Mining on AMD Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT: profitability, hashrate table, overclocking

An event that was eagerly awaited in the camp of “red” miners - AMD held a presentation of graphics adapters from the RDNA 2 line: Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT .

The innovative solution of the AdvancedMicroDevices was appreciated by computer technology enthusiasts. The red video cards of the latest series showed higher performance in games than the RTX 30 based on the Ampere architecture and at the same time they will be sold at a lower price.

For seven long years, green flagship graphics cards dominated the market, but now AMD has managed to take the lead. Optimists believed that there was no need to rush to assemble mining rigs based on the RTX 3080 or RX 5700 XT. It is quite possible that the cards of the new line will become a more profitable option.

However, a miracle did not happen; the actual hashrate of the Radeon RX 6800/RX 6800 XT video cards in mining did not significantly exceed the preliminary calculations of specialists based on the technical parameters of these GPU devices. By and large, the new version of Navi is an alternative to the RX 5700 or RTX 3070. But let's talk about everything in order and start with the appearance of the new AMD video cards already on sale.

Packaging and appearance of AMD Radeon RX 6800

There have been no fundamental changes in the packaging design and appearance of the new generation AMD graphics GPU adapters. The AMD Radeon™ RX 6800 graphics card is a three-cooler GPU device with a length of almost 30 cm, occupying 2 slots (and the 6800 XT, in general, 2.5). It must be said that in parallel with the increase in power, the size of video cards is also growing.

Compared to the tiny video adapters of the early 2000s, modern gaming GPUs look like real mastodons that will soon no longer fit into a standard case. However, for miners this is absolutely unimportant; the main thing is that the cooling system is as efficient as possible and can always cope with the load. But let's see what this miracle of technology can do.

Thermal images

All thermal images were taken under maximum load for a general overview and understanding of the cooling system with a slight overclocking of the core and memory.

By installing a thermal chamber on top, we get the following indicators:

GPU temperature remains at 69 degrees

– this is not a very good indicator!

Memory at ~59 degrees.

Unfortunately, unlike the RX 6800, the RX 6800XT performs much worse in terms of the cooling system.

By installing the thermal chamber on the side (on the cooler side), we get the following indicators:

The GPU temperature remains at ~69 degrees.

Overall the map looks very cold!

Tests in MSI Afterburner show +- the same results, the GPU temperature is at 71 (73) degrees:

Unfortunately, AMD did not make the ideal cooling system for such a powerful card. Yes, 73 degrees is not lethal for a GPU, but it’s not an ideal figure either.

AMD Radeon RX 6800 Specifications

Table of comparative characteristics of the RX 6800 with its predecessors and competitors.

Bench testing, hashrate on different algorithms. On thematic forums, many questions were asked like: “Will it really be possible to get 150 Mh/s on Ethash on the 6000 series from AMD?” Judging by the “bare” teraflops, the computing power of the green flagship is much higher, with the RTX 3080 delivering a maximum of 103 Mh/s. That's how it happened.

Purely theoretically, the RX 6800 could not overclock to 100 megahash, even taking into account the higher core and memory frequencies. If everything in mining depended on the ability of the graphics adapter to operate stably at high frequencies, then more stable overclocking cards with Samsung memory were simply worth their weight in gold to miners.

Yes, the hashrate depends on the memory and core overclocking parameters, but not to that extent. Of course, you need to take into account that the new architecture significantly improves performance, but mining, in the end, is a banal search of cryptographic codes in search of a suitable option. But you can’t argue with the facts; when the new cards were used to mine cryptocurrency, they showed what they could really show and nothing more.

The forecast based on technical characteristics disappointed those who really hoped for 150 Mh/s, but bench tests confirmed it.

Real hashrate table for RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT

The data was taken from the Miningclubinfo thematic forum, as well as from mining profitability calculators Minersat and WhatToMine. It turns out that on Ether they almost did not surpass their predecessors. However, it should be taken into account that 5700 XT cards have already learned to reflash, but no one has yet tried to modify the BIOS of the RX 6800. Perhaps, over time, folk craftsmen will get to them.

Theoretically, with the correct selection of timings, these video cards can be overclocked on Ethash to 70 , or even up to 75 megahash, but no more. That is, the red video adapters of this series still lag behind their competitors RTX 3080. The company under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Su has never released anything more serious than Radeon VII

Equipment

The graphics card comes in colorful packaging featuring the "AMD" and "Sapphire" logos on the front, as well as a bold robotic Sapphire Nitro logo. There is no map image.

