[UPDATED] Choosing a graphics card for mining cryptocurrency in 2019

Choosing a graphics card for mining cryptocurrency in 2019We continue our annual analysis on the market of video cards and their use in mining cryptocurrency for 2019. Compared with the previous analysis at the beginning of 2018, the cryptocurrency market has undergone strong changes associated primarily with a decline in cryptocurrency prices to 90% from last year’s values. Against this negative background, specialized ASIC and FPGA devices form an increasing competition in the mining of cryptocurrency to video cards, which further worsens the situation for the owners of mining farms on video cards. The release of a new generation of Nvidia video cards at the end of 2018 had virtually no effect on the alignment in choosing the best video card for mining. we did not see a sharp decline in prices for video cards of the last generation of the GTX10xx series, moreover prices for video cards continue to remain higher than they were before the mining boom in 2017-2018. Despite this, the mining on video cards in 2019 continues to be relevant, but already at the expense of the used video cards market and new asicresistant mining algorithms. These arguments were in February, when the cost of cryptocurrency was at the bottom. Now in June 2019, the year when the cryptocurrency went up by 2-3 times and new video cards came out, we completely recalculated the payback of the GPU in the mining at the moment.

The main trend of 2018 - 2019 is the loss of popularity for mining AMD video cards, because in mining using Dagger-Hashimoto (Ethash), Equihash and Cryptonight algorithms, which traditionally the “red” shown themselves to be much stronger than the Nvidia video cards. Now Asic and FPGA devices have come to these algorithms. For the same GPU-oriented mining algorithms, the superiority of Nvidia video cards over AMD can be seen with an unarmed look. It’s hard to predict how long this situation will last; it’s possible that Nvidia will completely force AMD out of this market. In the history of mining on video cards, there was already a period when the Nvidia video cards were almost completely ignored by the miners because of their low efficiency on the then popular algorithms SHA-256, Scrypt, ScryptN, Keccak. Nvidia was helped to tackle this situation with their new GTX10X0 video card series and the arrival to the mining of programmers who know the CUDA Toolkit. Now AMD has found itself in a similar situation, when their video cards noticeably lose in terms of efficiency on actual algorithms, and the number of software that supports mining of these same algorithms often boils down to only one possible variant.

UPD: With the release of the Nvidia GTX16XX line of video cards and the new generation of AMD RX5X00 video cards, as well as the increase in the cost of all cryptocurrencies, our calculation of the return on video cards for February 2019 requires a complete rethinking.  

Technical characteristics of AMD video cards:

GPU: Memory: Type:

ALU:

Freg GPU: Freg memeory: TP: TDP: Supply:
Radeon RX 560 2-4 Gb (128 bit) GDDR5 1024 1275 Mhz 1750 Mhz 14 нм 80W 1x6Pin
Radeon RX 570 (470) 4-8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5 2048 1168 Mhz 1650 Mhz 14 нм. 150W 1x6Pin
Radeon RX 580 (480)  4-8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5 2304 1257 Mhz 2000 Mhz 14 нм. 185W 1x6Pin
Radeon RX 590  8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5 2304 1469 Mhz 2000 Mhz 12 нм. 225W 1x8Pin
Radeon RX Vega 56 8 Gb (2048 bit) HBM2 3584 1471 Mhz 1600 Mhz 14 нм. 210W 2x8Pin
Radeon RX Vega 64  8 Gb (2048 bit) HBM2 4096 1546 Mhz 1890 Mhz 14 нм. 295W 2x8Pin
Radeon RX5700 8 GB (256 bit) GDDR6 2304 1725 Mhz 1750Mhz 7нм 180W  1x6Pin, 1x8Pin
Radeon RX5700XT 8 Gb (256 bit)  GDDR6  2560  1905 Mhz  1750Mhz  7нм  225W   1x6Pin, 1x8Pin
Radeon RX Vega 7  16 Gb (4096 bit) HBM2 3840 1700 Mhz 2000MHz 7нм 300W  2x8Pin

* The technical specifications presented are relevant for reference video card samples.

