How to Calculate the AMD RX 580 Mining Profitability

Do you want to own cryptocurrency soon? Your best move could be mining the crypto coins rather than buying them. However, mining cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Erethruem more requires powerful equipment. So, when choosing the best mining rig to build, you also want to understand how much money you will make. So, before you get the graphics card, let us break down the RX 580 mining profitability for you.

A Little Insight into the RX 580 Graphics Card

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a graphics card released in 2017 equipped with the 14nm AMD Polaris GPU. It is a powerful card for setting up gaming PCs, but it is also a great card for mining as it has good performance and low power consumption. If you have been mining for a while, you know how cryptocurrency rates vary, and when they do, you will need an even stronger graphics card to build an efficient rig.

Since you are considering the RX 580 to build a powerful mining rig, we will share the key factors that make it a good GPU with good profitability. We will start with your AMD Radeon RX 580 buying price, its performance, and electricity costs before we see how profitable this mining process will be for you.

1. Buying price

The Radeon RX 580 graphics cards are made by several companies though the technology belongs to the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) brand. Some companies include MSI, XFX, ASUS, ASRock, Sapphire, and more. The product above is made and sold by XFX and just under $750.

When determining the RX 580 mining profitability, you have to pay close attention to how much the video card costs, as this will affect your Return on Investment once you start mining. An efficient mining rig will need about six video cards that combine performance to solve the mining challenges faster.

If the XFX Radeon RX 580’s cost is way above your budget, you can look for second-hand deals from major e-commerce platforms. If lucky, you can find one for around $400, but you will have to make sure it is in good working condition and that you can find as many video cards as your setup needs.

2. Performance

When Bitcoin was introduced back in 2009, you did not need graphics processing units to mine a few coins. You could mine Bitcoins with your home computer, laptop, or smartphone. But, those were the days when crypto was not famous, so it was not as valuable as today. Currently, it is harder to mine a small fraction of a Bitcoin, which forces you to look for the best mining rig to mine.

But, what makes a powerful rig? It starts with the GPU and video card you use, which needs to be faster than CPUs. The speed matters because as more people start mining, the mining process also becomes harder. 

Crypto mining relies on hash power. According to Investopedia, a hash is a fixed-length output that solves a blockchain computation, summarizing the crypto mining process.

The hash rate is calculated in MH/s, and the RX 580 performs at 29 MH/s. So when you have six of the RX 580 graphics cards with these same hash rates, the rig you build is strong with a higher combined hash rate to mine the most profitable coins.

When buying a graphics card for your mining rig, you also want to understand how to manipulate the hash rate for even more performance from each card. The process is called overclocking, and it makes your computer run faster to perform certain tasks, such as mining faster.

The RX 580 is a strong card that you can overclock, and you will not run into problems with overheating. Finally, the fans are also quiet, which can improve the ambiance of your mining farm. But, even if the card is so good for mining, performance and power consumption are two inseparable factors that determine profitability. So let us see how the AMD Radeon RX 580 card consumes power.

3. Energy costs

The one guarantee you have when mining crypto is that it gets harder by the day, thus requiring you to find even stronger mining rigs. When it comes to graphics cards, the likes of AMD Radeon RX 580 cannot solve the complex blockchain challenges unless you invest in several cards. Then, when you have more graphics cards, they will require more power to run and also more power to cool them down to prevent overheating.

With that mining hardware, your mining farm will require high-wattage power supplies. So, as you calculate your monthly USD income after mining, your RX 580 will only be profitable if you get reasonable energy expenses. But, how do you calculate the electricity cost to determine mining profitability?

The easiest way to determine how much power your mining rig consumes is to compare your energy bill before and after you started mining.

When you do that, you can also estimate how much power an RX 580 mining rig will cost once you understand that each card needs 135W to mine. Then, you will need to know how long it takes to mine your favorite coin.

For example, it can take around 102.9 days to mine one Ethereum if you use a hash rate of 750MH/S and 1350W, but these rates will differ depending on various factors like mining difficulty and the cost per kWh. The rates will also differ when mining different coins like Bitcoin, which is the most expensive to mine of all.

How to calculate the AMD Radeon RX 580 Mining Profitability

Now that you know the three main factors that affect how much money you can make from crypto mining using the AMD Radeon RX 580, you need to calculate your estimated payback period. 

The payback period relies on various factors like the coin you are mining, your power bill, and the current difficulty. You can use different mining calculators, such as the CryptoCompare calculator. Let us use a calculation example using the following information;

You are mining EthereumYou belong to a mining pool with a 1% pool rateYou mine with six AMD Radeon RX 580 graphic cards, hence a high hash rate of 180MH/S and a combined 810Watts.Your cost of electricity is $ 0.12 per kWh

At the time of testing, you can mine 0.002441 Eth daily at the cost of $ 2.33. If you calculate monthly, you will mine 0.07322 ETh at the cost of $ 69.98. Yearly, you’ll have mined Ξ 0.8908 at the cost of $ 851.47.

With the 1 ETH = $ 3,032.86 rate, you will make a profit of $5 daily, $ 149.86 monthly, and $ 1,823.31 yearly. However, it is vital to note that these rates will vary as hash rates and mining difficulties change in the future.

While you have the amount of money you can make every day, month, or year, you must understand the payback period. To understand this, you can take the profit and subtract the cost of buying your AMD RX 580 graphics cards. For example, if you bought six graphics cards at $400 each, you’d need the rig to run for about 480 days to recover your investment.

Frequently Asked Questions About the AMD Radeon RX 580 Mining Profitability

a) Is the RX 580 good for mining?

The RX 580 balances performance and energy consumption to deliver great mining profitability. Other miners point out that it comes at a reasonable price for the performance and durability it offers. The card has easy settings, and you can also overclock it for more mining power. The RX 580 rarely overheats, plus it has noiseless fans for a comfortable mining farm.

b) Which algorithm is the RX 580 good for?

A mining algorithm loosely refers to the profitable coin you want to mine. The mining process involves having your rig solve different unique hashes, an effort always rewarded with the crypto you mine. When using RX 580 graphics cards, you can solve most algorithms for cryptos like Ethereum classic and others.

But, when buying the cards for your rigs, you will need to make sure you get the best VRAM to meet the required DAG to mine certain coins. If mining Ethereum, make sure you get the 8GB RX 580 graphics card as Ethereum has a DAG size of more than 4GB.

c) What else can I use the RX 580 graphic card for?

Suppose you also want to use the RX 580 for other uses after you have mined enough coins; you can also use the cards to create powerful gaming PCs. As the RX 580 comes at an affordable price, especially if you can find a used one online, you can create your gaming PC under 800 that will perform best without overheating.

d) How many RX 580 graphics cards do I need for a mining rig?

As you understand how the mining landscape changes with time, you know you want the most powerful mining rig for any coin. But, one RX 580 card is not enough to build a strong rig as it can overheat or sustain other damages that threaten its lifespan.

You can use up to eight graphics cards to build a strong rig. First, however, ensure you build your rig perfectly to eliminate overheating. You can set up external fans in some instances if the mining farm gets too hot.

In addition, to using more graphics cards, you can also join a mining pool. You will join other miners in a pool to combine the hash rates for better performance. However, understand you will need to share the gains with all mining rigs in a pool. You will still need the energy cost and RX 580 buying price to estimate your payback period.