Nvidia may be bringing back Ethereum mining restrictions with a new variant of the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB. Initial attempts to block Ethereum mining activity were not very successful, but rumors suggest that Nvidia may once again include a new GPU in its RTX 3060 line to limit some mining activity.

According to an unnamed Taiwanese graphics card manufacturer speaking with HEKPC (translated), Nvidia plans to quietly distribute new GA106-302 GPUs in future RTX GeForce 3060 12GB cards. This will replace the GA106-300-A1 GPUs currently found on these cards, with the likely purpose of making these new cards incompatible with previous RTX 3060 drivers.

Most importantly, perhaps, this new GPU will be incompatible with the 470.05 developer driver that provided miners with a way around Nvidia's mining restrictions.

With the launch of the RTX 3060 12GB, Nvidia implemented vBIOS, drivers, and GPU limiters related to Ethereum (ETH) mining. Each time Ether mining is initiated, this limiter gradually and quickly reduces the card's hash rate to a lower level.

At the time of its launch, Nvidia was very confident in the ability of this limiter to resist hackers, even saying that its limiter was "unhackable." In a sense, Nvidia has yet to be proven wrong. That's because the limiter's demise will instead come from within Nvidia itself. The company has released a beta version of its driver for developers that lacks the cryptocurrency limiter provision. [The company has released a beta version of its developer driver that lacks the cryptocurrency limiter provision. However, this does not preclude future limiters, including the new RTX 3060 GPU variant reported here today.

This new GPU is said to be nearly identical to the GPU it will replace, although it will add even greater limitations to ethereum mining. This GPU is said to be available in May, after which it may not be clear which card with the new or old GA106 GPU will be available.

Not surprisingly, Nvidia is also reportedly cracking down on future driver distribution.

Ether is the most popular cryptocurrency among GPU miners, currently valued at $2,451. The high demand for graphics cards to mine cryptocurrencies because of the profits to be made is contributing to the current shortage of graphics cards, along with supply shortages, coronavirus delays, and reported retail bot mega-traffic.