 

Technical characteristics of Nvidia video cards:

 

GPU: Memory: Type:

ALU:

Freg GPU: Freg. Memory: TP: TDP: Supply:
GeForce GTX1050ti 4 Gb (128 bit) GDDR5 768 1392 Mhz 1750 Mhz 14 нм 75W 1x6Pin
GeForce GTX1060 3-6 Gb (192 bit) GDDR5 1280 1708 Mhz 2000 Mhz 16 нм. 120W 1x6Pin
GeForce GTX1070 8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5 1920 1683 Mhz 2000 Mhz 16 нм. 150W 1x8Pin
GeForce GTX1070ti 8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5 2432 1683 Mhz 2000 Mhz 16 нм. 180W 1x8Pin
GeForce GTX1080 8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5x 2560 1733 Mhz 1375 Mhz 16 нм. 180W 2x8Pin
GeForce GTX1080ti   11 Gb (352 bit) GDDR5x 3584 1582 Mhz 1375 Mhz 16 нм 250W 2x8Pin
 P106 (GTX1060) 3-6 Gb (192 bit) GDDR5 1280 1708 Mhz 2000 Mhz 16 нм 120W 1x6Pin
 P104 (GTX1070) 4 Gb (256 bit) GDDR5x 1920 1733 Mhz 1250 Mhz 16 нм 180W 1x8Pin
 P102 (GTX1080ti) 5 Gb (352 bit) GDDR5x 3200 1582 Mhz 1375 Mhz 16 нм 250W 2x8Pin
Geforce GTX1650 6 GB (128 bit) GDDR5 896 1665MHz 2000Mhz 12нм 75W 1x6Pin
Geforce GTX1660 6 GB (192bit)  GDDR5  1408  1785MHz  2000MHz  12нм  120W  1x6Pin
Geforce GTX1660ti 6 GB (192bit)  GDDR6  1536 1700MHz  1750MHz  12нм  120W  1x6Pin
Geforce RTX2060 6 Gb (192 bit) GDDR6 1920 1680Mhz 2000Mhz 12 нм   160W 1x8Pin
Geforce RTX2070 8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR6 2304 1620Mhz 2000Mhz 12 нм   175W 1x8Pin
Geforce RTX2080 8 Gb (256 bit) GDDR6 2944 1734Mhz 2000Mhz 12 нм   215W 1x6Pin, 1x8Pin
Geforce RTX2080ti 11 Gb (352 bit) GDDR6 4352 1545Mhz 2000Mhz 12 нм   250W 2x8Pin


Video cards P102, P104, P106 are specialized mining cards with less memory, no video connectors, a simplified cooling system, a reduced warranty (usually 3 months) and therefore a lower price than full-featured video cards with the same chip. These cards can use the settings optimized for mining Ethereum (but not necessarily), because of which, when mining Ethereum, these cards show a higher hashrate.

AMD also has the Mining Edition RX470 / 570 and RX480 / RX580 video cards with less warranty, no video connectors and a simplified cooling system. In the BIOS of such cards, reduced memory timings are usually stitched, which is why such cards have a higher hashrate when mining Ethereum. Unlike Nvidia, for AMD cards, you can change the memory timings yourself getting the same or a higher result on regular gaming graphics cards.

In each table, you can familiarize yourself with the tests in the mining of a specific video card at the time of its launch, since For some models, the time from their announcement has been two years or more, so for more accurate information on the hashrate of video cards you can find here:

Actual hashrate for video cards in 2019

UPD: First you need to decide on the manufacturer of the video card for mining AMD or Nvidia, your choice in the mining of one or another cryptocurrency will depend on this choice, since on different mining algorithms, video cards from different manufacturers may show incomparable performance. For AMD video cards, the preferred algorithm is CryptonightR (Monero cryptocurrency), and for Nvidia video cards, the X16r algorithm (Ravencoin cryptocurrency).

Performance and price of cryptocurrency mining cards on 06/14/2019

GPU:

Price

anounce

*

Price **

 

Price

used***

 

TDP****

 

Hashrate

Ethash

norm- max

 

Eff.

Mh/W

Hashrate

 RVN

norm-max

 

 

Eff.

MH/W 

Radeon RX 560 99USD  от 120USD 84USD  65W 11-15 Mh/s  0,23 3,5MH/s  0,053
Radeon RX 570 169USD  от 139USD 97USD  95W 24-30 Mh/s  0,31 9Mh/s   0,094
Radeon RX 580 199USD  от 166USD 116USD  120W 25-31 Mh/s  0,26 11Mh/s   0,092
Radeon RX 590 279USD  от 227USD  -  180W 25-33 Mh/s  0,18 12MH/s   0,066
Radeon RX Vega 56 399USD  от 323USD 264USD  170W 34-45 Mh/s  0,26 19Mh/s   0,111
Radeon RX Vega 64 500USD  от 400USD 385USD  240W 37-46 Mh/s  0,19 21Mh/s   0,088
Radeon RX 5700 380USD - - - -      
Radeon RX5700XT 450USD - - - -      
Radeon RX Vega 7 699USD  от 785USD  -  240W 90Mh/s  0,375 25Mh/s   0,104
                 
