What do you do with your old graphics card after buying a new one?

[ghostR]

So after previously having some fights with my R9 280x its working fine but temperatures could be better. But, the question remains:

 

What the hell do I do with my R9 280x, I need some ideas, and no.. not the normal "sell it you <sluttysomethinghere>" I wanted to know how I could use it. Perhaps maybe move it down a slot and use it for applications? any way I can use it alongside a GTX 1070.

 

Just hitting a brainwall at the moment, so any help will be appreciated thanks.

[PCGuy_5960]

Use it for bitcoin mining!!!!!

[ghostR]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

Use it for bitcoin mining!!!!!

Isn't mining on a GPU redundant now?

[007agentHP]

put it away and use it when i need it

test pcie slots

[Curious Pineapple]

Keep as a spare, I have an x700 somewhere with no heatsink that I can use if my current card shits itself before I replace it.

[Devin92]

bake it with some pcb board and thermal paste and call it a sandwich?

[PCGuy_5960]

1 minute ago, ghostR said:

Isn't mining on a GPU redundant now?

You might get a dollar or something.... You can use it for folding at home as well...

[porina]

The 280X has a high double precision processing rate, maybe the last consumer card to do so without an insane price tag. So it could be used for applications that support that, not that I could name any other than the high GFN ranges on PrimeGrid if you fancy a small chance of yourself finding a seriously big prime number. Obviously it can also run other GPU software to varying degrees of efficiency. It does work great as a heater if the weather is cold.

 

You will have to fix any heat or stability problems with it first. I had problems with my 280X and heat/power too. In the end I fixed it by learning how to do a bios mod, and lower the voltage to something sensible at only a minor hit to clock rates. The card was originally sold as an olverclocking one so it was optimised to supply a ton of power.

[007agentHP]

2 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

You might get a dollar or something.... You can use it for folding at home as well...

not even

with the rising difficulty in bitcoin mining, i'd doubt he would get back the amount spent in electricity bills 

[PCGuy_5960]

Just now, 007agentHP said:

not even

wth the rising difficulty in bitcoin mining, i'd doubt he would get back the amount spent in electricity bills 

I would use it for folding at home... I think it's worth it... (and you get a cool badge in the ltt forums )

[Scase]

I usually hang onto it as a backup in case the new one shits the bed and I have to RMA it.

[ghostR]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

I would use it for folding at home... I think it's worth it... (and you get a cool badge in the ltt forums )

If I had another system laying around I could put it on permanently and do whatever, but sadly I don't the only thing I have around is some old Pentium D. So unless I can keep this in my case alongside the 1070 then who knows :<

 

Also you seem to be around here quite a bit.

[Joshe343]

5 minutes ago, 007agentHP said:

not even

with the rising difficulty in bitcoin mining, i'd doubt he would get back the amount spent in electricity bills 

Maybe with the new Pascal cards it would be a good idea since they are significantly more power efficient than previous cards? I think someone should test this.

[Joshe343]

5 minutes ago, 007agentHP said:

not even

with the rising difficulty in bitcoin mining, i'd doubt he would get back the amount spent in electricity bills 

Maybe with the new Pascal cards it would be a good idea since they are significantly more power efficient than previous cards? I think someone should test this.

[ghostR]

3 minutes ago, porina said:

The 280X has a high double precision processing rate, maybe the last consumer card to do so without an insane price tag. So it could be used for applications that support that, not that I could name any other than the high GFN ranges on PrimeGrid if you fancy a small chance of yourself finding a seriously big prime number. Obviously it can also run other GPU software to varying degrees of efficiency. It does work great as a heater if the weather is cold.

 

You will have to fix any heat or stability problems with it first. I had problems with my 280X and heat/power too. In the end I fixed it by learning how to do a bios mod, and lower the voltage to something sensible at only a minor hit to clock rates. The card was originally sold as an olverclocking one so it was optimised to supply a ton of power.

 

Yeah I heard great things about the 280x and honestly, I think I can fix the heat issues since it's not the newest card around I think it just needs some new thermal paste. I would love to use the card for its processing power but no real way to do that I guess.

[PCGuy_5960]

2 minutes ago, ghostR said:

If I had another system laying around I could put it on permanently and do whatever, but sadly I don't the only thing I have around is some old Pentium D. So unless I can keep this in my case alongside the 1070 then who knows :<

 

Also you seem to be around here quite a bit.

You can buy a Q6600 for $16 on ebay if you want...

