How to remove lhr on 3080?

Starting in February 2021, NVIDIA started limiting the GPU mining hash rate. They published an article in their blog titled GeForce Is Made for Gaming, CMP Is Made to Mine.

In May 2021, NVIDIA published another article titled A Further Step to Getting GeForce Cards into the Hands of Gamers. This article talks about lowering the hash rate on the Ethash algorithm for the GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti. These models became available at the end of May 2021 and were marked with a “Lite Hash Rate” or “LHR” identifier.

At the end of May 2021, NVIDIA announced the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. You can read the full announcement here.

These GPUs weren’t marked as LHR, but even before the release, there were rumors online about the limited hash rate on Ethash. The rumors about LHR were confirmed after the release and testing.

The active expert discussion of the term LHR started in May 2021.

Here is the the configuration of the mining rig we used for this test:

Testing was held on three different rigs with the same setup, indoors, with the room temperature at +15 °C (59 °F).

We already described how we estimated the potential max hash rate for the RTX 3080 Ti on Ethash and Etchash algorithms in the article titled How to Increase Mining Hash Rate. Unlocking LHR Graphics Cards with Gminer.

The potential max hash rate without LHR lock on Ethash and Etchash is 116 MH/s. LHR lock causes the hash rate to drop to 64 MH/s (by 45%).

NBminer is a universal program for cryptocurrency mining on GPUs that supports both AMD and NVIDIA. The mining program has been in development since 2018. As of now, NBminer supports such popular algorithms as Ethash, Kawpow, Octopus, Autolykos2, Cuckoo, and Beamv3.

The miner developers keep in touch with their users on popular platforms and social media.

On August 15, 2021, NBminer developers released the v.39.0, the first mining program that unlocked LHR to 70% of the potential max hash rate. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 77 MH/s and 78 MH/s. Memory Controller Load and GPU Load charts were stable, and the Board Power Draw chart – with slight leaps.

Such settings allow NBminer v.39.0 to unlock LHR to 67% of the potential max hash rate.

On November 24, 2021, the developers released NBminer v.40.1 which greatly improved the performance of LHR graphics cards. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 83 MH/s and 85 MH/s. Memory Controller Load and GPU Load charts were stable, and the Board Power Draw chart – with slight leaps. Such settings allowed NBminer v.40.1 to unlock LHR to 72% from the potential max hash rate.

On May 8, 2022, the developers announced NBminer v.41.0. Click here to download the miner and read about its features.

This version promised to unlock LHR to 100%. To achieve this, the developers recommend using the 512.15 video driver for Windows and 510.60 video driver for Linux, as well as running the mining program as admin. For better stability, you should also lower GPU memory overclocking by 100–200 MHz (in comparison with the previous versions).

We launched the mining program on the first rig with the following GPU settings: PL(%): 70, CC(MHz): +0, MC(MHz): +1000.

Bat-file:

nbminer -a ethash -o stratum+tcp://eth.2miners.com:2020 -u WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_08 --temperature-limit 71 --temperature-start 50 --log pause

Here is the log file data right after the miner launch and after 20 hours of operation:

We encountered ‘Enable LHR unlocker’ only once, at the very beginning of the log file. We didn’t encounter ‘LHR lock’ in the log file and didn’t restart the miner.

The miner was active for 22 hours and 21 minutes. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 115 MH/s and 116 MH/s. Memory Controller Load and GPU Load charts were stable, and the Board Power Draw chart – with slight leaps.

Based on the number of shares sent to the pool, we estimated the miner hash rate. Initial data: 2174 shares (GPU0: 1122; GPU1: 1052) in 22.35 hours, share difficulty is 8726 M. We multiplied the number of shares per second by share difficulty and got 235.8 MH/s. This is a hash rate of two GPUs. We can also estimate the hash rate per GPU: GPU0 – 121.7 MH/s, GPU1 – 114.1 MH/s.

We recommend extending the testing period to get statistically correct results: each card should send over 5000 shares to the pool.

Below is the Stats page of the pool with the results of the rig operation.

