How 'bad' is a 2nd hand used mining card

[Efour]

How much stress did they take during use? IS it Full load non stop until told to stop?

Would you ever buy a 2nd hand one that had been used for such or is it just not worth a risk?

What kind of discount would you expect compared a similar one that hadn't been used for mining?

I guess 3 months mining is equal to at least a years Gaming if not longer??

Do manufacturers honor warranties when they have been previously used for mining ?

So many questions

 

[Drizmod]

1) Yes

2) Depends on how much Warranty is still left. I sold 2 7950s which still had 2 and a half years warranty

3) all depends on the demand. I sold my 7950s for £90. Could have got a lot more months back. In comparison to non-mined cards how would you know unless the seller tells you?

4) Probably a lot longer as 90 x 24 but would depend on how many hours a day you game

5) Yes. how would they know? Even if they did you have not used the card outside of spec

 

[Akagi]

To be honest, many sellers will have overclocked the nuts off of a GPU, folded or mined with it 24/7 for months while it is running at borderline temperatures, and then will go on to say "Very light use, never overclocked etc etc~"

I don't really care if a card has been mined on or not in honesty, as long as it has warranty left.

If a seller says, for example "Have mined with this GPU for 4 months, undervolted to 0.9V and ran in a well cooled environment", then there is a good chance that it has been looked after better than your average gaming GPU.

 

[anthony566]

As above ... just make sure they have warranty left on them.

 

[~>Dg<~]

wouldn't touch mined cards myself.


oh i only tried it once but never liked it ( reality ran 24/7 for a year )

on cards like 290s baking at 90c 24/7 no thanks.

 

[gareth170]

no need to worry, just make sure it as warranty still.

 

[kaku]

Same with buying any second-hand stuff really.

All my mining cards have been run undervolted in an air-conditioned server room, with very few power cycles. They're going to have far less wear than someone who's set up a crate in a box room with cards throttling and rigs being stopped and started from week to week.

Same with someone clocking the nuts off their cards doing suicide runs vs. someone leaving everything at stock and not gaming often because they had the money to burn.

 

[ubersonic]

How much stress did they take during use? IS it Full load non stop until told to stop?

Yes.

Would you ever buy a 2nd hand one that had been used for such or is it just not worth a risk?

Yes I would.

What kind of discount would you expect compared a similar one that hadn't been used for mining?

None because in most cases Mining cards have had an easier life, less start/stop cycles, run with better airflow, etc.

I guess 3 months mining is equal to at least a years Gaming if not longer??

No it doesn't work that way.

Do manufacturers honor warranties when they have been previously used for mining ?

Yup.

 

[Kotu]

I have no problem with mining cards, electronics is completely different from car milage for example, they don't have a lifetime consisting of how many total watts have been put through the card (ie how long its been running at load while overclocked). The only part which is more likely to fail after mining is the fan and this is simple enough to fix with a bit of grease in the fan bearing.

Looking at it another way, mining cards have been proven stable. They have had extended burn in tests done where any errors would have shown in the the mining client. Any weaker or prone to failure cards would have already been replaced by the person doing the mining.

 

[Drangueos]

It all depends, I had some mining rigs and my cards were undervolted and not inside a case, so the max temperature were between 70 and 72C, also the computer was working 24/7, so no power on and off cycles.

I had a pair of the same cards on my gaming pc and they used to run hotter, something around 78C on the top card and 74C on the other one.

Usually people undervolt cards for mining, from 1.25V to 1.1V
Also they run cooler than gaming cards as they were undervolted and probably not inside a case.
Low temperature oscillation, since they were working all the time they had a constant temperature what is much better for components.

You will never be sure unless you know who and how he was using the cards, you could get a 1 month old "gaming" card that had the voltage raised a lot, was running all the time overclocked and hot, that suffered much more than an 1 year "mining" card.

 

[varkanoid]

I think the question you should be asking is if anyone bought a mining card and it didnt last.

I've not seen that many tales of woe on here regarding this so do a search see if you can find any.

I bought two very cheaply, they were 6 months old, one without a cooler and a reference one that was covered in thick black sticky deposits that looked like it had been used for coal mining and both were excellent runners. I dont have them anymore but I know they are still up and running without problems and its nearly a year now.

 

[Uncle Petey]

All three of my 290's were used to mine before I bought them and they did a bit more with me.
Any probs? Nope.

 

[snips86x]

Its pot luck!

My reference 290 was a mining card when I bought it and lasted for 2 months before an RMA was needed. 37 days later still nothing and refunded pending.

If you're looking on the MM, there are a few non mining cards going for the same price, I've just picked another one up.

 

[Voodle]

I bought a Gigabyte 280x windforce rev2 off of someone on the MM and afaik it was used for mining, which dropped its price a bit. It's a factory OC card and has trouble going even a little bit over its default speed of 1100 but otherwise seems to work perfectly? I'm happy with it so far, especially with what it cost.

 

[Panos]

I would buy a mining card if still had warranty left, plugged it on my computer and was running fine.

Assuming there is no obvious damage that could avoid the warranty.

 

[Gerard]

Depends where you're buying them I suppose, seen some people on the bay flogging multiple 7990 cards and claiming they weren't mining cards, because apparently crossfire works with 6 gpu's these days...

 

[jimhaumman]

Everyone is writting about valid warranty but there ain't many companies which grant warranty to the cards which where resell (second hand).
Warranty doesn't transfer to the second owner,or am I wrong?

 

[Rroff]

Tricky one, theoretically mining would quickly weed out weaknesses in a card and a card made with decent components should have a mean failure of at least 50,000 hours at normal clocks/voltage/operating temps but you only need a brand to cheap out on the odd capacitor and/or being pushed at temperatures above normal conditions and that can quickly come down to months not years.

 

[gareth170]

Everyone is writting about valid warranty but there ain't many companies which grant warranty to the cards which where resell (second hand).
Warranty doesn't transfer to the second owner,or am I wrong?

as long as u get the receipt/invoice from the person there shouldn't be a problem

 

[Mal X]

well the 1st thing that might be worth buying if you have a 7990 ex-miner, is a new cooler shroud that comes with the three fans = 40 quid from China, should be here in 3 days...because number one fan is knackered.

a miner card is usually underclocked, with the core and memory backed off too, which is good........and usually running out in the open.

the 7990 runs better with all 3 backed off anyway, so i got my figures off a mining website and these are :-

1.09v.........900MHz.....1422MHz and it runs beautifully like this..

which is worst, a 7990 that needs a bit of work to put right, or a brand new 295X2 that has too small a radiator and throttles back..