NVIDIA CMP revealed for crypto mining (for $ETH) as RTX nerfed [UPDATE: No retro-nerf]
NVIDIA just revealed their next big plan for capitalizing on the current supply VS demand issues in graphics cards. Part one of their plan is nerfing GeForce RTX graphics card cryptocurrency mining power (hash rate) so said cards are less desirable to cryptocurrency mining operations. The second bit of the plan is creating a whole new category of product, the NVIDIA CMP, or Cryptocurrency Mining Processor.
What is NVIDIA CMP?
The NVIDIA CMP is a product line made specifically for professional cryptocurrency mining. They've made this product line here in February of 2021 to address "the specific needs of Ethereum mining." These processors "don't do graphics", and will therefore be relatively useless to gamers.
As such, one group of buyers won't want one, the other won't want the other, and everyone can be happy. CMP products designed by NVIDIA will be sold through authorized partners and will be "optimized for the best mining performance and efficiency."
NVIDIA CMP HX is a dedicated GPU for professional mining. Per the first release on the hardware, this next-gen tech will be available from a select set of partners. Those partners include ASUS, Palit, MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, and Colorful. Per NVIDIA, this hardware "allows a fully open, airflow-optimized bracket and is configured to allow a greater number of GPUs to be controlled by one CPU."
Above you'll see the first specifications listing for NVIDIA CMP HX. They've shown 30HX, 40, 50, and 90. They'll be releasing the first two iterations in the first quarter of 2021 (likely in March), and the second two in Q2 2021.
RTX mining nerf
For the next NVIDIA RTX launch, with the launch of GeForce RTX 3060 on February 25, NVIDIA begins the nerf. This processor will have software drivers that are "designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50 percent."
It's unlikely that previously-released NVIDIA RTX cards will have a similar nerf update – but we shall see! We've reached out to NVIDIA to see what's up – we'll let you know!
UPDATE: NVIDIA confirmed with SlashGear that they are "focused on limiting the hash rate for RTX 3060" and: "No updates to products already sold."