Geforce GTX 1050ti 139USD  от 146USD 102USD  60W 12-15 Mh/s  0,25 6Mh/s   0,1
Geforce GTX 1060 249USD  от 185USD 129USD  100W 20-25 Mh/s  0,25 10Mh/s   0,1
Geforce GTX 1070 399USD  от 338USD 236USD  120W 27-32 Mh/s  0,26 17Mh/s   0,142
Geforce GTX 1070ti 449USD  от 400USD 280USD  145W 28-33 Mh/s  0,23 18Mh/s   0,124
Geforce GTX 1080 599USD   от 460USD 322USD  145W 23-35 Mh/s  0,24 22Mh/s   0,151
Geforce GTX 1080ti 699USD  от 723USD 506USD  200W 35-52 Mh/s   0,26 29Mh/s   0,14
Gegorce GTX1650 149USD  от 153USD  -  76W 14-15Mh/s  0,20 9Mh/s  0,118
Geforce GTX1660 219USD   от 230USD  -  96W 20-25Mh/s   0,26 17Mh/s  0,177
Geforce GTX1660ti 279USD   от 253USD  -  96W  24-30Mh/s   0,31 21Mh/s  0.218
Geforce RTX2060 349USD  от 323USD  -  130W 25-30 Mh/s  0,23 26Mh/s   0.2
Geforce RTX2070  449USD   от 507USD  -  140W 36-42 Mh/s  0,3 27Mh/s  0,192
Geforce RTX2080  699USD  от 692USD  -  170W 36-42 Mh/s   0,24 30Mh/s   0,176
Geforce RTX2080ti 999USD   от 1107USD  -  200W 50-57 Mh/s   0,29 37Mh/s   0,185


** Price in store on 06/14/2019 The price is listed as recommended by the manufacturer at the start of sales and may significantly differ from the actual prices in stores.

*** The price of used videocards is taken as 70% of the price of new video cards in the store, which roughly corresponds to reality.

**** The power consumption during the mining of cryptocurrencies is taken as 80% of the nominal power consumption of a video card. It may vary depending on the video card model, overclocking applied and downward wiring.

 

Based on only one Ethash and X16r algorithms, it is rather difficult to draw conclusions on the energy efficiency of video cards, but one thing is certain that the new generation of the RTX20x0 GPU shows, when mining Ethereum, AMD has similar energy efficiency or even better (RTX2070). The only remaining advantage of the Radeon is their price in the secondary market, which also may soon disappear when the RTX20x0 video cards appear on the secondary market. And if you take into account the fact that all the new mining algorithms are more optimized for Nvidia, the current generation of AMD Radeon RX5x0 video cards looks completely hopeless as an investment for the future.

The recently announced AMD RX5700 line of video cards has not yet been marketed, but considering the price and already well-known characteristics, the new products will not be able to offer a radically new payback level in mining cryptocurrency.

Instead of buying equipment in your shop, you can consider buying video cards in a German online Computeruniverse store (Germany), where you can buy new computer components or even cheaper for the price of used equipment in Russia. To get 5 EURO discount on the Computer Universe, use the coupon FW5NXGD when you buy

 

The payback calculation for Ethereum mining cards as of 06/14/2019 (Bitcoin $ 8100, Ethereum $ 254, Ravencoin 0.063USD):

GPU:

Income

USD/day

 

Payback

without electricity*

electricity in day

0,1 USD/kW

USD

Payback

with electricity

USD

Payback

with electricity

days

Radeon RX 560 0,34 352 (103% in year) 0,16 0,18 666 (55% in year)
Radeon RX 570 0,68 204 (179% in year) 0,22 0,46 302 (120% in year)
Radeon RX 580 0,70 237 (154% in year) 0,29 0,36 461 (79% in year)
Radeon RX 590 0,74 306 (119% in year) 0,43 0,31 732 (50% in year)
Radeon RX VEGA 56 1,01 319 (114% in year) 0,41 0,6 538 (68% in year)
Radeon RX Vega 64 1,04 384 (95% in year) 0,58 0,46 869 (42% in year)
Radeon RX Vega 7 2,03 197 (185% in year) 0,58 1,45 541 (67% in year)
           
