GPU market up—Intel and Nvidia graphics winners in Q4, AMD down

[Gregster]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18578907

 

[Gibbo]

You answered for me Gibbo. People return cards that are mining, you even stated in a thread "Do not buy these cards if you intend on mining, as they keep failing", so why would I have confiden e in buying a second hand mining card.

By all means, people who want to save money and gamble on a card that has been mining, go for it.

You mean the Powercolor cards I put up a warning about? If so I later posted to say it was not the cards at fault, but the couple of units we had unfortunately had faulty GPU's which was the cause of the issue. The warnings have since being removed as they mine fine.

Mining won't harm a card if the card can keep itself cool, if your a dumb enough idiot to put 4 cards right next to each other with zero airflow, any card will die, even under gaming, throttling can only throttle so much, if the heat is to extreme then the card dies.

So as with most things, mining is not the issue, its the actual user. Use common sense, keep the cards cool as in sub 90c with good ventiliation and the cards won't have an issue.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Much better use out of a 6970 mining than it was for gaming. .

And DOA Radeons isn't anything new Greg lets be honest lol

 

[LtMatt]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18578907

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25827634&postcount=61
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25827821&postcount=64

You mean the Powercolor cards I put up a warning about? If so I later posted to say it was not the cards at fault, but the couple of units we had unfortunately had faulty GPU's which was the cause of the issue. The warnings have since being removed as they mine fine.

Mining won't harm a card if the card can keep itself cool, if your a dumb enough idiot to put 4 cards right next to each other with zero airflow, any card will die, even under gaming, throttling can only throttle so much, if the heat is to extreme then the card dies.

So as with most things, mining is not the issue, its the actual user. Use common sense, keep the cards cool as in sub 90c with good ventiliation and the cards won't have an issue.

So they passed the overnight test then? You should update that thread. I just replied so the thread was given a bump.

 

[Gibbo]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18578907

Maybe you should read my later replies in that thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25827621&postcount=60

The card was actually faulty, all cards tested since have being fine and Powercolor had the cards back and confirmed the two cards we test had a GPU fault which mining was picking up but not other test.

So Powercolor 290 PCS+ cards are absolutely fine for mining on and get around 850 hash.

 

[Rusty0611]

if your a dumb enough idiot

[grammar police][/grammar police]

 

[Davedree]

Much better use out of a 6970 mining than it was for gaming. .

And DOA Radeons isn't anything new Greg lets be honest lol

oi cheeky bugger, 6950/70 cf/ 6990 was pretty potent, well still is.

Driver no excuse for the smokey smokey 590's pcb not being able to take the current draw.

 

[r7slayer]

You answered for me Gibbo. People return cards that are mining, you even stated in a thread "Do not buy these cards if you intend on mining, as they keep failing", so why would I have confiden e in buying a second hand mining card.

By all means, people who want to save money and gamble on a card that has been mining, go for it.

Yea they keep failing at mining because of OCP protection or something which pretty much made them not very good at mining so he was warning people who intended on buying them for mining not to as they would only have problems. That's some good customer service and doesn't mean the cards are in anyway bad at all. Anyway if you read the thread anymore you would have know it was only first batch they tested. Other batches were fine so nothing wrong with these cards.

These people who return cards are generally people who have no idea about how these cards run and airflow etc needed to keep them cool. You would see the exact same results with Nvidia cards if they was just as capable at mining but they are not so.

Edit - gibbo beat me too it, and ohh yea faulty cards not OCP

 

[Gregster]

Not sure if people are purposefully being ignorant or they genuinely are happy to take a gamble on cards that have been mining. No warranty for a start is a big gamble to me but to see how some of these cards are put into systems and then left to cook, makes me cringe.

You guys buy what you like but I will stick with what I know.

 

[Suarez7]

These people who return cards are generally people who have no idea about how these cards run and airflow etc needed to keep them cool. You would see the exact same results with Nvidia cards if they was just as capable at mining but they are not so.

I agree with most of your post but not this bit, nvidia cards tend to run cooler/throttle at lower temps, I'm also pretty sure they have lower RMA % than AMD as well, this was discussed a while ago on here before the real mining craze hit.

 

[bru]

Myself I would be more likely to trust a card that had bee used solely for mining than one that had been in the hands of an enthusiast and had the nuts clocked off of it, as Gibbo has said most cards for mining sit there at stock speeds or carefully tweaked settings rather than clocked till they artefact and then turned down a notch and run ragged.

Saying all that I don't really hold much in buying expensive parts second hand anyway, under £100 is my limit for second hand parts.

 

[Gibbo]

Myself I would be more likely to trust a card that had bee used solely for mining than one that had been in the hands of an enthusiast and had the nuts clocked off of it, as Gibbo has said most cards for mining sit there at stock speeds or carefully tweaked settings rather than clocked till they artefact and then turned down a notch and run ragged.

