The prospect of GPU mining seems very attractive at first glance — imagine if your GPU could not only play the latest video games at the highest framerates, but also bring you steady profits by mining crypto. However, the reality is quite a bit more complicated, as we’ll explain.
In this article, we feature the 6 best GPUs for mining, and explain how much you can currently expect to profit (or lose) when using them for mining. Before that, let’s quickly explain the current state of the GPU mining landscape.
The best GPUs for mining in 2024:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090– The best GPU for mining overall
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080– One of the most powerful GPUs currently
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti– Solid option for value-oriented miners
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti– Last generation's flagship model
- Radeon RX 7900 XTX– The only AMD card that generates any significant profit
The current state of GPU mining
GPU mining used to be a very popular activity a few years ago, resulting in massive price increases for GPUs due to the overwhelming demand. GPUs were primarily being used for mining Ethereum, which is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Now, Ethereum no longer uses mining, as it has moved on to staking.
It’s very likely that GPU mining is on its way out and will probably become even less relevant in the coming years. After the Ethereum network transitioned to Proof-of-Stake in 2022, there are almost no relevant cryptocurrencies left that can be mined profitably with a GPU. So, if you’re thinking of GPU mining as a long-term play, you will most likely be left disappointed.
Mining with GPUs is currently not really worth your time, even if you’re paying a relatively low price for electricity, such as $0.1/kWh. Even the GPUs that are capable of mining profitably will generate very small profits and won't come close to the dedicated ASIC mining rigs.
The upside of the current GPU mining situation is that if you’re a gamer who wants to upgrade your graphics, you can find used mining GPUs for sale at a relatively low price. However, you need to be careful about the condition of the GPU you’re buying, as mining is a very intensive process, and a GPU that has been continuously operating at max capacity for a long period of time might malfunction relatively quickly.
The best GPUs for mining in 2024: Profitability & prices
Now that we have some context about the current state of GPU mining let’s check out the list of the best GPUs for mining. The figures presented below are from March 2024and assume an electricity cost of $0.1/kWh. By the time you’re reading this article, the profitability of each GPU will have likely changed.
1. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Price: $2,200
Profitability: $2.29/day
The RTX 4090 is the flagship of NVIDIA’s GeForce line of gaming GPUs. This GPU is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features a whopping 24 GB of RAM, as well as NVIDIA’s ray tracing tech. The RTX 4090 supports resolutions of up to 8K and delivers an unparalleled experience in the realm of gaming.
In addition to excelling in gaming, the RTX 4090 is currently also the best GPU for mining, at least when it comes to GPUs that are available to the regular consumer. However, the profitability of mining with the RTX 4090 is still quite low, as you can only expect to earn about $2.29 in 24 hours, assuming basically ideal conditions (mining the most profitable coin and only paying $0.1/kWh for electricity), according to data from WhatToMine.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
2. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
Price: $1,100
Profitability:$1.27/day
The state of GPU mining is currently so poor that even the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which will handle the latest Triple-A gaming titles without a hitch, cannot be used to mine profitably at the moment.
This powerful GPU, which sports the Ada Lovelace architecture and 16 GB of extremely fast memory, would currently mine at a profit of $1.27 per day, assuming almost ideal conditions. In other words, it would take nearly 900 days to break even, which is probably not a proposition most miners would like to hear. However, if the price of the crypto you're mining increases considerably in the future, then the calculation will change completely.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
3. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Price: $850
Profitability: $1.00/day
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the most affordable GPU on our list, although it still costs $850, so it’s not exactly a budget option. The RTX 3080 is based on NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture and features 12 GB of RAM.
While it should be able to handle practically anything you throw at it from a gaming perspective, the RTX 3080 Ti falls short when it comes to cryptocurrency mining. Assuming electricity costs of $0.1 / kWh, you’ll be losing about $0.29 per day if you use the RTX 3080 Ti for cryptocurrency mining. In an ideal scenario where you don’t have to pay anything for electricity, this GPU would be able to bring about $0.57 in profit per day.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
4. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
Price: $1,700
Profitability: $0.86/day
The RTX 3090 Ti, which was the flagship product of Nvidia’s previous generation of GPUs, will earn about $0.86 per day if it’s used for mining in current conditions. While the RTX 3080 we've featured above this card is definitely less powerful, it consumes less energy while still boasting powerful specs, which translates to a bigger profit margin.
Of course, the RTX 3090 Ti will still perform very well in video games even though it’s not from the latest generation of NVIDIA’s graphics cards. The GPU sports 24 GB of RAM as well as DLSS technology, which provides a significant boost to gaming performance with the help of artificial intelligence.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
5. Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Price: $950
Profitability: $0.71/day
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the flagship GPU from AMD’s Radeon line of gaming graphics cards. The RX 7900 XTX features 24 GB of DDR6 memory, a boost frequency of up to 2,500 MHz, as well as 96 compute units and ray accelerators.
Even though this GPU delivers exceptional performance in games, the RX 7900 XTX currently doesn’t really cut it in the highly competitive world of cryptocurrency mining. Even assuming very good conditions, you’ll be earning about $0.71 per day if using the RX 7900 XTX to mine. In theory, if you were able to power your RX 7900 XTX for free, it would generate a mining profit of about $1.35 per day in current conditions.
FAQs
Now, let’s quickly answer some of the most common questions users have about mining cryptocurrency with GPUs.
Is GPU mining profitable?
At the time of writing, the most powerful consumer-grade GPU available on the market is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Prices for this GPU currently start at about $1,700. Even this highly performant GPU can only earn about $2.29per day, assuming an electricity cost of $0.1/kWh.
Is GPU mining still worth it?
GPU mining is barely worth the effort anymore, as even the most powerful consumer-grade GPUs, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, can only mine a handful of coins profitably. Even if you have a top-of-the-line GPU, the profits you will receive will be meager at best.
Which coins can I mine with a GPU?
Some of the most popular coins that can be mined with a GPU include Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin, Conflux, Aeternity, and Bitcoin Gold. Generally speaking, the most relevant cryptocurrency projects are moving away from GPU mining, with most opting for either a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism or ASIC mining.
Is it worth it to buy a cheap GPU for mining?
Buying a cheap GPU for mining doesn’t make much sense at the moment, as the profitability of GPU mining is extremely low. Even if you managed to find a cheap GPU that can mine cryptocurrency profitably, which is difficult in itself, the profits would be extremely small — about $0.1 or $0.2 per day.
Can you mine Bitcoin with a GPU?
Yes, it’s theoretically possible to mine Bitcoin with a GPU. However, you would never make any profits as ASIC miners are simply too efficient at mining Bitcoin for any GPU to be able to compete. Still, you could consider lending your idle GPU power via hashrate marketplaces like NiceHash, which is one of the top BTC cloud mining platforms.
The bottom line - GPU mining is not worth it
As you can hopefully see, buying GPUs for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining is currently a fool’s errand. Even the NVIDIA RTX 4090, which is by far the most powerful GPU available to the average user, can barely scrape by with a profit when used in cryptocurrency mining (it would take around 1,000 days to reach breakeven status, assuming the graphics card's average price of around $2,200).
If you want to learn more about cryptocurrency mining, make sure to check out our list of the best Bitcoin miners.
