With the effects of hardware shortages still felt in the games industry, next-gen consoles included, it's in the PC space where it has felt a little bit crazier than most. With the launch of the flagship GeForce RTX 3080 last year, actually finding one on a shelf -- even now -- is just about impossible. Something made worse by the recent cryptocurrency mining boom.

Which has seemingly seen just about every GPU on the market all but disappear. So much so that the recent launch of the mainstream-focused GeForce RTX 3060 arrived with driver support that limited the "hash rate". That is crippling its cryptomining efficiency to ensure that stock ended up in the hands of PC gamers -- and not miners.

According to a new report over at Videocardz, citing NVIDIA's partners as the source, the company is planning to refresh the entire Ampere GPU line-up with Lite Hash Rate models.


These will be versions of the GeForce RTX 3090, 3080, 3070, 3060 Ti, 3060, and even the still-to-be announced RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti designed at the hardware level to minimise mining efficiency. NVIDIA has reportedly said that in-game performance will be identical to the current models and the plan is that these new cards might not even be advertised as such. But they will be identifiable from a device ID level as they feature revised hardware.

Word is that flashing or changing drivers won't bypass the cryptomining checks in place and that these versions will essentially be 'for games only'. These cards will also support RezisableBAR too -- without the need for a vBIOS update -- which should offer up improved performance. According to the report these new chips could make their way to consumers in June.