All-time Mining GPUs Benchmarked and Ranked
What are the best mining GPUs, and is it worth getting into the whole cryptocurrency craze? Bitcoin and Ethereum mining have been making headlines over again, as prices and mining profitability were
way
up compared to the terminal couple of years. Everyone who didn’t beginning mining final time is kicking themselves for their lack of foresight. Not surprisingly, the
all-time graphics cards
and those chips at the pinnacle of our GPU benchmarks hierarchy cease up being very proficient options for mining likewise. How expert? That’southward what we’re here to hash out, and we’ve got hard numbers on hashing performance, prices, power, and more.
We periodically update this article, at least the principal table showing potential profits and pricing. The latest update uses pricing information from the month of January 2022, combined with current Ethereum prices.
Notation:
These numbers are no longer up to date, simply the current potential profits have taken a nosedive, correct alongside the cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin and Ethereum have both lost over half their value since the commencement of 2022 — Ethereum is down over 60% since Jan 1, 2022. Do your own calculations as needed, simply there’s a reason nosotros’ve recommended caution since we created this article in 2021.
We’re non hither to encourage people to start mining, and we’re definitely non suggesting you should mortgage your house or accept out a large loan to try and become the next big mining awareness. Mostly, we’re looking at the data based on current market place weather. Predicting where cryptocurrencies will go next is even more than hard than predicting the weather, politics, or the next big meme. If you don’t already take the hardware required to become started on mining today (or actually, about 8 months agone), you’re late to the political party. Like the sometime golden blitz, the ones about likely to strike it rich are those selling equipment to the miners rather than the miners themselves.
If you’ve looked for a new or used graphics carte du jour lately, the electric current going prices probably caused at least a raised eyebrow, maybe fifty-fifty three! Our GPU pricing index has boosted details, but the market place had a perfect storm of pandemic induced shortages and increased need, and mining only made a bad situation worse. We’ve heard from people who accept said, in effect, “I figured with the Ampere and RDNA2 launches, information technology was finally fourth dimension to retire my old GTX 1070/1080 or RX Vega 56/64. And so I looked at prices and realized my erstwhile carte du jour is selling for as much as I paid over three years agone!” They’re not wrong. Pascal and Vega cards from three or four years ago are currently selling at shut to their original launch prices — sometimes more. If you’ve got an old graphics card sitting around, y’all might even consider selling information technology yourself (though finding a replacement could prove difficult).
The good news for those non interested in mining is that profitability has dropped, and GPU prices followed conform (to a lesser caste). Now more ever, nosotros strongly discourage people from trying to strike it rich with crypto mining. Even with reduced GPU prices, the all-time-case scenario right now requires more than a full year of 24/7 mining just to break even. Ethereum should brand the switch to proof of stake some time before July (perhaps), plus there’s the environmental cost to consider. But the cryptocurrency market is zippo if non extremely volatile, and many are willing to have a adventure now in hopes of scoring a big payoff subsequently.
Ultimately, we know many gamers and PC enthusiasts are upset at the lack of availability for graphics cards, but nosotros embrace
all
aspects of PC hardware — non only gaming. We’ve looked at GPU mining many times over the years, including back in 2011, 2014, and 2017. Those are all times when the price of Bitcoin shot up, driving involvement and demand. 2021 is just the latest in the crypto coin mining cycle.
The only prediction we’re willing to make is a lovely tautology: Prices on Bitcoin and Ethereum
will
change in the months and years alee — sometimes up, and sometimes downwardly. And just similar we’ve seen and then many times before, the bear upon on graphics card pricing and availability will continue to exist. You should also exist aware that, based on past personal experience that some of us have running consumer graphics cards 24/vii, it is absolutely possible to burn out the fans, VRMs, or other elements on your card. Proceed at your own gamble.
The All-time Mining GPUs Benchmarked, Tested and Ranked
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With that preamble out of the way, permit’s become to the chief point: What are the all-time mining GPUs? This is somewhat on a theoretical level, as you can’t actually buy the cards at retail for the well-nigh office, but we accept a solution for that besides. We’re going to use eBay pricing — on
sold
listings — taken from our GPU pricing index. How much can you make by mining Ethereum with a graphics bill of fare, and how long will it accept to recover the toll of the card using the currently inflated eBay prices? Permit’s take a look.
For this nautical chart, we’ve used the
current
difficulty combined with the average price of Ethereum over the by week — because nothing else is coming close to Ethereum for GPU mining profitability right now. Nosotros’ve tested all of these GPUs on our standard examination PC, which uses a Core i9-9900K, MSI MEG Z390 ACE motherboard, 2x16GB Corsair DDR4-3600 RAM, a 2TB XPG M.two SSD, and a SeaSonic 850W 80 Plus Platinum certified PSU.
