CMP 170HX unlock: what it is and what it takes

What the unlock is

The CMP 170HX is built on the same chip as the A100, but it ships with its int8 math held down and with 8 or 10 GB of memory showing. A locked card mines Pearl far below what the chip can do.

The unlock is a patched NVIDIA open kernel driver. While the driver starts the card it lifts those limits, compute and memory together. Nothing is written to the card's firmware or BIOS: the change lasts until the card loses power.

Who makes it

The tool is cmpunlocker, a third-party open-source project under the GPL-2.0 licence. It is not ours. DynoHash does not include it, download it or run it, and we cannot support it. Read its own instructions before you start. Copies and look-alike projects exist; use only that one.

What DynoHash does

When DynoHash finds a CMP 170HX that still shows 8 or 10 GB of memory, it writes one line in its log and puts a note on that card in the app with a link to this page. That is all. It never changes your driver, your card or your system.

What you need

Linux (x86-64) with root access. There is no Windows path for this card.
The NVIDIA open driver in the exact version the tool asks for, with matching kernel headers. It refuses any other version.
Secure Boot off. The patched driver is not signed, so a Secure Boot system will not load it.
A network connection on the first install: the tool fetches the matching driver source.

Memory sizes that hold

10 GB card: 40 GB.
8 GB card: 64 GB.
Avoid 80 GB. On 10 GB cards it hangs and gives memory errors above about 40 GB.

The tool picks the size from the card's PCI ID. Pearl mining does not need the extra memory; the compute unlock is what makes it faster.

It applies again on each boot

The card itself keeps nothing. The patched driver loads at every boot and unlocks the card again. A warm reboot does not reset the card: to go back to stock, remove the tool with its own remove step, then switch the PC off at the power supply for a minute.

Risks

The card can stop answering (“No devices were found”, Xid errors in the system log). A full power-off for 60 seconds brings it back; a warm reboot does not.
Heat. An unlocked card works much harder. The CMP 170HX is a passive 250 W card: it needs real airflow across it, and the right power cables.
Root kernel code from one maintainer. The tool installs a driver that runs with full rights. Install a tagged version you have read, not whatever is newest, and never a copy from anywhere else.
Secure Boot off lowers the protection of the whole PC.
Other NVIDIA cards in the same rig must work with the one driver version the tool needs.
Not every board takes it. Some cards do not unlock reliably.
Your call. NVIDIA does not support it, and it may affect your warranty.

What an unlocked card mines

Measured with DynoHash on two rented cards whose hosts had already unlocked them, every share checked, none rejected:

64 GB card: 161.6 TH/s at about 164 W reported (the card reported a lower power cap than its 250 W limit).
40 GB card: 145.1 TH/s at 247 W.

Your numbers will vary with power limit, cooling and driver. More cards are on Speed by card.