The prospect of GPU mining seems very attractive at first glance — imagine if your GPU could not only play the latest video games at the highest framerates, but also bring you steady profits by mining crypto. However, the reality is quite a bit more complicated, as we’ll explain.
In this article, we feature the 5 best GPUs for mining, and explain how much you can currently expect to profit (or lose) when using them for mining. Before that, let’s quickly explain the current state of the GPU mining landscape.
The best GPUs for mining in 2026:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 –
- Radeon RX 7900 XTX – The best mining contender from AMD
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 – The previous gen’s top contender is still a powerful miner
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 – Solid ratio between price and hashrate
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super –
The current state of GPU mining
GPU mining used to be a very popular activity a few years ago, resulting in massive price increases for GPUs due to the overwhelming demand. GPUs were primarily being used for mining Ethereum, which is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Now, Ethereum no longer uses mining, as it has moved on to staking.
It’s very likely that GPU mining is on its way out and will probably become even less relevant in the coming years. After the Ethereum network transitioned to Proof-of-Stake in 2022, there are almost no relevant cryptocurrencies left that can be mined profitably with a GPU. So, if you’re thinking of GPU mining as a long-term play, you will most likely be left disappointed.
Mining with GPUs is currently not really worth your time, even if you’re paying a relatively low price for electricity, such as $0.1/kWh. Currently, no GPUs are capable of mining profitably at that price. Even if you had free electricity, GPU mining would currently generate very small profits and won’t come close to the dedicated ASIC mining rigs.
The upside of the current GPU mining situation is that if you’re a gamer who wants to upgrade your graphics, you can find used mining GPUs for sale at a relatively low price. However, you need to be careful about the condition of the GPU you’re buying, as mining is a very intensive process, and a GPU that has been continuously operating at max capacity for a long period of time might malfunction relatively quickly.
The best GPUs for mining in 2026: Profitability & prices
Now that we have some context about the current state of GPU mining let’s check out the list of the best GPUs for mining. The figures presented below are from February 2026 and assume an electricity cost of $0.1/kWh.
| Price | Mining profitability* | |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | $3,700 | $-0.28/day |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | $1,200 | $-0.27/day |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | $3,700 | $-0.18/day |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 | $1,400 | $-0.18/day |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super | $1,500 | $-0.16/day |
*As of February 2026.
1. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Price: $3,700
Profitability: -$0.28
The GeForce RTX 5090 is currently the most powerful gaming GPU available to the public, and it’s the top performer for crypto mining as well. It sports 32 GB of GDDR7 RAM, which is likely one of the main culprits for its monstrous $3,700 price tag. The card supports DLSS 4, has 1,792 GB/s memory bandwidth, and has a whopping 21,760 CUDA cores.
However, even all of the RTX 5090’s power does not translate into profitability, as you can currently expect $0.28 daily losses when running this card in mining.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
2. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Price: $1,200
Profitability: $-0.28/day
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the flagship GPU from AMD’s Radeon line of gaming graphics cards. The RX 7900 XTX features 24 GB of DDR6 memory, a boost frequency of up to 2,500 MHz, as well as 96 compute units and ray accelerators.
Even though this GPU delivers exceptional performance in games, the RX 7900 XTX currently doesn’t really cut it in the highly competitive world of cryptocurrency mining. Even assuming very good conditions, you’ll be losing about $0.28 per day if using the RX 7900 XTX to mine. In theory, if you were able to power your RX 7900 XTX for free, it would generate a mining profit of about $0.57 per day in current conditions.
3. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Price: $3,700
Profitability: $-0.18/day
The RTX 4090 is the flagship of NVIDIA’s GeForce line of gaming GPUs. This GPU is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features a whopping 24 GB of RAM, as well as NVIDIA’s ray tracing tech. The RTX 4090 supports resolutions of up to 8K and delivers an unparalleled experience in the realm of gaming.
In addition to excelling in gaming, the RTX 4090 is currently also one of the best GPUs for mining, at least when it comes to GPUs that are available to the regular consumer. However, the mining with the RTX 4090 is still not profitable, as you can expect to lose about $0.18 in 24 hours, assuming basically ideal conditions (mining the most profitable coin and only paying $0.1/kWh for electricity), according to data from WhatToMine.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
4. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
Price: $1,400
Profitability: $-0.18/day
The state of GPU mining is currently so poor that even the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which will handle the latest Triple-A gaming titles without a hitch, cannot be used to mine profitably at the moment.
This powerful GPU, which sports the Ada Lovelace architecture and 16 GB of extremely fast memory, would currently mine at a loss of $0.18 per day, assuming almost ideal conditions. However, if the price of the crypto you’re mining increases considerably in the future, then the calculation will change completely.
Buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
5. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
- Price: $1,500
- Profitability: -$0.16
The GeForce RTX 4080 Super is a powerful graphics card from the previous generation of NVIDIA cards. It sports 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, 10,240 CUDA cores and a boost clock of 2.55 GHz.
While the RTX 4080 Super still remains an absolute powerhouse for gaming, it currently can’t mine any cryptocurrencies profitably, assuming a $0.1/kWh electricity cost. Mining with this card will result in daily losses of about $0.16.
FAQs
Now, let’s quickly answer some of the most common questions users have about mining cryptocurrency with GPUs.
Is GPU mining profitable?
At the time of writing, the most powerful consumer-grade GPU available on the market is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. Prices for this GPU currently start at about $3,700. Even this highly performant GPU will lose $0.28 per day, assuming an electricity cost of $0.1/kWh.
Is GPU mining still worth it?
GPU mining is not really worth the effort anymore, as even the most powerful consumer-grade GPUs, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, cannot currently mine any coins at a profit.
Which coins can I mine with a GPU?
Some of the most popular coins that can be mined with a GPU include Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin, Conflux, Aeternity, and Bitcoin Gold. Generally speaking, the most relevant cryptocurrency projects are moving away from GPU mining, with most opting for either a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism or ASIC mining.
Is it worth it to buy a cheap GPU for mining?
Buying a cheap GPU for mining doesn’t make much sense at the moment, as the profitability of GPU mining is extremely low. Even if you managed to find a cheap GPU that can mine cryptocurrency profitably, which is difficult in itself, the profits would be extremely small.
Can you mine Bitcoin with a GPU?
Yes, it’s theoretically possible to mine Bitcoin with a GPU. However, you would never make any profits as ASIC miners are simply too efficient at mining Bitcoin for any GPU to be able to compete. Still, you could consider lending your idle GPU power via hashrate marketplaces like NiceHash, which is one of the top BTC cloud mining platforms.
The bottom line – GPU mining is not worth it
As you can hopefully see, buying GPUs for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining is currently a fool’s errand. Even the NVIDIA RTX 5090, which is by far the most powerful GPU available to the average user, would currently mine at a loss when used in cryptocurrency mining.
If you want to learn more about cryptocurrency mining, make sure to check out our list of the best Bitcoin miners.
Source:: 5 Best GPUs for Mining in 2026