Ethereum Mining Performance: GeForce Vs. Radeon (Archive)

[Yannick_G_THFR]

While the number of different cryptocurrencies is always increasing, only a handful have attained enough market capitalization to be truly viable. Ethereum, a blockchain-based distributed computing platform, is one of the most popular.

Ethereum Mining Performance: GeForce Vs. Radeon : Read more

 

[AgentLozen]

I know that I SHOULD be really interested in articles about Ethereum mining, but I'm so salty about it driving up graphics card prices that I largely just ignore it to spite it.

Discuss.

 

[maetrixss]

I did not see it mentioned in the article (doesn't mean it wasn't there, so if I'm repeating something already stated above, I plead the interwebz forgiveness), but there are plenty of other coins that can be mined that do not have the large DAG file of Ethereum at this time. Coins like UBIQ and Expanse are both Ethereum based, so the hashing performance should translate directly, and while their value is much less, the difficulty difference means you are mining many more of them than you would Ethereum. Personally, I'd weigh the 3GB issue against when Ethereum is going Proof of Stake, understanding that even 8GB cards aren't going to be able to mine once that hits sometime in the next few months, so making any hardware choices based on Ethereum alone is probably a bad move. I'd plan your purchases expecting to mine something else once Ethereum goes POS, and calculate that into your ROI calculations. The 1060's and 1070's are pretty versatile as well for mining different types of algorithms, so that's another check in their column.

And AGENTLOZEN, the mining craze is starting to fall with crypto prices, meaning that there will probably be a few thousand cards on the market at cheap prices in the next few months. All of the "get rich quick" people are abandoning the market. I'd keep an eye on ebay (and the cards are most likely fine, they're undervolted and cooled efficiently to maximize profit/electricity usage, so while they've been running 24/7, they're all "highway miles".

 

[RuizitO]

How come you didnt include the 1050ti and the 1070, with samsung and micron memory ICs?
Can you, please, update? Thank you!!

 

[ToastyBunz]

Too bad with China stopping cryptocurrencies and others to follow suit, as well as governments looking for a way to tax them its going to be a rough stretch for miners coming real soon.

 

[zippyzion]

I'm surprised there is no Vega in this roundup. I read somewhere that someone managed to double the efficiency of a RX 580 with a Vega card through BIOS optimizations. Though, I've yet to see anyone confirm those results.

 

[FritzEiv]

How come you didnt include the 1050ti and the 1070, with samsung and micron memory ICs?
Can you, please, update? Thank you!!

We're working on another piece: We've built a 13 GPU mining rig, with a variety of cards. In addition to reporting on that outcome, we'll also be looking at different currencies, optimizations, and so on. These will come out over time, including some video of the massive build.

 

[bloodroses]

How I wish so much there was another GPU player out there at this point besides AMD/Nvidia. Intel integrated does not count. A company like S3, Matrox, or Rendition could make a huge comeback if they designed a competitive gaming card again that doesn't hash well.

I think at this point I might start looking back into consoles again....

 

[tony.dimarzio]

A common mistake is to conflate MH/watt with profitability. If you're seeking peek *efficiency*, by all means go with the 1060. However, if you're seeking peek *profitability*, which is all anyone should be seeking if they are serious about crypto mining, then you need to use a profitability calculator which takes into account your $/KW. Simple test, go to mycryptobuddy.com slash EthereumMiningCalculator and use .10 / KW for electricity cost, for arguments sake. Plug in 30 MH/s and 150W (efficiency of 5W per MH). Take note of monthly profit. Then plug in 15 MH/s and 30W (significantly higher efficiency of 2W per MH). Profit with former = ~$30/month. Profit with latter is ~$19/month. It's obvious that you'd want the significantly less efficient GPU in this case as it would net significantly more profit.

 

[thomaselton2]

The GeForce & Radeon are both great graphics cards for mining Ethereum, however, most people prefer the RX Vega 56: http://ethereumcurrency.yolasite.com

 

[wilkinru]

Pathetic!

My Radeon cards run 24/7 stable on blockchain drivers at 856mv @ 1140 mhz.

Step your game up.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Too bad with China stopping cryptocurrencies and others to follow suit [...]

Sigh, how many times is this incorrect (or at best half true) info going to be parroted? China did not "stop" cryptocurrencies. It banned new cryptocurrency ICOs (and in turn one crypto exchange decided to close).

 

[caustin582]

Too bad with China stopping cryptocurrencies and others to follow suit [...]

Sigh, how many times is this incorrect (or at best half true) info going to be parroted? China did not "stop" cryptocurrencies. It banned new cryptocurrency ICOs (and in turn one crypto exchange decided to close).

You haven't been keeping up with the news http://mashable.com/2017/09/15/china-bitcoin-ban/#4KCcqdIKOmqO

 

[TJ Hooker]

Ah, my apologies, I was wrong. Hadn't seen the latest news.

 

[WINTERLORD]

hi, toms any chance i can get a copy of that asus strix 570 bios mod? i modded most my cards. also what does the 570 4gb and asus 580 8gb use power wise at stock? dont think i saw that

 

[DRL14]

China has banned crypto currency exchanges in China. By October 30 th OkCoin and Huobi (the exceptions to this) will stop the trading of Cryto currency to Yuan. This means no more future buying of Crypto currency by the Chinese. This will however mean that the only way they can get crypto currency is by mining so the shortage will be even worse as they buy more cards :/ no one wins.

