No single graphics card is the best for mining, EMCD says in an undated guide retrieved Oct. 10, 2026. The right pick depends on the algorithm a miner plans to run, local GPU (graphics processing unit) prices, electricity costs and overall budget. The guide adds that Nvidia RTX and AMD RDNA generations it calls "recent" include several strong options. A separate 2Miners article from June 18, 2019, offers advice on judging cost.
Key facts from EMCD and 2Miners
- Best card: None suits every miner. Algorithm, local GPU prices, electricity costs and budget decide.
- Comparing hashrates: Compare cards only on the algorithm you plan to mine.
- Key efficiency measure: Hashrate per watt at the wall, including power supply losses and the rest of the rig.
- Memory: The card's onboard memory drives mining performance. System random access memory (RAM) only has to run the operating system and miner.
- Ethereum: Not mineable since September 2022.
- Cost rule (2Miners, 2019): Divide a card's price by its hashrate. A lower result is better.
One card, three hashrates
A hashrate figure means little without the algorithm behind it, EMCD says. Nvidia's RTX 3080 is its worked example. On Ethash, the card does roughly 98 megahashes per second (MH/s). On kHeavyHash, the algorithm Kaspa uses, it reaches about 850 MH/s. On KawPow, used by Ravencoin, the figure is about 42 MH/s. Each algorithm does different work, so the three numbers cannot be lined up as a ranking. None of them is a profit estimate either. The practical rule is to compare cards on the algorithm you intend to mine.
RTX 3080 hashrate by mining algorithm, per EMCD
How far apart are the RTX 3080's reported rates on three mining algorithms?
Data table
| Item | MH/s | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ethash | 98 | Source: The best GPUs for mining (emcd.io) |
| kHeavyHash (Kaspa) | 850 | Source: The best GPUs for mining (emcd.io) |
| KawPow (Ravencoin) | 42 | Source: The best GPUs for mining (emcd.io) |
These are EMCD's approximate rates for one card on different algorithms, so the bars are not a performance ranking or a profit estimate.
Old Ethereum lists are history
Ethereum has not been mineable since September 2022, according to EMCD. Ethash rates for Ethereum mining therefore belong to the past. The 2Miners article shows what such lists looked like in 2019. It called the GTX 1070 "pretty much the most popular choice among miners" and listed the card at 30 MH/s on Ethash. Both figures belong to that 2019 listing.
Power at the wall and the right memory
EMCD's guide names hashrate per watt as the measure with the biggest effect on profit. The watts count at the wall socket. That figure includes power supply unit (PSU) losses and the rest of the rig, not the peak hashrate printed on a spec sheet. Memory is the second check. The card's own onboard memory, meaning its capacity, type and bandwidth, drives mining performance. System RAM only has to be big enough for the operating system and mining software.
Counting the whole rig
John Smith, founder of 2Miners, gave a simple cost rule in the 2019 article. Divide a card's price by its hashrate to get the cost of one unit of hashrate. A lower result is better. The rest of the rig changes the answer. A motherboard usually takes 8 GPUs, and its price adds to the total. So do the processor, power supply, memory and hard drive.
Analysis: a buying order the guides support
Taken together, the two guides suggest an order of work for a buyer. First, choose the coin and its algorithm. Second, collect hashrates for that algorithm only. Third, rank the shortlist by hashrate per watt at the wall. Fourth, check that each card's onboard memory fits the job. Fifth, price the full rig before dividing by hashrate. The algorithm comes first because the same card's hashrate changes by algorithm, as EMCD's RTX 3080 figures show. The 2019 cost rule still works as arithmetic. Its inputs do not. Card prices and Ethash rates from that year cannot stand in for current numbers.
What is confirmed and what is not
Both guides treat cost as part of the choice, not only speed: electricity and budget in one, price per unit of hashrate in the other. Only EMCD, in an undated guide, reports the RTX 3080 rates and the end of Ethereum mining in September 2022. Only 2Miners describes the GTX 1070 as popular with miners, and that was in 2019. Neither guide names a current best card, current prices or live profit figures.
Next step
The full EMCD guide sets out its method by algorithm and wall efficiency. Putting it to work on a purchase takes dated benchmarks for the chosen algorithm, local card prices and your own electricity rate.
Sources: The best GPUs for mining (emcd.io) · The Best GPUs for Mining in 2019 – Crypto Mining Blog (2miners.com), Jun 18, 2019
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