We’ve optimized Ethereum mining performance, with an eye toward minimizing power consumption while maximizing hash rates. Besides annotation that we’re using real-world in-line ability measurements for the GPUs, collected using our Powenetics hardware and software solution, and then our power figures are not relying on software information, which can be off by anywhere from a few watts to over 50W, depending on the GPU.
Finally, we’ve used $0.10 per kWh for power costs, which is much lower than some areas of the world but also higher than others. Taking the hash rate and current difficulty, we subtract the ability cost to come upwardly with daily profits. Then we used the gauge eBay toll divided by the electric current daily profits to come upwardly with a time to repay the cost of the graphics carte. The following table is sorted past time to break even (assuming price and difficulty don’t change, which they absolutely will).
Swipe to curlicue horizontally
GPU | Avg. eBay Price (Jan 2022) | Mining Performance | Mining Power | Daily Profit | Days to Break Even |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | $300 | 25 | xc | $0.76 | 393 |
Radeon RX 570 8GB | $357 | 29.viii | 130 | $0.85 | 418 |
GeForce GTX 1080 | $457 | 36.1 | 138 | $1.08 | 422 |
GeForce GTX 1070 | $368 | 29.ii | 114 | $0.87 | 423 |
Radeon RX 5600 XT | $543 | 39.6 | 115 | $i.27 | 426 |
Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB | $365 | 26.iii | 81 | $0.84 | 437 |
GeForce RTX 3060 | $711 | 48.vi | 118 | $1.62 | 439 |
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | $923 | threescore.half-dozen | 116 | $ii.09 | 441 |
Radeon RX 5700 XT | $810 | 53.8 | 125 | $i.81 | 449 |
Radeon RX 580 8GB | $389 | thirty.three | 135 | $0.86 | 451 |
GeForce RTX 2060 Super | $640 | 43.7 | 129 | $1.40 | 457 |
GeForce RTX 2070 | $643 | 43.8 | 130 | $1.40 | 458 |
Radeon RX 5700 | $794 | 52.3 | 133 | $1.73 | 459 |
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | $459 | 29.vii | 73 | $0.99 | 465 |
GeForce GTX 1070 Ti | $431 | 31.2 | 124 | $0.92 | 467 |
Radeon RX 590 | $410 | 30.8 | 138 | $0.87 | 469 |
GeForce GTX 1660 | $401 | 25.three | lxx | $0.82 | 488 |
GeForce GTX 1660 Super | $498 | 30.two | 75 | $one.00 | 497 |
GeForce RTX 2060 | $518 | 33 | 105 | $one.04 | 498 |
GeForce RTX 2070 Super | $704 | 43.ix | 128 | $1.41 | 499 |
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | $658 | 44.7 | 187 | $1.thirty | 506 |
GeForce RTX 3080 | $1,613 | 94 | 220 | $3.15 | 512 |
GeForce RTX 3070 | $1,086 | 61.iii | 123 | $2.10 | 516 |
GeForce RTX 2080 | $751 | 43.8 | 119 | $one.43 | 526 |
Radeon RX Vega 64 | $647 | 45.five | 234 | $1.22 | 531 |
Radeon RX 6800 | $1,150 | 64.5 | 166 | $2.xiii | 541 |
Radeon VII | $1,517 | 85.6 | 231 | $ii.80 | 542 |
Radeon RX 6700 XT | $847 | 47.ane | 120 | $1.56 | 544 |
Radeon RX Vega 56 | $636 | 40.ii | 174 | $1.sixteen | 550 |
Radeon RX 6600 | $516 | 28.5 | 75 | $0.94 | 552 |
Radeon RX 6600 XT | $610 | 32.iii | 75 | $1.08 | 563 |
GeForce RTX 2080 Super | $824 | 43.9 | 124 | $one.42 | 580 |
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | $1,127 | sixty.1 | 180 | $1.92 | 587 |
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR | $844 | 42.4 | 114 | $ane.39 | 609 |
Radeon RX 6800 XT | $1,269 | 64.6 | 186 | $two.08 | 609 |
GeForce RTX 3060 LHR | $657 | 34 | 110 | $1.07 | 616 |
GeForce RTX 3090 | $ii,609 | 115 | 285 | $3.82 | 683 |
GeForce RTX 3070 LHR | $995 | 42.9 | 120 | $i.39 | 715 |
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti LHR | $1,179 | 51 | 155 | $1.62 | 726 |
Radeon RX 6900 XT | $i,528 | 64.6 | 183 | $2.09 | 731 |
GeForce RTX 3080 LHR | $1,535 | 65.8 | 215 | $2.06 | 745 |
GeForce RTX 3050 LHR | $539 | 23 | 75 | $0.72 | 748 |
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti LHR | $1,874 | 77 | 220 | $ii.49 | 754 |
Last time nosotros updated this list, the best-case scenario for breaking even required as fiddling as 160 days. With the decrease in Ethereum prices combined with the increment in mining difficulty, at current rates your best bet would be just over a year to break even — which will of course alter, considering cryptocurrencies are nothing if not volatile.
