On 25 October 2026, WhatToMine's GPU table ranks the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 first for daily mining revenue and the RTX 4090 second. Both are mining Pearl (PRL), a GPU-mined chain whose mainnet launched on 27 April 2026. At $0.10/kWh the calculator lists $7.37 a day of profit for an RTX 4090 and $2.56 for an RTX 4070. The calculator itself flags the RTX 5090 row as "limited, unverified results". These figures are a snapshot. Pearl's returns have already fallen sharply since launch. The coins that older guides recommend, Kaspa above all, are no longer suited to GPUs, and Bitcoin cannot be mined profitably with a GPU at all.
What changed for GPU miners
Ethereum, Kaspa and Flux are no longer GPU options
- Ethereum ended proof-of-work with the Merge on 15 September 2022. Validators who stake ETH now propose blocks, so mining no longer produces valid Ethereum blocks.
- Kaspa (kHeavyHash) is now mined mainly by ASICs. A ViaBTC guide published on 30 July 2026 says "ASICs account for most network hashrate and are generally the economic choice". It adds that GPU mining remains technically possible but is generally not economical. Older articles that call Kaspa the best GPU coin and quote RTX 4070 or RTX 4090 Kaspa hashrates describe a market that no longer exists.
- Flux moved off GPU mining. Its October 2025 progress report, posted on 3 November 2025, says a soft fork moved the network from GPU mining to Proof of Useful Work v2. FluxNode operators now handle block production and validation, and block times dropped from 2 minutes to 30 seconds.
Bitcoin needs specialised hardware
The Bitcoin.org FAQ says "the only cost-effective method of mining today is using specialized hardware". A consumer GPU has no practical place on the SHA-256 network.
Pearl is the newest GPU market, and it is volatile
Hashrate Index (published by Luxor Technology, 2 June 2026) describes Pearl as a proof-of-useful-work chain. Its miners run large matrix multiplications, the arithmetic used by AI models, instead of hashing. The work is wrapped in a zero-knowledge proof so it can be checked cheaply on-chain. The main points from that report:
- Mainnet went live on 27 April 2026. Maximum supply is 2.1 billion PRL.
- Mining runs only on NVIDIA GPUs. Many miners rent RTX 4090 or RTX 5090 instances and point them at pools.
- The official pool charges a 20% fee and accepts only H100 and H200 cards. Community pools support consumer GPUs.
- One tracker's RTX 5090 estimate fell from about $33.80 to about $17.19 a day, roughly 49%, within weeks as difficulty rose.
- The block reward only declines, PRL trades on minor venues, and in early June 2026 the token was reported 35–40% below its late-May peak.
- Most of the "useful" work so far is inference that nobody pays for. A different coin also uses the PRL ticker on major price aggregators.
Coins still designed for GPUs
- Ravencoin (KAWPOW). The project says KAWPOW replaced X16R and X16RV2 after ASICs made X16R economically viable. Its stated aim is to keep consumer GPUs competitive with ASICs.
- Ergo (Autolykos v2). Ergo's documentation describes a memory table whose scheduled adjustments raise the minimum GPU VRAM needed over time. According to the project, ASICs with limited memory cannot compete effectively.
Which GPUs lead on current revenue
The figures below come from WhatToMine's GPU page on 25 October 2026, at $0.10/kWh, before pool fees. The top algorithm for each NVIDIA card is Pearl. For the RX 7900 XTX it is QUANTUS (QPoW).
| GPU | Listed power | Revenue/day | Profit/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5090* | 520 W | $10.00 | $8.76 |
| GeForce RTX 4090 | 370 W | $8.25 | $7.37 |
| GeForce RTX 4080 | — | $4.75 | $4.20 |
| GeForce RTX 4070 | 130 W | $2.88 | $2.56 |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | 140 W | $1.90 | $1.56 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 | 70 W | $1.03 | $0.86 |
| Radeon RX 7900 XTX* | 220 W | $1.74 | $1.21 |
*Flagged by the calculator as limited, unverified results.
Reading the ranking
- Revenue scales with compute and memory. NVIDIA cards dominate because Pearl is NVIDIA-only.
- The order can change fast. It rests on a single coin whose difficulty is rising and whose reward is falling. A list built on Kaspa in January 2026 was obsolete within months.
- Rated power differs from mining power. NVIDIA rates total graphics power at 575 W for the RTX 5090, 450 W for the RTX 4090, 220 W for the RTX 4070 SUPER and 200 W for the RTX 4070. The calculator's lower figures assume tuned cards, so measure your own draw at the wall.
