Don't Buy A Used Mining GPU

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Not that it did or does the slightest bit of good, but RoI at least had a planning policy about superstores having to be under a certain size (think it was 1 hectare), so IKEA in Dublin needed an exemption precisely because retail parks kill towns and cities and encourage car use.

Retail parks and Tesco Extras (the church of consumption, Tesco even have a roof like a church) etc. are really awful places. In the quest to squeeze as many car parking spaces as possible, what is almost always forgotten is that even the person coming in a Hummer has to get out sometimes, so why do most never have any pavements?

I agree - a lot of these retail parks even if located right next to a town centre,are a PITA to even walk to. They usually have no inclination to put in pavements or crossings.

Then when it comes to cycle lanes,etc they make the pavements narrower to fit them in,so it means those that walk can get mowed down by cyclists. Just walk though Cambridge.

Then the other problem about electric cars - is the car companies doing more of their built in obsolescence thing. Instead of delinking the battery packs from the car companies,you depend on the car companies,who will make battery replacement so expensive,you end up junking the car(not repairing it). Then you have the thing,that in Europe/US instead of making these cars affordable,they tart them up,so the ASP goes up massively. In other countries they are looking at more cost effective solutions. So unless you can walk/cycle somewhere you will need to use public transport. But if the public transport is rubbish,you end up having to have a car or do without.

It's all about making a quick buck.

 

[KompuKare]

All battery packs for everything should be to an ISO standard and that's it. Proprietary rubbish and corporations who liked to pretend to be green are mutually incompatible.

But instead of that, the trends is to make phones where the battery is glued into the middle; laptops are heading to having next to no serviceable parts. And all the end of life waste gets Dorf to developing countries.

 

[ljt]

Don't know about the other cryptos, but Etherium is going to Proof of Stake.

That's is, only every man (and woman) and their dog who already have assets can have free money.

So things will be back to 'normal' soon: those who have money make even more money!

Actually, there is one way to mine without wasting energy. Under very specific conditions, though:

In the winter in a home which is solely heated by electricity, then mining wastes nothing.

Although I hvea say I hate fan heaters and a bunch of GPU fans rattling would go on my nerves.

Again, everyone seems to have gotten the wrong interpretation of what I was saying. Perhaps I need to elaborate what I was trying to get at, because I am one of these "every man and his dog" and "pleb" that I'm referring to.

What I was trying to say, is that mining is akin to printing free money, you've really not done anything that contributes to society for that money, other than burnt some electricity.

Lets take an example albeit an extreme example, but it was where I was heading with my post;

Mr Joe Bloggs - He's a normal everyday bloke, works in an essential job, paying £2k a month , he's got a PC at home with 1 GPU, and he's recently gotten into mining, and his GPU is earning him say £200 a month. Hmm he thinks, if I could get another 9 of these GPU's, i could be earning the same as what I get from work!, why should I bother working? I could let my mining rig generate the cash and I wouldn't have to work. The snowball starts, and he's now acquired 10 GPU's and now we've lost 1 essential worker.

He then tells all his mates he worked with, and they start too, again it snowballs from there, soon everyone who can get hold of mutliple GPU's are suddenly quitting their productive jobs and they are living off their mining income instead, being totally unproductive for society.

If you basically offer people money printing devices I bet the vast majority would snap it up and live the high life and quit their main jobs, society just couldn't function if the masses (and I include myself in that) has access to that system.

 

[CuriousTomCat]

I always research before I buy. I bought one of the only phones on the market that still has a removable battery. I even made sure I can get replacement parts for my lawnmower before I bought it etc.

Most people don't care. That's why phone batteries are glued in because because 99% of end users seem to prioritise aesthetics/thickness over serviceability

Anyway, back on topic. I'm refusing to buy a mining card in protest against it. If miners thought their GPUs would be unsellable afterwards, maybe they'll think twice about doing it next time.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

All battery packs for everything should be to an ISO standard and that's it. Proprietary rubbish and corporations who liked to pretend to be green are mutually incompatible.

