What Is LHR GPU (Lite Hash Rate Graphic Cards)?

Due to the Shortage of GPUs because of cryptocurrency miners, Nvidia launched their new series of LHR GPUs. Now you get a question in your mind what is LHR GPU? I will talk about it in this article in detail.

These days it’s tough to get a graphic card for gaming and crypto mining as well, and the reason is crypto miners bought graphic cards in bulk for cryptocurrency mining. To solve this shortage issue of graphic cards, Nvidia launched LHR GPUs (Lite Hash Rate Graphic Cards). Nvidia introduced Lite Hash Rate (LHR) technology that put strict limits on the cryptocurrency mining performance of GPUs, ostensibly to get more graphics cards into the hands of gamers.

What is LHR technology?

Before knowing about LHR GPUs, we need to know about LHR technology. LHR graphics cards detect when they are used for cryptocurrency mining and automatically decrease the “hash rate.” 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 behind launching LHR technology if these GPUs is if LHR GPUs aren’t profitable for miners, they will be purchased by gamers instead.

Initially, Nvidia launched LHR technology with the GeForce GTX RTX 3060. Still, it didn’t go as planned because an accidental beta driver release unlocked the GPU’s full mining performance the same week it launched. After this, Nvidia comeback with a new lineup of LHR GPUs. The more recent LHR GPUs (such as the RTX 3080 TI) supposedly feature much tighter integrations between firmware and software.

Do you think LHR GPU’s hash rate limit effectiveness holds long-term? But the answer to this question is not sure because already up to 70 percent of 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.

What is LHR GPU?

Now you know what LHR technology is. Let’s see what is LHR GPU? LHR GPUs are specially made for gamers by Nvidia because of the shortage of graphic cards in the market because of crypto miners. LHR graphic cards give less hash rate than usual graphic cards. So simple language LHR graphic cards specially launched for Gamers by Nvidia. But now because LHR graphic cards can be unlocked by using some drivers to increase. I will talk about this in a bit.

Does LHR GPU affect crypto mining profitability?

If you need the answer in one word, then the answer is Yes. But it is not that simple, Because LHR graphic cards are specially made for gamers, not for miners; that’s why you get less hash rate in LHR GPUs. But you can unlock that setting by using drivers made for those GPUs.

Does LHR GPU affect gaming performance?

LHR GPUs don’t affect any other aspect of graphic cards except crypto mining. No independent tests have been conducted about the difference in gaming performance between non-LHR and LHR GPUs. However, plenty of YouTube videos feature side-by-side comparisons between the cards, and there is no performance drop while gaming whatsoever.

In fact, you will get LHR GPUs at a lower price than non-LHR graphic cards. Also, sometimes hackers attack your powerful system for mining without your knowledge, and because of these LHR graphics, hackers will not target your system due to your low hash rate GPUs.

How do I know if I have an LHR GPU?

There are many graphic cards available in the market, but we need to identify them first are they LHR GPUs or non-LHR GPUs. There are multiple ways to identify that; now let us talk about that.

Is there any LHR mark on the graphics card packaging box?

The first thing you need to check is there LHR logo available on the outer box of the graphic card because this logo is available on the LHR graphic card box only. Non LHR graphic card comes without this logo on the outer packing.

In addition, if the label with the graphics card model at the bottom of the box contains the words “[FG],” it also means that this is an LHR graphics card.

Can you bypass LHR GPU restrictions?

There is no additional benefit of bypassing the LHR GPU restriction for an average user. But for crypto miners, it’s beneficial. However, crypto miners have already managed to unlock 70% of the hash rate in LHR graphic cards.

Miners have used a crypto mining software called NBMiner to do this. However, NBMiner only unlocks the hash rate when mining Ethereum since it’s the most popular mined cryptocurrency.

It’s not surprising soon crypto miners will soon be able to unlock the full potential of these LHR GPUs, which could wash away NVIDIA’s efforts thus far.

What does LHR mean for resell value?

Resell value of LHR graphic cards may go either way. Because some people value this card and some will not. LHR graphic cards are helpful for gamers. Also, if anyone buys these GPUs for gaming, there is a chance that maybe that graphic card can’t be used for crypto mining by the previous owner.

But on the other hand, for crypto miners, these cards may not be that useful because still we can’t use 100% power of LHR GPU for cryptocurrency mining. That’s why I am saying that resell value of LHR cards may be suitable. It depends on the buyers’ purpose in using the graphic cards.

Some LHR GPUs are currently available in the market.

Nvidia launched their most of the graphic cards of the RTX 30 series with LHR technology. But LHR technology was introduced in May 2021, so the Graphic cards made before this don’t have any hash rate limitation. Also, the founder edition of the RTX 30 series doesn’t have limited mining performance. (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.) GeForce RTX 3090 never got LHR, GeForce RTX 3090 never got LHR, and all models offer full hash rate performance.

Here are the GPUs that come with crypto mining performance limitations.

That is it for this article now it’s your turn

In this article, I tried to explain what is LHR GPU? How they work and all other things about LHR GPUs. If you still have any questions about LHR GPU just let me know in the comments.

If you are a crypto miner and want to know how to boost your crypto mining profits check out the best GPU Mining Settings for cryptocurrency mining.

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