New graphics/video cards

[KCK402]

Is there any graphics/video cards coming out any time soon that would be good for mining? I'm thinking about building a rig with two AMD Radeon HD 5970's and I don't want to spend money on those cards if something better is coming out in the next 6 months - one year.
Thanks
-KCK402

[ssateneth]

Is there any graphics/video cards coming out any time soon that would be good for mining? I'm thinking about building a rig with two AMD Radeon HD 5970's and I don't want to spend money on those cards if something better is coming out in the next 6 months - one year.
Thanks
-KCK402

5970 right now can be had for about $250-325 used and will do about 650-700 mhash when undervolted, and 3.2 mhash/j. Hard to find in good shape.
6990 is about the same as a 5970, but memory can be difficult to underclock, which means more electricity consumed. Has 4% less hashrate clock for clock than a 5970. I do not know how much power it uses. Price tag is probably about $300-400 used. More common than the 5970 but not by much.
7970 is a single GPU card. Retail about $420, or $400 if you're lucky. Possibly $375-350 used. I believe you can push 3.5 or higher mhash/joule.. Maybe 500 mhash when undervolted, or 700 with stock volts. Readily available.
7990 is not yet released. It will have 2 7970 GPU's on one card. Projected retail will likely be in the area of $800-$900. Assume a slightly higher mhash/joule and roughly double the mhash of a 7970. Probably due in 1-3 months.

[Stephen Gornick]

Is there any graphics/video cards coming out any time soon that would be good for mining? I'm thinking about building a rig with two AMD Radeon HD 5970's and I don't want to spend money on those cards if something better is coming out in the next 6 months - one year.

Just to make sure you realize what you are getting into.  In about 19 weeks the block reward will drop to 25 BTC per day.  While that has been known for a while, nobody knows what the difficulty will be by then or in the months after.  What is known is that difficulty has been steadily rising again, even with this deadline looming as the rising exchange rate has caused profitability to rise to relatively high levels.

Anyone with near average or above average electric rates will likely not be able to mine profitably come December, unless the exchange rate rises above $10 or so.    So unless you pay under $0.10 per kWh, you might want to rethink buying a new GPU card if the only reason you are looking to do so is for mining.

The other wildcard is the date for when ASIC designs ship and in what quantity.  They have the ability to completely obliterate GPU mining profitability in just a matter of days.

Now if you were considering a GPU card for gaming and would mine on it as well, then none of this really matters, you mgiht as well go for it and get a few months of decent mining revenue while it lasts.

[Ilikeham]

Just to point out many GPU users are switching to mining litecoin or have litecoin as a fall back position in the event of what has been said above coming to pass.

[Lethos]

Something is always coming out that is better in the next 6-12 months.
If your talking weeks (6-12 weeks) yeah I can understand waiting that long.

Away, two favourite cards in the 7xxx series right now are 7770 and 7970.
They are top performers and more energy efficient than previous 5xxx and 6xxx generation GPU's.

Not a huge amount has changed these past few years for each card generation, small optimisations here and there. Which of course add up, but to a bitcoin miner, don't make a huge amount of difference. More of a difference if your a gamer.
So if you can get a good price on some high end 59xx, by all means go ahead, buy them, but they'll be used and might not last long, so make sure you get them cheap.

However as the others are pointing out, we are in uncertain times and with the reward per block decreasing, their is the potential it changes the profitability for many people, mostly to those who are mostly GPU based. So more people are going into FPGA's for a higher profit margin, due to being more energy efficient. Others are taking a gamble the ASIC will be worthwhile, but I'll wait and see.

[420]

So AMD has no official date for the 7990? when was the 7970 released?

[TechCF]

The next generation AMD cards will most likely be released early next year. I think AMDs focus is on those, rather than a 7990. Here are some news from 5 months ago, and signs of the new hardware in the June 2012 drivers:

http://wccftech.com/amd-sea-island-tenerife-gpu-leaked-features-enhanced-gcn-architecture-450-tflops-raw-processing-power/
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13381/]AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Appears, Codenamed: "Venus", "Oland" and "Mars"]http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13381/

[meebs]

Just to point out many GPU users are switching to mining litecoin or have litecoin as a fall back position in the event of what has been said above coming to pass.

But then the future of LTC is unknown as well. Currently they're worth .0034 BTC or so each, so like 4 cents. Not a huge sum, but heck. its something if your power is cheap or if you just enjoy playing around (and you actually get several coins a day from a single core i7).

[ARapalo]

Is there any graphics/video cards coming out any time soon that would be good for mining? I'm thinking about building a rig with two AMD Radeon HD 5970's and I don't want to spend money on those cards if something better is coming out in the next 6 months - one year.