But instead of that, the trends is to make phones where the battery is glued into the middle; laptops are heading to having next to no serviceable parts. And all the end of life waste gets Dorf to developing countries.

It seems consumers have to foot the bill for the environmental programmes,not the companies creating the mess.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Yet a miner using 10 GPUs,wasting kilowatts in power is OK? My main system for 5 years with a GTX1080 was running off a 450W SF450 Gold. Frequently I was seeing gaming loads under 200W if running a game(max around 280W at stock before undervolting),and the PSU was running in passive mode. A person with a mainstream laptop is mostly likely to use under 200W under heavy load. I cap the FPS in my games too.

Someone having a bunch of even undervolted RTX3080/RTX3080TI cards,for example,is consuming a ton more power than I do. Its not even them having one GPU,or even two,its the loads and loads of GPUs these people are buying.

So its gone from a miner with 5 GPUs to now having 10! This wont be many people, its scaling up and a domestic supply can only provide so much power - but I agree when some guy with a garage and a couple of properties could stack up.

Let's put a bit of context into this. My 3090+system when gaming is drawing from the wall 410-450w when I play AC:Valhalla. This is not overclocked nor heavily undervolted, just stock. Gaming = 425 lets say on average. OK, I then call it a night and leave the GPU mining overnight and run it on a tweaked profile, if its ETH then total system at the wall (I have a power meter) is 330w all in. If I mine another algo like ERGO its 250w. All in.

So gaming I consume more energy and its likely to burst higher in demanding areas of the game which is why nvidia claim you need a meaty 750w+ PSU. I have a low power cpu (3600) so imagine if I used a far better CPU. I also game at 4k on monitor which is why the GPU is taxed so much.

Now it does depend on what GPU or GPU(s) you have and how good at dialling in the power you are so that element is not controllable unless you specify what components come into play.

You could also argue that a 10x 6600xt mining rig which when dialled in will consume 70w per card will be just over 700w. This is not exactly smashing past an enthusiast gamer rig overclocked with tons of RGB and tons of peripherals on 3xmonitors if you see the point. Yes a gamer cant play 24 hours a day, but during lockdown I bet you a ton of people were pumping in massive sessions racking up many hours a day!

 

[Haggisman]

Anyone who buys ANY card thats been mined on runs the risk of ending up with a knackered item, so if possible, try to get them to let you take the heatsink off first and have a shoofty underneath, you might be a bit shocked at what you might find.

Fixed.

Dodgy sellers trying to palm off broken cards as good has nothing to do with mining and could just as easily happen with a card that's been used exclusively for gaming. Anyone claiming otherwise is either very naive or is trying to push an agenda

 

[Jono8]

Anyway, back on topic. I'm refusing to buy a mining card in protest against it. If miners thought their GPUs would be unsellable afterwards, maybe they'll think twice about doing it next time.

Unfortunately, with profitability how it has been (and to a certain extent still is), most have already made back the price of their cards anyway (especially if bought at RRP) so resale value isnt much of a worry. That's why GPUS were so ridiculously hard to get hold of (3060ti/3070/3080). They were effectively free if you mined on them for a few months.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Unfortunately, with profitability how it has been (and to a certain extent still is), most have already made back the price of their cards anyway (especially if bought at RRP) so resale value isnt much of a worry. That's why GPUS were so ridiculously hard to get hold of (3060ti/3070/3080). They were effectively free if you mined on them for a few months.

Which opens up a good question - how many people that bought one ended up mining on them here? There will be many a lurker/voyeur member than doesnt post a lot, and a few that probably do but say nothing as they dont want to be labelled. We already know that a few shared they bought said cards you listed, took them to the high street pawn shop place and cashed in. They will probably also buying another card at the latest offers after cashing in. It was quite recent in a thread and maybe more doing it than you think.

