Why you should buy the the R9 280x instead of the Rx480
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I have had the pleasure of owning both an Asus Strix Rx480 8gb and a MSI R9 280x 3gb for the past 6 months. Over the course of those 6 months, the R9 280x has managed to make just 20 cents less per day then the rx480. For example, if the Rx480 mines about $1.50 on a given day, the R9 280x would mine about $1.30 on that day. The R9 280x is better at mining Equihash while the RX 480 is better at mining Ethereum and Decred.
Today the R9 280x is making $1.68 while the Rx480 is only making $1.31. This is becoming more common as Zcash gets closer to the value of Ethereum.
While the Rx 480 uses half as much power-draw as the R9 280x, it costs 3 times as much to purchase. Each card mines an average of $45 per month. It would take 2 months to pay off the R9 280x while it would take 6 months to pay off the Rx480. My conclusion is that the R9 280x is the most bang-for-buck Graphics card you can get at the moment. The Radeon HD 7970 has the same PCB as the R9 280x and typically sells for the same price.
Don't let the price of building a mining rig scare you away, if you lose interest down the road mining hardware rarely goes down in value as long as its taken care of properly. The only advantage to buying the RX 480 over the R9 280x is it includes warranty and does use less power, they are more of a long term investment.
Nicehash Miner 1.8.1.3 was used for these tests.
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@cryptocreme if you haven't already, and I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments section. Give me your upvotes and I will share the wealth!