What is the best GPU for Mining?
The world of mining is constantly changing. Video cards that were efficient a few years ago are not efficient anymore. When looking for the best GPU for mining, you want to consider the option that’s going to last for years to come.
We are going to be looking at the hash rate for multiple coins, power consumption, and resale value.
Should I buy a NVIDIA or AMD Video Card?
AMDs were typically the most popular video cards up until recently. They were cheap and provided a high hash rate. Depending on your situation though, AMDs could still be the best possible choice.
Recently, NVIDIA cards have been shown to be just as efficient as AMD cards. In fact, they can mine many other coins besides Ethereum at a high rate. Another important factor is their ability to consume less power than AMD cards and their resale value.
Hash Rate
Amd’s have been known to have high hash rates. Their hash rates are even more impressive when you compare them to their relatively low price. Due to the shortage, prices have increased quite a bit. That’s another reason why Nvidia cards have become increasingly popular.
The Nvidia’s have high hash rates as well, even higher in certain circumstances. In fact, the NVIDIA 1080TI has been known to push 35.0 MH/S on the Ethereum network. NVidia’s can also mine many other coins/algorithms at a high hash rate.
This is important because people who use NVIDIA video cards will have the upper hand when mining after Ethereum enables Proof of Stake. Plus the diversity will enable people with Nvidia cards to focus on a variety of coins.
After mining Ethereum is no longer profitable, all of the hash power is going to be distributed to the other profitable coins. When this happens, you want whatever GPU you purchase to have as many different options as possible.
Power Consumption
When considering which card to buy, you have to take into consideration power consumption. Depending on the electricity costs of your area, it might make sense to purchase NVIDIA cards. Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 cards consume a substantially lower amount of watts compared to it’s AMD competitor.
Limited power consumption is important because electricity is charged by tier levels.
Once you use a certain amount of energy, you go into the next tier. Each tier level charges a higher price per kilowatt, and as you continue to use more electricity, you’ll continue to move to higher tiers. This is why limiting the power consumption of your gpus is so important.
If you are fortunate enough to not pay for electricity. Your main goal should be hash power and price.
Operating Systems
Depending on which GPU you choose will determine which operating system you use. EthOS is a linux based operating system that was created for mining an assortment of alt coins.
Currently, EthOS doesn’t support Nvidia. If you are planning on purchasing Nvidia cards, you are better off using either Windows or another distribution of linux.
There has been speculation that using Linux can help you achieve higher hash rates. In my opinion, it’s more important to use the operating system that you are most comfortable with.
I’ve been using Windows on all of my rigs, and so far I’ve been able to achieve the high hash rates that others have reported. Due to Windows being so user friendly, I’ve had relatively low downtime since I was able to configure with ease.
Best GPUs for Mining
This list has a handful of the best GPUs in my opinion based on price, hash power, and power consumption. Due to the mass shortage of cards, I’m also going to consider availability.
In my opinion, Nvidia is your best option. If you are able to purchase some of these AMD cards for a low price (That would be retail at this point) then that might be an option to consider.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
To make matters even better, they can mine a variety of coins. I’ve been running multiple rigs with 1070s and the experience has been painless.
Some 1070 cards are going to require two VGA power cables from your power supply, so make sure that you have an ample amount of cables.
1070s run out of the box at 25 m/hz on Windows, and can be overclocked to 29-32 using MSI Afterburner. Remember, if you overclock, you are going to have a higher power consumption.
It’s best to find a balance between high hash rates and power consumption unless you have cheap electricity costs.
If you can get your hands on some NVIDIA 1070s, I definitely recommend them for mining.
The Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 can be purchased on Amazon.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TI
In fact, I used the Nvidia 1080 TIs in my guide on how to set up your first mining rig.
They can be under clocked so that they only consume 150 watts of power. Plus they have higher hash rates for Ethereum and can mine other algorithms at almost twice the power as other cards.
Another thing to consider is their resale value. Due to their lack of mainstream media coverage, there are more likely to retain their value.
They are also great if you are trying to consolidate the amount of rigs you are running. Since they contain more hash power, you won’t need to buy as many motherboards, cpus, ram cards, hard drives, and open mining cases, to achieve your desired hash power
If you are planning on mining a diverse group of alt coins, these 1080 TI’s are the way to go.
The Nvidia Geforce 1080 Ti can be purchased on Amazon.
AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB
These cards get approximately 25.0 MH/s of hash power on the Ethereum network.
There have been numerous bios tweaks that have been released for these cards that can increase your hash rate to approximately 29.0 MH/s. By undervolting these GPUs, you can effectively drop power consumption while maintaining a high hash rate.
The fact that these cards 8GB of onboard ram makes them even more efficient. As the size of the DAG grows, high ram cards like this one are going to be the only ones to last.
If you are looking to stock your rig with AMDs, this is the card for you.
The AMD RX 580 8GB can be purchased on Amazon.
Beware though of the upcoming decrease in the hash power of AMDs due to the smaller TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer).
AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB
This card has probably been the main go-to GPU for mining Ether. They are offer the high hash rate of 25.0 MH/s, which is definitely ideal for mining Ether.
Just like the RX 580, the bios can be modded to give you a possible increase in hash rate to 29.0 MH/s.
I’d only recommend this card if you plan on mining Ether. Even then, I’d beware of AMD these AMD cards because of the smaller TLB.
At one time the RX 480s and the RX 580s were my goto GPUs, but now I’m a little worried about purchasing cards can only efficiently mine a few algorithms.
The AMD RX 480 8GB can be purchased on Amazon.
What is the best GPU for Mining?
The answer to this question is going to be different for everyone. It depends on what’s available, the price that you can purchase the card for, and power consumption.
If you have high electricity costs, than I’d definitely advise that you purchase the Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070. It possesses quite a bit of hash power while consuming a relatively low amount of electricity.
If your electricity costs or low, or you possibly don’t have to pay for them at all, I’d go with a high hash power card that can be overclocked. In this case, you can choose either a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 Ti or an AMD RX 480/580. Keep in mind that the AMD cards with a polaris infrastructure will be experiencing decreasing hash rates over the next few months.
Thank you for reading guys! I hope that I was able to provide you with enough information so that you can make an informed decision.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, I encourage you to comment below!