CPU mining in 2026: how much a processor earns and whether it is worth turning on

The short answer

Why a CPU mines Monero, not Bitcoin

Bitcoin has long been mined only by specialised machines — ASIC miners. Against them a CPU is a bicycle in a Formula 1 race: it would earn fractions of a cent a year.

Monero is the opposite. Since 2019 its network has run on RandomX, an algorithm designed specifically for ordinary processors: it executes randomly generated programs and leans heavily on cache and RAM. That work is awkward for ASICs and even for graphics cards, but it is home turf for a CPU. So the processor has a job of its own: while the graphics card mines Pearl (PRL), the CPU mines Monero in parallel, and both incomes add up to one balance.

How much a CPU earns

Income when running 24 hours a day at the rate of October 28, 2026 (the figures are recalculated at the current rate when you open the page). “Profit” is income minus electricity at $0.10 per kWh (about €0.09 or £0.075). The last column is the electricity rate at which the processor breaks even.

Hashrate is an average estimate for each model; yours may differ by 10–20% depending on memory, cooling and BIOS settings. Look up your model in the mining calculator: it lists 45 processors, laptop chips included.

Which CPUs mine best

• More cores, more hashrate. The 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 7950X are the kings of CPU mining at over 20 KH/s.
• L3 cache matters more than clock speed. RandomX needs about 2 MB of cache per thread, so chips with a big cache, such as the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, mine better than their core count suggests.
• Ryzen is more efficient than Intel. The Core i7-14700K delivers as much as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D but draws almost twice the power — and with expensive electricity the profit nearly disappears.
• Dual-channel memory. Two RAM sticks instead of one noticeably help RandomX.

Electricity: when a CPU is profitable

The formula is simple: power in watts × 24 hours × 30 days ÷ 1000 = kilowatt-hours per month. A Ryzen 5 5600 at 65 W uses about 47 kWh a month — that is $4.68 at $0.10 per kWh, while it earns $8.58.

But there is an important detail: if the computer is on anyway — you are working, watching videos or downloading files — you only pay for the extra consumption, not the full wattage from the table. An idle processor already draws 10–30 W, so the real profit is higher than in the “Profit” column.

Two more ways to boost the payoff: mine at night on an off-peak tariff, and mine in winter, when the heat from the computer replaces a heater — more on that in “Your PC as a space heater”.

Laptops and office PCs without a GPU

This is the processor’s trump card: you can mine on any computer, even one without a gaming graphics card. An office PC that runs all day anyway, or a home laptop, can bring in a few dollars a month.

Be more careful with a laptop: mine on mains power rather than the battery, don’t put it on a bed or sofa, keep the vents clean and use a cooling pad if needed. Laptop chips such as the Ryzen 7 7840HS and Core i7-13700H draw only about 45 W, so they cover their electricity even at a not-so-cheap rate.

Can you use the computer while it mines

Yes. CPU mining barely gets in the way of your browser, messengers and office apps. For heavy tasks — games, video rendering, compiling — pause mining first so the processor can give them all its cores. The most profitable routine is to leave the computer mining overnight and while you are at work or school.

Is it safe for the processor

Processors are built for long periods at full load: mining is no different for them than hours of rendering or archiving. Cooling is what matters:

• up to 80–85 °C is a normal temperature for round-the-clock work;
• Ryzen 7000/9000 and 13th–14th gen Intel chips are rated for 95–100 °C, but keeping them at the limit for long is not a good idea — a good cooler and a dust-free case are better;
• owners of 13th- and 14th-gen Core i9 chips should update the BIOS: in 2024 Intel released microcode fixes related to the stability of these processors under load.

For graphics cards and hardware wear in general, see “Does mining damage your GPU?”.

How to start

1. Sign up at flowhash.pro and get your key in your account.
2. Download FlowHash for Windows and enter the key.
3. Choose what to mine with — the CPU, the graphics card or both — and press Start.

No pools, Monero wallets or configs: the app sets everything up itself, and your earnings build up on your account balance. You can spend them on games, for example — see “From mining to Steam”.

Bottom line