Just to make sure you realize what you are getting into.  In about 19 weeks the block reward will drop to 25 BTC per day.  While that has been known for a while, nobody knows what the difficulty will be by then or in the months after.  What is known is that difficulty has been steadily rising again, even with this deadline looming as the rising exchange rate has caused profitability to rise to relatively high levels.

Anyone with near average or above average electric rates will likely not be able to mine profitably come December, unless the exchange rate rises above $10 or so.    So unless you pay under $0.10 per kWh, you might want to rethink buying a new GPU card if the only reason you are looking to do so is for mining.

The other wildcard is the date for when ASIC designs ship and in what quantity.  They have the ability to completely obliterate GPU mining profitability in just a matter of days.

Now if you were considering a GPU card for gaming and would mine on it as well, then none of this really matters, you mgiht as well go for it and get a few months of decent mining revenue while it lasts.

Awesome post! Looks like GPU mining is not as profitable as before, especially building a rig specifically to mine with. So when will these ASICs start to release?

[live627]

They plan to start shipment in November.

[Monkey1]

Orininal statements said October shipping.  I am now hearing nOvember.  There is very little information comming from BFL so it may well be later than this but the block reward halving is known and ASIC will hit at some time.  Now is not the time to be buying GPU's dedicated to mining!

[zvs]

Orininal statements said October shipping.  I am now hearing nOvember.  There is very little information comming from BFL so it may well be later than this but the block reward halving is known and ASIC will hit at some time.  Now is not the time to be buying GPU's dedicated to mining!

i wouldn't buy an entirely new system for them

but if you have extra PCI-e slots to fill, why not?

i mean, the 5830 I bought new 1 1/2 yrs ago is worth like $10 more than what I paid for it.  

i guess the trick is to know when the right time is to sell em all

and i would say at least not for 6-8 weeks.... if you wait too long, you'd also want to hold off selling for a month or so, lest ebay and other places be overloaded

[sLide.]

Orininal statements said October shipping.  I am now hearing nOvember.  There is very little information comming from BFL so it may well be later than this but the block reward halving is known and ASIC will hit at some time.  Now is not the time to be buying GPU's dedicated to mining!

HAIL THE END OF THE WORLD!  REPENT YOUR BITCOIN SINS !!!!!

This would make a good movie.


This does seem like a huge pileup of shit for bit coin gpu miners.  Rewards are getting halved AND you need to buy entirely new gear or get left behind.....

[GernMiester]

GPU's are dying fast where mining is concerned.  Yes they still make money but one Jalapeno will hash like several thousands of dollars worth of GPU.  HAMMER THOSE GPU"S hard because there time is coming just like the CPU. Only people with out a clue or without cash will be wasting their time with GPU's if ASIC takes off like it is going to.

Funny things will happen. More and more of the network becomes centralized as those with cash buy up ASIC and become a larger and larger share of the network. If your still thinking GPU anything you already are way behind the curve.

ACCEPT IT....... BTC is big because everyone with a PC can play. Once ASIC makes your CPU and GPU cost more in electric than they can ever hope to mine, BTC will become a game for the big boys with cash to burn on single purpose devices. The hashrate will drop but the ASIC hashrate increases will make it barely noticeable.  I expect the network hashrate will increase by at least a factor of 10 and that I feel is very conservative.  Thats about $0.28 USD (@ $12.00 a BTC) a day before expenses at 1200MH/s.

Now only idiots and newbies who did no research will mine with a CPU only or look for the next best GPU to buy.

[Kaliecious]

im pretty sure once halving you will need a couple of SC's to not get left behind.

[aqrulesms]

3 months ago I was making 0.6 BTC a day at $3 a day since the exchange rate was $5 per BTC back then.

Now I am making 0.3 at ~$3.60.  Doesn't seem like profitability is going down at all.  

[meebs]

3 months ago I was making 0.6 BTC a day at $3 a day since the exchange rate was $5 per BTC back then.

Now I am making 0.3 at ~$3.60.  Doesn't seem like profitability is going down at all.  

as long as the exchange rate increases with difficulty it is still feasible.

however the question changes to: is it better to outright BUY BTC or to buy a card?

If you are a gamer and will be using the card for gaming afterwards.. that changes things, as the card has value other than mining.

[Stephen Gornick]

3 months ago I was making 0.6 BTC a day at $3 a day since the exchange rate was $5 per BTC back then.

Now I am making 0.3 at ~$3.60.  Doesn't seem like profitability is going down at all.  

At the time you didn't know the BTC/USD would rise from $5 to over $12.

But we do know what is happening in about 70 days -- the block reward subsidy drops by half in under a millisecond.

[Jack1Rip1BurnIt]

Well that was quick! The first 7990's are already sold out!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131479