Post-mining GPU from ebay for gaming

[UncleRenty]

So, I'm waiting for the cryptocurrency prices to drop so I can try to swing in and buy a new GPU for gaming before they shoot back up again.  While I'm waiting on this, I'm looking at the possibility of picking up a cheaper card on ebay, knowing full well that it's probably been used for mining.  While I've seen the videos about people who simply tell you not to even bother trying to use a post-mining card for gaming, I've not seen one where someone actually buys some video cards that were used for mining and try to run the same benchmarks/games on them versus a non-mining card to see what kind of a performance decrease you get.  I totally understand that it may be hard to find a bad card given that some take more abuse than others, so as always mileage will absolutely vary, but I still think it'd be interesting.  

Has anyone seen a video like this on the interwebs or YouTubes?

[1234vietnam]

 

[themctipers]

Depends how abused it is, can't really tell on eBay, and the manufacturer's warranty (does it cover fan failure, length, does it transfer over being second hand, is it even good, etc)

[UncleRenty]

Just now, themctipers said:

Depends how abused it is, can't really tell on eBay, and the manufacturer's warranty (does it cover fan failure, length, does it transfer over being second hand, is it even good, etc)

That's the point.  You could buy a box of 20 cards from a single miner and each card would give different results.  The real question is, will the impact be worth the "savings" (5%?  maybe?  Miners are jerks on reselling their equipment).  Is that the kind of lottery anyone would want to take?  

Also, would ebay's buyer protection work on a post-mining abused card?  Could you keep plugging away trying to get a 1070 or so on ebay until you find one that works well?

[maartendc]

8 minutes ago, UncleRenty said:

So, I'm waiting for the cryptocurrency prices to drop so I can try to swing in and buy a new GPU for gaming before they shoot back up again.  While I'm waiting on this, I'm looking at the possibility of picking up a cheaper card on ebay, knowing full well that it's probably been used for mining.  While I've seen the videos about people who simply tell you not to even bother trying to use a post-mining card for gaming, I've not seen one where someone actually buys some video cards that were used for mining and try to run the same benchmarks/games on them versus a non-mining card to see what kind of a performance decrease you get.  I totally understand that it may be hard to find a bad card given that some take more abuse than others, so as always mileage will absolutely vary, but I still think it'd be interesting.  

Has anyone seen a video like this on the interwebs or YouTubes?

This is not how it works. The GPU will not perform any worse than a brand new one. GPU's work 100% good, until they 100% DONT WORK.

 

The problem is that components have been worn out (capacitors, fans, etc.) , so it is likely to fail sooner than a card that has been used for gaming. How soon? No way to tell. You can get lucky and it works totally fine for years to come. Or you can be unlucky and it will die on you after a week.

 

Problem is: you are buying something relatively expensive, with no warranty, and the lifespan has probably been decreased. Worth the risk? Up to you.

[UncleRenty]

8 minutes ago, Prqnk3d said:

 

This is making my point for me.  Some of them may be damaged, and some may be just fine.  

Super fast grab on this video though.  +1 for awesome!

[samcool55]

If it still works, it's fine. The only thing that might be an issue is that the fan bearings might be worn out, but you can ghetto other ones on it if you want for a few bucks.

[UncleRenty]

3 minutes ago, maartendc said:

This is not how it works. The GPU will not perform any worse than a brand new one. GPU's work 100% good, until they 100% DONT WORK.

 

The problem is that components have been worn out (capacitors, fans, etc.) , so it is likely to fail sooner than a card that has been used for gaming. How soon? No way to tell. You can get lucky and it works totally fine for years to come. Or you can be unlucky and it will die on you after a week.

 

Problem is: you are buying something relatively expensive, with no warranty, and the lifespan has probably been decreased. Worth the risk? Up to you.

I abuse my computers.  I just do. I've had some great hardware that eventually burns out from use.  At one point I went through 3 video cards in a year (though I think that may have been some power issues or a bad motherboard breaking good GPUs).  Regardless, what you've said is true for any used component.  Sure the cards won't be covered by warranty anymore, but it'll be impossible to tell how bad it really is.  What if the whole "mining kards r bad 4 gameign" thing isn't really that big of a deal?  Kind of like putting the older cards out to pasture to play Portal 2 or Overwatch after they've earned their keep in the mines for a few months.

Also, do miners register their cards?  Can you RMA a card you get on ebay without a valid receipt? Hmm...

[themctipers]

7 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

If it still works, it's fine. The only thing that might be an issue is that the fan bearings might be worn out, but you can ghetto other ones on it if you want for a few bucks.

even with my 760 and 3 fans it goes to 1075MHz at 85c. 

