<p>Realistically, it's a multiplier of the two. You can make up for a slower clock with more cores and vice versa, but the number of hashes per second is dependent on both.</p>

<p>Sadly, I'm not aware of any specific formula to approximate hashes per second for a given clock speed and number of cores.</p>

<p>It's important to note, by the way, that the one thing that won't buy you more hashes per second is the complexity of the cores. This is why Nvidia may make great cards for gaming purposes, but they suck for mining - games make better use of exotic new instructions than SHA256 does.</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> Thanks to the table David Schwartz linked to I've been able to estimate that a theoretical AMD GPU core running at 1 MHz can calculate approximately 300 hashes per second. Therefore we can estimate hashes/sec as Cores * Clock * 300. This isn't really all that exact and it seems to over-estimate some cards and under-estimate otheres, even within the same family so I'm guessing ambient temperature and other factors were interfering with test results, but it seems to be an ok estimate in most cases. YMMV. It also fails miserably with older cards, but those get such pathetic hash rates it probably doesn't matter anyway.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-15T13:57:56.873Z
I [found this forum thread...](http://www.overclock.net/t/363095/processing-cores-vs-stream-processing-units) does this alter or validate your views for either AMD or NVidia calculations?
makerofthings7
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T21:49:33.823Z
There is a [table](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison) in the Bitcoin wiki.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T21:50:48.213Z
The table is there for existing (known) hardware, I think the OP is asking for a way to do math with the # of cores and the clock rate to find mh/s, and I don't know of any source for that sort of a formula.
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T22:08:42.770Z
Now that I look at it, I can do something with that big table in excel since it does list the # of stream processors for most of the cards as well as the clock rate and mh/s. Give me a few and I'll come up with as accurate a formula as I can
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T22:18:58.607Z
I think you'll find that not all processors are created equal, but you can probably come up with something like clock frequency times processor count times "core factor", with a different "core factor" for each major series of cards.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T23:02:12.803Z
Yeah, I noticed that my estimated factor of 300 is only valid for the 5xxx and 6xxx Radeons. I don't see a lot of data for the 7xxx and it's WAY off for the Nvidia cards, so as I said, YMMV.
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T19:30:42.533Z
2012-09-12T22:20:18.123Z
2012-09-12T22:20:18.123Z
David Perry
<p>I'm trying to understand the relationships between components in a video card and how it impacts Bitcoin mining.</p>

<p>What aspect of a video card is used during mining?</p>

<p>For example, I can find a Radeon 7950 or 7870 card with a price ranging from $100 to $700 with mainly these specs differing.  I haven't found any performance metric that track Bitcoin to the underlying hardware with this in mind.  </p>

<p>Any links would be appreciated.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-12T21:58:49.563Z
Note that mining with GPUs fast becoming uneconomic thanks to FPGA and ASIC technology being released. eg the SC range about to be released by http://www.butterflylabs.com/ See also http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/are-there-any-attempts-at-creating-asic-for-bitcoin-mining
Highly Irregular
<gpu><mining-hardware>
What is better for Bitcoin mining: More stream processors or faster clock?
makerofthings7
# What is better for Bitcoin mining: More stream processors or faster clock?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-09-12)

I'm trying to understand the relationships between components in a video card and how it impacts Bitcoin mining.

What aspect of a video card is used during mining?

For example, I can find a Radeon 7950 or 7870 card with a price ranging from $100 to $700 with mainly these specs differing. I haven't found any performance metric that track Bitcoin to the underlying hardware with this in mind.

Any links would be appreciated.

**Tags:** gpu, mining-hardware

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Note that mining with GPUs fast becoming uneconomic thanks to FPGA and ASIC technology being released. eg the SC range about to be released by http://www.butterflylabs.com/ See also http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/are-there-any-attempts-at-creating-asic-for-bitcoin-mining  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-09-12. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Realistically, it's a multiplier of the two. You can make up for a slower clock with more cores and vice versa, but the number of hashes per second is dependent on both.

Sadly, I'm not aware of any specific formula to approximate hashes per second for a given clock speed and number of cores.

It's important to note, by the way, that the one thing that won't buy you more hashes per second is the complexity of the cores. This is why Nvidia may make great cards for gaming purposes, but they suck for mining - games make better use of exotic new instructions than SHA256 does.

**Update:** Thanks to the table username_2 username_3 linked to I've been able to estimate that a theoretical AMD GPU core running at 1 MHz can calculate approximately 300 hashes per second. Therefore we can estimate hashes/sec as Cores \* Clock \* 300. This isn't really all that exact and it seems to over-estimate some cards and under-estimate otheres, even within the same family so I'm guessing ambient temperature and other factors were interfering with test results, but it seems to be an ok estimate in most cases. YMMV. It also fails miserably with older cards, but those get such pathetic hash rates it probably doesn't matter anyway.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: There is a [table](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison) in the Bitcoin wiki.  
> **username_2**: The table is there for existing (known) hardware, I think the OP is asking for a way to do math with the # of cores and the clock rate to find mh/s, and I don't know of any source for that sort of a formula.  
> **username_2**: Now that I look at it, I can do something with that big table in excel since it does list the # of stream processors for most of the cards as well as the clock rate and mh/s. Give me a few and I'll come up with as accurate a formula as I can  
> **username_3**: I think you'll find that not all processors are created equal, but you can probably come up with something like clock frequency times processor count times "core factor", with a different "core factor" for each major series of cards.  
> **username_2**: Yeah, I noticed that my estimated factor of 300 is only valid for the 5xxx and 6xxx Radeons. I don't see a lot of data for the 7xxx and it's WAY off for the Nvidia cards, so as I said, YMMV.  
> **username_0**: I [found this forum thread...](http://www.overclock.net/t/363095/processing-cores-vs-stream-processing-units) does this alter or validate your views for either AMD or NVidia calculations?  

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