The number of cryptocurrencies in the market is booming, and there are many in line for the gold rush. Whether you’re a seasoned crypto veteran, a newbie looking to learn the trade, or just a gamer wanting to make a quick buck in your rig’s downtime, graphics cards can be a good mining option. As the PC industry is evolving, we are seeing some massive performance improvements. Not to mention the price drops in earlier, still competitive cards.
Mining is not quite where it used to be in the early days of bitcoin, though. Now, space is a lot more challenging. With dedicated FPGA and ASIC hardware for mining, the explosion of miner population, and overall decreasing rates of return for established coins, you can no longer set up any old rig and still expect to be profitable. This is why it has become so important now to do thorough research. If you can find niches and sweet spots for your own situation, mining is still a lucrative occupation. You just have to be a lot smarter about it.
In this article, we’ll be focused more on the entry-level market for miner GPUs. That is, we’ll give recommendations for the layman looking to get into cryptocurrency mining. Most of these are tried-and-tested cards that should serve the purpose well. Keep in mind, though, that the scene is very volatile, like crypto stock. You should always be on the lookout for better opportunities – newer coins, better mining pools, and so on.
And since factors like electricity cost and cooling are such vital parameters, you absolutely need to do your own calculations. Still, before diving into the meat of the article, the recommendations, we’ll quickly skim through a buyer’s guide regarding GPUs for mining. We’ll try to include a few tips to remember before assembling your build.
In this guide, we are being coined/mining pool-agnostic. What does that mean? Well, we assume you either have already selected a group of possible currencies to mine and pools to join. Or, you may not really care either way as long as you make a profit. We hope you are crypto-literate in a simple sense. If not, there are plenty of guides on the internet about the elementary stuff.
One way of doing things is by performing market research on individual currencies first. Then, you can optimize which GPU that particular coin favors the most and buy those cards. This can be a decent option if you can quickly purchase and flip (i.e., resell) GPUs for a fair price. But it is also a lot of hassle and is not guaranteed to be the better route. Here, we’re doing the opposite. First, you can figure out which GPU(s) you will be able to purchase at reasonable prices. Then, you can assemble a rig and later figure out which coin is best to mine at the moment. This is a friendlier route since you are not hinging upon buy and resale prices.
Simple Specs
When buying GPUs for mining, you care about specifications and benchmarks different from what gamers or content creators are concerned with. Let’s go over these below.
Hash rate: A hash is a string of characters that a mining computer guesses in order to provide ‘proof-of-work’ for transactions in a cryptocurrency network. So mining is essentially just guessing random numbers, and GPUs are much faster at this than CPUs. Hash rate is the number of hashes that a machine can guess per second. Note that different coins have different algorithms, so for instance, the hash rate of ETH and XMR will be different. Also, some algorithms perform much better on AMD’s architecture over NVIDIA’s, or the opposite. So while the hash rate is a useful metric, don’t solely depend upon it.
Power draw: Power draw is crucial because it affects two things: cooling and, more importantly, your running costs. After buying a GPU, your only other expense should be the electricity bill, in general. TDP is the total rated power of a card. Theoretically, most performance would draw the most power. In real life, though, most miners undervolt their GPUs to try and find a nice balance between wattage and performance. This is because electricity is rarely free, and thermal throttling kicks in if you draw too much power. Also reduces the lifespan of the card. While buying a power supply, unlike most generic PC builders are advised, you may not need the total TDP of your hardware when mining.
Memory size and speed: Your GPUs need access to memory when mining. Having a faster memory and more of the memory is, as expected, better. There is an interesting limitation when mining ETH and ETC, though. You see, Ethereum has something called a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), which is basically a large file that needs to be loaded into VRAM. And this DAG file grows over time. Right now, it is nearing 4 GB – meaning GPUs with only 3 GB VRAM cannot run these algorithms at all. This is not a big deal breaker since there are other coins to mine, but still something you need to keep in mind because of the popularity of Ethereum in GPU mining.
Efficiency and Price: This is a significant tradeoff you absolutely need to understand. GPU prices can fall drastically when new hardware arrives. For instance, the RTX 2080 Ti prices plummeted after Nvidia unleashed the Ampere cards. So your first instinct as a miner might be to buy older cards for cheap. But with newer generations, GPUs get a lot more efficient at getting more performance for the same power draw. You can divide the hash rate with the power draw to find out how much performance you are getting per watt, higher the better. In particular, Nvidia’s cards have seen a massive efficiency increase from the 800 series to the 2000s.
AMD or Nvidia
Similar to buying a CPU, there are two major camps to get your GPUs from. While for gaming, Nvidia generally wins at the high-end market, things are not clear-cut for mining.
If you are a newbie, consider Nvidia. Especially if it’s also going to be a gaming rig, most Geforce cards are reliable purchases even if you later decide to sell them. Nvidia’s GPUs are easier on the software side and more efficient in general. They can be forgiving even if you don’t optimize cooling and power supply. Flexibility is another bonus; many altcoin mining algorithms work well with Nvidia’s cards.