[ghostR]

Just now, Joshe343 said:

Maybe with the new Pascal cards it would be a good idea since they are significantly more power efficient than previous cards? I think someone should test this.

The amount of raw power you would need to get any money back is ridiculous. Even with all the power efficiency you wouldn't make much off a GPU, Trust me I have run the math a thousand times.

[Imakuni]

16 minutes ago, ghostR said:

Yeah I heard great things about the 280x and honestly, I think I can fix the heat issues since it's not the newest card around I think it just needs some new thermal paste. I would love to use the card for its processing power but no real way to do that I guess.

So long as you have another PCIe slot (and a good enough PSU), it's pretty easy to just slap it into a rig and have it crunch for you. If not, put it into those Pentium D rigs you said you have; again, just make sure the PSU can handle it and it'll work just fine.

[ghostR]

2 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

So long as you have another PCIe slot (and a good enough PSU), it's pretty easy to just slap it into a rig and have it crunch for you. If not, put it into those Pentium D rigs you said you have; again, just make sure the PSU can handle it and it'll work just fine.

 

Got an extra PCI-E and Power for the card in my case, I am not so familiar with multi-GPU setups. How would I have it running alongside my GTX 1070? will there be any issues and can I dedicate only the R9 280x to crunching? 

[Imakuni]

2 minutes ago, ghostR said:

Got an extra PCI-E and Power for the card in my case, I am not so familiar with multi-GPU setups. How would I have it running alongside my GTX 1070? will there be any issues

You just put it in the second slot. Ez pz, install the drivers and it'll just work.

4 minutes ago, ghostR said:

can I dedicate only the R9 280x to crunching? 

Although it would be a waste to have the 1070 idling when you aren't using it, the answer is yes, you can let the 280x crunching alone. It might require a bit of babysitting, though, depending on what exactly you want to crunch.

[ghostR]

1 minute ago, Imakuni said:

You just put it in the second slot. Ez pz, install the drivers and it'll just work.

Although it would be a waste to have the 1070 idling when you aren't using it, the answer is yes, you can let the 280x crunching alone. It might require a bit of babysitting, though, depending on what exactly you want to crunch.

 

This sounds like a plan, now just fix the thermal issues, and get things going. What to crunch now would be a better question. Actually tonight I am full of questions, damn...

 

Secondly, I will probably use the 1070 to do some work eventually but the poor thing is going to get slaughtered by Overwatch so I might give it a break. 

[Imakuni]

3 minutes ago, ghostR said:

What to crunch now would be a better question

That's up to you to decide. The most popular choice is Folding@Home, which is also the easiest one to setup, even though I don't like for a number reasons.

 

Second option would be one of BOINC's many subprojects. Personally, I (and a certain fish avatar dude I know) vouch for Primegrid. There are others, but I don't really have experience with them so I won't recommend any. But ofc, you are free to join anything else that you feel it's worth supporting.

10 minutes ago, ghostR said:

Secondly, I will probably use the 1070 to do some work eventually but the poor thing is going to get slaughtered by Overwatch so I might give it a break.

Don't sweat about it. GPUs can take a beating. My 970 has been crunching pretty much 24/7 these past 2 years, save for when I'm gaming or the PC is down for cleaning and stuff. Now obviously, you don't have to keep it under load full time. But if your only reason to do so was fear of the card blowing up, fear not! It can handle it.

[Gullerback]

I sell most of locally, But i try to keep SOMETHING around as a backup just incase

[Suika]

Sell, sell, sell.

 

The only card I've kept, and for only a very short period, was my HD 7870 GHz. I almost wanted to keep it since it was my first dedicated graphics card, but as it turns out, I'm not very sentimental.

[ghostR]

56 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

That's up to you to decide. The most popular choice is Folding@Home, which is also the easiest one to setup, even though I don't like for a number reasons.

 

Second option would be one of BOINC's many subprojects. Personally, I (and a certain fish avatar dude I know) vouch for Primegrid. There are others, but I don't really have experience with them so I won't recommend any. But ofc, you are free to join anything else that you feel it's worth supporting.

Don't sweat about it. GPUs can take a beating. My 970 has been crunching pretty much 24/7 these past 2 years, save for when I'm gaming or the PC is down for cleaning and stuff. Now obviously, you don't have to keep it under load full time. But if your only reason to do so was fear of the card blowing up, fear not! It can handle it.

 

Thanks for all the information! Will have my GTX 1070 in a few days and then will probably run into you again here once I start throwing numbers at the R9 280x