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stormbeast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 14, 2020
20
5
Macrumors should ask Apple on the behalf of those interested (judging by the demand for video cards, there are a lot people interested), whether the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro laptops are capable of higher MH/s crypto-mining performance. Currently, as tested by UFD Tech on YouTube, performance is at 5.8MH/s. Compared to the norm for new gaming PC video cards, it’s disappointing. Is it the fault of the developer? Is there room for improvement on the software side?
 

Gnattu

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2020
1,107
1,671
it’s disappointing
No, it's a good thing for most people who want a computer.

Is it the fault of the developer? Is there room for improvement on the software side?
Yes and yes. This has been tested in the other thread and the result shows that although M1 Pro/Max delivers a slow performance, the power consumption is also very low (lower than it should be at full load), hence the power efficiency in terms of MH/s per watt is quite promising, but I cannot remember the accurate number.
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68040
Oct 25, 2008
3,018
2,386
Macrumors should ask Apple on the behalf of those interested (judging by the demand for video cards, there are a lot people interested), whether the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro laptops are capable of higher MH/s crypto-mining performance. Currently, as tested by UFD Tech on YouTube, performance is at 5.8MH/s. Compared to the norm for new gaming PC video cards, it’s disappointing. Is it the fault of the developer? Is there room for improvement on the software side?
The M1 chips have many hardwired functions that only speed up specific instructions. That's why their compute benchmarks aren't as strong as dedicated GPU's as I doubt Apple would dedicate silicon space to speeding up mining. Bandwidth is also low compared to full dGPU's. Good for us though as GPU's are basically as rare as hen's teeth at MSRP prices all because of mining.
 

BATman.Berlin

macrumors regular
Jun 13, 2015
239
183
California
I am experimenting with certain miners that are available and while not on the level of a dedicated miner, I think my 10/16 pro performs decent. Does it make sense to mine on a Mac? No. But I have the computer anyway, so why not keep it busy overnight?
5aeb68bb4efe5e15d7a1698dad039c62.jpg
 
Last edited:

SteveW928

macrumors 68000
May 28, 2010
1,834
1,380
Victoria, B.C. Canada
Macrumors should ask Apple on the behalf of those interested (judging by the demand for video cards, there are a lot people interested), whether the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro laptops are capable of higher MH/s crypto-mining performance. Currently, as tested by UFD Tech on YouTube, performance is at 5.8MH/s. Compared to the norm for new gaming PC video cards, it’s disappointing. Is it the fault of the developer? Is there room for improvement on the software side?

I think they are running under emulation, and there haven't been good performing GPU-miners for the Mac for many years. So, I think it is probably a case of already inefficient code, running under emulation.

My guess (and a big guess, as I don't know that much about this), especially how RAM-dependent GPU mining is (for ETH like Ethash), is that given the RAM bandwidth is about 1/2 (if I'm reading calculating correctly) a dGPU like the 3080, it might limit it to about 1/2 the mining performance of an otherwise equivalent Nvidia/AMD.

Of course, then we have to consider whether the Metal code would be better than OpenCL or stuff like that. But, that lower memory bandwidth would be a factor from what I understand.

A 3080 has about 91 MH/s, so if a Max 32 core gets close to that, maybe it should have in the 40s MH/s? But, it certainly shouldn't be 5.8 MH/s if it weren't doing all the emulation and such.

I am experimenting with certain miners that are available and while not on the level of a dedicated miner, I think my 10/16 pro performs decent. Does it make sense to mine on a Mac? No. But I have the computer anyway, so why not keep it busy overnight?
5aeb68bb4efe5e15d7a1698dad039c62.jpg

What are you mining there? What miner are you trying? Thanks. :)
 

BATman.Berlin

macrumors regular
Jun 13, 2015
239
183
California
What are you mining there? What miner are you trying? Thanks. :)
Ethereum via ethermine. Playing with ethminer and some currently. Integrating the CPU since she has no reason sitting idle. that is the reason for the great HR. But it is an experimental setup currently. Need to run the fans at max or limit CPU usage. Also CPU and GPU running as separate miners, which is not desired.
 

mr_roboto

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2020
856
1,866
I am experimenting with certain miners that are available and while not on the level of a dedicated miner, I think my 10/16 pro performs decent. Does it make sense to mine on a Mac? No. But I have the computer anyway, so why not keep it busy overnight?
Why not? Because cryptocurrency is a giant pump-and-dump scheme which, as a side effect, accelerates global warming. If you're comfortable with the ethical implications, sure, go ahead.
 

BATman.Berlin

macrumors regular
Jun 13, 2015
239
183
California
Why not? Because cryptocurrency is a giant pump-and-dump scheme which, as a side effect, accelerates global warming. If you're comfortable with the ethical implications, sure, go ahead.

Sensitive topic, I agree. I could tell you my house runs fully on solar, which it does. I also have no mining rig for the exact reason you mentioned. I do this as a experiment, but this is how the nukes got invested, right? By participating in this, I agree to the general philosophy of profit over human interest. Which I do on a daily basis. Because I chose to live in a country that puts profit before the well being of its citizens. Because I work in a company that chose to participate in a open market. We all know the consequences of our doings, yet still we chose to pursue the path we chose. You are no exception.
 

mr_roboto

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2020
856
1,866
Sensitive topic, I agree. I could tell you my house runs fully on solar, which it does. I also have no mining rig for the exact reason you mentioned. I do this as a experiment, but this is how the nukes got invested, right? By participating in this, I agree to the general philosophy of profit over human interest. Which I do on a daily basis. Because I chose to live in a country that puts profit before the well being of its citizens. Because I work in a company that chose to participate in a open market. We all know the consequences of our doings, yet still we chose to pursue the path we chose. You are no exception.
There are things which one must do to survive in the system we live in, and there are things which are by choice. Participating in cryptocurrency is purely a choice.
 
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JMacHack

Suspended
Mar 16, 2017
1,965
2,424
Funny how nobody cared about crypto mining until they couldn’t get their new shiny gpus. Just saying.
 
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