Cryptocurrency is a growing phenomenon. After the meteoric rise of the Bitcoin, almost everyone wants to gain from the trend that could give returns unseen in many of the traditional markets. So, before you dive into the cryptocurrency mining, it is advisable and also wise to choose from the best graphic cards currently available.
In the world of cryptocurrency mining, the graphics card is the most important component when it comes to performance. Ethereum and many other popular cryptocurrencies work on memory hard-hashing techniques, which require a lot of graphics memory. The importance of the graphics card is quite evident from the fact that last year over 3 million add-in board (AIB) graphics cards worth around $776 million were purchased by the miners, according to a report by Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
The massive demand for these cards – as a result of a surge in cryptocurrency mining – even created a shortage of these products along with inflating their prices. Though gaming is still the primary driver for graphics card sales, cryptocurrency has played a part as well.
Choosing the best graphics card is not an easy task as each offers one or the other advantage over others. However, there are a few factors that must be considered to select the best graphics card – memory, power consumption and cost. We have used the same factors to come up with a list of the best graphics cards that could help you maximize profits.
AMD RADEON RX 580 is the first in our list. It is a preferred choice of the cryptocurrency miners due to its remarkable performance and pricing. Though its price is inflated now due to high-demand, it still offers value for money. It gives a lucrative hash rate of 29 mh/s along with keeping the electricity consumption low.
Next in our list of the best graphics card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070, which is ideal for both – gamers and cryptocurrency miners. The card offers a hash rate of around 30 mh/s, and that too with low power consumption. Power consumption (as we noted above) plays a major role in maximizing your profits, the more power a GPU takes, the more expensive it is to run. Though its price may be a bit discouraging, its overall performance surely compensates for it. Also, Nvidia recently announced that its GTX products are now back to their original price. The high demand earlier pushed their prices up.
AMD RADEON RX 570 is the next as it offers similar performance as the RX 580, but at a lower cost. It is $60 cheaper than the Radeon RX 580, but offers 90% of the 580’s Ethereum hash rate. It has 4GB onboard GDDR5, and can also be fine-tuned for greater efficiency.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 is also a deserving contender. Though it is not the most powerful GPU around, it produces desired results without costing you too much. It’s not as fast as AMD’s best products, but it is efficient. Due to its low power, it gives out less heat and noise. A user can also easily tune the performance for higher hash rates. Further, it is pretty good for gaming, so miners can use it there as well.
Next is AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which is the best value-packed graphics card currently available. Based on the benchmarks, it is faster than the Nvidia GTX 1070. Also, it is cheaper to boot. However, its power consumption makes it a bit expensive to run. But, if you want to put the highest possible hash rates into a single chassis, and have the needed power supply, this is the one to go for. Further, these GPUs adjust well to the undervolting and overclocked memory, but require substantial cooling.
Apart from the five mentioned above, miners might also consider Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti. It is a gaming GPU, but has given excellent mining results as well. However, it is a bit expensive and takes up relatively more power, thus lowering the return on your investment. But, if you have the cash to spend, you won’t regret buying it. Similarly, the GTX 1070 Ti is also good for cryptocurrency mining, but it suffers from the same issues as the 1080 Ti, i.e., it is relatively expensive and consumes more power.
These are the best graphic cards available currently, but you would need to check if they are in stock or not. We know for sure that Nvidia’s GeForce cards are back in stock. The company only yesterday tweeted, “GeForce GTX 10-Series GPUs are back on shelves at MSRP!” However, AMD GPUs are still difficult to get online.
