Any way to check the health/lifespan of a second-hand GPU?

[peanutismint]

I bought a used GPU off eBay for gaming and I'm wondering if there's a way I could check if it's been used for crypto mining or anything else that might severely affect the lifespan of the card? Or should modern cards last for decades with high use? I last replaced my GPU about 8 years ago so I'd ideally like this one to last the same length of time....

 

[Rroff]

There is no standard way that I'm aware of - the card doesn't store anything like power on hours, etc. in the realm of theoretical someone might be able to pull data off certain chips via SPI/I2C and get some idea but that is very advanced stuff and no software exists that can just do that for any old card.

 

[Aretak]

The only obvious signs that a card had been used heavily would be physical things like the fans being on the way out, but presumably you'd have noticed that already were it the case. Other than that there's nothing on a graphics card that will degrade to the naked eye other than the thermal paste, but that's often hard and crusty even on brand new cards, so it tells you nothing really.

 

[Disco_P]

I'd leaving it running a demanding game or benchmark for about 24 hours after first receiving it.

 

[peanutismint]

Thanks for all the tips guys; Will inspect it when it arrives. Annoyingly, right after I bought it, someone else offered me a brand new sealed one for $10 more...! The eBay seller says 'no returns' but if I find anything wrong with it I'll definitely be sending it back and buying the brand new one instead.

 

[MikeTimbers]

Miners don't actually push their cards full out. Usually undervolted and underclocked to heat a sweet spot of power efficiency/hashrate. As such, I wouldn't be that concerned about an ex-mining card.

 

[varkanoid]

You can tell if its been used for GPU mining because it will be full of black dust.

 

[eeii]

Mining GPU's sometimes have custom BIOS's on them. If the card does not run as fast as similar cards in benchmarks you may need to to flash it.

 

[koooowweeee]

I'd leaving it running a demanding game or benchmark for about 24 hours after first receiving it.

Really?

I would plug it in and just use it. Seems like a total waste of time to me

 

[imginy]

Really?

I would plug it in and just use it. Seems like a total waste of time to me

Second hand no warranty , you would want to test it straight away and send it back if faulty.

You might play a game of overwatch for months and it be fine then switch to something more demanding like battlefield and have it crash every few hours.

 

[Drumroll]

Tests for the memory, as those used to degrade, at least on HD7900 series, due to mining. Not sure about other models.