What GPU to purchase for mining crypto?

[member 428835]

Hi PF!

I want to mine crypto. I'm running Ubuntu 18.04. The GPU I currently have is: XFX Radeon RX 570 RS XXX Edition 1286MHz, 8gb GDDR5, DX12 VR Ready, Dual BIOS, 3xDP HDMI DVI, AMD Graphics Card (RX-570P8DFD6). For 700$, what other GPU would you recommend, as it seems advantageous to have more than one?

I can list the entire setup, but does it matter? Thanks so much for your feedback!

 

[MikeeMiracle]

Be weary of the new high end cards from nVidia released this year. They have hard coded the cards to detect mining and cripple the throughput when mining crypto.

Graphics cards have been in high demand with even 2nd hand cards going for silly prices due to people mining for many years now, nVidia are trying to stop their cards being used this way.

The days when individuals with a high end PC could mine crypto have come and gone, you need silly power now which means multiple gfx cards if your going down this route.

How much were you looking to make money wise each month? I have a friend mining etherium with 8 gfx cards in parallel costing £400 each 2nd hand to make roughly £500 per month. It can pay off like this in the long run but your looking at a big capital expenditure at the start.

 

[fluidistic]

It highly depends on where you live (in some countries, the state pays a big part of the bill, and you can still earn some money rather quickly at home. Example: https://www.clarin.com/especiales/criptomonedas-plata-puede-ganar-pc-living-casa-_0_j5owUSw_W.html which wouldn't replace what an average Joe earns by working, but it would be a big plus.)

It also highly depends on which cryptocurrencies you plan to mine.

Note that, as a sidenote to what MikeeMiracle wrote above, ethereum is planned to switch to proof of stake in the near future. This means that mining won't work anymore, and so it probably is a bad idea if you only focus on ethereum.

 

[Vanadium 50]

To answer your question, you need to come up with a business plan. This needs to cover not just the cost of the card, but the cost of the electricity. If you use $40 in electricity every month to mine $50 of crypto, it will take 70 months before you break even on the graphics card.

Of course, if your currency drops 20% in value, now you're not making any money.