[SOLVED] Low wattage GPUs useful for mining ?

Solution
Since the Ethereum DAG is 2.4GB, you need a GPU with a minimum of 3GB to get any ETH mining done, though a GPU that can only work on one copy of the DAG at a time will have quite low performance. If you want decent hash rate for ETH, you need to aim for 8GB and most GPUs with at least 8GB cost $500+ since you are competing with all of the other would-be miners.

Eth2.0 may be launching in a couple of months and then Ethereum mining will be mostly obsolete. There could be lots of reasonably powerful GPUs getting dumped on the market in Nov-Dec.

carocuore

Respectable
Jan 24, 2021
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I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific, a GT210 is low wattage, is decent for some people and I'm pretty sure it could be used for mining, but the profits would be pathetic.

An "850 psu gold" isn't telling much either, if it's good then there would be no problem in loading it up to 800-ish watts, given it has enough connectors available for another (?) graphics card. RTX cards do the trick for mining but try to find one... other than that you have the 1080Ti or AMD cards, older cards work if you're not looking to become a billionaire in a week by mining ETH.
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
Since the Ethereum DAG is 2.4GB, you need a GPU with a minimum of 3GB to get any ETH mining done, though a GPU that can only work on one copy of the DAG at a time will have quite low performance. If you want decent hash rate for ETH, you need to aim for 8GB and most GPUs with at least 8GB cost $500+ since you are competing with all of the other would-be miners.

Eth2.0 may be launching in a couple of months and then Ethereum mining will be mostly obsolete. There could be lots of reasonably powerful GPUs getting dumped on the market in Nov-Dec.
 
Solution

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
According to scuttlebutt, ETH2.0 will be coming online at the end of the year. And has very little to do with gpu mining as such, or cpu for that matter since the recommended cpu is an FX 8150 or i7 4770 or better.

So unless you figure you can make bank in the next 6 months or so, the amount you pay for a gpu, mining as such is going to become moot and you'll probably see a huge influx of used cards saturating the market, at very cheap prices as all those mining racks get dissolved as fast as possible and competition to make any money back on the expense drives prices into the dirt.
 
Feb 25, 2021
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I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific, a GT210 is low wattage, is decent for some people and I'm pretty sure it could be used for mining, but the profits would be pathetic.

An "850 psu gold" isn't telling much either, if it's good then there would be no problem in loading it up to 800-ish watts, given it has enough connectors available for another (?) graphics card. RTX cards do the trick for mining but try to find one... other than that you have the 1080Ti or AMD cards, older cards work if you're not looking to become a billionaire in a week by mining ETH.
Sorry that was a bit of a sloppy post I’ll agree. I have 3 rx 580 , a 5700xt , mobo and monitor in the EVGA 850 psu , Meter reads 630 with monitor on and 600 with it off (which is off 99% of the time) at the wall. My math led me to believe the cards pull about 150 each... I figured there about 220 left to play with I’m not sure though
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Math doesn't add up linearly. Any of the 580's can hit @ 220-240w each, and a 5700xt can hit over 280w by itself.

So on the low end, you are looking at 940w just in gpus, with another 100w in cpu and 100w in everything else. So a total possible of @ 1150w.

Your psu is underpowered, the only reason you aren't hitting its max is pure lack of use per card. If you did anything other than mine, which is possible since Windows 10 is multiple gpu based (DX12) and not sli/CF based (DX11), you'd most likely trip psu protections, shutting down the pc.

It's doubtful all the cards are running equal, considering their power draws, more likely is the 580's are pulling about 140w each and the 5700xt is pulling closer to 180w.
 
Feb 25, 2021
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From your math I’d be at 660 watts minimum, minus the cpu mobo and 5700xt.. everything is running through one psu and power cord which is plugged into a quality watt meter, 630 with everything, 3 x 580 1 x 5700xt mobo, cpu, monitor, it’s been plugged in for 2 weeks reading 600 without monitor 630 with. I do understand where you’re coming from though I know I’m pushing the limit either way that’s why I thought I’d ask