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ASIC, GPU, CPU: what to buy
The difference is not speed but what you are risking. Speed shows on day one; risk shows in year two.
The three kinds of hardware differ not in "power" but in how narrowly they are specialised. An ASIC is a chip for one algorithm, useless for anything else. A GPU is a general-purpose computer that knows many algorithms and much beyond mining. A CPU is the most general and the slowest.
How they actually differ
| ASIC | GPU | CPU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed on its algorithm | hundreds of times higher | medium | low |
| How many algorithms | one | several | many, but slowly |
| Who buys it later | only a miner | anyone | anyone |
| If the coin dies | scrap metal | switch to another | nothing, it is your PC |
| Noise | 70–80 dB | like a gaming PC | normal |
An ASIC is a bet on one specific network
Buying an ASIC you bet not on "mining" but on a single network years ahead. While it lives and the algorithm stays put, the machine works. If the network changes algorithm (done more than once precisely to get rid of ASICs) or the coin stops being worth money, there is nowhere to switch it, and it sells only to someone who believes in the same network.
A GPU is a bet on yourself
A card runs several algorithms and survives the death of an individual coin: one today, another tomorrow. It also has a price outside mining — a gamer or a video editor will buy it. That is why a card's payback is more honest when you count what it will be worth in a year, not only the income.
A CPU is needed by exactly one coin
Of the coins we calculate, only Monero is a CPU coin: RandomX is deliberately made inconvenient for ASICs — it demands a lot of random-access memory and behaves like an ordinary program. That is a conscious decision by the network: mining stays available to ordinary people. On any other algorithm a CPU loses to both cards and ASICs.
Comparing rigs by price per terahash
"This ASIC gives a terahash for $30, that one for $45 — take the first". Price per terahash says nothing about power draw, and electricity decides whether you stay in profit. A machine twice cheaper per terahash but three times hungrier ruins you faster. Compare on two numbers at once — price and watts per terahash — or straight on the break-even power price.
In the hardware catalogue switch the type of gear and see what pays best at your electricity price. Every machine has its own page: what to mine on it, how soon it pays back and at what power price it breaks even.
Open the catalogueA network announced an algorithm change in six months. What does that mean for an ASIC owner and for a GPU owner?
For the ASIC owner: in six months the machine will be of no use to that network, so it should be sold now while someone still needs it. For the GPU owner: switch to the new algorithm or to another coin, losing at most some speed.
Why has CPU mining of Monero not been displaced by ASICs?
RandomX is built for ordinary processors: it demands a large amount of random-access memory, which is exactly where general-purpose hardware wins. An ASIC is possible but the gain is small, and the network changes the algorithm from time to time, resetting such attempts.