Can You Mine Crypto On LHR Graphics Card? Is It Suitable for Gaming?

Can't find a GPU for your newly built gaming rig or can't pay the exorbitant price over the MSRP for a GPU? You might have to blame crypto mining, which has gone mainstream in the last few years, where people are stacking up GPUs to mint digital currencies.

While most consumer GPUs are designed to play games, crypto miners are ready to pay hefty prices to get those GPUs to mine cryptocurrency. NVIDIA finally came up with the solution and launched LHR or a low hash rate graphics card.

What an LHR graphics card does is that it reduce the hash rate of the GPU by half. This reduces the profitability of the GPU, which means, this card is likely to end up on a gaming machine rather than a mining rig. So, is it impossible to mine crypto on an LHR-certified graphics card? The simple answer is no.

An LHR graphics card is still a graphics card, which can mine cryptocurrency. However, the hash rate will be reduced so much, which means, the miner might end up paying more electricity bills than what he mines on that graphics card. Several reports suggest that it is still profitable to mine and still makes a profit. However, the amount of profit will be reduced due to a lower hash rate.

Can You Game On LHR Graphics Card?

If there is a single purpose of LHR graphics card from NVIDIA, it is to game. The LHR GPUs can offer the same amount of gaming performance as a regular non-LHR graphics card. Hence, even if you are buying a second-hand LHR graphics card, you can be sure that the probability of that GPU being used for crypto mining will be very minimal.

How To Disable LHR On LHR Graphics Card?

Is there a way to restore the full hash rate performance on the LHR graphics card? Yes, there are. In fact, the RTX 3060 is the first LHR graphics card that NVIDIA introduced. However, a leaked beta driver actually removed the LHR limitation of the graphics card.

However, the newer GPUs with LHR locks are more difficult to hack to unlock the full hash rate performance. Some reports suggest that users can unlock the performance of these graphics cards using third-party tools like NBMiner.

Does AMD Offer LHR GPUs?

As of now, no AMD GPU has an LHR lock. This means, with AMD GPUs you can continue to mine crypto at a much higher rate when compared to NVIDIA graphics card with LHR lock. The upcoming GPU from Intel is also expected to have no LHR lock, which should also offer great crypto mining performance.

Are LHR GPUs Safe To Buy?

If you are a gamer, then you can buy an NVIDIA GPU with an LHR lock without a second thought, as this does not impact the gaming performance. Every LHR graphics card will have a huge LHR logo on the box, which helps users identify that the GPU is indeed LHR locked and is meant for gaming.

Do LHR GPUs Have Resale Value?

This is a tough question to answer. If you are selling an LHR GPU to a gamer, then it might fetch a good amount. However, if you are selling an LHR GPU to a miner, it might just lose a lot of value due to the lower hash rate support.