I have broken this article down into 3 sections, each section representing a different hash rate which also represents different price ranges. Most cards can be broken down into a price per hashrate and you will see this quickly reflected in places like eBay as mining becomes more or less profitable all of the cards eventually sync in harmony.
If you’re reading this article around the time it was published it goes without saying that Amazon is almost entirely sold out of graphics cards that you would use for mining. If there are any that exist there, they are usually overpriced.
Having said that, eBay is where most of the shopping is done for new and used graphics cards. It’s the only place you can find them in bulk. Mercari and things like Facebook Marketplace have an occasional deal here and there but miners are typically looking to buy 6 cards or more at a time.
When I began mining, money was a thing so I thought I would be slick and buy the best low end cards, looking back this wasn’t the best idea for how big my mining operation was to become as it became harder and harder to manage, troubleshoot, and repair all of the systems.
Low End Cards 20-40 MHS
Low end cards are a great option for those just starting out and are short on cash flow. Building systems can be rather expensive, especially at today’s inflated price ranges. There are a lot of cards in this range. From GeForce cards like the 1060,1070, 1080, 1660, 2060 and AMD cards like the 5500, 5600, 570, 580, and 590.
My first set of 6 cards were Radeon 5600XTs which I got off Amazon before the big boom in prices. I also went on a buying spree of used cards thinking I was getting a great deal buying up all of the 570s, 580s, and 5700s for less than new card cost.
I will tell you flat out, I will probably never buy a used card again — unless I’m able to get the exact same type and brand to complete a whole system. I’ve had so many problems mixing and matching AMD cards that I’ve considered selling them all off, especially the 5700s.
My rankings for low end cards are all about power and power requirements. Nothing is more disappointing than having to power a low end card that uses 2 8 pin power connectors (*cough GTX 1080s) because it requires more expensive power supplies or server power boards. Therefore, these are arranged by my personal experiences which includes troubleshooting and maintenance.
- GeForce GTX 1660 Super – Of all of the cards I own, I own the most of these. They are fantastic in 12+ card systems, only have 1 8 pin connector, use very low power (75-90 watts), and run at a solid 31.7mhs across the board with very little fluctuation. The clock settings you want to use in Afterburner are -502 core and -502 memory. Be warned that there is a batch of these cards where -502 and -502 will not work and they actually have to be overclocked up to +1200 on the memory side, these are rare. I have 3 of these cards out of the hundred I own that need to be overclocked. This would also be similar to a 1660 Ti but be careful not to get the 1660 OC as it will only go around 25mhs. I get the single fan version and to date, not one of these fans has stopped working.
- AMD Radeon 5600XT – Coming in at second and running at about 37-40mhs are the 5600xts running off of about 115 watts. These are the first cards I started with but their prices went out of sync with the 1660 Supers. For a while the 1660 supers were running between $400-500 new while these cards were passing $700 used and since we are in the business to make money I had to scoop up the 1660 Supers over these. This might be the only card I recommend from AMD, although if you buy the exact same card for 570s and 580s, they can be pretty decent cards. I would avoid mixing and matching 570s and 580s in one system, it’s been a nightmare for me.
Mid Range Cards 40-70 MHS
This is the range where you see the GeForce 3060s, 3070s and Radeon 5700s, 6700s, and 6800s. I will tell you that I don’t even have a second option in this range. I bought 12 Radeon 5700s and 90% of my issues have come from those cards. It got so bad I started separating them into 3 other systems and they will run fine for a while and then have problems. I mixed and matched my 5700s so maybe a full system of the same type would work flawlessly but they have left a bad taste in my mouth so the winner here is the GTX 3070.
- GeForce RTX 3070 (Non-LHR) – Like the 1660 Super these cards are as stable as they get. I’ve had systems of 12 where the hash rate of all of the cards were within .1 of each other. They use about 127 watts of power and hit over 61mhs, you can get them up to 64 but they aren’t very stable. The problem now is that they started making LHR (Lite Hash Rate) editions where the mining speed is cut in half. These may become harder to find and maybe another card takes its spot but these have been key to my operation.
High End Cards 70+ MHS
As I continue to build systems almost all of the cards I order will fall into this category, this is where the Radeon VII, RTX 3080, and 3090s come into play.
You have to avoid the LHR cards but my systems will almost be solely built out of NON LHR 3080s but I am considering building with all 3090s if those become hard to find. The only downside is that some of them use more than 2 8 pin connectors or need adapters so the power supply requirements tend to go up.
Summary
Even though I’ve made my recommendations above, never forget to compare the cost of power and the cost of each card by price per hash.
A 1660 Super for $600 runs at 31.7mhs which means it’s about $18.92 per 1 mhs. Even though that’s a card I recommend, it wouldn’t make sense to pass up a 5600XT for $700 that runs at 40mhs because that comes out to $17.50 per 1 mhs.
I built myself a spreadsheet that does all the math for me. There is a line for each card and all I do is adjust the current price of the card and it calculates the rest for me to pick a winner.
This is also why I build complete systems all at once. In the above scenario I would try to scoop up 6-12 of the 5600s at that price because it’s currently a better deal. The next time I go to build another system all of the prices could be significantly different so don’t get too lazy and always do a little bit of math.
I also pay higher prices because I shop new. If you’re not afraid of used cards or have confidence in your ability to troubleshoot and repair them, you can get great cards for less cost per hash.
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