We launched the mining program on the second rig with the following GPU settings: PL(%): 70, CC(MHz): +0, MC(MHz): +1100.

Bat-file:

nbminer -a ethash -o stratum+tcp://eth.2miners.com:2020 -u WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_09 --temperature-limit 71 --temperature-start 50 --log pause

Here is the log file data right after the miner launch and after 20 hours of operation:

We encountered ‘Enable LHR unlocker’ only once, at the very beginning of the log file. We didn’t encounter ‘LHR lock’ in the log file and didn’t restart the miner.

The miner was active for 26 hours and 50 minutes. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 117 MH/s and 118 MH/s. Memory Controller Load and GPU Load charts were stable, and the Board Power Draw chart – with slight leaps.

Based on the number of shares sent to the pool, we estimated the miner hash rate. Initial data: 2612 shares (GPU0: 1308; GPU1: 1304) in 26.83 hours, share difficulty is 8726 M. We multiplied the number of shares per second by share difficulty and got 235.9 MH/s. This is a hash rate of two GPUs. We can also estimate the hash rate per GPU: GPU0 – 118.2 MH/s, GPU1 – 117.8 MH/s.

We recommend extending the testing period to get statistically correct results: each card should send over 5000 shares to the pool.

Below is the Stats page of the pool with the results of the rig operation.

We set up GPUs on the next rig by fixing GPU frequency and voltage. We used the Voltage/Frequency Curve Editor in MSI Afterburner.

We launched the mining program on the third rig with the following GPU settings: PL(%): 80, CC (MHz): -109 fix Voltage(mV) 750, MC (MHz): +1000.

When you fix the voltage, choose a point that will let you run the miner with a Core Clock (CC) of 1300–1350 MHz.

Bat-file:

nbminer -a ethash -o stratum+tcp://eth.2miners.com:2020 -u WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_10 --temperature-limit 71 --temperature-start 50 --log pause

Here is the log file data right after the miner launch and after 20 hours of operation:

We encountered ‘Enable LHR unlocker’ only once, at the very beginning of the log file. We didn’t encounter ‘LHR lock’ in the log file and didn’t restart the miner.

The miner was active for 27 hours and 46 minutes. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 115 MH/s and 118 MH/s. Memory Controller Load and GPU Load charts were stable, and the Board Power Draw chart – with slight leaps.

Based on the number of shares sent to the pool, we estimated the miner hash rate. Initial data: 2574 shares (GPU0: 1283; GPU1: 1291) in 27.77 hours, share difficulty is 8726 M. We multiplied the number of shares per second by share difficulty and got 224.7 MH/s. This is a hash rate of two GPUs. We can also estimate the hash rate per GPU: GPU0 – 112 MH/s, GPU1 – 112.7 MH/s.

We recommend extending the testing period to get statistically correct results: each card should send over 5000 shares to the pool.

Below is the Stats page of the pool with the results of the rig operation.

We tested the miner with HiveOS.

The miner was active for 5 hours and 6 minutes. The miner hash rate on Ethash ranged between 117 MH/s and 119 MH/s.

Based on the number of shares sent to the pool, we estimated the miner hash rate. Initial data: 741 shares (GPU0: 255; GPU1: 233; GPU2: 253) in 5.1 hours, share difficulty is 8726 M. We multiplied the number of shares per second by share difficulty and got 352.2 MH/s. This is a hash rate of three GPUs. We can also estimate the hash rate per GPU: GPU0 – 121.2 MH/s, GPU1 – 110.7 MH/s, GPU2: 120.2 MH/s.

We recommend extending the testing period to get statistically correct results: each card should send over 5000 shares to the pool.

Such settings allow NBminer v.41.0 to unlock LHR to 100% of the potential max hash rate.

As of now, the latest miner version is NBminer v.41.3. The LHR unlocker is now much more stable, the failure issue on AMD graphics cards has been resolved, and it’s also more compatible with equipment low in RAM.

You should use the 512.15 driver on Windows and 510.60 on Linux. You can download the mining program on the official NBMiner website:

NBminer offers a universal solution to unlock LHR graphics cards.

