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Home / PCs & Components
Feature
NVIDIA LHR EXPLAINED: WHAT IS A ‘LITE HASH RATE’ GPU?
LHR is designed to foil Ethereum miners and get more GeForce graphics cards in
the hands of gamers. Here's what you need to know.
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By Thiago Trevisan
PCWorld Aug 24, 2021 3:45 am PDT
Thiago Trevisan/IDG
It’s a tough time to be a PC gamer. A crippling GPU shortage has made buying the
best graphics cards next to impossible, and when you can find a GPU, it’s
usually at an exorbitant markup. Making matters worse, crypto currencies like
Bitcoin and Ethereum have been absolutely booming throughout 2021, driving
hordes of GPU miners to gobble up what graphics cards they can find to mine
cryptocoins and turn a nice profit, sometimes in “farms” composed of rows of
toiling GPUs.
To help combat the dire GPU availability situation faced by gamers, Nvidia
introduced Lite Hash Rate (LHR) technology that put strict limits on the mining
performance of select GPUs, ostensibly to get more graphics cards into the hands
of gamers. Here’s a rundown of what LHR does, which graphics cards include the
technology, if gaming performance is impacted (spoiler: nope), and everything
else you need to know.
[ Further reading: Best graphics cards for PC gaming ]
WHAT IS NVIDIA LITE HASH RATE TECHNOLOGY?
First things first—what is LHR? Nvidia LHR graphics cards detect when they’re
being used for Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency mining and automatically halve the
“hash rate.” Without diving too deeply into the weeds, this makes LHR GPUs less
profitable for potential mining purchases due to their higher power draw
relative to the now lower hash rate. The idea is that if LHR GPUs aren’t
profitable for miners, they will be purchased by gamers instead.
Brad Chacos/IDG
LHR tech was first introduced in the GeForce RTX 3060, but quickly broken, then
reintroduced again.
The initial attempt at introducing the Lite Hash Rate limiter in the GeForce RTX
3060 didn’t go as planned. An accidental beta driver release unlocked the GPU’s
full mining performance the same week it launched. Undaunted, Nvidia returned
with a second go at LHR technology across most of its lineup two months later.
The newer LHR GPUs (such as the RTX 3080 Ti) supposedly feature much tighter
integrations between firmware and software.
Will the limiter’s effectiveness hold long term? Nobody knows. Recent news
indicates that up to 70 percent of a LHR GPU’s mining performance has now been
unlocked with NBMiner, up from the 50 percent that LHR restricts them to out of
the box. Crypto is big business these days, and ambitious miners will strive to
crack Nvidia’s protections to eke out more profits.
WHAT GEFORCE GPUS HAVE LHR?
Here are the GeForce graphics cards that include LHR technology.
* Nvidia RTX 3060
* Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti (Founders Edition unaffected)
* Nvidia RTX 3070 (Founders Edition unaffected)
* Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
* Nvidia RTX 3080 (Founders Edition unaffected)
* Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
Nvidia applied LHR to most of its RTX 30-series lineup in the middle of May
2021. If you already own an RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, or RTX 3080 created before
the manufacturing change, their mining performance will not be limited in any
way. (That’s why Nvidia’s own limited-run Founders Edition models don’t support
LHR—they were all made long before Nvidia introduced its limiter.) All GeForce
GPUs made after the switchover include LHR technology by default. Well, almost
all—the work-hard-play-hard GeForce RTX 3090 never got LHR and all models offer
full hash rate performance.
Brad Chacos/IDG
The monstrous RTX 3090 straddles the line between pro and play, and is the only
current GeForce RTX 30-series GPU without LHR.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE A LHR GEFORCE GRAPHICS CARD?
Regardless of which model RTX 30-series card you buy, you’ll know that you’re
purchasing an LHR GPU because the box will identify it as “LHR” or “Lite Hash
Rate” in some way. AMD’s rival Radeon graphics cards currently do not have any
similar restrictions on hash rate.
DOES LHR AFFECT GAMING PERFORMANCE?
If you’re a gamer, don’t worry about Nvidia’s Lite Hash Rate technology. It does
not affect gaming performance whatsoever as far as we know. This is strictly a
hash rate limiter.
WHAT DOES LHR MEAN FOR RESALE VALUE?
Resale value on LHR graphics cards may go either way. Some people may value
these models more because LHR indicates a graphics card probably wasn’t for
mining. Miners will value them less, on the other hand, due to their decreased
performance relative to the price.
If you’re a miner, you probably want to avoid LHR GPUs unless their restrictions
become further unlocked. That said, if crypto mining profitability increases,
these may still be viable for miners even with decreased performance.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may
earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Related:
* Graphics Cards
* Nvidia
* Asus
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