Can I mine Monero with a graphics card?

 Short answer - yes.

But for 95% of people it's not a good idea. Monero uses an algorithm called RandomX that is optimised to work best on CPUs. Mining with a GPU will get about 10% of the hashrate of a CPU, while still using the full power of the GPU. For most people it will cost a lot more for the electricity than you'll earn. And even if you have free electricity, you'll earn so little that it's not worth spending even $30 on a GPU for mining.

There are lots of old guides that advise mining with a GPU. There are from before monero switched to the RandomX algorithm so they no longer apply.

HOWEVER, there are some pools with automatic algorithm switching that let you mine a coin your GPU would be more profitable on. The pool converts it and pays you in monero. See here for a full guide on selecting a pool.

Assuming you're not using one of the algorithm switching pools, who should mine monero with a GPU?

  • If you have free electricity.
  • If you were going to use an electric resistive/convection heater but have a computer that can mine Monero instead to produce heat.

Comments

  1. Unknown05/02/2021, 17:32

    Thanks for writing this. I'm looking at potentially GPU mining XMR or various other crypto, i have cheap electricity as well. Approx 3-4 dollars a day.

    Effective hash rate for the mining rig i'm putting together is 330MH/s

    Haven't checked if i do it via CPU and how much that would cost me.

    But based off of this blog post i've seen that using RandomX i won't get my 330 MH... is it just that RandomX doesn't like GPU's? Just trying to see what coin i can mine at an acceptable profit. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown11/02/2021, 01:57

    I have a RTX 3060 TI which reads 60MHs, and if I use a Monero calculator, the profit is ridiculous. Why does this happen?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mzainal12/03/2021, 04:49

    if mining using cpu is not profitable, then there is no reason for us to mine right? it would be better if you allow to mine using gpu.

    ReplyDelete
  4. etw0115/06/2021, 19:20

    Thanks for the info.

    I currently mine Monero and will be accepting it as payment for my brick and mortar business opening very soon. Monero is fungible. Monero is the future.

    ReplyDelete

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