Geforce GTX 1050ti 0,32 456 (80% in year) 0,12 0,2 730 (51% in year)
Geforce GTX 1060 0,58 318 (114% in year) 0,24 0,34 544 (67% in year)
Geforce GTX 1070 0,72 469 (78% in year) 0,29 0,43 786 (46% in year)
Geforce GTX 1070ti 0,74 540  (68% in year) 0,35 0,39 1025 (35% in year)
Geforce GTX 1080 0,80 575  (63% in year) 0,35 0,45 1022 (35% in year)
Geforce GTX 1080ti 1,20 602 (60% in year) 0,48 0,72 1004 (36% in year)
Geforce GTX1650 0,34 450  (81% in year) 0,19 0,15 1020 (35% in year)
Geforce GTX1660 0,56 410 (89% in year) 0,22 0,34 676 (54% in year)
Geforce GTX1660ti 0,68 372 (98% in year) 0,22 0,46 550 (66% in year)
Geforce RTX 2060 0,68 475 (77% in year) 0,32 0,36 897(41% in year)
Geforce RTX 2070 0,96 528 (69% in year) 0,33 0,63 804 (45% in year)
Geforce RTX 2080 0,96 720 (51% in year) 0,41 0,55 1258 (29% in year)
Geforce RTX 2080ti 1,32 838 (43% in year) 0,48 0,84 1317 (27% in year)

 

The payback calculation for Ravencoin mining cards as of 06/14/2019 (Bitcoin $ 8100, Ethereum $ 254, Ravencoin 0.063USD):

GPU:

Income

USD/day

Payback

without electricity*

electricity in day

0,1 USD/kW

USD

Payback

with electricity

USD

Payback

with electricity

days

Radeon RX 560 0,16 750 (49% in year) 0,16 0 -
Radeon RX 570 0,41 339 (107% in year) 0,22 0,19 731 (50% in year)
Radeon RX 580 0,5 332 (109% in year) 0,29 0,21 790 (46% in year)
Radeon RX 590 0,55 412 (88% in year) 0,43 0,12 1891 (19% in year)
Radeon RX VEGA 56 0,85 380 (96% in year) 0,41 0,44 734 (50% in year)
Radeon RX Vega 64 0,96 416 (88% in year) 0,58 0,38 1052 (35% in year)
Radeon RX Vega 7 1,14 713 (51% in year) 0,58 0,56 1401 (26% in year)
           
Geforce GTX 1050ti 0,27 540 (67% in year) 0,12 0,15 973 (37% in year)
Geforce GTX 1060 0,46 402 (90% in year) 0,24 0,22 840 (43% in year)
Geforce GTX 1070 0,78 433 (84% in year) 0,29 0,39 866 (42% in year)
Geforce GTX 1070ti 0,82 487 (75% in year) 0,35 0,47 851 (43% in year)
Geforce GTX 1080 1,01 455 (80% in year) 0,35 0,61 754 (48% in year)
Geforce GTX 1080ti 1,33 543 (67% in year) 0,48 0,85 850 (43% in year)
Geforce GTX1650 0,41 373 (98% in year) 0,19 0,22 695 (52% in year)
Geforce GTX1660 0,78 294 (124% in year) 0,22 0,56 410 (89% in year)
Geforce GTX1660ti 0,96 263 (139% in year) 0,22 0,74 342 (107% in year)
Geforce RTX 2060 1,19 271 (135% in year) 0,32 0,87 371(98% in year)
Geforce RTX 2070 1,23 412 (88% in year) 0,33 0,9 563 (65% in year)
Geforce RTX 2080 1,37 505 (72% in year) 0,41 0,96 720 (51% in year)
Geforce RTX 2080ti 1,69 655 (55% in year) 0,48 1,21 914 (27% in year)

* Calculation of payback is made for new video cards purchased on Computeruniverse. When buying used video cards, the payback period is reduced by 20%. Only video cards without other necessary components (motherboard, processor, memory, power supply) are included in the calculation.


NNN *** is the theoretical profitability from mining, which can be obtained by constantly searching for profitable cryptocurrencies. Approximately taken as 200% of Ethereum yield.

We have indicated this option as theoretically possible with constant monitoring of various cryptocurrencies for mining, and as the beginning of the year showed, there is every reason to expect such a scenario.

Please note that the cost of electricity in the calculation is taken 0.1USD per KWh, i.e. most likely your energy tariff will be below this value. Therefore, the recoupment taking into account the electricity in our calculation turned out quite bleak. If you have electricity for 0,05USD per kilowatt or less, feel free to reduce the cost of electricity by half. Accordingly, the payback time with such a tariff is also reduced by 2 times.

 

To calculate the profitability of mining, the mining calculator for cryptocurrency for the GPU was used, which you can also use to calculate the actual payback period for video cards.

