In today’s post, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best CPUs that we recommend for crypto mining, ranging from CPUs that offer more value for your money, are best for those on a tight budget, more high-end picks, and more.
Best CPUs For Crypto Mining in 2022
Things to Look for When Choosing a CPU for Mining
Number of Cores
The more cores, the better. This is because crypto algorithms are designed to utilize each core in a CPU separately. So you want to find yourself a CPU with as many cores as possible for crypto mining.
Speed of Clock
For crypto mining, faster clock speeds translate to faster hash rates which translates to more money. Look for high GHz numbers when choosing a processor for mining.
Power Consumption
This is one of the main detriments to crypto mining; mining uses a lot of CPU power, which in turn consumes large amounts of power. Finding a CPU that has a lower power consumption will inevitably save you lots of money in the long run, and can make a huge difference. If electricity costs are high in your area, you may also want to look at crypto coins that make use of lower power. You can also consider mining less strenuous coins (CRC) or joining a mining pool with low fees like Coinotron where electricity costs are covered by the pool.
Cooling Options
Fancy cooling options like water cooling might be something you want to look for if electricity costs aren’t too high in your area, but they can be pricey. There are plenty of great options ranging from both the aforementioned water cooling systems and more traditional air cooling CPU fans, both of which are great options.
Resale Value
Another important factor to consider when purchasing a CPU is whether it will retain its value on the secondary market. An expensive processor might have a high hash rate and serve you well for crypto mining, but it won’t do much good if it can’t be sold for a fair price once you’re done using it for mining. Because of this, you should always do your research before buying.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X – Best Overall
Last but not least is AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X, which is another extremely fast option for crypto mining. While we mentioned that crypto coin blockchains are single-threaded by nature, that doesn’t mean you can’t get a decent amount of crypto mining performance when using this CPU – it has 16 cores and 32 threads.
Cores: 16 Threads Supported: 32 Base Clock: 3.4 GHz Boost Clock: 4.9 GHz TDP Rating: 105 Watts Hash Rate: 12.9 kh/s
For crypto mining, the faster the better when it comes to clock speeds because high clock speeds will help with both crypto coin blockchains and applications with multithreading capabilities too when you aren’t actually crypto mining. The Ryzen 9 5950X can run at a max turbo frequency of 4.9GHz and a base clock speed of 3.4GHz – which isn’t as high as some other CPUs, but high enough to give decent mining performance.
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X – Best Value
AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X takes the cake for the best value CPU when it comes to crypto mining. Not only is it a fantastic CPU, boasting 16 cores and 32 threads, but its price tag is also fairly affordable, coming in under $750
Cores: 16 Threads Supported: 32 Base Clock: 3.5 GHz Boost Clock: 4.7 GHz TDP Rating: 105 Watts Hash Rate: 7.23 Kh/s
When crypto mining, you want to make sure that your CPU is at the highest single-core frequency possible. This is because crypto coin blockchains are not multithreaded – they have all of their processing done in a single thread. The Ryzen 9 3950X has a maximum turbo clock speed of 4GHz, which isn’t quite as high as some of the others on this list, but its base clock speed of 3.5GHz makes it just fast enough for crypto mining. Plus, when looking at other benchmarks for this CPU, it does very well in most applications, so you can use it for just about anything outside crypto mining too.
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X – Best Budget Pick
Another fantastic choice when it comes to crypto mining is AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X. As with the Ryzen 9 3950X, its price tag makes it a great option for those on a budget in addition to crypto mining – coming in under $350 USD (MSRP).
Cores: 8 Threads Supported: 16 Base Clock: 3.6 GHz Boost Clock: 4.4 GHz TDP Rating: 65 Watts Hash Rate: 7.47 Kh/s
But what really sets this CPU apart from other cheap options is its core and thread count – 8 cores and 16 threads. While crypto coin blockchains are single-threaded by nature, having more cores can help you get good performance especially when it comes to mining coins that have not been moved in a while because they take longer to find blocks. The max clock speed of this CPU is 4.4 GHz as well, so you won’t want to overclock it to get better crypto mining performance. You’ll likely want to keep it at its base clock speed of 3.6GHz, even though you might have to turn up the voltage a little bit in order for it not to throttle.
AMD Threadripper 3990X – Best Premium Option
If you are looking for the absolute best cryptocurrency mining performance out there, look no further than AMD’s Threadripper 3990X with 64 cores and 128 threads. Its price tag is also incredibly high, but if crypto mining is your thing then this CPU is just worth every penny – it’s one of the best investments possible considering what crypto coins are going for these days.
Cores: 64 Threads Supported: 128 Base Clock: 2.9 GHz Boost Clock: 4.3 GHz TDP Rating: 280 Watts Hash Rate: 40 kh/s
In crypto mining, the higher the clock speed your CPU can run at when it hits its maximum turbo frequency, the better. The 3990X has a base clock speed of 2.9GHz and a max turbo frequency of 4.3GHz – which is pretty much as high as you can get with crypto mining performance. This CPU also comes with a beefy enough power supply to handle overclocking, so if you plan on overclocking anyway then this will be a good option for you too.
Intel i5 4570T – Best Energy Efficient Option
While the Threadripper 3990X is great at crypto mining thanks to its powerful hardware, it’s anything but energy inefficient. For those looking to save on their energy bills while crypto mining, we suggest Intel’s i5 4570T.
Cores: 2 Threads Supported: 4 Base Clock: 2.9 GHz Boost Clock: 3.6 GHz TDP Rating: 35 Watts Hash Rate: 0.9 kh/s
It doesn’t have the highest core or thread count, coming in at just 2 cores and 4 threads, but it can handle crypto mining pretty well nonetheless – making it perfect for those who need something energy efficient to keep their crypto coin miner powered up full time. Its base clock speed is 2.9GHz with a max turbo frequency of 3.6GHz – so while it may not be as fast as some of Intel’s other CPUs on this list when crypto mining, it is still powerful enough to do what you need it to do.
Closing Thoughts
In crypto mining, you’re looking for a balance between speed and power consumption when choosing your CPU. You’ll want a system that can work efficiently but still offer some value if resold on a secondary market. With all of this said, we hope that this guide has been helpful to you in some way. Remember to do your research and happy mining!
