The Nvidia CMP170HX graphics card appeared during the dawn of the mining era in 2021 and is a heavily stripped-down version of the AI accelerator A100. Instead of 64GB or 80GB of video memory, Nvidia artificially limited the fast HBM2e memory capacity on the mining-oriented CMP170HX to 8GB or 10GB at the software level. Until recently, CMP170HX cards were selling for as little as $200, since they were good for nothing other than mining — and mining, as we know, hasn't been thriving in 2026. Everything changed within just a few days after the appearance of the CMPUnlocker program, which removes the factory memory lock at the software level, turning the CMP170HX from 8GB into 64GB, and for the 10GB versions, owners can get the full 80GB of VRAM.