Unofficial firmware unlocks lift matrix throughput on selected Nvidia GPUs

Modders have used a firmware exploit to remove limits on matrix calculations in selected Nvidia RTX 20, 30 and 40-series graphics cards, Tom's Hardware reports. The unlock doubles the RTX 4090's peak tensor rate, but application gains are smaller: reported Ampere prompt-processing improvements range from 14-36%, while chatbot token generation stays about the same. The projects use unofficial modules to change hardware rate settings before Nvidia's driver takes control. Support varies by card, and most Ada and Turing models remain untested. Project documentation warns that the modifications can cause crashes, corrupt data or damage hardware.