Assembly mining rigs:

Mining Rig: Power Supply:* Price rig:** Hashrate Ethash: Hashrate X16r  USD in day***
6*RX560 500-750W  864 USD 90 Mh/s   2,04
6*RX570 700-1000W  1000 USD 180 Mh/s   4,08
6*RX580 850-1000W  1195 USD 186 Mh/s   4,2
6*RX590 1000-1200W 1635 USD 192 Mh/s   4,44
6*RX Vega 56 1200-1500W  2325 USD 270 Mh/s   6,06
6*RX Vega 64 1600-2000W  2880 USD 276 Mh/s   6,24
6*RX Vega 7 1600-2000W  5652 USD 540 Mh/s   12,18
6*GTX1050ti 450-750W  1051 USD 90 Mh/s 36Mh/s 1,92
6*GTX1060 700-1000W  1332 USD 150 Mh/s 60Mh/s  3,48
6*GTX1070 900-1200W  2433 USD 190 Mh/s 102Mh/s 4,68
6*GTX1070ti 1000-1500W 2880 USD 198 Mh/s 108Mh/s  4,92
6*GTX1080 1000-1500W 3312 USD 210 Mh/s 132Mh/s 6,06
6*GTX1080ti 1500-2000W 5200 USD 312 Mh/s 174Mh/s 7,98
6*GTX1650 600-800W 1100 USD 90 MH/s 54Mh/s 2,46
6*GTX1660 700-1000W  1650 USD 150 Mh/s 102Mh/s 4,68
6*GTX1660ti 700-1000W  1820 USD 180 Mh/s 126Mh/s 5,76
6*RTX2060 1500-2000W 2325 USD 180 Mh/s 156Mh/s 7,14
6*RTX2070 900-1200W  3650 USD 252 Mh/s 162Mh/s 7,38
6*RTX2080 1000-1500W 4982 USD 252 Mh/s 180Mh/s  8,22
6*RTX2080ti 1500-2000W 7970 USD 342 Mh/s 222Mh/s 10,14

* Power supply power is indicated from the lowest possible (taking into account the reference frequencies and downlow frequencies) to the recommended, it is desirable to choose a more powerful power supply.

** In the cost of mining rig we included the cost of 6 video cards plus 20% of their component cost (motherboard, RAM, processor, power supplies, risers).

*** Without electricity

For more information about assembling mining rigs can be found in this material: Mining on GPU - detailed guide for beginners

Conclusion: For the summer of 2019, mining on video cards due to the rising cost of cryptocurrency by 2-3 times, compared to February, reduced the payback period of some GPU models for less than 1 year, and taking into account prices in retail and the cost of electricity, 0,1USD per kilowatt. If you buy equipment on ComputerUniverse, then the payback period will decrease by another 20-30%, and for happy owners of cheap electricity with a cost of 0,05USD or even lower, the mining equipment payback will be less than 6 months, which is equivalent to 200% per annum. What is naturally much more profitable than any other not prohibited type of business activity. Compared with the peak of interest in mining, when any equipment purchased at a price overestimated by 2-3 times, could pay off from 2-3 months, now it’s far, but now with proper approach to the choice of components for mining, you can already get 100% -200% or even more from investments in mining cryptocurrency.

P.S. While this article was being prepared, cryptocurrency increased in price by about 15% (BTC from 8100 to 9300USD), which accordingly reduced the payback period by 15% of the values ​​given in the calculations and in the conclusion to the article. Also, we left our conclusions to the mining, which we did in February, for your interest, so that you can independently assess how the situation in the entire cryptocurrency industry can change dramatically in a matter of months.

 

Conclusion in February 2019: At the beginning of 2019, the graphics card mining is going through hard times due to a strong fall in cryptocurrency prices and a large number of miners after the boom in 2017-2018. Because of what most of the income eats up the cost of paying for electricity. If you have electricity costs 0.1 USD or more, then buying equipment for mining is now tantamount to a deposit in a bank, but with a lot of time and inconvenience. Accordingly, the lower the price of electricity, the more attractive in terms of equipment payback, mining becomes. In other words, the main problem now is not to pick up the equipment, but to find the cheapest "socket". Since The most popular cryptocurrency Ethereum for mining on the GPU now gives a stable but low income, so many miners are constantly looking for more profitable cryptocurrencies for mining, which allows you to get a yield exceeding Ethereum by 2-3 times. Therefore, if you have a lot of free time to read forums, reconfigure farms and electricity for less than 0,05 USD, then in annual terms you can count on a yield of 100%, i.e. purchased equipment can pay for itself in about one year.  

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