On the back of the box we see the technical specifications and benefits of the Nitro+ card

Overclocking AMD Radeon RX 6800

What can we say about overclocking new video cards? You need to set almost the same parameters as on the old 570/580, memory on 2100/2150 and core 1200/1250.

These graphics adapters work stably for crypto mining on Windows, but according to miners’ reviews, there are still problems with HiveOS. Devices are detected and started, but failures occur frequently. So, if you buy this model, forget about Hive and put a ten. But AMD 60-line cards are quite compatible with the NiceHash miner.

How much can you earn

Knowing that this video card works well on the Ethash algorithm (Ether Coin) and knowing its hashrate, you can calculate the payback of this video card, how much it will bring per day, month, year.

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To calculate, enter the hashrate of this video card in the “Hashing Power” column, in our case it is 66

“ Pool Fees ” is the pool commission, you don’t have to enter it if you don’t know. The average commission for all pools is 1%.

Next, in the “ Power Usage ” column, you need to enter the power consumption of the video card (farm). In our case it is 230 . We enter this number in this column.

“ Power Cost ” is the price for your electricity (“per socket”). Enter the value in cents. For example, our electricity costs an average of 3 rubles – that’s $0.05. Enter this or another number of yours.

That's all! Click on the “ Calculate ” button and find out how much you will receive from 1 video card per day, week, month, year!

How to reduce the power consumption of video cards?

The easiest way to reduce card consumption is to lower the Powerlimit. You can also carry out undervolting, that is, lower the voltage of the graphics core, by modifying the BIOS or setting the necessary parameters using specialized software.

The first tests showed that a high Power limit does nothing but increase energy consumption. There is no need to raise the power limit much, the maximum is +20 no higher. It is not possible to reduce the voltage using the –cdvc –mcdvc parameters in the latest version of Phoneixminer. You need to wait until the developers release a new release. Now the card consumes about 250 W .

AMD RX 6900 XT video card in mining

The AMD RX 6900 XT graphics card is great for mining. Next, we will select the optimal overclocking parameters for mining on the AMD RX 6900 XT. Let's find out which drivers to use most correctly and effectively. Let's look at the main characteristics and measure the hashrate for popular algorithms.

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Profitability, relevance of purchase

At the time of writing the review, the most profitable algorithm is Ethash. More precisely, the Ethereum (ETH) coin, since all other tokens of this algorithm, including Ether Classic, are in the second ten in the ranking of profitable crypto coins.

At a speed of 64 megahash, the RX 6800 XT video card will earn 0.0023 ETH per day, which as of April 24, 2021 is equal to 420 Russian rubles. From this amount you still need to deduct electricity costs according to your local tariff. Let’s say the net income is 370 rubles per day or 11,100 per month. At a price of 115,000 rubles, the card will pay for itself in 11/12 months. The period is quite acceptable, however, it can radically change in one direction or the other.

What can be concluded? While the market is in an upward trend, the RX 6800, despite its rather high cost, is very cost-effective. In purely technical terms, progress is obvious, but AMD was unable to offer anything surprising. Analogs from competitors and cards from previous series are no worse for miners. However, the potential of the new Navi GPU devices has not yet been fully revealed.

How to increase 6800 XT hashrate using overclocking

The hashrate of the 6800XT may be much higher than stated. It is better to overclock the GPU for mining using MSI Afterburner. The utility interface is very simple. To overclock the video card, we need two sliders:

• Core Clock – core overclocking, increases the core frequency;
• Memory Clock – memory overclocking, increases the memory frequency.

You need to change the frequency values ​​little by little. Then test stability. If all is well, then you can increase the frequency further. If the video card starts to fail or the drivers crash, then simply reduce the frequency and that’s it. There will be no harm.

Optimized mining settings to increase RX6800 XT hashrate:

• Core clock: 1400
• Core voltage: 881 mv
• Memory frequency: 2150

As for other algorithms, on the RX 6800 XT the mining hashrate can reach the following indicators:

• CuckooCycle: 7.9 G/s
• KAWPOW: 28.6 MH/s
• Octopus: 36.5 MH/s
• ZHash: 88 Sol/s

For all of the above algorithms, power consumption plus or minus one is 175 W.

