It is no secret that cryptocurrency costs have plummeted, and the potential earnings from GPU mining have gone proper together with them. It has been some time since we have up to date our greatest GPUs for mining as a result of it isn’t advisable to put money into new {hardware} at this level, nor has it been for a lot of months.
However we had been curious concerning the potential earnings miners might or might not have realized over the previous two years, so we determined to perform a little research primarily based on the worth of Ethereum versus the price of {hardware} and energy. In brief: for those who did not promote your foreign money earlier than the crash, you will have most likely spent greater than you earned.
Under, we have chosen ten of the preferred graphics playing cards for cryptocurrency miners. These additionally occur to match up properly with the greatest graphics playing cards for gaming, assuming you possibly can really discover any of the GPUs in inventory for an inexpensive worth. To maintain issues easy, we’re solely Nvidia’s authentic non-LHR fashions to provide us the standpoint of people that may need picked up a card proper on the day of the GPU launch.
The numbers we’ll current assume 24/7 mining, with no pool charges. We have used our personal calculations for energy draw and hash charges, erring maybe on the upper finish of the profitability spectrum. We have additionally used a worth per kWh of $0.10, which can or will not be much like what you’d pay, but it surely represents at the least a simple place to begin. Lastly, we have calculated issues with no promoting of mined cash — the “HODL” mindset, in different phrases.
These are strict numerical estimates, that are nearly actually higher than what anybody doing actual mining skilled over the previous 20 months or so. We’re additionally not together with the price of the remainder of the PC, and costs on GPUs had been far and wide so we have used a considerably conservative estimate, which means most individuals paid greater than what we’re displaying within the desk. It’s best to most likely add at the least $750 for the price of a CPU, motherboard, PSU, RAM, storage and case. We’ll cease there and let the numbers converse for themselves.
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 3060 Ti | RTX 3060 | RX 6900 XT | RX 6800 XT | RX 6800 | RX 6700 XT | RX 6600 XT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Date | 9/24/2020 | 9/17/2020 | 10/29/2020 | 12/2/2020 | 2/25/2021 | 12/8/2020 | 11/18/2020 | 11/18/2020 | 3/18/2021 | 8/11/2021 |
| Hash Fee (MH/s) | 119 | 97 | 60 | 60 | 41 | 62 | 62 | 61 | 46 | 32 |
| Energy (Watts) | 320 | 240 | 135 | 140 | 110 | 175 | 175 | 170 | 120 | 75 |
| Complete ETH Mined | 2.709 | 2.294 | 1.21 | 1.076 | 0.492 | 1.09 | 1.17 | 1.152 | 0.495 | 0.17 |
| Days Mined | 641 | 648 | 606 | 572 | 487 | 566 | 586 | 586 | 466 | 320 |
| ETH Worth | $3,247 | $2,749 | $1,450 | $1,289 | $589 | $1,306 | $1,402 | $1,380 | $594 | $204 |
| Energy Value | $492 | $373 | $196 | $192 | $129 | $238 | $246 | $239 | $134 | $58 |
| Potential Earnings | $2,754 | $2,376 | $1,254 | $1,097 | $461 | $1,068 | $1,156 | $1,141 | $459 | $146 |
| Approx. GPU Value | $2,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 | $900 | $750 | $1,500 | $1,350 | $1,200 | $1,000 | $650 |
| Web Earnings (Loss) — GPU Solely | $254 | $876 | $254 | $197 | ($289) | ($432) | ($194) | ($59) | ($541) | ($504) |
Relying on whether or not you are a miner or somebody on the lookout for some schadenfreude, that desk should make you rethink the worth of cryptocurrency mining. The quickest mining GPU on the planet for a lot of the previous two years, the GeForce RTX 3090, would have netted a sum whole of two.7 Ethereum, most likely much less. Two months in the past, on April 1, that will have been value about $7,425 — not a foul haul for a graphics card which may have price $2,000–$2,500. Even after paying the almost $500 in electrical energy prices for all that mining, you continue to would have had a pleasant little chunk of revenue.
However at the moment, for those who’re nonetheless holding? Likelihood is you barely broke even, until you bought deal on the cardboard. We all know nearly nobody was paying MSRPs on the GPUs once they launched, and eBay costs had been typically double or extra the MSRP. Think about the price of the remainder of the PC (roughly $750–$1000 for a full mining rig) and the time to get issues arrange and operating, and issues look even worse.