 

[Jono8]

Which opens up a good question - how many people that bought one ended up mining on them here? There will be many a lurker/voyeur member than doesnt post a lot, and a few that probably do but say nothing as they dont want to be labelled. We already know that a few shared they bought said cards you listed, took them to the high street pawn shop place and cashed in. They will probably also buying another card at the latest offers after cashing in. It was quite recent in a thread and maybe more doing it than you think.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that though.

The reason Gibbo has a whole host of supercars is because he buys GPU's for cheaper than we buy them for. When it boils down to it, it really is that simple.

 

[gpuerrilla]

There is nothing inherently wrong with that though.

The reason Gibbo has a whole host of supercars is because he buys GPU's for cheaper than we buy them for. When it boils down to it, it really is that simple.

Its not really a question of what's right and wrong. If you look at it with 'business is business' head then yeah people will do it. But your version of its ok to do it may morally trigger someone who is against the whole profiteering and the circumstances of lack in GPUs for demand. If you cannot see this is contributing to the cycle of the issue then that's it really. Just pointing out there is many a bad actor in this niche and you can easily look at it with tunnel vision or narrative to suit ones agenda.

 

[Jono8]

Its not really a question of what's right and wrong. If you look at it with 'business is business' head then yeah people will do it. But your version of its ok to do it may morally trigger someone who is against the whole profiteering and the circumstances of lack in GPUs for demand. If you cannot see this is contributing to the cycle of the issue then that's it really. Just pointing out there is many a bad actor in this niche and you can easily look at it with tunnel vision or narrative to suit ones agenda.

I find it hard to see where any sort of "morality" comes into it really.

It's an expensive luxury computer part which enables people to play games at slightly faster framerates than before. If it was medicine, food, water etc then i would certainly feel differently.

The latest GPU is not something i could ever get worried about from a moral perspective. If i did, then i would have to agree that capitalism and the whole of the way the western world works is immoral (which is a question for another day ).

Or, as a counter, you could argue that the sole fault of the situation lies in the people who give crypto currency any value.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I find it hard to see where any sort of "morality" comes into it really.

It's an expensive luxury computer part which enables people to play games at slightly faster framerates than before. If it was medicine, food, water etc then i would certainly feel differently.

The latest GPU is not something i could ever get worried about from a moral perspective. If i did, then i would have to agree that capitalism and the whole of the way the western world works is immoral (which is a question for another day ).

Or, as a counter, you could argue that the sole fault of the situation lies in the people who give crypto currency any value.

Well I may not raise a brow, but I can certainly say there are many about that really do. Just look at the past few pages. It seems people side-step the part you began with and attack who deserves a component over another person. Whilst I don't agree with people buying multiple of anything for their own purposes to exacerbate during shortages (remember bog roll in the supermarkets) its a sore topic that's for sure!

 

[pieman109]

Fixed.

Dodgy sellers trying to palm off broken cards as good has nothing to do with mining and could just as easily happen with a card that's been used exclusively for gaming. Anyone claiming otherwise is either very naive or is trying to push an agenda

Pardon me but who's trying to push an agenda or naive for that matter? I'm just pointing out that "some" mining cards can or might be damaged through lack of maintenance/care, etc. And I provided proof with pic. I'm advising people here to be aware of the problems that might occur when buying an ex mining card. Theres loads of mining cards out there that are/probably fine, no problem, but there is slim chance that someone might end up with a duffer, like I did! I personally will never touch a mining card and thats my decision, nothing to do with an agenda, due getting a bad card, is that being naive or prudent?

 

[Haggisman]

Pardon me but who's trying to push an agenda or naive for that matter? I'm just pointing out that "some" mining cards can or might be damaged through lack of maintenance/care, etc. And I provided proof with pic. I'm advising people here to be aware of the problems that might occur when buying an ex mining card. Theres loads of mining cards out there that are/probably fine, no problem, but there is slim chance that someone might end up with a duffer, like I did! I personally will never touch a mining card and thats my decision, nothing to do with an agenda, due getting a bad card, is that being naive or prudent?

You repeatedly say "ex mining card", but the truth is it could happen with any 2nd hand card. The fact it was used for mining is irrelevant, so why keep mentioning it?