Cloud mining: TOP 5 services for 2021

Cloud mining is the optimal format for cryptocurrency mining in 2022. This is a model for earning cryptocurrency by renting equipment (hashrate); mining is carried out through the management of equipment by a contractor who resolves all issues regarding technical and software components.

Setting up cloud mining does not require a powerful computer or knowledge in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general. The setup in this case consists of going through the standard registration procedure on the service website, choosing a tariff plan and paying for the contract. Then the user specifies the address (personal wallet) where the mined cryptocurrency will be withdrawn.

Rating of the TOP 5 cloud mining services (with current estimates for 2022):

Cooling system

In terms of appearance, visually ASUS STRIX uses a mixture of black and various shades of gray. The front casing is made of plastic, and the back panel is made of metal.

The card itself is quite massive, its dimensions are 28 cm x 14.5 cm. Three slots are required for installation.

Let's move on to the external cooling system. ASUS Radeon RX 6800 XT STRIX has a water cooling system. The card itself is designed in a turbine style, which in our opinion is a controversial decision, since both AMD and Nvidia abandoned this design in the development of their new cards, because it is not so efficient.

The water cooling radiator itself is permanently attached to the card. It comes pre-filled and ready to go, no maintenance required.

ASUS installed two 120mm fans (for dropsy). In idle mode they do not work, and under load the rotation speed is up to 1,600 rpm.

The coolers also have RGB lighting. Fans blow air through the radiator. You can install the unit itself (heat exchanger) anywhere in the case with fans inward , hot air will be thrown out.

Coolers spin up at GPU temperatures of 50 degrees and above. If the GPU cools down to 42 degrees, they turn off.

The fan and RGB power cables look a bit messy, it would be nice to add some extra braiding for them.

However, from the GPU side everything looks much better, the wires are neatly collected.

The card uses two 8-pin power inputs. This configuration is rated for power consumption up to 375 W.

ASUS has installed a dual BIOS feature on the STRIX that allows you to switch from the default "Quiet" BIOS to a "Performance" BIOS that allows for faster fan speeds. The clock speed and power limit are identical, and both BIOSes have a cooler stop.

The two fan headers near the back of the card can be used to connect case fans to the graphics card. These fans will now work synchronously with the graphics card heatsink fans - stopping in standby mode and increasing speed depending on the GPU temperature.

Since the graphics card is the main source of heat in most computers, this system makes sense and helps reduce noise.

The AMD Radeon RX 6000 series does not support connecting multiple video cards at once.

As for the backplate, this model has one.

The backplate has a very nice design, it is thicker than other standard backplates and feels very rigid. Pay attention to the thermal pads on the rear panel, located in the memory circuit area.

Internal cooling system

The water block uses a large copper plate, which provides cooling not only for the GPU, but also for the memory chips.

Note the thermal pads, which indicate that the VRM is being cooled by the main heatsink. This is the reason why the graphics card has a fan installed.

ASUS has combined the pump and water block into one compact unit.

Having disconnected the radiator we see a clean printed circuit board.

The GPU VRM is built using a 14-phase circuit, which is powered by an expensive Infineon XDPE132G5D controller.

ASUS uses International Rectifier TDA21472 DrMOS components on the Radeon RX 6800 XT STRIX.

The memory voltage uses a three-phase circuit controlled by an International Rectifier IR35217 controller.

AMD's "Navi 21" uses an external USB 3.2 controller for the USB-C port, supplied by Cypress Semiconductor and labeled " CYPD5137-40LQXI ". This controller provides USB 3.2 Gen 2 transmission at 10 Gbps, DisplayPort pass-through.

The GDDR6 memory chips are manufactured by Samsung, have the model number " K4ZAF325BM-HC16 " and are rated to run at 16 Gbps.

Built on the same TSMC N7 (7 nm) as the "Navi 10", the "Navi 21" GPU occupies a die area of ​​519.8 mm? and contains 26.8 billion transistors. The pinkish-red tint we saw on the Navi 10 is gone.

Overclocking settings for NVIDIA and AMD video cards for mining

Below you can find a table with the most common and profitable video cards for mining . We have collected all the overclocking settings for each video card in one place.

If you are using Excavator, please click the button below to get the latest overclocking settings for NVIDIA graphics cards!

OVERCLOCKING SETTINGS - EXCAVATOR Please note that these overclocking settings are just a starting point and give you a rough idea of ​​what settings should produce good results. The performance of each video card may be better or worse due to the silicon lottery.