Nvidia launched LHR (or Lite Hash Rate) graphics cards last year to slow down their cryptocurrency mining performance and make them less attractive to non-gamers. Late last week, the crypto-digging platform NiceHash announced that it has finally found a way around these limitations and released an update to its QuickMiner software that promises full Ethereum digging performance on almost all GeForce RTX 3000 GPUs with LHR.
Unlike previous attempts to disable LHR protections, bypassing NiceHash seems to be the real deal – Tom’s hardware has been able to confirm productivity gains with QuickMiner and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.
For now, NiceHash says LHR workarounds will only work on Windows, without “Linux support not yet.” The more flexible NiceHash Miner software does not yet include workarounds, although it will soon. NiceHash also says the software will not speed up the performance of digging newer GeForce cards that use version 3 of the LHR algorithm, a list that (so far) includes the RTX 3050 and 12GB versions of the RTX 3080, but which is likely to increase with Nvidia is releasing new GPUs and updated revisions for older GPUs.
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Miners have been trying to find ways to circumvent LHR restrictions since they were introduced. The first card to use the LHR, the GeForce RTX 3060, was defeated by a failed version of the Nvidia driver. Other workarounds include flashing alternate BIOS and digging multiple cryptocurrencies on the same card.
But LHR’s decisions may also be too good to be true. Another group promised winning LHR drivers in February, but they didn’t do what they said they would do and ended up full of malware.
It remains to be seen whether this unlocking of the LHR affects the price or availability of GPUs. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have been falling recently as rising interest rates and stock market turmoil have prompted investors to make safer bets. The “merger” of Ethereum, which will switch the currency from a mining-proof “proof of employment” to a proprietary “proof of participation”, is also claimed in a few months, although this has been the case for several years. At this point, buying a bunch of new cryptocurrency mining GPUs, even with performance improvements and price increases, can still be a risky investment.
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