What graphics card to buy for mining purposes?
The price growth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies set off a tsunami of demand for graphics cards—equipment used in the production of cryptocurrencies. Even not so technologically savvy people consider mining to be a way to earn money and they act decisively—take out loans and hoard graphics cards resulting in doubling prices. But mining is no easy business, one should think twice before buying any. In this article, we are going to shed some light on what graphics cards are better for mining.
Mining farm
Success factors
Mining is not easy—success in this area requires a powerful GPU, high-performance but at the same time efficient—a perfect balance must be struck.
Before you make a decision, you should analyze the following set of variables:
Video memory. The more, the better. Mining needs 2 GB or more.
Core speed. The more, the better.
Memory speed. The more, the better.
Memory type. No less than GDDR5.
Memory bus. The more, the better. Don’t buy graphics cards with less than 256-bit on board.
Crypto algorithm. You should base your choice on a specific token.
Overclock potential. It is a chance to boost profits by 20-30%.
Cooling. Cooling allows for GPU overclocking and defines GPU lifespan.
Electricity consumption. The less it is, the less you have to pay.
Cryptocurrency price. The higher, the more profitable it is to mine it. This is why you should keep track of crypto prices.
Mining difficulty. Higher difficulty means less profitability.
Pool policy (if you participate in a mining pool). Pools have different policies which affects profits.
You can use dedicated mining calculators to calculate potential profits:
Mining profitability calculator
Mining profitability calculator for each algorithm
TOP 5 GPUs
The best graphics card for Ethash-based cryptocurrencies (Ethereum) in 2017 was AMD Radeon RX 470, for Equihash (ZCash)—Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060. By the way, in 2017, average mining rig profitability was 6 months.
Since every GPU is good for specific cryptocurrencies, whose numbers go into the thousands, any kind of “best GPUs list” is generalized and should not be considered axiomatic.
The following graphics cards demonstrate great performance with moderate energy consumption, and, on top of that, they pay for themselves in a relatively short time period.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
When computer stores ran out of AMD cards, miners switched over to the GTX 1060 which was pretty good at Ethereum mining despite being not very powerful.
Impressive performance and low energy consumption. The cherry on the top is that it pays for itself in less than 120 days.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
GTX 1070 owners were glad to learn that their cards were good for Ethereum mining. No less enjoyable was the fact that its overclocking potential was a whopping 32 megahash.
To top it off, the card consumes just a little bit more power than the GTX 1060. This is an optimal choice because it is good both for mining as well as top-notch gaming. Pays for itself in 150 days.
AMD Radeon RX580
One of the best GPUs for mining. Shows a great performance with low power consumption. This is why these cards had already been sold out a long time ago and even if you find one, it will cost a lot. Moreover, this model is cheaper than the GTX 1070. If set up properly, this GPU shows phenomenal performance.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
One of the most powerful video processors in existence. Best for 4K gaming as well as cryptocurrency mining. However, the GTX 1080 Ti is expensive and consumes a lot of power which translates into longer ROI time. If it doesn’t concern you, you won’t regret buying it because you’ll get amazing video game performance.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
