2nd hand Sapphires

[saddadbadhad]

I have noticed a number of second hard graphics cards on an auction site where the seller says they were used for bitcoin mining for a short time. Do graphics cards wear out? Can they overheat or be mistreated and can you tell by looking at them? If people want to mine  coins then why don't they do it the traditional way and look down the back of the sofa?

 

The real question is should I look into them or run a mile?

[Jvagle875]

Depends on how cheap you can get it for.

[lani100]

If they ran in a good cooled room there should be no problems.

They can wear out a bit, this might decrease the lifetime of the card a bit but not too much.

If the price is right and they have good cooling why not get them.

[Syntaxvgm]

might wanna regrease them but should be fine. Yea they have been used really hard though. 

[killerx525]

As long the condition of the card itself is in good condition and has been cooled well, then it should fine although the mileage in the card may vary. 

[mapegl]

New thermal paste is definitely something to consider. I did that with an older GPU and it really helped. Also sometimes using a high-class thermal paste is better than using the stock paste. I did that with my old 7950 and it helped lowering temps by about 4°C.  (80°C instead of 84°C under artificial load, kinda a big deal for me)

[That Norwegian Guy]

Would never buy used (or at all) from the bottom-rung AMD partners; Sapphire, VTX3D, Club3D, PowerColor or (sometimes) XFX.

 

They have an obscene tendency to use the very cheapest components AMD will allow them to (which is cheaper than what Nvidia allows their partners to use)

 

Lifetime could be (and usually is) bad with these cards.

[matulley]

If they ran in a good cooled room there should be no problems.

They can wear out a bit, this might decrease the lifetime of the card a bit but not too much.

If the price is right and they have good cooling why not get them.

 

Aren't the cards run @ 100% load 24/7 

So yeah id say you'd shorten the lifetime by quite alot

[lani100]

Aren't the cards run @ 100% load 24/7 

So yeah id say you'd shorten the lifetime by quite alot

Yes they usually did but i have a card that has mined for over a year 24/7 but it still runs fine and I think it won't fail any time soon.

The chance that a card fails that hasn't mined is also prety big.

[Sonefiler]

Would never buy used (or at all) from the bottom-rung AMD partners; Sapphire, VTX3D, Club3D, PowerColor or (sometimes) XFX.

 

They have an obscene tendency to use the very cheapest components AMD will allow them to (which is cheaper than what Nvidia allows their partners to use)

 

Lifetime could be (and usually is) bad with these cards.

the PCS+ have a custom PCB with better VRMs. they don't cheap out, at least not on the VRMs lol

[MagickalMan]

I got a smoking deal on a pair of Asus 280X DirectCU II Tops off fleabay, $350 w/ FS for both. They'd been used for Litecoin mining for 2 months and were still like new. I took the fan shrouds off and the HS fins were still squeaky clean and all the accessories were unopened. So far they've been running at 1.22GHz core/ 7.2GHz RAM for a month without any problems. *knock on wood* That's a LOT of GPU power for so little money, comparatively.

[Syntaxvgm]

Would never buy used (or at all) from the bottom-rung AMD partners; Sapphire, VTX3D, Club3D, PowerColor or (sometimes) XFX.

 

They have an obscene tendency to use the very cheapest components AMD will allow them to (which is cheaper than what Nvidia allows their partners to use)

 

Lifetime could be (and usually is) bad with these cards.

While you are right, I also not sure I'd want to buy an OEM 290x for example, that thing runs so damn hot.