We’ll get to our second estimate of potential earnings (losses) in a second, for those who did not begin mining as quickly as the varied GPUs had been out there, representing a extra probably state of affairs. However first, let’s undergo among the different widespread GPUs of the previous 12 months or two.
Think about $750–$1000 for a full mining rig, plus the time to get issues arrange and operating, and issues look even worse.
The RTX 3080 was alleged to price round $700, however for a lot of 2021, it offered for $1,500–$2,000, maybe extra. For those who obtained variant proper across the time the GPU launched and mined 24/7 since then, you may need netted over $800, regardless of the crash in crypto costs. Perhaps. The RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti had been additionally probably worthwhile, relying on once you began mining and the way a lot you paid for the playing cards, whereas the RTX 3060 that launched in February 2021 fell brief even for those who obtained the LHR v1 that was “cracked” by Nvidia’s personal driver staff inside weeks of launch.
What about AMD? All the Navi 21 GPUs have related hash charges and energy necessities, whereas GPU costs ranged from as little as $1,000 (briefly) for the RX 6800 to as a lot as $2,000 for the RX 6900 XT, relying on when within the 12 months you got them. The RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 launched a number of weeks earlier than the RX 6900 XT, netting an additional $100 from mining, however the entire AMD GPUs had been probably unprofitable for those who’re how issues stand proper now.
The RX 6600 XT is in a fair worse place because it hasn’t been out there for even a full 12 months but, with present potential earnings after energy sitting at simply $146. Hopefully you did not buy a bunch of these playing cards for mining at $650 every, which might put you about $500 behind on every GPU!
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 3060 Ti | RTX 3060 | RX 6900 XT | RX 6800 XT | RX 6800 | RX 6700 XT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hash Fee (MH/s) | 119 | 97 | 60 | 60 | 41 | 62 | 62 | 61 | 46 |
| Energy (Watts) | 320 | 240 | 135 | 140 | 110 | 175 | 175 | 170 | 120 |
| Complete ETH Mined | 0.882 | 0.719 | 0.445 | 0.445 | 0.304 | 0.459 | 0.459 | 0.452 | 0.341 |
| Days Mined | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 | 391 |
| ETH Worth | $1,057 | $861 | $533 | $533 | $364 | $551 | $551 | $542 | $408 |
| Energy Value | $300 | $225 | $127 | $131 | $103 | $164 | $164 | $160 | $113 |
| Potential Earnings | $756 | $636 | $406 | $401 | $261 | $386 | $386 | $382 | $296 |
| Est. GPU Value | $2,500 | $2,000 | $1,100 | $1,000 | $750 | $1,500 | $1,350 | $1,200 | $900 |
| Web Earnings (Loss) | ($1,744) | ($1,364) | ($694) | ($599) | ($489) | ($1,114) | ($964) | ($818) | ($604) |
However what for those who weren’t fairly in a position to start mining proper when the GPUs launched? Here is a distinct have a look at the identical knowledge, solely this time we’re going with mining since June 1, 2021 — we have eliminated the RX 6600 XT from the checklist because it wasn’t out there but. We used barely decrease costs than we had been monitoring final 12 months on eBay because the GPU price estimate. As you’d count on, much less time mining means fewer cash mined, and the uncooked earnings in Ethereum have been on a gentle decline throughout a lot of the previous two years.
The RTX 3090 would not have mined even a single ETH up to now 12 months. Subtract the ability price and we estimate solely $756 within the worth of mined cash, for a card that very probably price $2,500 or extra. You’d nonetheless have the GPU, however the steadiness sheet can be sitting about $1,750 within the purple — with out factoring in the remainder of the PC price, or for institutional miners the warehouse and infrastructure price.
Different GPUs that did not price fairly as a lot fared a bit higher, at the least when it comes to how a lot cash you’d have misplaced, however none of those GPUs can be wherever near “worthwhile” for those who did not begin mining till June of final 12 months.
That is probably why many mining teams at the moment are seeking to dump all of their mining gear. If they’ll recuperate an honest chunk of the associated fee, possibly they broke even. However we did not embrace air con, warehouse area, or infrastructure and personnel prices, both. So it isn’t arduous to think about some mining farms being very far in debt proper now.