Keep in mind that Ethereum is still supposed to transition to proof of pale (i.e., no mining) sometime in the first half of 2022. That transition has been delayed a couple of years now, though, and so who knows when or even if information technology will ever happen? Half-dozen months from at present we could encounter essentially lower profitability, if GPU miners are forced to observe alternatives to Ethereum. Miners likely hope that some other coin will accept off and replace Ethereum, but that’southward nevertheless some other take chances.
Older GPUs like the GTX 10-series and RX 500/5000-series go on to top our list, though the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti (not-LHR) come in 7th and eighth place overall. As well note that finding some of the older model cards in sufficient quantities may be more hard, and running multiple GPUs off a single PC requires PCIe riser cards and other extras that add to the total cost. Not surprisingly, Nvidia’s LHR model cards tend to do far worse overall.
Suspension-even times currently range from simply under 400 days to every bit much as 750 days, depending on the GPU. Unless the current Ethereum pricing tendency reverses, yous can expect it to have fifty-fifty longer, especially when y’all gene in the other hardware you’d need. There’s also a real risk of graphics cards failing inside two years when they’re mining 24/7.
Note that the power figures for all GPUs are
before
taking PSU efficiency into account. For pure graphics carte du jour power, you should split up the numbers in the table by your PSU’s efficiency rating (eastward.m., RTX 3080 measured 220W, and with a 90% efficient PSU information technology would actually apply 245W).
Nosotros besides don’t include the rest of the PC, meaning the CPU, motherboard, and other components. For the RTX 3080 as an example, full wall outlet power for a unmarried GPU on our test PC is about 60W more than what we’ve listed in the chart. If you lot’re running multiple GPUs off a unmarried PC, total waste product power would be somewhat lower, though it really doesn’t impact things that much. If you take the worst-case scenario and add 60W to every GPU, the time to break even increases past 20–30 days.
It’southward also fair to say that our examination results are not representative of
all
graphics cards of a particular model. VBIOS mods may help (utilise at your own risk), and some models but run better and faster. RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 can run high GDDR6X temperatures on some cards but much lower temps on others. The 3090 can potentially do 120-125MH/s, or case, though that’s even so nearly two years to break even.
[That’s it for the new cloth. Most of the balance of the article hasn’t been touched since around July 2021, though we did tweak a few of the prices and intermission-even time estimates.]
The trouble is that the above table has no manner of predicting the price of Ethereum, other coins, or mining difficulty. Guessing at the price is like guessing at the value of any other article: It tin get upwards or down at a moment’s notice, and Ethereum, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies are generally more volatile than even the most volatile of stocks. On the other mitt, mining difficulty tends to increment over time and only goes downwards when people stop mining (like with the Prc mining crackdown), as the difficulty is directly tied to the network hash rate (i.east., how many GPUs, ASICs, etc. are mining that coin).
The higher up is something of a best-example scenario for when yous’d break fifty-fifty on the cost of a GPU. Actually, that’due south not truthful. The best-instance scenario (for miners) is that the price of Ethereum doubles or triples or whatsoever, and so everyone holding Ethereum makes a bunch of coin. Until people start to cash out and the price drops, triggering panic sells and a plummeting price. That happened in 2018 with Ethereum, and it’s happened at least three times during the history of Bitcoin. Similar we said: volatile.
Still, at that place are obviously enough of people who believe in the potential of Ethereum, Bitcoin, and blockchain technologies. Fifty-fifty at today’south inflated GPU prices with mining profitability slumping, some people are probable still making a go at mining. At least if the value of the coins drops, you still have the hardware that’s at least worth something (provided the menu doesn’t prematurely die due to heavy mining employ). That means, despite the overall rankings (in terms of time to break even), you’re by and large better off buying newer hardware if possible.
Top Picks for the Best Mining GPUs
Our table above includes ‘current’ eBay pricing estimates and the associated profitability. Even when profitability drops, GPU prices tend to take longer to come downward. There’due south also a residual between time to break fifty-fifty and daily potential profits, but at this signal nosotros strongly advise confronting anyone investing more money into GPU mining.
Okay, certain, you can try to get ahead of the next wave, whenever that happens (if
that happens). For those still interested, we’ve considered the options and come with this list of the best mining GPUs for Ethereum right now — things can change rapidly based on pricing and availability, not to mention the valuation of Ethereum and Bitcoin.
