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Calcimator

ASIC vs GPU Comparison Calculator

Compare ROI, profitability, and efficiency between ASIC miners and GPU mining rigs.

About this calculator

ASICs and GPU rigs are built for fundamentally different mining economics, and this calculator puts real numbers behind that tradeoff by running the same profitability model — daily coins mined via hashrate ÷ network difficulty (using the standard difficulty × 2^32 relationship), times block reward and coin price, minus electricity — on both hardware types side by side. For the GPU side, it doesn't just sum GPU prices: it adds a flat $500 for the motherboard, PSU, and rig frame to get a realistic total build cost, and adds 100W of system overhead on top of the GPUs' own power draw, since a bare GPU spec sheet always understates what the wall meter actually reads. GPU hashrate is entered in megahashes and internally converted to terahashes to make it comparable with ASIC output.

From there it computes monthly profit, breakeven days (purchase cost divided by daily profit; shown as -1 when a rig is unprofitable and would never pay for itself), and an efficiency figure in joules per terahash — the industry-standard measure of how much power a device burns to produce a unit of hashing work, where lower is strictly better. The efficiency ratio and monthly profit advantage let you see at a glance which option wins under your specific inputs, but remember this is a snapshot: coin price and network difficulty both move constantly, and ASICs generally win decisively on efficiency and thus long-run profitability, while GPUs offer resale flexibility (mine a different coin, or sell as a graphics card) that a single-purpose ASIC cannot.

ASIC monthly profit ($)

-$78.41

GPU monthly profit ($)

-$115.20

Inputs

Comparison

ASIC breakeven (days)

-1

Days to recoup ASIC purchase cost from mining profit. -1 means unprofitable.

ASIC efficiency (J/TH)

29.5

ASIC energy efficiency in joules per terahash. Lower is better.

GPU rig total cost ($)

$5,300.00

Total GPU rig cost including GPUs plus ~$500 for motherboard, PSU, and frame.

GPU breakeven (days)

-1

Days to recoup GPU rig cost from mining profit. -1 means unprofitable.

GPU efficiency (J/TH)

2,222,222.2

GPU rig energy efficiency in joules per terahash. Lower is better.

ASIC advantage ($/mo)

$36.79

How much more the ASIC earns per month vs the GPU rig. Negative means GPU wins.

ASIC/GPU efficiency ratio

0

Ratio of ASIC to GPU efficiency. Below 1.0 means ASIC is more efficient.

How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter the ASIC model hashrate in TH/s and power consumption in watts.
  2. Enter the GPU rig hashrate and power draw for comparison.
  3. Set current coin price, mining difficulty, and electricity rate.
  4. Review daily and monthly profit for each hardware type.
  5. Use the ROI comparison to decide which hardware offers better payback given current market conditions.

How the result changes with ASIC power draw (W)

ASIC power draw (W)ASIC monthly profit ($)GPU monthly profit ($)
1,625$38.59-$115.20
2,438-$19.95-$115.20
4,875-$195.41-$115.20
8,125-$429.41-$115.20

What each input means

ASIC purchase price ($)
Cost of the ASIC miner unit (e.g., Antminer S19 Pro ~$5,000).
ASIC hashrate (TH/s)
ASIC hashrate in terahashes per second.
ASIC power draw (W)
ASIC wall power consumption in watts.
GPU price each ($)
Cost of each GPU card (e.g., RTX 4070 ~$800).
Number of GPUs
Number of GPUs in the mining rig.
GPU hashrate each (MH/s)
Hashrate per GPU in megahashes per second.
GPU power each (W)
Power consumption per GPU at the wall.
Electricity rate ($/kWh)
Your electricity cost per kilowatt-hour.
Coin price ($)
Current price of the mined cryptocurrency.
Network difficulty (T)
Current network difficulty in trillions.
Block reward
Current block reward for the mined coin.

What each result means

ASIC monthly profit ($)
Net monthly profit from the ASIC miner after electricity.
ASIC breakeven (days)
Days to recoup ASIC purchase cost from mining profit. -1 means unprofitable.
ASIC efficiency (J/TH)
ASIC energy efficiency in joules per terahash. Lower is better.
GPU rig total cost ($)
Total GPU rig cost including GPUs plus ~$500 for motherboard, PSU, and frame.
GPU monthly profit ($)
Net monthly profit from the GPU rig after electricity.
GPU breakeven (days)
Days to recoup GPU rig cost from mining profit. -1 means unprofitable.
GPU efficiency (J/TH)
GPU rig energy efficiency in joules per terahash. Lower is better.
ASIC advantage ($/mo)
How much more the ASIC earns per month vs the GPU rig. Negative means GPU wins.
ASIC/GPU efficiency ratio
Ratio of ASIC to GPU efficiency. Below 1.0 means ASIC is more efficient.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    ASIC purchase price ($) = 5000, ASIC hashrate (TH/s) = 110, ASIC power draw (W) = 3250, GPU price each ($) = 800 = 11 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate ASIC monthly profit
    ASIC monthly profit = asicDailyProfit * 30
    -78.41 = $-78.41
  3. Calculate GPU monthly profit
    GPU monthly profit = gpuDailyProfit * 30
    -115.2 = $-115.2
  4. Calculate ASIC breakeven
    -1 = -1
  5. Calculate ASIC efficiency
    ASIC efficiency = asicPowerW / asicHashrateTH
    29.5 = 29.5

Engine last updated . Checked against 3 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the GPU rig's total cost add $500 on top of the GPU prices I enter?

The calculator adds a flat $500 to the sum of your GPU prices to account for the motherboard, power supply, and rig frame needed to actually build a working mining rig — costs a bare GPU price tag doesn't include. Similarly, it adds 100W of system overhead on top of the GPUs' own power draw, since the wall meter always reads higher than the sum of individual GPU spec sheets once risers, fans, and the motherboard itself are drawing power.

What does a breakeven of -1 days mean?

A value of -1 means daily profit is zero or negative for that hardware type under your current inputs — the rig would never recoup its purchase price through mining profit alone, no matter how long you ran it. This happens whenever daily electricity cost meets or exceeds daily mining revenue.

What is the efficiency ratio telling me?

It's the ASIC's joules-per-terahash figure divided by the GPU rig's joules-per-terahash figure. A ratio below 1.0 means the ASIC uses less energy per unit of hashing power than the GPU rig — the lower the ratio, the more decisively the ASIC wins on power efficiency, which is usually the dominant factor in long-run profitability.

Why would anyone choose a GPU rig if ASICs are more efficient?

The calculator's profitability model favors ASICs in almost every scenario because they're purpose-built for hashing efficiency, but it can't capture flexibility: a GPU can be repointed at a different coin or algorithm, or resold as a general-purpose graphics card, while a single-purpose ASIC has no such fallback if the coin it mines becomes unprofitable. That optionality is a real value GPUs offer that isn't reflected anywhere in the dollar figures shown here.

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