How to Calculate My Hash Rate

Effective Hash Rate Calculator

Calculate hashrate based on shares submitted to a mining pool.

In the world of cryptocurrency mining, "Hash Rate" is the definitive metric of power. Whether you are mining Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin, or Monero, knowing how to calculate your hash rate accurately is essential for estimating profitability and monitoring hardware health. While most mining software displays a "Reported Hash Rate," your "Effective Hash Rate" (calculated at the pool side) is what actually determines your earnings.

What is Hash Rate?

Hash rate represents the number of calculations (hashes) your hardware can perform per second. Mining involves solving complex mathematical problems to secure the blockchain. A higher hash rate means you are submitting more solutions (shares) to the network, increasing your probability of earning rewards.

• H/s: Hashes per second (Base unit).
• MH/s: Megahashes per second (Millions of hashes). Common for GPU mining.
• TH/s: Terahashes per second (Trillions of hashes). Common for ASIC Bitcoin miners.

Reported vs. Effective Hash Rate

There is often confusion between the number seen on your screen and the number seen on the mining pool.

1. Reported Hash Rate (Local)

This is the speed your mining software (e.g., T-Rex, PhoenixMiner, CGMiner) claims your GPU or ASIC is running at. It is calculated based on the internal clock speeds and throughput of the hardware.

2. Effective Hash Rate (Pool)

This is the calculation used by the tool above. The mining pool does not know your hardware specs; it only knows how much work you submit. It calculates your speed backward based on the number of shares you submit and the difficulty of those shares over a specific timeframe.

If your effective hash rate is significantly lower than your reported hash rate over a long period (24 hours), it may indicate unstable overclocks, bad network latency, or stale shares.

The Formula for Calculating Hash Rate

If you want to calculate your hash rate manually based on pool performance, the standard formula used for Proof-of-Work algorithms (specifically those based on Bitcoin's difficulty targets) is:

Hash Rate (H/s) = (Shares × Share_Difficulty × 2^32) / Time_in_Seconds

Where:

• Shares: The count of valid solutions submitted.
• Share_Difficulty: The difficulty setting assigned to your worker by the pool (often static or variable/VarDiff).
• 2^32: The standard difficulty constant (approximately 4.29 billion). Note: This constant varies for different algorithms (e.g., Equihash uses a different multiplier), but 2^32 is the industry standard for illustrating the math behind BTC-style difficulty.
• Time_in_Seconds: The duration over which the shares were counted.

Factors Affecting Your Hash Rate

If you are calculating your hash rate to troubleshoot performance issues, consider these factors:

1. Thermal Throttling: If your GPU memory junction temperature gets too high (common in GDDR6X memory), the card will slow down to protect itself.
2. LHR (Lite Hash Rate): Some graphics cards have limiters that detect mining activity and reduce speed intentionally.
3. Overclock Settings: Memory clock is usually king in mining. However, pushing it too high generates "Invalid Shares," which lowers your Effective Hash Rate even if the Reported Hash Rate looks high.
4. Dag File Generation: When mining starts, the DAG file must be loaded into VRAM. Ensure your hardware has enough memory for the specific coin's DAG size.

Why Does My Hash Rate Fluctuate?

It is normal for the "Effective Hash Rate" to fluctuate wildly over short periods (e.g., 10 minutes or 1 hour). This is based on luck. Sometimes you find many shares quickly (appearing faster than you are), and sometimes you go minutes without finding a share (appearing slower). Always average your calculation over at least 6 to 24 hours for an accurate reading.