• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

How to spot used cards from a miner

Flake87

Flake87

Flake87

Associate
Joined
27 Jul 2015
Posts
1,480
*** No linking to computer related ebay listings - please read the rules ref: competitors ***
- Armageus

Currently for sale on Ebay, but there's more than these three. Surely it can't be normal for a private seller to own more than 3 graphics cards all the same ?
 
The cards will be all beaten up, fans probably wont work very well, will have dodgy bios's on them, covered in coal dust, half the components will be melted.
 
How to spot used cards from a miner
Click to expand...
If the seller looked like this ;)

Rn2pYYY.jpg
 
Seriously though, if someone has 3+ second hand cards all the same more than likely they were in a mining rig.

Wouldnt put me off too much if a) they were not too old b) well priced.
 
Canary feathers.
I think the chances are, if someone has more than a couple for sale then they've likely been used for mining.
Ask them whether they've been used for mining and also ask them for the date they were purchased too. 1070's having been used for 2 years mining non-stop, no thanks. Even if they say "No", still be doubtful however unless theyve gone on to explain why they have 2+ cards for sale.
If any doubt, don't bother. There will likley be plenty more hitting the market in the coming months.
 
Seems the Ebay link has been removed, although it wasn't put their for competitive reasons! The cards are however a little unusual, EVGA Hybrid water cooled GTX1080Ti Sc2 I guess water cooling keeps the noise down, although fitting three plus of these into a tower case would be a squeeze !
 
Flake87 said:
Seems the Ebay link has been removed, although it wasn't put their for competitive reasons!
Click to expand...

Whatever your intentions the rules are fairly clear - OcUK sell Graphics cards, therefore don't link to sales of Graphics cards anywhere else.
No further warnings will be given on this subject
 
I bought my 1080Ti from a miner earlier this year, and had no problem with the purchase, it was from another forum, not eBay though, and he was very open about it. They were only a few months old, he underclocked them and kept under 60C.
He had several cards for sale, but I chose the EVGA GPU due to their warranty. They provide transferable warranty for the second owner, 3 years from date of manufacture. Their terms have changed slightly in the last few months, so you would need to check the requirements for the warranty. (You might need a receipt now) But it's peace of mind for me. The card runs great by the way, and I picked it up in person from his house.

So I think with a bit of care and choosing the right card with adequate support and you'll be fine.

Mick
 
I would rather buy from a miner, after dabbling in mining last year, I learned that it’s best to tweak the cards, so it’s not running at 100%, sure it’s on 24/7, but a miner will be looking to get the most of a card from pulling the least voltage possible. I would go as far as saying a miner looks after it better than the average gamer
 
DONOHUE07 said:
I would rather buy from a miner, after dabbling in mining last year, I learned that it’s best to tweak the cards, so it’s not running at 100%, sure it’s on 24/7, but a miner will be looking to get the most of a card from pulling the least voltage possible. I would go as far as saying a miner looks after it better than the average gamer
Click to expand...

Nope.

Whatever the reasons for not running a card at 100 percent for mining that doesn't detract from the fact a mining card is clocking up SO many more hours.

Electronics are rated for MTBF and more time is more time. I'd take a card used at 100 percent for gaming over one used for much longer hours at a lower duty cycle.
 
I looked at a honest non mined on card a few days ago, the seller was also selling a number of other cards, along with a dual core cpu, little mobo, 8GB ram, a beefy PSU and some riser cards. Hurm.
 
1. Depends on what cards they are... links gone so not sure, but if the right series they could have possibly been used as tri/quad sli or crossfire... that'd explain such a small number of cards (sub 4)
2. As long as the cards have been kept in a good and clean environment... the likelihood is a mining card will actually have a longer lifespan than your average PC/gaming card.

Reasoning...

2.a. The vast majority of miners reduce the power % and are very careful with any overclocks, if they overclock at all as pushing too far will cause corruption and reduce hash rate. Reducing the power offers a dramatic improvement in performance per Watt
2.b. While it was more frequently observable in older hardware... computer hardware expands and contracts as it heats up and cools down. This type of size adjustment causes fractures over time, in the primary chips especially. So, just like an incandescent lightbulb - IT hardware lasts much much longer if it has been left on 24/7 and run at a consistent temperature.

In certain circumstances, load and use can have a negative impact on the lifecycle of certain hardware... but rarely CPUs and GPUs now because they have really good throttling algorithms which keep the temperatures far below any risk level.

Main things to check... get some recent photos, unless the seller is known trustworthy. If they're coated in dust or grime or anything looks too out of place... don't buy (although most standard PCs will get dusty over time and I don't think many of us, even enthusiasts are particularly keen on taking everything apart often to give it a proper clean... so possibly take this into account).

Does it have plenty of warranty remaining? Is the warranty transferable to the second owner? How long do you intend to keep the card relative to the amount of warranty that's left?

Is the saving really that huge to even consider all this and take the risk? Surely the price difference isn't that vast & you'd be able to purchase from someone on the members market or a new card from overclockers for not much more?

Other thing to look out for would be any custom bios used... this is usually much more common on AMD cards, rather than Nvidia.

I'm sure there's more I'm missing... but I'm v. tired.
 
You missed the bit that fans from mined cards are much more likely to fail and are more noisy. Plus the cost for replacing them is not always cheap.
 
Good point.

Does back up my recommendation though that, if going for a card that was used for mining... aim for one with plenty of warranty remaining, so if any annoyance like that develops during your ownership, can be sorted by the manufacturer.
 
Rule of thumb would be to assume that multiple cards on sale are from a mining rig. The chances of them being from a SLI rig are so low that it isn't worth considering. Whether or not you are prepared to buy second hand cards that were used for crypto mining is up to you. Personally, I wouldn't touch them... Especially from the source you linked to originally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom