How To Earn Bitcoin With Your PC In 2021 – Forbes

Representation of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency is seen in this illustration photo taken in Poland on ... [+] January 4, 2021. (Photo Illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

You may have noticed that everyone under the sun is talking about Bitcoin following itsmeteoric rise to $30,000. But far less people are talking about GPU mining. Maybe because the idea of turning on your computer and having it magically generate an income feels elusive to you. And maybe because GPU mining and cryptocurrency are considered dirty words to PC gamers.

Especially to PC gamers lookingto build their own rig in a retail landscape thats seen the prices of graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia inflate once again to atrocious levels.

But for those of you who already own a gaming PC, you might be surprised how much money you can make mining with it, and just how effortless it is.

Back in 2013 when I first started mining, getting a client up and running was a serious challenge. Basic knowledge of Linux and terminal commands were hard requirements. But now its a snap to get up and running on a Windows PC using software called NiceHash.

No command lines, no messy configuration files although theyre there if you need them. Just an installer, some quick auto-benchmarks, and then your GPU gets to work.

The software even generates a Bitcoin wallet address for you, and lets you start mining automatically when your PC is idle.

A basic status and profitability overview on Nicehash.com

Never take any advice blindly. Read these notes before deciding to dive in.

So, lets talk money.

Radeon "monogram logo" from the Radeon VII graphics card

For the values below, I used the NiceHash Profitability Calculator and assumed a 0.13 USD/kWh electricity cost (the national average in the US as of December 2020), meaning youre seeing profits after paying for the power consumption of that GPU. Your mileage may vary is an understatement here. And kudos to you if your electricity costs are cheaper!

The value of Bitcoin is in constant flux, and these calculations are based on a Bitcoin to USD exchange value of $31,392.98 on January 5, 2021. As the value of Bitcoin climbs, so do your potential profits. The reverse is of course true, so always exercise caution.

But its worth pointing out that 3 years ago in January 2018, 1 Bitcoin was worth only about $11,000. . .

All of the GPUs listed below were tested in the companys labs, and are pulled from actual profit numbers from users, not estimated ones.

I can personally vouch for the accuracy of the Radeon VII, Radeon RX 6800 XT, and RTX 2080 Super estimates.

Monthly profit for select Nvidia GeForce cards:

While I dont advise buying any GPUs exclusively for the purpose of mining (costs are much higher than MSRP and your ROI return on investment would take quite some time), right now the RTX 3060 Ti seems to be best overall value. If you can find one

Monthly profit for select AMD Radeon cards:

Yes, believe it or not the Radeon VII is still the compute king. And AMDs last-gen RX 5000 series still puts up excellent numbers. Even Polaris cards like the RX 480/580 are performing decently, provided they are the 8GB VRAM models.

What About CPUs?

Even a beefy Ryzen Threadripper CPU has the potential to turn a profit.

Yes, you can use higher-end CPUs (Nicehash will primarily use these to mine Monero and convert it to BTC), but it will render your PC unusable for day-to-day tasks. Unless youre rocking newer AMD Ryzen Threadrippers, the daily profit for most gaming CPUs (less than $0.50) probably isnt worth the hassle.

What About Gaming Laptops?

You can use NiceHash with your gaming laptop, but that doesnt mean you should. If its your only option and you want to give it a shot, I caution against putting both your GPU and CPU to work simultaneously due to thermal and throttling concerns. The majority of gaming laptops dont have full-fat GPUs either.

Conclusion

Obviously these profit numbers will fluctuate for you, especially since youre probably going to use your rig and not dedicate it solely to mining. Then again, if you have a spare GPU youre not using, you can easily slot that into your PC and tell NiceHash to use that one and not your dedicated gaming GPU.

Better to have it collecting Bitcoin than collecting dust.

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How To Earn Bitcoin With Your PC In 2021 - Forbes