Tool Unlocks Hidden Memory Capacity on Nvidia's CMP 170HX

A new tool named cmpunlocker has been released, restoring full memory capacity and performance on Nvidia's professional CMP 170HX mining card. The card, based on the GA100 chip (the same as in the A100 accelerator), has previously had parts of its memory and compute power disabled via firmware.

The CMP 170HX was officially sold in configurations with 8GB or 10GB of memory. However, cmpunlocker, a purely software-based solution, can unlock the card to either 64GB (for 8GB cards) or 40GB (for 10GB cards). The tool also restores full SM compute throughput and PCIe Gen 2 speeds, which Nvidia had previously limited.

This is possible because the GA100 chip physically supports more memory stacks than were enabled in the CMP 170HX. Nvidia chose to use binned or defective GA100 silicon that did not meet the requirements for the A100, and then limited its functionality for the mining market.