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Don't Buy A Used Mining GPU

Soldato
Joined
26 Jan 2007
Posts
2,541
Location
Leeds
Actually - it makes zero difference if they have been mined on.

Yeah, but I still don't want miners to think they have a business model where they can sit on a GPU for 2 years then pass it on for a decent price (potentially higher than they originally paid if it is indeed 2 years old at this point).

It's in my personal interests to encourage everyone to avoid buying from a miner, because then mining becomes less profitable - which leaves more cards for gamers :)
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2009
Posts
17,175
Location
Aquilonem Londinensi
People say miners look after cards. However they always run the fans close to 100% (if its not a dude in his bedroom etc).

I bought a used 7970 after the first mining boom. The fans were completely shot. Getting the exact correct size replacement fans isn't as straight forward as nipping on Ebay if it isn't the most mainstream brand. And going to the manufacturer will cost you more than you expect. I waited 3 weeks for an ali baba order, and they sent me the wrong size.

I'll be looking at 2nd hand 3090s next year after the mining collapse. But I'll be expecting to have to change the memory pads at least.

Zip ties and 92/120mm fan/s job done, better than OEM ;)
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2009
Posts
3,371
I'd buy a mining card if it was cheap enough.

Thing is who advertises 2nd hand cards as ex mining cards? They will all have only spent their life playing Roblox on the weekend with hardly any load. :p
 
Associate
Joined
11 Jun 2021
Posts
1,024
Location
Earth
There are others who just get in on a smaller scale,and get out very quickly so probably push the cards as much as they can to maximise their returns in as short a time period as possible(and cheaper models lack proper RAM cooling),and dispose of them when they start to have problems. Hence,I would be more inclined to use certain highstreet secondhand shop,who give a two year warranty on their secondhand GPUs.

This makes sense, I've never mined but having learned a wee bit (as it actually affected my life) over the past year or so it does seem like serious miners take care of their hardware. It's rare to see someone on youtube suggesting to push a card flat out, it's usually an undervolt and bump on memory varying on which currency they are targeting.

It's logical that someone without experience who wants to make a quick few quid could see higher hashrates with a card flat out and think they have nailed it whilst unknowingly running it into the dirt.
 
Caporegime
OP
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
I'd buy a mining card if it was cheap enough.

Thing is who advertises 2nd hand cards as ex mining cards? They will all have only spent their life playing Roblox on the weekend with hardly any load. :p

Exactly. Plenty on MM have sold mining cards one said he was apparently upgrading all 3 of his kids gaming pcs at the same time.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Sep 2009
Posts
9,616
Location
Billericay, UK
He is right, though. Mining heavily stresses the chips, it's like running Furmark forever, sooner or later it will melt the chips.
That's nonsense. Your not going to 'melt the chips' by running it at a high load all the time. What's more likely to cause damage over the term is constant cycling between load and idle states which causes the solder joints to expand and shrink as the card heats up and cools down which is what a graphics card typically goes through when used for gaming. The worst damage a mining card suffers from is normally from worn out ball bearings in the fan.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Aug 2005
Posts
8,840
Location
Clydebank
He's exactly as good as he used to be. By that I mean terrible.

the now quite obnoxious 'LTTSTORE.COM' ads in teh middle of his vidoes have finally done it for me. Also, when they talk about their other 'upcoming videos' that you're gonna 'have to watch to find out X' . The whole of youtube is like this. Back away from it. it's not healthy
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2009
Posts
24,764
Location
Planet Earth
This makes sense, I've never mined but having learned a wee bit (as it actually affected my life) over the past year or so it does seem like serious miners take care of their hardware. It's rare to see someone on youtube suggesting to push a card flat out, it's usually an undervolt and bump on memory varying on which currency they are targeting.

It's logical that someone without experience who wants to make a quick few quid could see higher hashrates with a card flat out and think they have nailed it whilst unknowingly running it into the dirt.

This is the problem as its become a get rich quick gold rush,so unless you know how its been mined on,then there is a risk IMHO. Its why if you are getting a GPU secondhand,it makes sense if there is some sort of warranty. My mates ex-ming RX580 went kaput within a year,and last December they had to buy an ovepriced secondhand GPU,which was a bit slower than the RX580.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2007
Posts
9,273
This is the problem as its become a get rich quick gold rush,so unless you know how its been mined on,then there is a risk IMHO. Its why if you are getting a GPU secondhand,it makes sense if there is some sort of warranty. My mates ex-ming RX580 went kaput within a year,and last December they had to buy an ovepriced secondhand GPU,which was a bit slower than the RX580.

You know non mining cards ALSO go faulty.

Since 2017 I've not had one card fail in a mining rig....
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2004
Posts
183
Location
UK
My R9 290 Tri-x OC that i picked up on the auction site x mining in 2014
Still going strong Bios modded 1100 Core (From 1000) 5600 Ram (From 5200)

My son got a RX 480 Nitro+ From the forrest site new in 2016 when they launched
THE RX 480 Nitro+ is Dead
 
Associate
Joined
12 Aug 2021
Posts
28
Location
London
People say miners look after cards. However they always run the fans close to 100% (if its not a dude in his bedroom etc).

I bought a used 7970 after the first mining boom. The fans were completely shot. Getting the exact correct size replacement fans isn't as straight forward as nipping on Ebay if it isn't the most mainstream brand. And going to the manufacturer will cost you more than you expect. I waited 3 weeks for an ali baba order, and they sent me the wrong size.

I'll be looking at 2nd hand 3090s next year after the mining collapse. But I'll be expecting to have to change the memory pads at least.
who says there will be a mining collapse??? I guess after Ethereum 2.0
 
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