market and soon to be released.

whattomine.com

Ethereum Network Difficulty Chart | Etherscan

The Ethereum Network Difficulty Chart displays the mining difficulty and the historical value of the Ethereum network.

etherscan.io

*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.

 

[Chrispy_]

People should have saved alot in these months to afford 3070... for 550 - 600 euro... 3060 and 3060 ti in my opinion for last two generation is below middle class... middle class now i will say is rtx 3070...

Wait, you're saying that if things are a rip-off at twice their MSRP or more, people should just save more so that they can overpay?

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.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Wait, you're saying that if things are a rip-off you should save longer to buy them even though they're a rip-off?

Can you believe that type? Unbelievable right? I would rather use that as a deposit on a new car / small flat, or save it for a lovely vacation. What the heck is wrong with people?

 

[ixi]

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.

Ou yes, forum comrade. I'm with you. F scalpers. Ain't buying from them.

Waiting since last summer for PC . 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.

Wait, you're saying that if things are a rip-off at twice their MSRP or more, people should just save more so that they can overpay?

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.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Ou yes, forum comrade. I'm with you. F scalpers. Ain't buying from them.

Waiting since last summer for PC . 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 wanted to upgrade my CPU / Mobo & RAM, but it was and is pointless without a GPU. So in a sense, they screwed not only one market but several others, I just feel bad for everyone that already purchased all those items without knowing this GPU shortage was going to be here and this severe. I had my eye on the 5900X as I need those cores, but scalpers made sure that, that too was unappealing, prices are coming down for them luckily, but slowly as the availability is increasing.

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.

 

[Chrispy_]

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.

I suspect there will be a mid-cycle refresh before that happens. Nvidia typically launches a new architecture in September one year, and either augments or replaces the lineup on the following September. For sure, the mining/supply/scalping issues will persist long beyond September and possibly well into 2022 as well.

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.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

I suspect there will be a mid-cycle refresh before that happens. Nvidia typically launches a new architecture in September one year, and either augments or replaces the lineup on the following September. For sure, the mining/supply/scalping issues will persist long beyond September and possibly well into 2022 as well.

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.

View attachment 200707

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 have seen so many pictures like these, and miners have the audacity to claim they are not responsible for the shortage but that it's the fault of nVidia and AMD for not supplying enough. How were they to know that a small number of people on the planet were going to buy them all? How many of us here would just have liked to buy 1x at a fair price?

 

[Sithaer]

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.

Yup, I'm one of those ppl with a RX 570.
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. 'which I wont, rather buy a potato card and play indie/retro games'

 

[thevoiceofreason]

I'm still waiting on 3060ti Eagle ordered on 2nd December. And judging by https://www.proshop.de/RTX-30series-overview I am not sure if any were made (or at least released into the retail channel).

 

[Chrispy_]

I have seen so many pictures like these, and miners have the audacity to claim they are not responsible for the shortage but that it's the fault of nVidia and AMD for not supplying enough. How were they to know that a small number of people on the planet were going to buy them all? How many of us here would just have liked to buy 1x at a fair price?

I'm mining, but small-scale. Even so, I'm using 18 GPUs that many would consider as viable upgrades. Along with my two personal gaming GPUs that means that I've consumed 20x more GPU than most customers.

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.

 

[Tardian]

In Australia the RTX 3060 12GB sells for $1299 AUD or about $1010 USD (18/5/21). I refuse to pay anything like that price. I could, but will not. We are getting by with our pre-mining boom cards and everything is carefully maintained.

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.

 

[Midland Dog]

top scam would be to buy all of the hash limited cards and then sell them to miners for double the price, enjoy 1/10th the hash rate lol

 

[lexluthermiester]

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.

True!