AMD's Radeon RX 6600 XT Is Allegedly The Efficiency King For Ethereum Mining
Is AMD's newly minted Radeon RX 6600 XT the most efficient cryptocurrency mining graphics card ever produced? It is probably too early to tell (considering the card only released to retail today), but according to a set of cryptocurrency mining hash rates and energy consumption figures posted to Reddit, it is the efficiency champ.
If you have not done so already, be sure to check out our Radeon RX 6600 XT review. We do not get into mining performance, but you will otherwise find plenty of gaming and graphics benchmarks, including a varied range of DirectX and Vulkan titles. We also evaluate the card's real-time ray tracing prowess and overclocking potential.
What about mining performance, though? Here's the chart that is generating some buzz...
Source: Reddit (Trollatopoulous)
In a post titled "6600 XT is low-key the best mining GPU in history," Reddit user Trollatopoulous highlights the hash rate of multiple GPUs, and according to their data, AMD's newest card pulls 32 MH/s in Daggerhashimotto. That is not terribly exciting in and of itself, but if the chart is accurate, the card hits 32 MH/s at just 55 watts.
Compare that to the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (28 MH/s at 80W) and GeForce GTX 1660 Super (29 MH/s at 90W). The Radeon RX 6600 XT is much more efficient, according to the chart, but is it accurate? That question has sparked a debate in the Reddit thread, prompting the OP to add some follow-up remarks of their own.
"Hey guys, didn't expect this to blow up like. The numbers were taken from whattomine (and cross-referenced with some basic searching), I know they make not be 100% accurate but for consistency of data decided to go with one source, I will update as I hunt down some better numbers particularly for better tuning of cards. Only for 6600XT were they from someone else who got his hand on the card early," the OP states.
They also caveat that even with updated numbers, they "won't change the conclusion... the 6600 XT is still going to be by far and away the most efficient GPU for Eth mining."
The argument could be moot relatively soon, anyway. Ethereum is getting ready to make a switch to a proof-of-stake model, and in doing so, it won't make much sense to invest in GPUs to mine Eth. In addition, China is cracking down on cryptocurrency in general.
On the flip side, there are other coins that can be mined with GPU hardware, like Ravencoin, and it is conceivable that some Ethereum miners will shift their focus to those cryptocurrencies. And of course the industry at large is still dealing with a shortage of silicon. That's all to say, good luck getting your hands on a GPU at anywhere close to MSRP, including the Radeon RX 6600 XT, regardless of whether the chart is accurate or not.
