Nvidia has a new processor designed to help end the GPU shortage, and it’s not the recently announced RTX 3060. In fact, the new processor isn’t a GPU at all. Instead, it’s a specialized processor designed to stop cryptocurrency miners from sweeping up all of the gaming graphics cards. The RTX 3060, meanwhile, is being specifically made less desirable for miners too.
Since the launch of the RTX 30-series back in September, gaming GPUs have been hard to come by. Nvidia’s own Founders Editions sold out within minutes and the same occurred with AMD’s RX 6000-series. As a result, gamers have been left scouring retailers, paying exorbitant prices, or unable to buy a new graphics card at all. While much of this is due to incredible demand, the situation has been exacerbated by ongoing competition between gamers and cryptocurrency miners.
In a blog post this morning, Nvidia announced its brand new Cryptocurrency Mining Processors, dubbed CMP for short. These processors won’t output graphics at all and are instead be designed exclusively for professional mining operations. The RTX 3060 is also built to dissuade miners, automatically detecting when mining is taking place and limiting its hash rate by 50 percent.
Nvidia: CMP A Solution For GPU Shortage?
Nvidia will be releasing a total of four CMP cards denoted with HX branding, through its vendor partners. It will begin with the 30HX and 40HX in Q1 of this year and follow with the 50HX and 90HX in Q2. These CMPs scale-up in hash rate and power requirements, beginning with 26 MH/s for the 30HX and scaling all the way to 86 MH/s with the 90HX. Power requirements also scale with the 30HX requiring 125 watts (less than an RTX 3060) and ending at 320 watts with the 90HX which is equivalent to the RTX 3080.
CMP cards are made to be more alluring to miners than traditional graphics cards used by gamers. As they don’t need to output video, that functionality has been removed entirely, with them instead focused on improved airflow for densely packed mining rigs. They also have lower maximum voltage and frequency standards, increasing their efficiency. Along with this, the hash rate of the RTX 3060 has been halved, dropping it from being one of the most appealing RTX mining GPUs to one of the least.
Speaking to Screen Rant, an Nvidia spokesperson said that the company is focused on limiting the hash rate of the RTX 3060 and has nothing to announce regarding other products. At least for the moment, it appears that the limitation will only impact a single RTX GPU. The larger question is whether this move will actually help the current stock shortfall. Decreasing competition for RTX cards can only help, but Nvidia was also quick to reassure us that no GeForce GPUs would be pulled to support CMP cards:
Regarding stock, CMP GPUs are optimized for mining and use GPUs that do not meet our GeForce GPU specification. We are focused on helping AICs fully supply GeForce for gamers.
Nvidia will be working exclusively with its partners to release these CMPs. Pricing is currently unknown.