AMD is more situational but can be much more profitable. Most AMD GPUs are power-hungry and heat up a lot. If you can tweak settings and configure your cooling set up well, they can provide outstanding performance for the price of hardware. They also seem to have an advantage when mining Ethereum coins.
Buying Used Hardware
Another question that frequently pops up, even for miners who have a lot of cash, is whether to buy used. After all, you could get more GPUs and thus more total hash rate for the same price.
The answer is yes, used GPUs are, in general, more profitable than buying new. Do buy from a reputed seller, though. Marketplaces can be great sites to find sweet deals, but some sort of buyer protection is advisable. If you can physically inspect the card, then make sure to inquire about its history and take it apart once.
Some miners and gamers buying used cards have another question – should you buy GPUs used for mining? This stems from a fear that the hardware is running nonstop compared to gaming usage, which might affect the life of the product.
Watch the following video for more on this. But basically, unless the seller is an idiot who has endangered their GPUs by overheating or the like, used mining GPUs are perfectly fine. You may need to change the fans sometimes, but hopefully, you aren’t afraid of a little DIY.
Other Tips
There’s a lot to learn from the mining community, and what is important information changes month by month. Like the price of crypto. Still, here are a few tips focused mostly on the hardware side of things.
The PSU you’re going for is very crucial. For budget PC builds, you can get by with cheaper PSUs sometimes. But here, try to get at least 80+ gold or better for efficiency. Also, try for modular PSUs. You could get server PSUs as well if you’re putting together multiple GPUs.
When going for multiple GPUs, consider specialized crypto-mining motherboards. These have a lot of PCIe slots, sometimes more than a dozen, and can be necessary for joining up many cards in a single system.
Avoid general PC cases unless it is also your gaming machine. Go for either rackmount/server or open-air cases that support more expansion and/or provide better airflow. Your mining rig doesn’t need to focus on aesthetics.
You might need riser cables for spacing and airflow.
The same GPU from different manufacturers may have a slight variance. Some cards might perform a bit better, so do your research on which exact version of the GPU you chose is available and profitable.
Use online mining calculators; they are very easy! Try nicehash or minerstat.
Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) are the most popular altcoins on the market. They also play well with IoT devices and can be expected to have a promising future (don’t quote us on that, though – crypto is very volatile). The RX 570 is an excellent budget card to mine Ether on.
The RX 570 is a few years old by now, which means it can be got for cheap – especially when buying used. But unlike most older cards, it is not a power hog and has actually decent efficiency. Combine the Ethereum synergy of AMD cards with great power usage, and you’ve got a winner. Now, there’s a caveat – the Ethereum DAG file is going to exceed 4 GB in late 2020. So, you’d better go for the 8 GB variant, which also performs much better. With some tweaking, even rigs with a steady 30 MH/s have been reported.
One downside is don’t expect future resale values to be very respectable for an older product like this. Also, for best results, you need to combine multiple 570s in order to actually make a decent profit. Some aftermarket cards do run a bit hotter than others, so pick a variant with good reviews. Due to the low price, payback should be pretty quick as well.
Let’s say you don’t want a multi-GPU rig but still want a bit of income every month. The RX 5700 XT occupies a sweet spot with the newest features, a high hash rate, and a doable price.
Like other AMD offerings, this one is best suited where electricity is cheap. The inclusion of PCIe Gen 4 means if you have a supporting platform, you could get a high memory bandwidth. Although it is up to the specific algorithms to make use of it. The hash rate is quite decent for the power draw, not quite the level of RX 570. But factoring in the price and the fact that multiple GPUs need more space and cooling, you can begin seeing this card’s advantages. The 7nm process and Navi architecture help to churn out decent gaming performance, so the resale value should be high as well.
But if you are serious about making bank with crypto mining, this GPU may not take you far. It has a 6 pin + 8 pin power connector, and joining multiples of them is not ideal. Using Vega cards would be much better in that regard, or even cheaper Nvidia ones. Still, for a small, steady income for not that much upfront investment, the Radeon RX 5700 XT is a safe choice.
The GTX 1660 Super from Nvidia is an excellent entry-level gaming card, and for many of the same reasons, it is a great GPU for mining as well.
At release, it was priced only a few bucks higher than the previous 1660 but added a much faster GDDR6 memory. There is a distinct lack of tensor cores compared to the RTX 2000 series, but for mining, those don’t really matter. These cards are found around $250, which is excellent for the performance you are getting. They are quite power-efficient as well, and since they’re relatively recent, you can expect good resale value.
