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Which GPU Is Better?
Miners don’t have a lot of choices. If it’s not ASIC, then it’s GPU. And if you choose GPU, you have two options: AMD and Nvidia, aka red and green cards respectively. Both have their pros and cons, and depending on the coin one works better than the other.
Today is June, 10. All further calculations are valid for the following rates: Ethereum – $245, Monero – $86, ETC – $8.39, Beam – $0.55, Zcoin – $9.63. Feel free to use 2CryptoCalc whenever you need to calculate up-to-date mining profitability.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Let’s start with the leading model – RTX 2080 Ti. Nvidia released the updated line at the end of August last year. Its main advantages are Turing architecture, as well as the combination of real-time adaptive shading, ray tracing, and AI.
AVG. PRICE – $1,347 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 52.5 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 96 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1545 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 11 GB GDDR6 CONSUMPTION – 260 W WHAT TO MINE – Zcoin, Beam, Grin, Ethereum, Ravencoin, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $1.65 on Zcoin
Wanna mine Ravencoin? This will help.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Mining profitability:
Here’s short Zcoin XZC mining video guide.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060
This model is second in the line. It supports Turing architecture, but its features are much more modest in comparison to 2080 Ti. Gamers will definitely appreciate this one.
AVG. PRICE – $419 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 27.6 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 54 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1680 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 6 GB GDDR6 CONSUMPTION – 160 W WHAT TO MINE – Zcoin, Beam, Grin, Ravencoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.79 on Zcoin
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Mining profitability:
Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
GTX 1080 Ti is by far one of the most powerful GPUs on the market. It is perfect for mining and gaming, but it is quite expensive. Moreover, it consumes too much power in comparison to other GPUs, which has a negative impact on ROI.
If money is not a problem, then GTX 1080 Ti is a great option.
AVG. PRICE – $1,152 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 49.5 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 86 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1582 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 11 GB GDDR5X CONSUMPTION – 250 W WHAT TO MINE – Zcoin, Beam, ZelCash, Ethereum, GRIN, Ravencoin, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.98 on Beam
Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Mining profitability:
Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti
It is 2.5 times cheaper than 1080 Ti. This GPU is an upgrade of the popular GTX 1070, thus the higher price. Also, at the beginning users complained about software problems which caused the decrease in hash rate.
However, such problems can be fixed, so don’t rush to write 1070 Ti off.
AVG. PRICE – $550 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 30.5 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 59 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1607 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 180 W WHAT TO MINE – Zcoin, Beam, ZelCash, Ethereum, GRIN, Ravencoin, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.77 on Zcoin XZC
Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti Mining profitability:
Nvidia GTX 1070
It’s pretty much the most popular choice among miners. The graphics card gives out 30 Mh/s and has low power consumption. Many miners consider GTX 1070 to be the best option for mining in the long run.
AVG. PRICE – $451 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 30 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 56 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1506 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 150 W WHAT TO MINE – Zcoin, Beam, ZelCash, Ethereum, GRIN, Ravencoin, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.65 on Zcoin
Nvidia GTX 1070 Mining profitability:
Nvidia GTX 1060
The main advantage of GTX 1060 is its affordability. It’s the cheapest of all Nvidia graphics cards: it costs five times less than the top-notch GTX 1080 Ti. Mining results are pretty decent, and even gaming is not a problem.
Important note: Among others, there is a 3GB version of GTX 1060 on the market. Think twice before buying it, because it doesn’t work with Ethereum anymore.
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Nvidia GTX 1060 Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon VII
“Red” graphics cards are also quite popular. The first one worth mentioning is VII – it gives out 90 Mh/s straight from the box. It’s even more than the hash rate of Nvidia Titan V, but it also results in higher power consumption. This GPU is a serious candidate for the title of the mining king.
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AMD Radeon VII Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
RX Vega 56 proves to be more efficient than Nvidia GTX 1070 and it’s also cheaper. The main disadvantage is high power consumption. Occasionally miners also complain about overheating of the case.
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RX Vega 56 Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon RX580
RX580 is a particular favourite with miners. It gives out 30 Mh/s and boasts relatively low power consumption. Ironically, this is also the reason why 580 is hard to find in stock.
AVG. PRICE – $244 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 30.2 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 21 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1257 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 4/8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 185 W WHAT TO MINE – Metaverse, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.49 on Metaverse
Radeon RX580 Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon RX570
RX570 was intended as a transition model in the line due to the shortage of graphics cards. Users liked the device so much that it even managed to take hold of a decent market share.
AVG. PRICE – $202 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 27.9 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 19 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1255 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 4/8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 120 W WHAT TO MINE – Metaverse, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.46 on Metaverse
Radeon RX570 Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon RX480
The device came out in the second quarter of 2016, so you’d better look for something newer. Moreover, users complain about weak overclocking potential.