Reference specs (NVIDIA)
| GPU | CUDA cores | Memory | Total graphics power |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | 21,760 | 32 GB GDDR7, 512-bit | 575 W (1,000 W system recommended) |
| RTX 4090 | 16,384 | 24 GB GDDR6X, 384-bit | 450 W |
| RTX 4070 SUPER | 7,168 | 12 GB GDDR6X | 220 W |
| RTX 4070 | 5,888 | 12 GB GDDR6 or GDDR6X | 200 W |
What does your GPU net per day?
Enter your card's daily mining revenue, its measured power draw, your electricity price and your pool fee to see daily net profit.
| Daily mining revenue for your card | Measured power draw at the wall | Your electricity price | Pool fee taken from revenue | Daily net profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.25 $ | 370 W | 0.1 $/kWh | 0 % | 7.36 $ |
| 2.88 $ | 130 W | 0.2 $/kWh | 0 % | 2.26 $ |
| 8.25 $ | 370 W | 0.05 $/kWh | 0 % | 7.81 $ |
| 8.25 $ | 370 W | 0.1 $/kWh | 20 % | 5.71 $ |
- Revenue, power draw, electricity price and pool fee are your own inputs; the defaults repeat the article's RTX 4090 figures at $0.10/kWh before pool fees.
- The result assumes today's revenue holds for the whole day; Pearl estimates have halved within weeks as difficulty rose.
- Divide what you paid for the card by a positive result to get a payback period in days, and plan around a lower figure than today's.
This is arithmetic on your inputs only: it cannot forecast difficulty, coin price or reward changes, and it leaves out the rest of the system's power, cooling, hardware cost and tax.
How to calculate your own ROI
Step 1: daily power cost
Daily power cost = (watts ÷ 1,000) × 24 × price per kWh
A card drawing 130 W at $0.10/kWh uses 3.12 kWh a day and costs about $0.31. A 300 W card at the same price costs $0.72 a day, or about $21.60 over 30 days.
Step 2: daily net profit
Daily net profit = daily revenue − power cost − pool fee
Pool fees vary from pool to pool. Pearl's official pool, for example, takes 20%.
Step 3: payback period
Payback (days) = what you paid for the card ÷ daily net profit
This assumes profit stays flat, which it will not. Difficulty usually rises after a new coin launches, and one Pearl estimate halved within weeks. Rerun the numbers weekly, and plan around a lower figure than today's when deciding whether a card pays for itself.
Electricity sensitivity
Daily profit before pool fees, using the calculator's revenue and listed power above:
| Power price | RTX 4070 (130 W) | RTX 4090 (370 W) |
|---|---|---|
| $0.05/kWh | $2.72 | $7.81 |
| $0.10/kWh | $2.57 | $7.36 |
| $0.20/kWh | $2.26 | $6.47 |
| $0.30/kWh | $1.94 | $5.59 |
At today's Pearl revenue, the power price matters less than whether that revenue lasts. On low-revenue coins such as Ravencoin or Ergo, the electricity rate usually decides whether a card makes any money.
Practical checks before you buy or switch
- Use live data. Look up your exact card on WhatToMine or minerstat and compare more than one algorithm.
- Match the algorithm to the hardware. Pearl is NVIDIA-only, and Ergo's memory requirement rises over time. Ravencoin and Ergo are both designed to keep GPUs competitive.
- Plan for the reward going to zero. A GPU keeps resale value for gaming and AI work, but mining income alone may not repay it.
- Size the power supply from the measured draw of every card plus the rest of the system. NVIDIA recommends a 1,000 W system supply for an RTX 5090 PC.
- Watch thermals on used cards. Test a used card under sustained load before you rely on it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you mine Bitcoin with a GPU in 2026?
No. Bitcoin.org says cost-effective mining now requires specialised hardware.
Which GPU earns the most from mining right now?
On 25 October 2026, WhatToMine lists the RTX 5090 first and the RTX 4090 second, both mining Pearl. The calculator flags the RTX 5090 data as limited. For lower power draw, the RTX 4070 lists $2.56 a day of profit at $0.10/kWh.
Is Kaspa still worth mining with a GPU?
Not economically, according to a July 2026 ViaBTC guide, which says ASICs hold most of the network's hashrate.
Can you still mine Flux with a GPU?
No. Since its October 2025 soft fork, FluxNode operators secure the network instead of GPU miners.
How long does a mining GPU take to pay back?
Divide the card's cost by its daily net profit, then assume that profit will fall. New-coin returns can halve within weeks.
The profit ranking reflects one calculator on one date and will shift with Pearl's difficulty and price. None of this is investment advice.