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti:
After tuning, this is one of the nigh efficient GPU for Ethereum correct now, using nether 120W while breaking 60MH/s. Make certain you get i of the non-LHR models, though, or mining profitability with Ethereum is a lot lower. The GeForce RTX 3060 is besides worth a wait, provided you lot can find 1 of the before models where the LHR lock was accidentally cleaved (with older drivers) for a skillful price.
Radeon RX 5600 XT:
AMD’s previous generation Navi GPUs are very good at mining, and the 5600 XT can hit about 40MH/s while using almost 115W of power. The RX 5500 XT 8GB might also be worth considering, depending on the price. Mining performance is lower but efficiency and interruption-even time are basically the aforementioned as the 5600 XT.
GeForce RTX 2060 Super:
Ethereum mining needs a lot of memory bandwidth, and all of the RTX 20-serial GPUs with 8GB end upwardly at around 44MH/s and 130W of power, pregnant yous should buy whichever is cheapest. That’s usually the RTX 2060 Super, or maybe the older RTX 2070.
Radeon RX 570 8GB:
All the Polaris GPUs with 8GB of GDDR5 memory (including the RX 590, RX 580 8GB, RX 570 8GB, RX 480 8GB, and RX 470 8GB) terminate up with relatively similar performance, depending on how well your card’due south retention overclocks. The RX 570 is currently the cheapest (theoretically), but it’s non equally readily available as some other GPUs, so look for whatsoever of the other Polaris 10/twenty GPUs. Simply don’t get the 4GB models!
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB:
Mining performance is lower than the RX 570 8GB, merely power is well nether 100W in our testing after tuning. Of course these could exist 5 years quondam cards by this betoken, and buying a used graphics card presents some obvious risks!
Radeon RX Vega 56/64:
Overall functioning is good, and some cards can perform much ameliorate — our reference models used for testing are more of a worst-case choice for most of the GPUs. After tuning, some Vega cards might even hit 45-50MH/s, which would put this higher upwards the chart. Endeavour to find a card for under $500, though.
Radeon RX 6800:
Big Navi is potent when it comes to hashing, and all of the cards we’ve tested hit similar hash rates of around 65MH/southward and 170W power use. The RX 6800 is mostly cheaper than the others and used a bit less power, making information technology the clear winner. Plus, when y’all’re not mining, information technology’due south a very capable gaming GPU.
GeForce RTX 3090:
This is the fastest graphics bill of fare right now, for mining and gaming purposes, and it’s the but Nvidia Ampere GPU that won’t be replaced by an LHR equivalent. The fourth dimension to break even is pretty bad, merely if you practise get into the black it will stop up with the highest profitability from that point frontward. Merely at less than $iv of turn a profit per day information technology’s tough to stomach buying a $2,600 GPU for mining.
What About Ethereum ASICs?
One final topic worth discussing is ASIC mining. Bitcoin (SHA256), Litecoin (Scrypt), and many other pop cryptocurrencies take reached the point where companies accept put in the time and try to create dedicated ASICs — Application Specific Integrated Circuits. Simply like GPUs were originally ASICs designed for graphics workloads, ASICs designed for mining are by and large simply skilful at 1 specific thing. Bitcoin ASICs practice SHA256 hashing really,
actually
fast (some can do around 25TH/s while using 1000W — that’southward trillions of hashes per second), Litecoin ASICs do Scrypt hashing fast, and in that location are X11, Equihash, and fifty-fifty Ethereum ASICs.
Many crypto coins and hashing algorithms take been created over the years, some specifically designed to thwart ASIC mining. Usually, that ways creating an algorithm that requires more than retention, and Ethereum falls into that category. However, it’s possible to optimize hardware to hash faster while using less power than a GPU. Some of the fastest Ethereum ASICs (e.g. Innosilicon A10 Pro) tin can reportedly exercise around 500MH/s while using only 1000W. That’south far faster than a single GPU, but information technology’due south not much more than efficient than the all-time GPUs.
Take the RTX 3060 Ti equally an example. Let’s circular slightly to say that each one does 61MH/s at 125W. That means 1000W of 3060 Ti cards would exercise 488MH/s, which is pretty close to what the top Ethereum ASICs achieve. The toll of such ASICs is prohibitively expensive, and fifty-fifty worse, Ethereum 2.0 volition soon put an terminate to proof of piece of work mining. There are other non-Ethereum coins that use the same hashing algorithm, but none are as pop / profitable every bit ETH. Lesser line: We wouldn’t invest in an Ethereum ASIC these days.
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Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-mining-gpus-benchmarked-and-ranked