There’s one other different we should always take into account: the “promote as you go” mentality for mining. The thought right here is to recuperate preliminary prices as rapidly as doable, and solely begin holding cryptocoins when you’re within the black.
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 3060 Ti | RTX 3060 | RX 6900 XT | RX 6800 XT | RX 6800 | RX 6700 XT | RX 6600 XT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Date | 9/24/2020 | 9/17/2020 | 10/29/2020 | 12/2/2020 | 2/25/2021 | 12/8/2020 | 11/18/2020 | 11/18/2020 | 3/18/2021 | 8/11/2021 |
| Hash Fee (MH/s) | 119 | 97 | 60 | 60 | 41 | 62 | 62 | 61 | 46 | 32 |
| Energy (Watts) | 320 | 240 | 135 | 140 | 110 | 175 | 175 | 170 | 120 | 75 |
| Complete ETH Mined | 1.098 | 0.914 | 0.578 | 0.573 | 0.378 | 0.564 | 0.564 | 0.557 | 0.396 | 0.149 |
| Days Mined | 483 | 483 | 483 | 483 | 483 | 483 | 483 | 483 | 466 | 320 |
| Energy Value | $371 | $278 | $156 | $162 | $128 | $203 | $203 | $197 | $134 | $58 |
| Approx. Value | $2,899 | $2,051 | $1,209 | $1,209 | $775 | $1,740 | $1,400 | $1,219 | $1,120 | $634 |
| Promote As You Go Revenue (Loss) | ($886) | ($386) | ($163) | ($169) | ($81) | ($701) | ($361) | ($194) | ($349) | ($199) |
The above assumes that you just jumped on the mining bandwagon on March 1, 2021, when issues had been nonetheless trying fairly superior from a mining perspective. The costs come from our GPU worth index, for the month of March, apart from playing cards that launched after March 1 (just like the RX 6700 XT and RX 6600 XT), the place we used the primary month of pricing knowledge. Then we assume promoting off all of the mined Ethereum each day — that is most likely not life like, however even for those who did it as soon as per week the outcomes can be much like what we’re displaying right here.
For those who did this to attempt to recuperate the price of your {hardware} as rapidly as doable — and once more, we’re solely trying on the GPU price; the remainder of the PC may simply add one other $1,000 for those who had been constructing six GPU mining rigs with twin high-end energy provides — a number of of the GPUs may need come near being worthwhile, however different elements imply just about everybody misplaced cash. Nobody would have damaged even, regardless of mining for 483 days. Except you bought a cheaper price on the GPUs, naturally, or for those who held your cash and offered on the peak of Ethereum’s pricing bubble.
Backside Line for Cryptocurrency Mining
This nearly actually will not be the final time we hear or write about cryptocurrency mining. Nevertheless, it must be a sobering have a look at what you possibly can count on long-term. For those who get in proper at the beginning of the subsequent wave, pocketing the earnings as you go, you possibly can positively make again your funding. Getting deal on the graphics card within the first place will go a great distance towards placing your endeavor into the black as effectively.
The largest issue after all is the playing side of cryptocurrencies. Some individuals purchased a number of cash proper earlier than the bubble and managed to promote these cash for as a lot as 10X what they initially paid. And so they did all of that with out mining. You might additionally find yourself earning profits for those who mined cash and offered on the proper time. Both means, although, it is principally hypothesis and playing.
For those who did not get in early, or overpaid for {hardware}, or obtained nervous and offered on the fallacious time, or every other variety of doable routes, they misplaced cash — some corporations misplaced a lot of cash. The actual winners had been largely the graphics card producers and scalpers. Each fortunately took in individuals’s cash, laughing all the best way to the financial institution.
This previous cryptocurrency wave had some similarities to the earlier waves we noticed in 2017 and 2014, but it surely lasted loads longer. Maybe that was because of the pandemic and provide chain points, and we actually would not attempt to guess on what may occur if or after we see the subsequent cryptocurrency bubble. Nevertheless, some are nonetheless in it for the lengthy haul, and if they’ll cowl the prices for a few years and Ethereum shoots again as much as its earlier excessive, they’re going to all look extremely prescient. Alternatively, those that cannot maintain out for maybe 5 or extra years of ready will probably get caught holding the bag but once more.