Saying all that I don't really hold much in buying expensive parts second hand anyway, under £100 is my limit for second hand parts.

I think this is key, its is down to how experienced the miner was.

I run my 290X's at 920 core, with 1500 memory, both with -100mv and they rarely break 80c, one is a DC2 cooler, the other a Tri-X.

My 7970 Vapor-X is flashed to 280X vapor-x and also never see's beyond 75c and is run at 1025mv with 925/1500. My 7990 is also ran at 1025mv, 925/1500 and again rarely see's beyond 80c.

This gives them optimal hash/power consumption, they are cool and under-volted.

If I was gaming on them, as suggest I'd have them clock, over-volted etc. so this argument could go on forever, but I stand by the fact, keep them cool and you should not effect their lifespan at all, the fact I've got two old cards which have being mining for years is proof of that.

 

[humbug]

What is it you know m8?

I am just rather curious that is all, I've had a 6970 since launch. It was hammered when I got it at launch, it was abused in games, it was then set in a workstation doing work task.

It then spent an entire year mining Bitcoin, when it was still profitable to do so, it has since spent its time mining alt coins.

So its had 3yrs are hard use with nearly two years being 24/7 mining and it still works flawlessy whether gaming, office work or mining.

Gibbo's 6970, I salute you.

Indeed mining does not hurt GPU's. people, or rather stupid people hurt GPU's.

Thats why you should never buy an ex- coin excavator, you can not always tell who's stupid.

 

[Silent_Scone]

oi cheeky bugger, 6950/70 cf/ 6990 was pretty potent, well still is.

Driver no excuse for the smokey smokey 590's pcb not being able to take the current draw.

Lol 590s and 580s are not any better no.

Also clocking the nuts off something is fine as long as you've not put silly volts through it. Artifacts don't hurt anyone. A constant stream of loaded volts over weeks on end is surely more likely to take its toll.

Neither should be too much reason for concern but I'm not sure i would honestly pick a second hand mining card over a gamers.

 

[ubersonic]

The are always exceptions but 24/7 mining will usually kill a high end card within a few years (usually within it's warranty period) or leave it damaged (I.E not displaying video, or not doing R+G+B) hence why used cards are false economy as a failure isn't just RMA downtime it's downtime plus the price of a new card (It's all well and good to say it's already paid for itself but if you think of it like that when it dies it robs you of earnings equal to it's cost).

 

[Gregster]

One person using 300 GPU's is obviously after maximum profit. Card fails in the warranty period, he takes said card out and returns it to get a replacement. He doesn't care if it is running at 95c 24/7 I would assume and after replacing several cards and the warranty period is now up, he sticks them onto eBay and replaces with shiny new warranty cards.

Another miner keeps his cards cool and under volted and then puts them on eBay and replaces them with shiny new warranty cards.

An interested person looks at both auctions and wouldn't have a clue at what had done what.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Yes and to be fair there are going to be circumstances where a card will just keep going, keeping them cool and undervolted will go along way but they will still degrade faster if you're running at 3D clocks for its life span just like any component will. I don't think you can use a couple of cards as a valid argument just because they still work.

Obviously the rate of degradation depends on how good your setup is but either way you can't deny having them sat there doing it isn't significantly reducing their life span. You would expect gaming for 3 years continuously without breaks to put wear on leave alone mining at full load lol.

 

[humbug]

Just to recap here guys as despite what has been said it seems to be creeping back back to the wrong information again.


Mining does not harm the GPU. the only things that are harmful to GPU's are idiots.
A used card that has been used for mining is just as safe or unsafe as a card thats been used for gaming. the reason why you should not buy a card thats been used for mining is because you don't know that any of its past owners are not idiots.
Having said that the same could be said for a card thats been used for gaming.

Its not at all complicated.

 

[Gregster]

Just to recap here guys as despite what has been said it seems to be creeping back back to the wrong information again.


Mining does not harm the GPU. the only things that are harmful to GPU's are idiots.
A used card that has been used for mining is just as safe or unsafe as a card thats been used for gaming. the reason why you should not buy a card thats been used for mining is because you don't know that any of its past owners are not idiots.
Having said that the same could be said for a card thats been used for gaming.

Its not at all complicated.

Well I work hard for my money and would hate to buy second hand and watch it fail 2 months down the line. EVGA are the only cards I would feel comfortable buying, as the warranty is transferable. Everything else is a gamble IMO.

That's not complicated either.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Lol at it's not complicated. Yore right it's not... So not sure why you're failing to grasp it Humbug. You don need a degree in electrical engineering to understand its adverse effects.