Complaints about this GPU regarding mining would be that budget AMD ones can outperform it for Ethereum coins. The 1660 Super is considered good with coins such as BEAM and GRIN, but you’ll have to figure out how the market shifts and which algorithms fare better. Overall, another excellent option if you’re short on cash or don’t want to take too many risks. Something to keep in mind when buying from the used market – the warranties might still exist, so ask for it!
So technically, there is also an 8 GB variant, but Nvidia never released that one, so we’re stuck with the 6 GB one. But that’s for the better because the GTX 1060 is one of the cards that pays for itself the fastest.
There are two refreshes of the 6 GB, one released in 2016 and one in 2017. Just go for the one you can find cheapest. Buying these used is a good bet since Nvidia’s cards are easier to set up, and it’s unlikely they would be run down to the ground. You should be able to get these for $200 refurbished or even less. While most Nvidia cards have excellent efficiency, this one does not quite manage to squeeze out the hashes with the same wattage. And there’s a double side to requiring little investment – the potential payback is also mediocre.
Still, you can easily get half a dozen of these running for the price of a high-end PC, and they don’t run that hot. Don’t expect great resale value, though, unlike the 1660 Super. Overall, the best budget Nvidia GPU for mining.
The Radeon VII from AMD is a special one for mining. At release, AMD challenged Nvidia’s reign not with improved algorithms but with sheer power and video memory. While it did not quite dethrone RTX in gaming, it is quite suited to churning out hashes.
Although the Radeon VII misses out on Navi architecture, it makes up for it with that staggering amount of VRAM and 7 nm goodness. The Radeon VII is one of the highest daily earning cards, but that is offset by the sheer amount of power it draws. So those electricity units will start climbing up rapidly, and the card runs very hotly too. The best-case scenario for this card would be running a farm somewhere very cold, such as Russia or Finland, with free power. If you can get these two variables right, then this GPU is one to seriously consider for actually turning a sizeable profit.
Now, this was released as a high-end card, but nowadays, it is very underwhelming compared to the Ampere and Big Navi series of GPUs. So, probably one of the worst deprecating cards if you consider the gaming market. If electricity is cheap, or in some circumstances, even free, keep the Radeon VII on your mining radar.
The GTX 1070 has an excellent hash rate for many algorithms, survives at a low power draw compared to beefier cards, and has decent VRAM to boot. And it can handle most games on 1080p high settings, so it is a jack of all trades.
Nvidia’s own 2000 and 3000 series have lifted the bar quite high in terms of graphical performance, but most games run fine on the 1000 series as well. For mining altcoins except for Ethereum, the 1070 is an excellent card. Its successor, 2070, can reach up to 40 MHash/s, but with a much larger power draw. The one weakness of this card is the high retail price, but here, buying a cheap used one will really seal the deal. It is similar to the 1660 Super in terms of performance but older. Age has both downsides and upsides for a GPU for mining, as we’ve talked about. Being among the most popular cards has its advantages.
In sum, a GTX 1070 can be put inside a rig flexible enough for content creation and decent gaming. Or, you could combine multiple ones, and they’ll still run quite efficiently. Buying it brand new might not be the best move, though.
It games. It mines. That’s the 1080 Ti. This is the high-end Nvidia option in our list, which might be a bit surprising. Why not 2000 series or 3000, even?
Firstly, Ampere cards are way too new to be reliable enough for mining. They’re even seeing some driver issues related to power, and you absolutely do not want that for a mining rig. The 2080 Ti would be a good replacement for gaming. But, there is a price difference that’ll affect your profitability. Ray tracing, DLSS, and other new features are great for gaming, not for mining. If you want a high-end dual-purpose rig, then we’d highly recommend sticking with the 1080 Ti. Can a 2080 system mine? Absolutely. Will it make much sense? No. Perhaps after some time, there’ll be algorithms that use RT and tensor cores, making the 2000 series a must-have, but not right now.
So if gaming is a priority, go for the 1080 Ti. Don’t buy into the excitement of new releases or separate your gaming and mining rigs.
AMD’s Vega lineup GPUs are rarely talked about nowadays. But they still hold up for mining. A few years ago, they were even going extinct in the wild. You should be able to spot a few in marketplaces. If you get a few cheap and don’t have to spend a dime on cooling, these may be very profitable indeed. The Vega 64 is practically similar to the 56, only slightly higher hash rates and power consumption, as well as price.
Don’t mine with stock settings, though. You need to install custom drivers, tweak a few things around. The big downside to these cards, compared to the Radeon VII, is the generated heat that quickly multiplies with multiple cards. Not to mention the power draw. To avoid thermal throttling, you either need extra-powerful cooling, or you should live in Siberia. If you’re actually somewhere that cold, these might be right up your alley. Some miners have even used their rigs as heaters, so get creative!
Modern ASICs are etching out the market, and only a handful of coins really prioritize GPUs over ASICs. Though, with the right environment for mining and a low electricity bill, Vega 56 can give you a glimpse of the glory days of rampant GPU mining.
