Monero (XMR) uses RandomX, a proof of work algorithm made for ordinary processors. The Monero project says CPUs mine it much more efficiently than graphics cards. So the question for a new miner is which CPU. This guide shows typical hashrates and explains which parts of a CPU make the difference.

RandomX hashrates by CPU

The figures below are hashes per second (H/s) on RandomX. They come from validated results on the XMRig benchmark site, where people submit runs of XMRig’s built-in benchmark. We rounded them down to conservative values, because results depend on memory, cooling and settings. A well-tuned machine can do better. A laptop or a machine without huge pages will do worse.

Desktop CPUs

CPU Hashrate (about)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 25,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 25,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 22,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 19,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 16,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 16,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 15,500 H/s
Intel Core i9-14900K 12,500 H/s
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 12,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 12,000 H/s
Intel Core i9-13900K 12,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 10,500 H/s
Intel Core i7-12700K 8,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 7,500 H/s

Workstation and server CPUs

CPU Hashrate (about)
AMD EPYC 9754 65,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X 60,000 H/s
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 50,000 H/s

Apple silicon

CPU Hashrate (about)
Apple M4 Max 7,000 H/s
Apple M2 Pro 4,000 H/s
Apple M4 3,900 H/s
Apple M1 Max 3,400 H/s
Apple M2 2,500 H/s
Apple M1 2,200 H/s

Our Monero mining calculator has these CPUs as presets. Pick yours and it fills in the hashrate. You can change it to your own measured figure.

What makes a CPU fast at RandomX

The RandomX documentation lists what efficient mining needs. Four things explain most of the table above.

L3 cache per thread

Each RandomX mining thread wants 2 MiB of L3 cache, along with 256 KiB of L2 and 16 KiB of L1. When a CPU runs out of cache, extra threads add little. That is why the number of useful threads often equals the L3 cache size divided by 2 MiB, not the number of cores. The Monero GUI’s mining guide gives the same rule: use about half your cache size, in MiB, as the thread count.

Look up your CPU’s L3 cache on the maker’s website before you pick a thread count.

Cores

Within the cache limit, more cores mean more hashes. That is why the many-core Threadripper and EPYC chips lead by far.

Memory channels

RandomX keeps a 2,080 MiB dataset in RAM, and every thread reads from it. The RandomX documentation says one DDR4 channel can feed about 4,000 to 6,000 H/s, and one DDR3 channel about 1,500 to 2,000 H/s. A fast CPU on a single memory stick can be held back by memory. Use at least two sticks in dual channel. Server chips have many channels, which is part of why they scale so well.

You also need at least 2.5 GiB of free RAM per NUMA node for the miner.

Huge pages, MSR and 1 GB pages

These are settings, not hardware, but they change results a lot:

  • Huge pages (large memory pages) are part of the RandomX requirements. XMRig’s benchmark notes say to check that huge pages show 100%, or the result will be far from the best.
  • The MSR mod lets XMRig change CPU registers. Its documentation says this gives up to 15% more hashrate. It needs administrator or root rights.
  • 1 GB pages (Linux only) add 1% to 3%.

For a fair test, run xmrig --bench=1M with these set up. It works offline and prints a checksum that tells you whether the hardware stayed stable.

Hashrate per watt

Hashrate alone does not decide what you earn. Power does too. Divide your hashrate by the watts your machine draws to get H/s per watt, and compare machines on that.

We do not list watts per CPU here. The rated power of a CPU is only an estimate of what it draws while mining, and the rest of the computer uses power too. Measure the whole machine at the wall with a power meter while XMRig runs, and enter that figure in the calculator. Any watts you see in the calculator presets are typical estimates to replace with your own.

Profit is not in this table

A hashrate is not an income. What you earn depends on the network difficulty, the XMR price and your power price, and all three change. We do not give profit figures for these CPUs. Use the mining calculator with today’s network data and your own power price instead. It also shows the break-even power price for your machine.

Next steps

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