 

Seems like a good idea but it doesn't and isn't. 

[UncleRenty]

8 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

If it still works, it's fine. The only thing that might be an issue is that the fan bearings might be worn out, but you can ghetto other ones on it if you want for a few bucks.

True.  Or just do a watercooling block on it.

[UncleRenty]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

even with my 760 and 3 fans it goes to 1075MHz at 85c. 

 

Seems like a good idea but it doesn't and isn't. 

 

I've not seen a CPU with a smokestack on it in a looooooong time.  That's awesome.

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, UncleRenty said:

I've not seen a CPU with a smokestack on it in a looooooong time.  That's awesome.

ya it mines 2kH/s. Lmao

this was my friend's computer. He got a new PC and now his old one is mine. He taped the funnel so that it would be 'a dust filter' with duct tape and that's when I rescued this poor thing. 

[Mick Naughty]

Its not gonna be any different. If it did, a used card for gaming would be worse to buy then a mining card. 

 

Isnt even worth thinking about. Bought a mined card myself and have gamed on it quite a but. Bet it still lasts several years just like any other card.

[UncleRenty]

Just now, themctipers said:

ya it mines 2kH/s. Lmao

this was my friend's computer. He got a new PC and now his old one is mine. He taped the funnel so that it would be 'a dust filter' with duct tape and that's when I rescued this poor thing. 

That's so great.  Way back in 2004 when I was building gaming rigs to make money that was a pretty common mod.  The idea was that the outside air was better than inside air, but it all worked out basically the same as the PC would vent in the same area.  Great to see.  

[themctipers]

Just now, UncleRenty said:

That's so great.  Way back in 2004 when I was building gaming rigs to make money that was a pretty common mod.  The idea was that the outside air was better than inside air, but it all worked out basically the same as the PC would vent in the same area.  Great to see.  

in 04 I shit the bed  

 

my pc doesn't have a case panel because.. airflow. Using a case from 1999 that had a Zip drive, because my gpu is so long it won't fit in any other case I have. 

 

21cm long. 

 

 

it has 1 HDD mount, and 5 fucking 5 1/4" mounts. Mounted the SSD in a 5 1/4" and mounted a HDD in there. Have two HDDs so I have one just flopping on the floor with some tissue below it. 

 

yes my HDD heats up to 50c still but at least my GPU goes to 68c with 47% fanspeed (3 fans) and my CPU goes to 73c (4.1ghz... but 1.3v!)

[UncleRenty]

1 minute ago, Mick Naughty said:

Its not gonna be any different. If it did, a used card for gaming would be worse to buy then a mining card. 

 

Isnt even worth thinking about. Bought a mined card myself and have gamed on it quite a but. Bet it still lasts several years just like any other card.

We had a bunch of other cards that we went through and a few years ago I bought my son and I the same R9 270's.  I should have gone with a crossfire-capable motherboard since I have two of them until I can get the cash for my new replacement board, but I didn't.  So here the 270 sits, in my brand new Ryzen 5 1600 system, getting tons of frames in games like CS:GO until I finally get the new card.    These 270s are tanks.  

[GloriousPain]

16 minutes ago, UncleRenty said:

The real question is, will the impact be worth the "savings" (5%?  maybe?  Miners are jerks on reselling their equipment).  Is that the kind of lottery anyone would want to take?  

Also, would ebay's buyer protection work on a post-mining abused card?  Could you keep plugging away trying to get a 1070 or so on ebay until you find one that works well?

Wtf kinda miners do you know? I remember the R9 290 mining boom; they took 290s from being $500-->$1000;  but when 290s lost their profitability, they were all over eBay for $50-$250... I even bought a lot of 8 for $500(+shipping) and used them all to help friends build gaming PCs for cheap...

 

It was so sick back then a friend of mine got an X58 6c/12t Xeon, 12GB ecc, and crossfire 290s all for about $500... 

[UncleRenty]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

in 04 I shit the bed  

 

my pc doesn't have a case panel because.. airflow. Using a case from 1999 that had a Zip drive, because my gpu is so long it won't fit in any other case I have. 

...

PC cases are cheap.  Even if you have crap hardware, just move it over there.  Anything has to be better than that.  

[themctipers]

Just now, UncleRenty said:

PC cases are cheap.  Even if you have crap hardware, just move it over there.  Anything has to be better than that.  

I'm in the land above

anything decent is ~$130 and I can't get a job until 2021 ish

[knightslugger]

 

Are you going somewhere with all this reminiscing @UncleRenty? Check the warranty transferability of the card you want to buy, if it's transferable, buy it, and if it doesn't work, RMA it. EVGA is one of the best when it comes to transferability and RMA.

