Nvidia confirms it released a beta driver without RTX 3060 Ethereum hash rate limiter

Earlier this week, we learned that crypto-miners have managed to bypass the RTX 3060's mining hash rate limiter. It turns out that bypassing the limit is now even easier, as Nvidia released a beta driver without mining protections in place.

Unlike other Nvidia graphics drivers, once you had the GeForce 470.05 beta driver installed, the RTX 3060's Ethereum mining hash rate wouldn't drop as expected. Initial reports claimed that a special BIOS was also needed, but HardwareLuxx and ComputerBase have confirmed that the GeForce 470.05 beta driver alone is enough unlock the RTX 3060's mining capabilities.

Nvidia confirmed its mistake in a statement, saying: “A developer driver inadvertently included code used for internal development which removes the hash rate limiter on RTX 3060 in some configurations. The driver has been removed.”

The driver itself was released via the Windows Insider Program. While it has been removed, the driver is already circulating amongst crypto-miners, making the Ethereum mining limit easy to bypass. Once the RTX 3060 is fully unlocked, it is capable of reaching a hash rate of around 48.5MH/s while mining Ethereum.

KitGuru says: Do you agree with Nvidia's decision to limit the Ethereum hash rate of the RTX 3060? Would you use the GeForce 470.05 beta driver just for the purpose of mining?

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