Of course, we’re not here to encourage anyone to get into mining, and it’s certainly something we’ve said over and over again that we don’t recommend. What we do next is analyze the raw data based on current market conditions, so that if you are planning to start mining, you can know how much profitability you can expect from your graphics card and how much. time you will need to spend before the investment begins. be profitable (in fact, perhaps seeing these empirical data many hesitant users decide that it’s not worth the shot).
The most cost-effective graphics cards to operate
For the preparation of this article, we are relying on data collected personally by the folks at Tom’s Hardware, who performed empirical testing and actual calculations using a wide range of graphics cards available in the market. To do this, they used the current difficulty and price of Ethereum because it is currently the most profitable cryptocurrency when it comes to mining with GPUs, and the tests were carried out with a team consisting of an Intel Core i9-9900K, an MSI MEG Z390 ACE motherboard, 2 × 16 Go Corsair DDR4 a 3600 MHz, a 2 TB M.2 SSD and an 850 watt SeaSonic power supply.
Of course, graphics cards have been optimized to exploit Ethereum and thus achieve the highest profitability when mining; They made the calculations with a price per kWh of consumption of $ 0.10, which in our case is unrealistic because in Europe electricity costs around 0.14 dollars. On top of that, to calculate the price of the graphics cards, what they did was use the average selling price they are on eBay at in April 2021. Either way, this helps us calculate which graphic is the most profitable for mine and what is the cost, so let’s go.
| GPU | Average price on eBay (April 2021) | Mining performance (MH / s) | Consumption | Daily profitability | Days (24×7) to make it profitable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radeon RX 590 | $ 345 | 29 | 135 | $ 3.93 | 88 |
| GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB | $ 380 | 28.6 | 130 | $ 3.89 | 98 |
| Radeon RX 580 8 GB | $ 344 | 25 | 90 | $ 3.45 | 100 |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT 8 GB | $ 789 | 51.3 | 133 | $ 7.21 | 109 |
| Radeon RX 5600 XT | $ 477 | 30.2 | 75 | $ 4.25 | 112 |
| GeForce GTX 1070 | $ 700 | 43.7 | 129 | $ 6.10 | 115 |
| Radeon RX 5700 | $ 442 | 28.2 | 114 | $ 3.86 | 114 |
| GeForce RTX 2060 Super | $ 648 | 39.6 | 115 | $ 5.54 | 117 |
| GeForce RTX 2070 | $ 623 | 39.2 | 174 | $ 5.34 | 117 |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Super | $ 435 | 26.3 | 81 | $ 3.67 | 119 |
| GeForce GTX 1080 | $ 733 | 43.8 | 130 | $ 6.12 | 120 |
| Radeon RX Vega 56 | $ 427 | 25.3 | 70 | $ 3.54 | 120 |
| GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | $ 726 | 44 | 197 | $ 5.98 | 121 |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | $ 903 | 51.8 | 119 | $ 7.32 | 123 |
| Radeon RX Vega 64 | $ 523 | 29.7 | 73 | $ 4.18 | 125 |
| GeForce GTX 1660 | $ 550 | 32.1 | 138 | $ 4.38 | 126 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | $ 931 | 48.6 | 118 | $ 6.85 | 136 |
| GeForce RTX 2070 Super | $ 518 | 28.2 | 114 | $ 3.86 | 134 |
| Radeon RX 5700 XT | $ 1,586 | 83.6 | 231 | $ 11.71 | 135 |
| GeForce GTX 1070 Ti | $ 745 | 42.5 | 254 | $ 5.63 | 132 |
| Radeon VII | $ 834 | 43.8 | 129 | $ 6.12 | 136 |
| GeForce RTX 2060 | $ 833 | 43.9 | 128 | $ 6.14 | 136 |
| GeForce RTX 2080 | $ 622 | 33 | 125 | $ 4.54 | 137 |
| Radeon RX 6800 | $ 949 | 47.1 | 120 | $ 6.62 | 143 |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT | $ 1,316 | 64.5 | 166 | $ 9.07 | 145 |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | $ 1,279 | 60.6 | 116 | $ 8.61 | 148 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | $ 939 | 43.9 | 124 | $ 6.14 | 153 |
| GeForce RTX 3070 | $ 1,291 | 60.1 | 180 | $ 8.39 | 154 |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Super | $ 1,374 | 61.3 | 123 | $ 8.70 | 158 |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT | $ 2,125 | 94 | 235 | $ 13.23 | 161 |
| GeForce RTX 3080 | $ 1,559 | 64.6 | 186 | $ 9.03 | 173 |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | $ 2,846 | 115 | 300 | $ 16.16 | 176 |
| Radeon RX 6900 XT | $ 1,849 | 64.6 | 183 | $ 9.04 | 205 |
It is clear that the most powerful graphics cards are not exactly the most profitable; for example, the RTX 3090 These are the most powerful graphics for cryptocurrency mining (and gaming), but the high price tag and high consumption means we have to mine the GPU for 176 days without stopping until we recover. the investment. However, a Radeon RX 590 which barely has 29 MH / s of return when mining, is the graph that we are going to make profitable before because “only” it will have to run 24 × 7 until the investment pays off.
It is in any case quite surprising to see that the old GPUs are placed at the top of the profitability chart, although it is true that this is so because the calculation was made using the average selling price on eBay today. ‘hui. The RX 590, RX 580 8GB, and GTX 1060 6GB can all achieve modest hash rates, but these are the cheapest GPUs on the list and therefore take less time to pay off. Their power consumption isn’t bad either, which means it’s possible to run six GPUs on a single PC, although it’s true that for that you would need adapters that would increase the power. investment price, of course.
Now here’s the real problem: The chart we put above has no way of predicting Ethereum price fluctuations or mining difficulty. The price tends to go up and down quickly and in large quantities, so that profitability in mining can be ruined in no time; keep this in mind if you finally decide to undertake this project.
