Buying second-hand graphics cards that were used for crypto mining isn't as risky as you...

[WhoCaresAnymore]

I look at used items this way... If it's more than half the price of new, I'm probably not going to buy it. Hell, I never even buy new cars because when they hit 3 years old, they cost half what they do new and are usually still in mint condition with warranty left on them. Not paying the taxes on the new price, freight, PDI and all the other BS rip-off fees that dealers charge makes it seem stupid to me to buy a new car in the first place.

I think that is the most intelligent way of looking at it.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I think that is the most intelligent way of looking at it.

Well thank you! Maybe my brain hasn't become as frail as I thought!

 

[Moochy]

Linus was more relevant to me back in the day. His channel is too weird and unfocused for me now. It's kinda like watching TV which is generally a waste of time. Hardware unboxed, PC Perspective and Moore's Law are where I prefer to get my tech info.

 

[Moochy]

So far I've had great experiences with second hand hardware, however, most of what I buy is enterprise class hardware, with exception to a 1080 I bought in person from a gamer. That card worked fine and still does to this day, pretty sure the kid never used it for mining at least.

The only other consumer grade second hand purchase I'm waiting on is a 3060TI I sniped on Ebay for a great price, seller didn't have a huge quantity of these cards, nor had history of selling a lot of them, so I'm hoping it wasn't a mining card either. Arriving this week so I'll know soon enough.

I did the same. EVGA 3060ti on EBAY. Guy had all the original packaging and purchase info. Is a LHR model of recent vintage. He says it was never mined, he just wanted to upgrade to a 4000 series. It arrived looking clean and is running fine in my system. You don't have to buy a mined card if you look patiently on Ebay.

I bought a used EVGA 1070ti several years ago on EBAY and it is still running great. Was great little card in it's time.

Also grabbed a EVGA 2070 Super for the wife's rig used. Runs great.

I miss EVGA.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Linus was more relevant to me back in the day. His channel is too weird and unfocused for me now. It's kinda like watching TV which is generally a waste of time. Hardware unboxed, PC Perspective and Moore's Law are where I prefer to get my tech info.

I agree with you. I would also recommend Gamers Nexus. Steve Burke isn't called "Tech Jesus" just because of his hair and beard.

 

[BrwPCnrd87]

I bought a Nitro+ RX 580 that was 100% a mining card for $65 on ebay last year. Used it in my daughters build w/ a 1600 AF I already had. Cleaned, repasted and it works perfectly fine. For the price, I was willing to roll the dice.

 

[ChipBoundary]

Isn't this always the case?
Buying a second-hand car is just as risky, if not more (since wear & tear is more likely on a car than on a GPU card). Second hand is always risky, and therefore so much more rewarding than new.

I've always built my PC's second-hand. Only power supplies, SSD's and cases are often new. Even HDD's I often buy second-hand, since you can often find them with testing results, giving you an idea of their wear & tear.

The savings are significant: Recently I upgraded a whole bunch of PC's at home. 4 PC's, all from an old AM3 platform to an AM4 platform, with 2600's. For less than 1000€, all of them! And reselling the old components saved me another 300€ orso...

That's a terrible comparison. You can fix/repair a vehicle. You can tell if it is worn out by visual inspection. There are no such things when dealing with PC components like graphics cards.

If a GPU fails, truly fails, you can't fix it. Even a 0.1% chance of failure with no warranty to protect you? Not worth it. Especially in a day where used GPU's are selling for barely under MSRP.

 

[toooooot]

If a card is undervolted and properly cooled it doesn't matter.

Idk. I have roomy case, AIO, and undervolt on both 13700k and rtx3070 and the top of the case where my fan out is is hot af. I feel like eventually due to heat pipes in AIO will lose flexibility then one of them will leak destroying my motherboard and cpu.
There is still a lot of heat what I am trying to say.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Idk. I have roomy case, AIO, and undervolt on both 13700k and rtx3070 and the top of the case where my fan out is is hot af. I feel like eventually due to heat pipes in AIO will lose flexibility then one of them will leak destroying my motherboard and cpu.
There is still a lot of heat what I am trying to say.

Yeah, there's one glaring flaw in what you're saying. Your situation isn't normal because you chose to purchase one of the hottest-running and most power-hungy CPUs ever made. Just look at this:

It's no secret that more power=more heat and even undervolted, you're likely still putting out more heat than a sixteen-core R9-7950X! I don't know why you chose that CPU but one thing is certain, it wasn't because you care about power use or thermals.

In any case, having the second-hottest-running CPU on the market makes your situation the opposite of typical.

EDIT: You know, that number is so high that it got me wondering and... sure enough, the Intel i7-13700K uses EVEN MORE POWER in Blender than the outrageously hot and power-hungry AMD FX-9590 did in Theif:

The FX-9590's heat and power use are nothing less than legendary but somehow, you bought a CPU that's even worse! It's no wonder you can't keep that thing cool because it's almost as much of a stove element as it is a CPU!

In any case, your hot experience with the second-hottest consumer CPU ever made has no bearing on GPUs used for mining.

 

[0dium]

The problem arises that they were running full bore 24/7. Gamers play a few hours and that's it. HUGE difference.

No. It's the other way around. For electronics consistent load is better than constant changes in temperature.