 

[D1craig]

But the fans are probably set to run full pelt all the time, so they're gonna fail sooner than later and when they do, that (whats in the pic) can happen, also I've had loads of cards pass through my hands over the past 18 months, and I can safely say I've never seen pads in such a sorry state, all I had to do was blow on them and they'd fly off!

I find it a bit perturbing that some people here are trying to justify damage to these cards
Anyone who buys ANY card thats been mined on runs the risk of ending up with a knackered item, so if possible, try to get them to let you take the heatsink off first and have a shoofty underneath, you might be a bit shocked at what you might find.

the picture doesnt do justice to the flakyness of the pads. but i have removed a few coolers and the pads have ripped just from that, been nothing wrong with them apart from the tear, the texture and everything has felt fine. the fan failed though, that not something ive had happen to mine and that causes the problem doesnt it not the running while the fan is on?

 

[CuriousTomCat]

I find it hard to see where any sort of "morality" comes into it really.

It's an expensive luxury computer part which enables people to play games at slightly faster framerates than before. If it was medicine, food, water etc then i would certainly feel differently.

The latest GPU is not something i could ever get worried about from a moral perspective. If i did, then i would have to agree that capitalism and the whole of the way the western world works is immoral (which is a question for another day ).

Or, as a counter, you could argue that the sole fault of the situation lies in the people who give crypto currency any value.

There's nothing wrong with profiteering from a GPU or any other luxury item. If I saw a cheap GPU at a competitor, I'd be happy to buy it to sell on eBay.

However, if one of my friends wanted a GPU, I'd let them have it at cost. I could never profit from a friend and that's where the issue is for me.

A lot of people on these forums view each other as friends. I couldn't profit from a forum member. When Gibbo does these "forum member deals", I could never profit from it because it would be like stabbing a friend in the back. There's only a limited amount and I want every one of them to go to a genuine forum member to game on. I could never deprive another forum member of that for my own profit. That's where the "morality" comes from. That's why I feel annoyed/angry/betrayed when a members only deal ends up on eBay. It's not because I'm against profiting from "expensive luxury computer parts".

 

[gpuerrilla]

You repeatedly say "ex mining card", but the truth is it could happen with any 2nd hand card. The fact it was used for mining is irrelevant, so why keep mentioning it?

I must admit this is why I would use the MM for second hand goods, but any second hand good should be treated with same caution unless you have some sort of warranty/guarantee. The bay has buyer protection and all that but some goods you just have to accept risk or just buy new if you want peace of mind.

 

[pieman109]

Because the discussion title here is involving mining cards and the purchase thereof.

the picture doesnt do justice to the flakyness of the pads. but i have removed a few coolers and the pads have ripped just from that, been nothing wrong with them apart from the tear, the texture and everything has felt fine. the fan failed though, that not something ive had happen to mine and that causes the problem doesnt it not the running while the fan is on?

Well in all fairness the pads were easily replaced, so thats not a real issue and I have seen some bad pads in the past, but not as bad as these, these were on a different level lol. Well, in a nutshell, the fan is there to keep things cool, if it fails, things get hot even if undervolted (and thats assuming that it was) its gonna be in "heat soak" for as long as its running which would be 24/7 I'd have thought so especially if its a card located in a pack, not at either end of a row where ambient cooling might be a factor

 

[pieman109]

I must admit this is why I would use the MM for second hand goods, but any second hand good should be treated with same caution unless you have some sort of warranty/guarantee. The bay has buyer protection and all that but some goods you just have to accept risk or just buy new if you want peace of mind.

Of course it can happen to any secondhand card, infant mortality, just plain worn out, overclocked overvolted, hamfisted application of aftermarket coolers, etc, the list goes on. I'm mentioning mining cards, because the tread is about mining cards and why you shouldn't buy them. I stuck my 10 pennyworth in due to my experience with an ex-mining card showing proof of what "COULD" happen if you're not careful.