[UncleRenty]

1 minute ago, GloriousPain said:

Wtf kinda miners do you know? I remember the R9 290 mining boom; they took 290s from being $500-->$1000;  but when 290s lost their profitability, they were all over eBay for $50-$250... I even bought a lot of 8 for $500(+shipping) and used them all to help friends build gaming PCs for cheap...

 

It was so sick back then a friend of mine got an X58 6c/12t Xeon, 12GB ecc, and crossfire 290s all for about $500... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-AORUS-XTREME-GeForce-GTX-1060-6GB-GPU-OC/142675485879

$299 MSRP, now on buy it now for $420, no returns.  Says it was "only used for 2 weeks" for a "VR" project, but in his other current sales he's selling mining gear.  This kind of thing is all over ebay.

[UncleRenty]

5 minutes ago, themctipers said:

I'm in the land above

anything decent is ~$130 and I can't get a job until 2021 ish

That rips.  Sorry about that.

[UncleRenty]

3 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

Are you going somewhere with all this reminiscing @UncleRenty? Check the warranty transferability of the card you want to buy, if it's transferable, buy it, and if it doesn't work, RMA it. EVGA is one of the best when it comes to transferability and RMA.

I like to chat.  I like to discuss things.  

I've heard that about EVGA as well. That's a great point.

[dizmo]

You won't find out what you want to know until the mining boom crashes and the cards are in the hands of those who buy them used.

You can't base how these ones will perform on previous mining cards, because they used a lot more power, had worse coolers and generally worse components. So they died at a quicker rate.

 

I probably wouldn't get an AMD mining card, but since Nvidia uses less power, I'd feel safe trying one of those. Just make sure you get a card that is higher end, and thus, better components. I imagine you'd do quite well. Hell, when it does fall out, I might even try SLI just for the hell of it.

 

21 minutes ago, UncleRenty said:

I abuse my computers.  I just do. I've had some great hardware that eventually burns out from use.  At one point I went through 3 video cards in a year (though I think that may have been some power issues or a bad motherboard breaking good GPUs).  Regardless, what you've said is true for any used component.  Sure the cards won't be covered by warranty anymore, but it'll be impossible to tell how bad it really is.  What if the whole "mining kards r bad 4 gameign" thing isn't really that big of a deal?  Kind of like putting the older cards out to pasture to play Portal 2 or Overwatch after they've earned their keep in the mines for a few months.

Also, do miners register their cards?  Can you RMA a card you get on ebay without a valid receipt? Hmm...

I'd say 8 times out of 10 you can't RMA without a receipt. I think EVGA is the exception, though honestly if I were them I'd have changed my policy on video cards to requiring a receipt.

16 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Its not gonna be any different. If it did, a used card for gaming would be worse to buy then a mining card. 

 

Isnt even worth thinking about. Bought a mined card myself and have gamed on it quite a but. Bet it still lasts several years just like any other card.

What? How does that make any sense?

4 minutes ago, themctipers said:

I'm in the land above

anything decent is ~$130 and I can't get a job until 2021 ish

That's not true, there's lots of cases sub $100 that are really quite good. You can also find great deals on the used market.

1 minute ago, UncleRenty said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-AORUS-XTREME-GeForce-GTX-1060-6GB-GPU-OC/142675485879

$299 MSRP, now on buy it now for $420, no returns.  Says it was "only used for 2 weeks" for a "VR" project, but in his other current sales he's selling mining gear.  This kind of thing is all over ebay.

The boom isn't over yet. Finding pricing right now is pointless.

[themctipers]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You won't find out what you want to know until the mining boom crashes and the cards are in the hands of those who buy them used.

You can't base how these ones will perform on previous mining cards, because they used a lot more power, had worse coolers and generally worse components. So they died at a quicker rate.

 

I probably wouldn't get an AMD mining card, but since Nvidia uses less power, I'd feel safe trying one of those. Just make sure you get a card that is higher end, and thus, better components. I imagine you'd do quite well. Hell, when it does fall out, I might even try SLI just for the hell of it.

 

I'd say 8 times out of 10 you can't RMA without a receipt. I think EVGA is the exception, though honestly if I were them I'd have changed my policy on video cards to requiring a receipt.

What? How does that make any sense?

That's not true, there's lots of cases sub $100 that are really quite good. You can also find great deals on the used market.

The boom isn't over yet. Finding pricing right now is pointless.

Case is for a e s t h e t I c s 

aesthetics doesn't like used. 

it's around $130 because of tax (13%)

 

if im spending lots of $ on a case it better be glass too.