Best Ethereum Mining Hardware 2020: Which GPU Is the Most Profitable?
Before you start mining Ethereum, you need to estimate your approximate earnings with different GPUs. It does not matter whether you already have a GPU or are just wondering about which hardware to buy. We shall have a look at 5 best graphic cards for Ethereum mining.
Which GPU is the best for Ethereum mining?
Before selecting a GPU, you have to understand that your expenses will not only consist of buying the graphics card. Mining consumes a lot of electricity, so this will affect your bills too. Therefore, you need to select an efficient GPU that consumes less and gives higher results.
Next, you need to see the hash rate performance. This determines the speed at which the GPU solves math problems. The higher the hash rate, the more you will earn in a period of time.
People who are serious about mining also install mining rigs. These are machines that have several GPUs in them. This significantly increases the hash rate and makes your profits and expenses higher. On one hand, you earn more because the solution speed is higher. On the other hand, you spend more because of increased electricity consumption.
That is why mining in some countries is a waste of time and money, and in other countries it is the perfect solution for passive income. For example, such countries are Iceland, Georgia, Canada, Kuwait, and any others with low electricity prices. You can find many people from wealthy countries like the USA building-up their own mining rigs in one of these countries.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 | One of the best for tight budgets
GTX 1070 is a good choice when it makes sense to pay more than $300 per card. This one is a superb option for gaming and mining. It has a has rate of 30mh/s and consumes up to 150W. Therefore, electricity will not take away a big part of your profits.
Basically, this is the best you can get by having a tight budget. You can find several kinds of the 1070 GPU, but their price range does not vary that much. If you see such a card at a lower price, check its characteristics. If they fit your needs, buy it and add it to your mining rig.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | The electricity saver
GTX 1060 is also the leading choice when comes to selection for both mining and gaming. The main reason is its very low electricity consumption: only 120W! This is a good choice if you live in a country with enormous electricity bills. Also, this graphic card has a significantly lower price than the previous one and costs only around $200.
The GTX 1060 with 6GB hashrate is around 24mh/s. It is a bit lower than with 1070, but it costs less and consumes less. Therefore, it is really worth it. Currently, it is even possible to find such cards for less than $100, so if you see such offers, better use your chance. Several cards like this will help you earn some passive income during a long period of time. The money earned will not be gigantic, but they will still be worth the investment.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | If money is not the limit
1080 Ti is by far among the most powerful GPUs. However, there are not many miners that use it. Of course, one of the reasons is that it’s quite expensive and costs more than $400. In our opinion, this graphic card must only be bought if you live in a country with cheap electricity. Otherwise, the bills will take away all your profits. GTX 1080 Ti consumes 250W and has a hash rate of 32.2hm/s. Basically, if you have to pay $0.10 per KWh, you lose $5 every month.
If you can invest in creating a mining rig in another country, go for it. It would be great to find a country with a cool climate and low electricity costs. An example is Iceland. There, the price for electricity is $0.06 per KWH for businesses and $0.118 for households. You could make $11 per month by using this GPU.
AMD RX 470 | The cheap and efficient option
The RX 470 graphics card can be bought for around $150. It consumes 120W and provides a hash rate of 29mh/s. With this choice, you could earn up to $10 each month. This card is often sold specifically for mining and is very popular because of its efficiency.
Sapphire Radeon RX 580 | Just another option
The Sapphire Radeon RX 580 provides a hash rate of 27.5mh/s while consuming 150W. You could earn up to $10 per month depending on your bills and pool fee. The GPU has different prices starting with $200. It is quite cheap and has a decent hash rate for its price.
How to check the profitability of a GPU?
There are many services that help users calculate their potential profits by using several key factors:
- Hashing Power
- Power consumption in W
- Cost per kWh
- Pool Fee (%)
Among many services, you can use Cryptocompare. The website has a decent calculator that lets you see your profit ratio per day and month, as well as daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly profits. The calculator also shows how much you would spend on electricity, which is a useful factor when developing a mining rig.
Is there any sense in using one GPU?
If you just want to earn several dollars while being idle, you could give it a try. However, your returns will not be very high. In fact, you would not earn more than a few cents per week. The get some decent profits, your GPU must work non-stop for a very long periods of time. It actually takes more than a year to at least cover the expenses of the GPU itself. Therefore, mining on a single GPU is futile. This is only an option if you do not know how to use a spare GPU and want to get some passive income from it.
Some people also think that they can use their CPUs to mine Ethereum. This is definitely not recommended! You will get a 100 times bigger reward by using the cheapest GPU. It is just a bad idea to do so.
Conclusion
Although the GTX 1080 Ti has the highest hash rate, we do not recommend using it for mining. Of course, it might double your profits if you calculate only the income without other expenses. However, if you compare it with other graphic cards, it spends 2 or even 3 times more electricity. Therefore, it is better to buy a weaker GPU with higher efficiency.
