Does ARM or Apple Silicon perform well in RandomX?

Yes—Apple Silicon and some other ARM processors can perform well in RandomX, Monero’s mining algorithm, when you use mining software built for them. But ARM is a broad family of processors, not a promise of speed: your chip, memory, cooling, and software matter more than the ARM label. If you mine through your browser, expect different—and often lower—performance than you would get from a native mining app.

Why RandomX can suit ARM chips

RandomX is designed to favor CPUs, the general-purpose processors in computers, rather than graphics cards. Monero has used it since November 30, 2019.

ARM is a processor design family used in everything from small phones to powerful servers. Apple Silicon is Apple’s own ARM-based chip family, including the M-series chips in Macs.

Modern ARM chips can offer strong computing performance while using relatively little electricity. That can make them useful for RandomX, but memory requirements are important:

• Fast mode uses a shared dataset of about 2,080 MB, plus other working memory.
• Light mode uses a 256 MB cache but is much slower.
• Each mining thread, or separate stream of work, benefits from roughly 2 MB of L3 cache, a small pool of very fast memory near the processor.

That cache guideline is not a simple thread-count formula for Apple Silicon. Its cache layout differs from many desktop CPUs, so testing different settings matters.

Where Apple Silicon does well—and where it struggles

Apple Silicon can be attractive for its performance per watt: how much mining work you get for the electricity used. However, that does not guarantee high total speed or a profit.

Many M-series chips combine fast performance cores with lower-power efficiency cores. Using every core does not necessarily give you the best efficiency. Adding threads can increase power use and heat more than it increases useful mining work.

Cooling also changes the result. A fanless MacBook Air may slow down during a long mining session to control temperature. A Mac with active cooling can generally sustain heavy work more consistently.

For other ARM devices, the range is even wider. A low-cost board or phone may have too little memory, limited cache, or weak cooling. A server-class ARM processor may be much more capable. Neither tells you much about the other.

Native mining and browser mining are different tests

A native miner runs directly on your operating system. Choose a reputable miner with explicit support for your ARM chip and operating system. An Apple Silicon build avoids relying on translation intended for Intel applications.

A browser miner usually runs through WebAssembly, a format that lets browsers execute compiled code. It operates under browser restrictions and may not have the same low-level optimizations or memory access options as native software.

Browser support for multiple threads, background-tab limits, and the miner’s implementation can all affect results. Do not use a native Apple Silicon benchmark as an earnings estimate for browser mining.

How you can judge your own device

Measure performance after the machine has warmed up, not just during the first minute.

Compare:

• Hashrate: mining calculations completed per second.
• Electricity use at the wall, where possible.
• Temperature, fan noise, and everyday responsiveness.
• Results with fewer threads versus all available cores.

Use a live mining calculator for an earnings estimate, then subtract electricity and pool fees. A fast or efficient chip can still lose money.

The bottom line

Apple Silicon and capable ARM CPUs can run RandomX well, especially with optimized native software. For browser mining, test your actual browser setup: chip reputation alone cannot tell you its speed, efficiency, or profitability.