Best Cryptocurrency to mine with 3GB GPUs

[usr_1]

Hi there,
I am rather new to the world of Altcoins, so excuse me if some of my questions are stupid.

I have four graphic cards lying around:
- HD7970, 3GB
- r9 280x, 3GB
- GTX 670, 2GB
- GTX 690, 4GB
I also already got Mainboard, CPU, Ram and PSU, so other than electricity bill no additional costs. If I am informed correctly, I can not use the 670 and the 690 for mining, because the cost more to operate than the bring in. Is that correct?

Can I use the two AMD cards for mining? I am especially concerned about the 3GB, I heard they will soon no longer work well for Ethereum.

Which currency would be the most profitable? Again, only 3GB vRam. At the same time, I would like to be able to mine some time before the GPUs get useless, and have a currency that is rather stable (I don't want anything with higher risk than the general alt coins already have).
So what I am looking for is a balanced Coin between profit, stability and future "minability".

How much would I get from mining? (for a buck a month, I would rather sell my cards)

Thanks in advance!

 

[mkrohn]

run the nicehash mining tool on each of them and run benchmark to get a good idea of hash rate for a decent variety of cards. The 7970 and the 280x are exactly the same if I remember right. I haven't used any nvidia under a 750ti. Those are likely really not worth mining on but the 7970 and 280x might let you pocket around a $1/day each.

 

[Airbrushkid]

https://new.nicehash.com/profitability-calculator

 

[usr_1]

Ok, but are there any predictions about blockchainlength and mining difficulty? It would not really be worth it if I had to stop after a month.

 

[tacohunter52]

Ok, but are there any predictions about blockchainlength and mining difficulty? It would not really be worth it if I had to stop after a month.

Then don't mine with those cards.


Unless you get extremely lucky and mine something that gets pumped "to the moon" (which no one can predict) you wont make anything worthwhile with those cards.

If you wanna mine for fun and to learn about it, power to you..., don't expect much return though.

 

[mkrohn]

I have one 280x hooked up that I'm planning on phasing out. They burn far too much power to have any realistic expectations of it being worth it beyond this winter when you can use it as a space heater.

 

[doublejack]

I suggest mining Ethereum with the two 3GB cards. What you heard is mostly correct. The current DAG size is a little over 2GB. Not all VRAM is usable for a DAG, so as the DAG size grows at some point in the relatively near future a 3GB card will not be able to mine Ethereum. That's still several months away, though. I expect it will happen some time in the first half of 2018. However, there is also the switch from PoW to PoS to consider, so the 3GB limitation may not ultimately matter much. If you haven't heard about Proof of Stake as it relates to Ethereum that's something to look into.

As far as the GTX 670 and 690 there are some altcoins you can mine with them. However, the info I'm seeing indicates that the GTX 670 consumes something in the neighborhood of 140 watts under load, and the GTX 690 is closer to 200W. At that consumption level you are going to be losing money mining based on today's coin prices. You could still make money by speculating, mining something like decred and hoping it sees a nice value increase, but that is a gamble. I'd probably not mine with these power hungry cards.

 

[tacohunter52]

The PoS switch is not a reason to not mine. Eth is also not going to suddenly just switch over to PoS....


A reason not to mine is that, im assuming, the OP heard about mining and wants to make quick cash, his cards will maybe do $1.50 /day right now(all together).., hardly seems worth it unless he just wants to learn about mining.

 

[doublejack]

I agree that PoS is not a reason to avoid mining, but it will radically change the equation when it is implemented.

 

[tacohunter52]

I thought they were saying 1 out of every 100 blocks to start with whenever casper launches, so 1% of the blocks.

It'll change the equation when it comes to mining, but I think it'll be a gradual change. whereas difficulty and price swings can change the equation real fast.

 

[usr_1]

Thanks for the responses, you already helped me a lot.

I tried NiceHash, and the most profitable Algorithm for my r9 turned out to be Equihash with Claymorewhich would bring in about 0,00038 BTC/Day, which is equivalent to 0,875€
Then I calculated in the cost for power (0,27€ / KWh) and the power draw, measured at the socket (~290W)

I had to find out that while bringing in about 0,90€ per day, the operation cost would be (0,29*0,27*24 =) 1,8792€ per day, making it -1€ a day.

Did I miscalculate something? I don't know how anyone would be able to mine with those prices.

 

[DuronClocker]

Looks about right. Your cost of electricity is nearly 3x what mine is. If my electricity was even double, I'd no longer be profitable right now.

 

[usr_1]

Aw man. Where do you live that you have such low energy cost? I'm in Munich, Germany btw.

 

[GreenOrbs]

The US has on average a $0.12/kwh national average but some places are cheaper. My power is 0.05/kwh for the first 1000w for example (0.17 after that). But I could have chosen a flat 0.09 if I had wanted to.

 

[Airbrushkid]

First those cards draw to much power. Second your power cost is high compared to others. I pay $0.04 kwh. And if your trying to make any money from mining it's going to cost you. To start, newer graphic cards is one thing. It's not cheap. I have seen rigs out there with 9 - GTX 1080 ti's taking 2400 watts. Another rig with 13 - GTX 1060 6 gb cards. Go out and read, watch the videos on Youtube.

Thanks for the responses, you already helped me a lot.

I tried NiceHash, and the most profitable Algorithm for my r9 turned out to be Equihash with Claymorewhich would bring in about 0,00038 BTC/Day, which is equivalent to 0,875€
Then I calculated in the cost for power (0,27€ / KWh) and the power draw, measured at the socket (~290W)

I had to find out that while bringing in about 0,90€ per day, the operation cost would be (0,29*0,27*24 =) 1,8792€ per day, making it -1€ a day.

Did I miscalculate something? I don't know how anyone would be able to mine with those prices.

 

[usr_1]

Yeah no I don't really look for investing in new hardware, I just had them lying around and thought instead of gradually losing value, I could actually get something from them. But it seems it really doesn't make any sense to use them for mining, so I'm just going to sell them. Thanks for your answers, you helped me a lot!

 

[geekebox]

Yeah no I don't really look for investing in new hardware, I just had them lying around and thought instead of gradually losing value, I could actually get something from them. But it seems it really doesn't make any sense to use them for mining, so I'm just going to sell them. Thanks for your answers, you helped me a lot!

Id sell them. Youll never get more them then right now.