Nvidia’s crypto lock for Geforce RTX 3060 can be bypassed via HDMI connection

With the latest graphics architectures RDNA 2 and Ampere, AMD and Nvidia are pushing performance to new levels, but despite a large number of unveiled models, the supply is very slim. A contributing factor to the scarce volumes is that cryptocurrency breakers – miners – has a strong interest in the cards, where reports indicate that they buy cards directly from third-party manufacturers’ factories.

In an effort to scare away crypto enthusiasts, Nvidia is delivering the mid-range Geforce RTX 3060 with a latch that lowers performance when running an Ethereum algorithm. The latch is partly on the hardware level and partly on the driver side. Earlier this week, however, the graphics giant stepped on the piano by rolling out an updated driver, which lifts the limit when using a graphics card.

The German hardware site Hardwareluxx quickly followed up and confirmed Nvidia’s missteps, but also showed that in cases where several cards work together, the incorrectly released driver also puts sticks in the Ethereum wheels. Using multiple graphics cards is a common practice in miningcontext, where multiple working cards are often accompanied by a simpler one used to connect a monitor.

Hardwareluxx editor Andreas Schilling has now dug deeper into the matter and presents that it is possible with simple means to get around this limitation as well. By connecting one of the graphics cards to a monitor and providing the HDMI connection on the Geforce RTX 3060 with a so-called dummycontact, the card is tricked into breaking cryptocurrency at full speed. Another requirement for proper operation is eight PCI Express lanes.

Despite the fact that Nvidia has released new versions of the driver, the unlocked variant is well distributed in mining-circuits. With the HDMI solution in the arsenal, it is thus unlikely that crypto switches will leave Geforce RTX 3060 cards alone on store shelves in the future. It is rumored that a future RTX 3080 Ti card will also be delivered with restrictions, but whether these can be circumvented in the same way, the future will show.

Source: Hardwareluxx (German)

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