<p>Simply head over to <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison#CPUs.2FAPUs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison#CPUs.2FAPUs</a> and look it up.</p>

<p>For AMD, the columns <code>nprocs</code> and <code>Mhash/s</code> are important. Divide the latter by the former, sort by that value, and you find that <code>A10-5800K</code> is the fastest with <code>26.25 Mhash/s/core</code>.</p>

<p>ARM is obviously not relevant. (So much for mining on a raspi.)</p>

<p>For Intel, the first number in the column <code>p/t</code> or the first number times the number before the slash if there is multiplication and the column <code>Mhash/s</code> is relevant. If I didn't mess it up, it's the <code>Core i7 3930k</code> with <code>11.1 Mhash/s/core</code> (almost twice as fast as the second place).</p>

<p>So your answer is that a sha256 hash takes <code>3.8*10^-8 s</code> on the best-suited non-specialized CPU. What you want to do with this value is rather unclear, though. You might have to account for pipelining, instruction fetching, or even a memory access, as with all instructions.</p>

<p>The fastest miner is the AntMiner S9 with 14 Thash/s. ASICs do their work in parallel in a highly optimized way and computing a single sha256 hash is just not something they do, so it's not possible to state how long 1 sha256 hash takes them.</p>

<p>The hash rate of CPUs per core stays pretty much the same and therefore the time a single sha256 hash takes. Individual cores can't really get much faster so manufacturers integrate more cores into a single chip, increase the cache sizes, etc., to make CPUs better for tasks they're usually used for.</p>

<p>Note that every time I talked about a hash or a sha256 hash, I meant a sha256 of the amount of data a Bitcoin block header has. Obviously, sha256summing the downloaded English Wikipedia or an entire HDD takes a lot longer than this.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-05T14:59:00.750Z
Good. I should've stated I'm specifically wondering how fast one could build a specialized repeated SHA3 (i.e., `SHA3^N(x)`, for big Ns), in order to estimate a lower bound of time in which nobody could compute it for some N. This post is a great start. Thanks!
MaiaVictor
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-05T14:44:06.727Z
2017-03-05T21:03:49.513Z
2017-03-05T21:03:49.513Z
UTF-8
<p>I'm not talking about hashes/s, but specifically, the amount of time required to perform a single SHA256 on the fastest computers known. How long does a very fast ASIC take to perform one SHA2? Is this evolving as time passes, like the hashrate, or is that value more or less constant, and only the hash/s increases with time?</p>

<mining-theory><hash><asic><sha256>
How long does it take to perform a single SHA256?
MaiaVictor
# How long does it take to perform a single SHA256?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-05)

I'm not talking about hashes/s, but specifically, the amount of time required to perform a single SHA256 on the fastest computers known. How long does a very fast ASIC take to perform one SHA2? Is this evolving as time passes, like the hashrate, or is that value more or less constant, and only the hash/s increases with time?

**Tags:** mining-theory, hash, asic, sha256


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-03-05. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

Simply head over to <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison#CPUs.2FAPUs> and look it up.

For AMD, the columns `nprocs` and `Mhash/s` are important. Divide the latter by the former, sort by that value, and you find that `A10-5800K` is the fastest with `26.25 Mhash/s/core`.

ARM is obviously not relevant. (So much for mining on a raspi.)

For Intel, the first number in the column `p/t` or the first number times the number before the slash if there is multiplication and the column `Mhash/s` is relevant. If I didn't mess it up, it's the `Core i7 3930k` with `11.1 Mhash/s/core` (almost twice as fast as the second place).

So your answer is that a sha256 hash takes `3.8*10^-8 s` on the best-suited non-specialized CPU. What you want to do with this value is rather unclear, though. You might have to account for pipelining, instruction fetching, or even a memory access, as with all instructions.

The fastest miner is the AntMiner S9 with 14 Thash/s. ASICs do their work in parallel in a highly optimized way and computing a single sha256 hash is just not something they do, so it's not possible to state how long 1 sha256 hash takes them.

The hash rate of CPUs per core stays pretty much the same and therefore the time a single sha256 hash takes. Individual cores can't really get much faster so manufacturers integrate more cores into a single chip, increase the cache sizes, etc., to make CPUs better for tasks they're usually used for.

Note that every time I talked about a hash or a sha256 hash, I meant a sha256 of the amount of data a Bitcoin block header has. Obviously, sha256summing the downloaded English Wikipedia or an entire HDD takes a lot longer than this.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Good. I should've stated I'm specifically wondering how fast one could build a specialized repeated SHA3 (i.e., `SHA3^N(x)`, for big Ns), in order to estimate a lower bound of time in which nobody could compute it for some N. This post is a great start. Thanks!  

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