LHR vs non-LHR GPUs: head to head. Which is more profitable?
Is it worth paying more for a non-LHR graphics card to mine? In early 2022, unrestricted cards sold for far more than their LHR equivalents. In this video (in French), we run the numbers with real figures on two NVIDIA models, the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3080, to find out how long it takes to recover the price difference.
Video from January 2022: the figures below date from that time (prices and earnings recorded on 3 January 2022). See "What about today?" at the end of the article.
LHR or non-LHR: what changes for mining
LHR (Lite Hash Rate) cards are limited by NVIDIA on Ethereum: according to our figures, they mine at about 74% of the hashrate of their non-LHR version. Non-LHR cards therefore only show their full potential on Ethereum. On most other algorithms, such as Flux's, LHR cards are not limited, and on Ergo the impact remains small.
Another point: new non-LHR cards had become almost impossible to find, apart from the RTX 3090 and some Founders Edition models, often resold second-hand at high prices.
The method: how many days to recover the extra cost?
The reasoning takes three steps:
- Find the average price of both versions of the card, from classified ads and a price-alert website. We deliberately used a fairly high price for the LHR cards, so as not to exaggerate the gap.
- Compare daily earnings on WhatToMine, excluding electricity to keep it simple: on Ethereum for both cards, then with the LHR card on the most profitable coin for it.
- Divide the price gap by the gap in daily earnings: this gives the number of days the non-LHR card needs to make up for its extra cost.
Example 1: the RTX 3060 Ti
- Hashrate on Ethereum: about 62 MH/s for the non-LHR version, 43 to 45 MH/s for the LHR version.
- Non-LHR price: listings were around €1,100 to €1,250, open to negotiation; we used an average price of €1,050. New Founders Edition cards at €400–430 in LDLC "drops" are very hard to get: enough to buy one or two, not enough to build a farm.
- LHR price: about €800 to €900 in listings, €850 used. Drops at €700–800 are rare, and be wary of listings that are too cheap (€600): there are scams.
- Price gap: €200.
On earnings, as of 3 January 2022, an RTX 3060 Ti LHR mining Flux, then the most profitable coin for it after a strong recent rise, earned almost as much as a non-LHR 3060 Ti on Ethereum (about $3.30 per day before electricity). The gap was only around 30 cents a day: it would have taken 760 days, about 25 months, to recover the €200 difference. Flux is, however, less stable than Ethereum. Comparing both cards on Ethereum, the gap rose to €0.80 per day, i.e. 250 days, about 8 months, to pay back the extra cost.
Example 2: the RTX 3080
- Hashrate on Ethereum: about 100 MH/s for the non-LHR version (mostly Founders Edition cards on the market), about 74 MH/s for the LHR version, a 25 to 26% gap.
- Non-LHR price: prices had soared, with an average of about €1,900 on Leboncoin and sometimes more than €2,000 per card (a batch of two at €4,400). Be careful not to confuse them with RTX 3080 Ti listings.
- LHR price: an average of €1,450 on a price-alert website, listings around €1,600; we used €1,550.
- Price gap: €350.
On Ethereum, the non-LHR RTX 3080 earned about €1 more per day than the LHR version: it therefore took about 350 days, i.e. 11 months, to recover the €350. If the LHR card mined Flux, more profitable for it at the time (about €3.87 per day before electricity), the gap fell to €0.70 per day, i.e. 17 months to justify the price difference.
The verdict: it all depends on how long Ethereum can still be mined
The real question is how long Ethereum can still be mined before its move to proof of stake. For the RTX 3060 Ti, in short: with 8 months of mining left, buying the non-LHR version breaks even; with less than 8 months, it is a bad deal; with 12 months, you gain a little at the end. For the RTX 3080, it takes 11 months.
The switch was expected in 2022, and we, being pessimistic, were counting on 6 months, 8 at most. Our conclusion: buying non-LHR cards, often second-hand and very expensive, is not necessarily worth it, unless you find them at a price close to that of an LHR card. If you cannot reduce the price gap, we advise against buying.
In an aside recorded after filming, we explain that an announcement had just placed the possible date of this switch, known as "the Merge", around the end of June 2022: that left barely six months, which strengthens the conclusion even further.
What about today?
The Merge finally took place on 15 September 2022: since then, Ethereum can no longer be mined with graphics cards, GPU mining income has collapsed and the LHR vs non-LHR question no longer arises. The method, however, is still useful for comparing two ASIC miners: divide the price gap by the gap in daily earnings to see how long the more expensive model takes to make up for its extra cost.
To see how a rig of LHR graphics cards is built, read our article How to build a mining rig. To compare current machines, use our Bitcoin mining profitability calculator and browse our ASIC miners, or contact us for advice before you buy.