If you ever wanted to mine your own Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or any other cryptocurrency you will need a powerful graphics card for that. Today cryptocurrency craze has calmed down but it does not mean that it has died off. Crypto coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and many others are still hanging on to their value and some even are rapidly growing in value. Because of that there still exist people who decide to set up mining rigs and get their crypto coins. If you want to join them, you should probably know about the best options for you to do that.
This list will help you to jump into the process of mining cryptocurrency, so you could avoid spending your own time on research and perhaps even save money in the long term. This list will rank the top GPUs for mining cryptocurrency, keeping in mind power efficiency, cooling, and performance.
The idea behind cryptocurrency is that users are able to generate and transfer cryptocurrency without banks and central authorities intervening. What makes it more appealing is that it is possible to use a standard PC for mining cryptocurrencies. Most of the cryptocurrencies use memory hard-hashing methods, which require a GPU with a lot of accessible memory.
To gain the most you will need the best GPU you can find. The main factor you should care about is the amount of VRAM that the GPU has, as well as its power consumption. Also, an important factor is the cost of the GPU, because you the smaller the initial costs, the faster you will be able to generate profit from your setup.
AMD Radeon VII
7nm technology meets cryptocurrency.
This graphics card boasts core clock speeds of 1,400 MHz, a memory of 16GB HBM, memory clock speeds of 4 Gbps, and a power draw of 300W.
Pros:
Enough VRAM
Runs at low temperatures
Cons:
Uses a lot of power
With the release of AMD Radeon VII, AMD took the world by storm. With tripling the performance and hash rate of its predecessor AMG VEGA 64 which was the crypto mining champion in 2017, making AMD Radeon VII the new king of mining cryptocurrency. And compared to the competition, it only helps that this card is priced at only $700.
Nvidia GTX 1070
Power efficiency and high hash rates
This card boasts base clock speeds of 1,506MHz, a memory of 8GB GDDR5, memory clock speeds of 8 Gbps, and power consumption of 150W.
Pros:
Good balance between hash rate and power consumption
High memory amounts
Cons:
Pricey
The GTX 1070 besides being a good gaming GPU, is also excellent for mining cryptocurrency. This is achieved by providing high hash rates of 30mh/s without drawing huge amounts of power. The less power the GPU requires, the more profit you will make from mining with it. If you are planning to be in the mining community for a long time, the GTX 1070 is the perfect GPU for that and is easily the best GPU available for that.
AMD Radeon RX580
The winner GPU
Base core clock speeds of 1,257MHz, a memory of 8GB GDDR5, memory clock set at 8 Gbps, and power draw of 185W.
Pros:
Amazing price
Very good cooling system
Cons:
Usually sold out because of its popularity
This card is one of the best ones out there for mining it has become so popular that it was sometimes impossible to get your hands on one, but this popularity is well deserved. It provides a good hash rate of 29mh/s whilst drawing small amounts of power. And it is also cheaper than its competitor GTX 1070. By tweaking some of this card’s settings you will be very pleased with the results that it can offer.
Nvidia GTX 1060
A good alternative to the AMD Radeon RX 480
This GPU has base clock speeds of 1,506MHz, a memory of 6GB GDDR5, memory clock speeds of 8 Gbps, and power consumption of 120W
Pros:
Cheap
Good mining capabilities
Cons:
Can be hard to obtain
The GTX 1060 is a good replacer of the AMD Radeon RX 480 which is basically impossible to get your hands on nowadays. The GTX 1060 is not the most powerful card, but it still manages to deliver good mining results without creating a large hole in your bank account. Besides being good for mining it also performs well at gaming.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
Amazing graphics performance
This card has base core clock speeds of 1,156MHz, a memory of 8GB HBM2, a memory clock speed of 1.6 Gbps, and a power draw of 210W.
Pros:
Amazing mining performance
Cons:
Large power consumption
Poor cooling
The RX Vega 56 is a really good card for mining. With benchmarks confirming that it runs faster than the Nvidia GTX 1070 and is cheaper, it is a strong contender in this list. Like other low-price GPUs the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 can be hard to get your hands on and with its poor cooling and large power consumption it can be pricey to run them 24/7, but it is still a good contender to this list.
Nvidia GTX 1080Ti
Pricey, but the brilliant choice for cryptocurrency mining.
This card boasts core clock speeds of 1,582 MHz, a memory of 11 GB GDDR5X, memory clock speeds of 11 GHz, and a power draw of 250W.
Pros:
Really powerful
Amazing hash rates
Cons:
Expensive to maintain and run
Until Volta or Turing replaces it, NVidia GTX 1080Ti will remain one of the most powerful GPUs available. Besides it being an excellent gaming GPU it is also amazing at mining cryptocurrency. But there are some things that restrict this card from reaching the top of the list and it is its price and that it draws more power than the competition. This means that it will take a longer time for it to cover the expenses and start generating profit. If you do not mind spending the extra money, then this card is not a bad choice and with some tweaking, you can reach the hash rate of 32mh/s.
Nvidia GTX 1070Ti
An updated version of the GTX 1070
This GPU has core clock speeds of 1,607 MHZ, a memory of 8GB GDDR5, memory clock speeds of 8GHz, and a power draw of 180W.
Pros:
Powerful
Very good hash rates
Cons:
More pricey than the GTX 1070
Bigger power consumption than the GTX 1070
While the cheaper version of GTX 1070Ti is higher on the list, the Ti version is not that far behind. The 1070Ti does a good job at mining cryptocurrency with its higher clock speeds and power upgrades. The reason why the non-Ti version ranks better is that the Ti version is a newer release and is pricier. That means it will cover the costs lower than the non-Ti version. Also, a major issue has been a bug that significantly reduces the hash rate that the 1070Ti can provide, but fixes should be rolling out. If you are ready to do the tweaks it needs, it will be a good mining GPU.