AVG. PRICE – $155 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 29.5 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 21 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1266 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 4/8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 150 W WHAT TO MINE – Metaverse, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.47 on Metaverse
Radeon RX480 Mining profitability:
AMD Radeon RX470
According to RX470 specs, it is 10% less powerful than RX480, while benchmarks point at a more narrow gap between the two. One of the main advantages is stable operation at different workload levels.
AVG. PRICE – $190 HASH RATE ON ETHASH – 26 Mh/s HASH RATE ON ZHASH – 18 h/s CORE CLOCK – 1254 MHz VIDEO MEMORY – 4/8 GB GDDR5 CONSUMPTION – 120 W WHAT TO MINE – Metaverse, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Expanse MAX. PROFIT IN 24 HOURS – $0.42 on Metaverse
Radeon RX470 Mining profitability:
The World’s Most Popular GPUs for Mining
To find out which GPUs are the most popular among miners worldwide, there is no need to take a census. We are going to use Hive OS mining platform. If you haven’t heard of it yet, read our review here.
On the statistics page we can clearly see which GPU manufacturer dominates the market. AMD fans will surely be pleased with the result.
Even though the advantage is tiny, it’s still a win. Now let’s dig deeper and take a look at different GPU models.
Radeon RX 580 with 8 GB and RX 570 with 4 GB account for almost 50% of all AMD graphics cards. RX580 is on the third place, followed by RX 470 (4th place) and RX 570 8 GB (5th place).
Nvidia shows different results – the most popular models are the cheapest ones. There are both versions of GTX 1060 and 1070. The last model to surpass a 10% mark is GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB.
By the way, if you are interested, in the right column you can also find ASIC models ranking.
Which GPUs Are Popular?
2Miners readers prefer Nvidia. Interestingly, a third of the surveyed users have graphics cards of both manufacturers.
How to Choose the Right GPU for Mining: Expert Tips
John Smith, the founder of 2miners.com, shares his opinion on the matter.
There is one simple rule that will help you choose a graphics card. Divide its price by hash rate and you will get the cost of a hashrate unit. The lower this number, the better.
Of course, you shouldn’t forget about the rig itself. For example a motherboard usually supports 8 GPUs, but the final cost of a hashrate unit will also depend on the price of motherboard, processor, power supply, memory and hard drive. All this must be taken into consideration.
Buying a GPU is like buying a car.
Buying a GPU is like buying a car. When you buy a new one at the dealership, it is guaranteed that it will work flawlessly for at least a couple of years. But once a car leaves the dealership, the price falls by 30-50%.
If considering your electricity cost and other expenses you can buy new graphics cards and quickly recoup your investment, then do it – you would have less problems in future. But if you are not sure, then used cards is a good option as well. The failure of one GPU out of ten is surely less expensive than buying new pieces. Even after two years of mining, graphics cards operate smoothly. In case of problems with fans, you can change them, as well as thermal paste.
So which manufacturer is better?
AMD or Nvidia? I prefer Nvidia because it’s easy to setup and consumes less power, and it also supports more algorithms. On the other hand, AMD cards are usually more cost-effective considering the cost of a hashrate unit. At the same time they have more difficult settings, though it’s not critical.
Another thing: AMD cards generate more heat and consume more power. It’s important to remember this in the context of indoor ventilation and electricity cost.
We spoke to Darek Piotrowski, COO at 2Miners.com. He told us about dedicated equipment and its advantages.
In my experience you can spend less on building a rig if you use server power supplies. With server PSUs the price of hardware for a rig of eight GTX 1050ti and eight 1080ti becomes comparable. The prices of motherboard, memory, processor are always at the same level.
If you use PC power supplies, then 1080ti rig will definitely cost you more. One standard PSU with 700-800 W can power only two graphics cards, so for a rig of eight cards you would need as many as four units and they are quite expensive. On the other hand, you only need one server PSU to power any rig and it proved to be highly effective. However, you can use server power supplies only if your rigs are located in a separate facility, not at home or in the office, because they make a lot of noise.
There are graphics cards designed exclusively for mining that don’t have a port for monitor connection. Don’t be afraid to try them out, but keep in mind that they are just like ASIC miners. They are good for mining, but you can’t use them for gaming or anything else. They are much less popular and they are also less expensive. So if you believe in mining and its future, you can buy them at an extremely low price.
And finally, Darek reminds us about the importance of warranty.
Apart from the price, pay attention to the warranty. When a manufacturer gives a two-year warranty, it’s a huge advantage. For mining GPUs must operate 24/7, so sometimes it happens that some pieces of a low-quality GPU like a cooler or something else stop working. In this case if you have a warranty, your GPU will be replaced or repaired for free.
Conclusion
The choice of a graphics card for mining is personal. You must consider a number of factors, like electricity cost, indoor ventilation, and budget. Then find out up-to-date mining profitability and don’t forget to calculate the cost of one megahash. Make sure to estimate your return on investment and expect the payback period to be longer than you thought.
So make your decision now and start mining – while you are thinking, others are mining your coins. Feel free to ask any questions in the miners’ Telegram group. If you are ready to earn money with GPUs, we highly recommend 2Miners pool.
