In 2017, any graphics card we had was a best-selling GPU. Seriously, we couldn’t stock the warehouses fast enough for business customers. Cryptocurrency mining rigs, which might employ two or four or six graphics cards each, drove unprecedented demand for high-end VGAs. The increasing value of GPU-hashed digital currencies made Nvidia GTX 1070, GTX 1080, and GTX 1080ti hot items, as well as AMD Radeon RX580 graphics processors.
The digital gold rush took everyone by surprise—AMD and Nvidia included. Bear in mind that GPU manufacturers need roughly a month to six weeks of lead to time for increasing normal fabrication runs. When Etherium’s dollar value blew up this summer, it triggered a run on supply that took time to replenish.
In years past, business customers most often purchased graphics cards designed for running CAD and video editing programs. We saw various flavors of Nvidia Quadro and AMD FirePro top year-end lists as recently as 2016. This year, Quadro and FirePro are not even in the top 20. New cards that hit the market in the wake of the boom didn’t impact the mining scene much. The latest cards with Nvidia GTX 1070ti and AMD Vega GPUs offer a slight performance boost, but not enough to sway the market when less expensive GTX 1070 and AMD Polaris and RX570 are worthy cards for mining rigs.
When it comes to pure hash rate, GeForce GTX 1080ti is the undisputed heavyweight champion. However, as benchmarking reveals, you can attain a nice efficient bore by overclocking the RAM on a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.
So how did the sales shake out? Here’s the leading graphics cards for 2017 from 1-10.
MSI Radeon RX 580
- 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Core Clock 1393 MHz (OC)
- 1380 MHz (Gaming)
- 1340 MHz (Silent)
- 1 x DL-DVI-D 2 x HDMI 2 x DisplayPort
- 2304 Stream Processors
List price | Current price
GIGABYTE AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
- 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X
- Core Clock 1506 MHz (OC Mode)
- 1480 MHz (Gaming Mode)
- Boost Clock 1620 MHz (OC Mode)
- 1582 MHz (Gaming Mode)
- 1 x HDMI 3 x DisplayPort
- 3584 Stream Processors
List price: $730 | Current price
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
- 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X
- Core Clock 1531 MHz
- Boost Clock 1645 MHz
- 1 x DL-DVI-D 2 x HDMI 2 x DisplayPort
- 3584 CUDA Cores
List price: $740 | Current price
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (Gaming X)
- 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X
- Core Clock 1569 MHz (OC Mode)
- 1544 MHz (Gaming Mode)
- 1480 MHz (Silent Mode)
- Boost Clock 1683 MHz (OC Mode)
- 1657 MHz (Gaming Mode)
- 1582 MHz (Silent Mode)
- 3584 CUDA Cores
List price: $770 | Current price
Sapphire Radeon NITRO+ RX 580
- 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Boost Clock 1430 MHz
- 1 x DVI-D 2 x HDMI 2 x DisplayPort 1.4
- 2304 Stream Processors
List price: $340 | Current price
MSI Radeon RX 570
- 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Core Clock 1268 MHz
- 2048 Stream Processors
List price: $240 | Current price
MSI Radeon RX 580 (ARMOR 4G)
- 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Core Clock 1366 MHz
- 2304 Stream Processors
List price: $250 | Current price
ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
- 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X
- Core Clock 1594 MHz (OC mode)
- 1569 MHz (Gaming mode)
- Boost Clock 1708 MHz (OC mode)
- 1683 MHz (Gaming mode)
List price: $800 | Current price
ASUS GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
- 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Core Clock OC mode: 1607 MHz
- Gaming mode: 1607 MHz
- Boost Clock OC mode: 1746 MHz
- Gaming mode: 1683 MHz
List price: $480 | Current price