 

[Zaporro]

dirty miners

 

[Neuspeed]

I know that I SHOULD be really interested in articles about Ethereum mining, but I'm so salty about it driving up graphics card prices that I largely just ignore it to spite it.

Discuss.

Supply vs Demand..

 

[Neuspeed]

China has banned crypto currency exchanges in China. By October 30 th OkCoin and Huobi (the exceptions to this) will stop the trading of Cryto currency to Yuan. This means no more future buying of Crypto currency by the Chinese. This will however mean that the only way they can get crypto currency is by mining so the shortage will be even worse as they buy more cards :/ no one wins.

China banned crypto because it shifts power away from government and gives it to the people.

 

[AgentLozen]

Supply vs Demand..

I guess this is the discussion I was hoping for.

Having someone explain the simple economics behind the price increase doesn't mean that a video card is any easier to buy right now. I'm upset with Ethereum Mining's effect on the graphics card market. By my own admission, Ethereum is a topic we should be taking seriously right now.

I just noticed you down voted my original post. You had to go and make it personal didn't you?

This means no more future buying of Crypto currency by the Chinese. This will however mean that the only way they can get crypto currency is by mining so the shortage will be even worse as they buy more cards :/ no one wins.

Eh.... this remains to be seen. I think it depends on the motives of Chinese miners. If your goal was to trade Cryptocurrency to Yen, then that ship has sailed.

I'm sure we'll have our answer in 6 months time.

 

[hixbot]

A common mistake is to conflate MH/watt with profitability. If you're seeking peek *efficiency*, by all means go with the 1060. However, if you're seeking peek *profitability*, which is all anyone should be seeking if they are serious about crypto mining, then you need to use a profitability calculator which takes into account your $/KW. Simple test, go to mycryptobuddy.com slash EthereumMiningCalculator and use .10 / KW for electricity cost, for arguments sake. Plug in 30 MH/s and 150W (efficiency of 5W per MH). Take note of monthly profit. Then plug in 15 MH/s and 30W (significantly higher efficiency of 2W per MH). Profit with former = ~$30/month. Profit with latter is ~$19/month. It's obvious that you'd want the significantly less efficient GPU in this case as it would net significantly more profit.

The mistake you're making is assuming that you would only run one system with the MH/watt configuration you've built. In your example, if you can build 15MH/s @30w, or optionally build 30MH/s @150W, yes the second system will net more profit at $0.10/kw but why not just triple the more efficient system and build 3 X 15MH/s @30w = 45MH/s @150W.

In other words, go with the most efficient design, and build-up to your ideal capacity to maximize profit.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Spoiler

A common mistake is to conflate MH/watt with profitability. If you're seeking peek *efficiency*, by all means go with the 1060. However, if you're seeking peek *profitability*, which is all anyone should be seeking if they are serious about crypto mining, then you need to use a profitability calculator which takes into account your $/KW. Simple test, go to mycryptobuddy.com slash EthereumMiningCalculator and use .10 / KW for electricity cost, for arguments sake. Plug in 30 MH/s and 150W (efficiency of 5W per MH). Take note of monthly profit. Then plug in 15 MH/s and 30W (significantly higher efficiency of 2W per MH). Profit with former = ~$30/month. Profit with latter is ~$19/month. It's obvious that you'd want the significantly less efficient GPU in this case as it would net significantly more profit.

The mistake you're making is assuming that you would only run one system with the MH/watt configuration you've built. In your example, if you can build 15MH/s @30w, or optionally build 30MH/s @150W, yes the second system will net more profit at $0.10/kw but why not just triple the more efficient system and build 3 X 15MH/s @30w = 45MH/s @150W.

In other words, go with the most efficient design, and build-up to your ideal capacity to maximize profit.

3 of those systems would be 45MH/s @ 90W, not 150W. But it'd still be more profitable to just build 2 of the 30MH/s systems (ignoring build costs). Maximizing hash/watt really only matters if you have some sort of power limit you don't want to go over (if you don't want to be dumping more than 300W into your place for example). In that case you could have 10 x 15MH/s @ 30W or 2 x 30 MH/s @ 150W. Obviously the first case would be more profitable. But you're also building 10 rigs now (or buying 10 GPUs, whatever), so your upfront costs are almost certainly significantly higher.

 

[junii421]

my gtx 460 superclocked gets 77 mh/s lmao

 

[oemaildofrancis]

Hello Tom's Hardware!
I have a XFX RX480 8G, running on Windows 10.
With Claymore 10 + Radeon Beta Blockchain Drivers + Overclocked memory to 2250 MHz (Using Radeon's Global Wattman) I am only getting 27,4 MH/s, which seems to be the limit for the "optimized non-BIOSmod".
I downloaded AtiWinflash but couldn't figure out how to use it.
I saw the page of PolarisBiosEditor seems to be for Linux, so that's not my case.
I also downloaded ATI Pixel Clock Patcher and applied it, but it didn't make any difference.
Do you have that BIOSmod file from the XFXRX48- 8G and could share it, or could you show us the configuration, and how to do it? Thanks!