NBminer v.39.0 unlocked LHR to 67% of the max potential hash rate on Ethash, NBminer v.40.1 – to 72% of the max potential hash rate, and the latest NBminer v.41.3 — to 100%.

Please note that we didn’t test GPUs with extreme settings. You may as well get stable results by using different settings. Make sure to overclock and test each GPU individually.

On Friday, an Nvidia spokesperson confirmed that the company had removed the “Lite Hash Rate” limiter after users began reporting(Opens in a new window) the absence of the mining restriction in the latest Nvidia drivers releases for Windows and Linux.

“We don’t believe it’s necessary in the current environment,” the Nvidia spokesperson told PCMag without elaborating.

The company introduced the Lite Hash Rate restriction back in Feb. 2021 when the RTX 3000 series remained in short supply due to surging demand from consumers, scalpers and cryptocurrency miners. In response, Nvidia decided to halve the Ethereum mining capability over most newly-released RTX 3000 GPUs in an effort to prevent crypto-miners from buying up all the supplies.

Since then, the whole market has changed. Currently, GPU-based mining has become unprofitable ever since Ethereum phased out mining back in September. This has led many miners to sell off their graphics cards. In addition, Nvidia is facing an oversupply situation with the RTX 3000 series due to improved supplies and plummeting demand from customers.

Hence, there’s no point in restricting Ethereum mining in today’s environment. On top of all this, the mining community came up with various ways to bypass the Lite Hash Rate limiter in the months after the restriction was launched. Back in January, one miner even told PCMag Lite Hash Rate limiter had become pointless. That’s because miners could still generate profits over an RTX 3000 GPU despite the limitation.

The supposed removal of the LHR limiter was first posted on Reddit by user Timbers007, who says they made the discovery when they set their RTX 3080 Ti to start mining. Usually, the limiter would kick in whenever an RTX card was detected to be mining traditional algorithms like Etchash and Autolykos. That wasn’t the case anymore, after Timbers007 updated the card’s drivers to the most recent one.

For the uninitiated, NVIDIA first introduced the LHR limiter in its RTX 30 Series graphics cards back in 2021. At the time, the implementation was put in place in an effort to stem the graphics card shortage, brought about primarily by GPU miners that were buying the card en masse. In order to mine Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the market.

Performance-wise and without the LHR limiter in place, Timbers007 indicates with a screenshot that his card was averaging 112MH/s, which is more or less what a card like the RTX 3080 Ti is capable of achieving unlocked, especially on mining pools like NiceHash and NBMiner.

For YouTuber Rapid Mining, they showed that their RTX 3060 model – the one that shipped out with LHR – also showed signs of benefiting from the new drivers, with the GPU hitting a hashrate of 47MH/s which again, is what the card more or less hits when the limiter is disabled or bypassed.

One likely reason why NVIDIA has chosen now to remove the LHR limiter could be due to the recent shift of Ethereum from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, also known as “The Merge”. Simply put, this move means that mining the digital coin is no longer profitable, as owners of the coin will now be required to put up their stake in the coin up as collateral.

(Source: Videocardz, Reddit, Twitter)

It all started with Nvidia pushing a driver update that lowered the ETH hash rate of RTX 30 Series cards making them less profitable from a mining point of view. It was only a matter of time before this software limit was overcome.

With the more or less failed attempt to restrict mining on a software level, Nvidia moved to a lower level to impose restrictions on the hardware architecture.

In comes the LHR cards. Nvidia LHR or Lite Hash Rate (LHR) GPUs turn down the ETH Hashrate to approximately half of the actual potential to lower mining profitability. With so many different tactics employed by Nvidia, there are a bunch of different generations of LHR cards floating around the market. Which one you have makes all the difference in the mining performance you can get.

Nvidia switched to LHR tech in the middle of May 2021. All cards manufactured after this date are Lite Hash Rate (LHR) units. You can check the same as these GPUs have LHR brandings plastered all over the outer box.

