Which GPU Is Best for Mining Ethereum? AMD and Nvidia Cards, Tested

Tom's Hardware's Optimized GPU/GDDR5 Settings

In addition to recording the performance of each card at stock clock rates and after memory overclocking, we also tried to optimize the GPU/GDDR5 frequencies and GPU voltage to achieve the highest hash rate possible at the lowest power consumption. In other words, we shot for the best possible efficiency in a search for each board's sweet spot.

The table below includes all of the settings we used. Of course, each card is different, so these parameters are specific to our samples. Still, they roughly illustrate what each architecture is capable of.

It's definitely possible to push efficiency even further. For example, you can fight for lower voltages, reducing power consumption at a given clock rate. But your success rate is going to be situational, and largely dependent on luck.

Optimal Settings For Each Card

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ModelMH/sPower ConsumptionGPUGDDR5
MSI GTX 1050 Ti Gaming X 4GRow 1 - Cell 1 14.653W1366 MHz(1.043V)2125 MHz
Gigabyte GTX 1060 3GRow 2 - Cell 1 23.371W1152 MHz(0.843V)2275 MHz
MSI GTX 1060 6GRow 3 - Cell 1 24.1100W1442 MHz(0.981V)2304 MHz
Asus GTX 1060 Strix OC 6GRow 4 - Cell 1 23.574W1177 MHz(0.762V)2352 MHz
Asus RX 580 OC 4GRow 5 - Cell 1 24.0120W1140 MHz(0.937V)1900 MHz
BIOSmod24.7120W1140 MHz(0.937V)1925 MHz
MSI RX 580 Gaming 4GRow 7 - Cell 1 22.3120W900 MHz(0.943V)2000 MHz
BIOSmod29.1143W1155 MHz(0.943V)2075 MHz
Asus RX 570 Strix Gaming OC 4GRow 9 - Cell 1 23.9109W1040 MHz(0.931V)1925 MHz
BIOSmod27.4112W1020 MHz(0.887V)2000 MHz
MSI RX 560 Aero ITX OC 4GRow 11 - Cell 1 11.238W949 MHz1750 MHz
BIOSmod14.648W1094 MHz2000 MHz
Sapphire RX 560 Pulse OC 4GRow 13 - Cell 1 11.342W949 MHz1750 MHz
BIOSmod12.543W949 MHz1775 MHz
Sapphire RX 550 Pulse 4GRow 15 - Cell 1 9.747W999 MHz1975 MHz
BIOSmod1047W949 MHz1975 MHz
XFX RX 480 8GRow 17 - Cell 1 26.8136W1075 MHz(0.987V)2225 MHz
BIOSmod29.6140W1075 MHz(0.987V)2150 MHz
MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GRow 19 - Cell 1 21.8115W1125 MHz(0.987V)1750 MHz
BIOSmod24.8120W1125 MHz(0.987V)1750 MHz
Sapphire RX 470 Mining 4GRow 21 - Cell 1 22.6117W900 MHz1850 MHz
BIOSmod30.2143W1170 MHz2150 MHz
XFX R9 390 8GRow 23 - Cell 1 22.6182W800 MHz(1.047V)1500 MHz


MORE: The Ethereum Effect: Graphics Card Price Watch


MORE: How To Mine Ethereum Now

MORE: Experiment: Build a (Profitable) Ethereum Mining Rig From Spare Parts


MORE: Top 25 Cryptocurrencies By Market Cap


MORE: Best Graphics Cards

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  • abryant
    Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3520934/ethereum-mining-performance-geforce-radeon.html
    Reply
  • kubex.00714
    Do you know why my gtx970 is stuck at 10 Mh/s?
    Reply
  • Integr8d
    I like hot Toms laments the prices of GPUs, due to the mining craze, and then publishes articles like this...
    Reply
  • derekullo
    20677340 said:
    I like hot Toms laments the prices of GPUs, due to the mining craze, and then publishes articles like this...
    If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
    If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
    If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

    Reply
  • WyomingKnott
    Add some workstation cards to the review. If they turn out to be hashmasters, it would relieve the strain on the graphics card market.

    fat chance.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    20677421 said:
    Add some workstation cards to the review. If they turn out to be hashmasters, it would relieve the strain on the graphics card market.

    fat chance.

    A titan V would have handily crushed any of the cards here with its 70+ MH/s Eth rate.

    https://hothardware.com/reviews/nvidia-titan-v-volta-gv100-gpu-review?page=5

    But when it comes to making your money back you use:
    Cost of graphics card / Megahashes per second (Easy to understand formula, real formula at the bottom)

    For the Geforce 1060 that comes out to roughly

    $400 / 25MH/s or 16 dollars per megahash (I was able to buy 4 1060s for about $300 each a few months ago. Score!!!)

    For the Geforce Titan V that comes out to roughly

    $5000 / 82MH/s or 61 dollars per megahash.

    As you can see it would take at least 3.8 times as long for a Titan V to pay itself off, not including the power cost.

    This isn't the most true comparison due to not taking power into account, but still gives an easily understandable way of seeing why a $5000 GPU isn't worth mining with.

    You could have simply bought 3 Geforce 1060s and had a similar hash rate for cheaper.

    The goal here being to make back the price of the graphics cards, then everything else is gravy.



    Ideally I would have used the formula of

    Cost of graphics card / Spreadsheet calculated monthly income taking power and other fluctuations into account.

    to calculate on average how long a graphics card would take to pay itself off.

    You can also use the calculator on https://whattomine.com/ to quickly calculate the "Spreadsheet calculated monthly income"
    Reply
  • aquielisunari
    Sun Tzu
    If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
    If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
    If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

    Reply
  • aquielisunari
    Bad job Tom's. Just add fuel to the GFX card debacle. Irresponsible and just wrong. First the user must go out and OVERSPEND on a GFX card and then follow this article and start mining and increase the shortages even further. Hm, good job Tom, good job.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    20677582 said:
    Bad job Tom's. Just add fuel to the GFX card debacle. Irresponsible and just wrong. First the user must go out and OVERSPEND on a GFX card and then follow this article and start mining and increase the shortages even further. Hm, good job Tom, good job.

    Tom's gave you all the information needed for you to decide whether to mine or not.

    Let me paint it a bit simpler.

    Lets assume you believe the price of Ethereum is going to stay at what it is today, currently $709, forever.

    Plugging in all that information into whattomine.com gives us:

    https://whattomine.com/coins/151-eth-ethash?utf8=%E2%9C%93&hr=22.5&p=90.0&fee=1.0&cost=0.06&hcost=400&commit=Calculate

    (0.06$/kWh is my power cost in my area)

    Or $38.78 monthly profit or a 309 day repayment.

    If you are confident that Ethereum's price will stay the same or maybe even rise then you could expect to recoup your $400 purchase in at max 309 days.

    If 309 days is too long to wait or you are unsure about cryptocurrencies then stay out of the water.

    Reply
  • WyomingKnott
    @aquielisunari
    I don't think that Tom's is going to advance mining much; our longtime enthusiast members mostly won't get into it and it's widely enough known already. A little extra knowledge for those of us on the sidelines and, who knows, maybe miners will concentrate on the most efficient cards and the price of the rest will go down. Not an issue for me, I'm running a fanless GT430, so what do I care about current prices?
    Reply