Nvidia RTX 30 Series Cards with LHR:

For the ones who own an LHR GPU, well, there are different versions of LHRs out there. Even though manufacturers have different notations, the LHR cards are generally divided into two versions V1 & V2:

All Nvidia 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti GPUs are known as LHR V2 cards. The rest of the lineup has different identifiers to mark the LHR cards. Find your manufacturer below.

Table Information – Source

Older AIB cards or Founder Editions cards purchased before the switch are entirely unaffected and quite in demand in the used PC market by miners. Given that LHR is becoming the norm as more stock comes down from the manufacturers, would switching to a different coin be possible since ETH is now limited in performance?

If you own an Nvidia LHR V1 GPU, then you are in luck as you can get almost all of the mining potential out of it with some simple tweaks. Check out our V1 guide.

With LHR V2 Card, technically yes, you can mine, but more importantly, should you? Given the most profitable coin out there has its hash rate cut almost in half, Ethereum mining should not be your top priority if you are only buying it to mine.

At least with the 50% nerfed ETH rate mining on a 30 Series, LHR GPU will not make much sense; a lot of miners have released updates to unlock a lot more potential out of these cards.

Low Hash Rate cards are supposed to lock down and limit only Ethereum Hash Rate, and many people have reported the same. Though some coins have anomalous performance nerfs as well.

The latest lolMiner v1.32a beta update unlocks the LHR V2 for all RTX 30 series. The best thing is you do not need any extra dummy plugs, and it works with all risers. Want to find out how? Here you go.

With the release of version 1.32a, there is an ‘LHR2’ mode included. The devs were able to push past the 50% hardware limit imposed by Nvidia and squeeze out around 30% more performance on ETH.

Requirements:

Interestingly, there is also a low power mode for LHR cards, included with this update called the ‘LHRLP’ mode. But more about that later. It’s time for some values.

You need to use “--mode LHR2” if you own an LHR V2 RTX 30 series GPU. User r/Jgonzi reported the following results:

*Non-LHR Version not available

GMiner v2.67 and above has also come out with a partial LHR unlock that unlocks extra potential out of your locked LHR v2 RTX 30 card.

To get started with GMiner v2.67, you need:

The performance difference between GMiner and lolMiner on the LHR cards is pretty much negligible, with both miners getting something around 30% extra hash rate. With lolMiner, the advantage you get is that once the limiter kicks in, it will actively try to tune itself to get the max performance out, while GMiner will keep mining at the limited hash rate until you take charge.

With the release of NBMiner v39.0 and above, the miner has finally cracked the LHR wall that limited the mining potential to almost half of its limit. With NBMiner, you can now unlock up to 70% of ETH performance on the RTX 30 Series.

V39.0 and above adds a new ‘lhr’ mode to the miner on Windows & Linux that can achieve more than 2/3rd of the ETH potential as compared to the locked-down 50%. Do note this is still a partial unlock.

Using the lhr mode on NBMiner is as easy as just adding the ‘-lhr’ flag to ethash. For those of you out there who want to play around a little more can add ‘-lhr ’ where value is the amount the miner will try to reach. For example, if you want to get 60% potential on ETH, add ‘-lhr 60’.

NOTE: The devs recommend a value of 68, as it gives the most stable results.

Remember the low power mode we talked about? If you think that the performance gap between LHR and non-LHR cards is finally closing, remember the power reading with these unlocks was not spectacular. Even though the software reading on the shell or Hive OS might seem low, do check the wattage at the wall. The low power mode tries to mitigate this but we simply are not at a point where we can ignore the power consumption. Still, there are plenty of other coins out there that don’t have their performance nerfed

So, you have got your hands on an LHR RTX GPU, and now you know ETH might not be your best bet, there are still some great options out there that you should check out.

Hop onto whattomine.com as they have updated the LHR hash rates for various coins to find what profits you can get. Given that not all coins have got their hash rates slashed, it’s better to mine coins at full potential. Raven Coin, Ergo, and Conflux are some popular alternatives that you need to keep your eyes on.

RVN and ERG might be your best using T-Rex Miner. RVN if you do not have your hash rates affected and ERG otherwise. Who knows if a full unlock for LHR might drop out of the sky?