buying a 2nd hand GPU and the risk of it being used for mining.

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
hi everyone.

i wanna buy a new GPU. preferably 280X, 770GTX or something of that sort.
i can find quit a few options in 2nd hand boards in my country (israel) and it seems like there are about 10 ATI cards for every single Nvidia card and these 2nd hand cards are mostly 2 or 3 months old with more warranty on them.

so here are the questions:

1) how come quit a few ppl sell used GPUs that are actually pretty new?

2) is it THAT likely these GPUs were used for mining?

3) how damaged is a GPU if it was used for mining for 3 months? how long can it survive?

4) is it worth buying a 2nd hand GPU these days if their prices are about 60% off the retail price?

5) can i check or tell how worn out the GPU is before purchase?!


thanks for any advice,guys :)
 

Elfear

Diamond Member
May 30, 2004
7,146
768
126
hi everyone.

i wanna buy a new GPU. preferably 280X, 770GTX or something of that sort.
i can find quit a few options in 2nd hand boards in my country (israel) and it seems like there are about 10 ATI cards for every single Nvidia card and these 2nd hand cards are mostly 2 or 3 months old with more warranty on them.

so here are the questions:

1) how come quit a few ppl sell used GPUs that are actually pretty new?

2) is it THAT likely these GPUs were used for mining?

3) how damaged is a GPU if it was used for mining for 3 months? how long can it survive?

4) is it worth buying a 2nd hand GPU these days if their prices are about 60% off the retail price?

5) can i check or tell how worn out the GPU is before purchase?!


thanks for any advice,guys :)

1) Probably due to mining becoming less profitable recently.

2) Yes, the AMD cards anyway.

3) Mining won't damage a card unless it was seriously overvolted which is not the standard use case for mining. Generally mining cards are undervolted to keep power consumption in check. The wearable part of a video card is the fan. If the fan was run at high rpms while mining it would degrade the life span and you'd have to consider a possible replacement down the road.
Changing to an aftermarket cooling system is a possibility as well and would generally lower your temps and eliminate the worry of wear to the original fan.

4) I wouldn't hesitate to buy a mining card from a reputable seller with the deep discounts currently on the market. You'd just have to keep in mind that the fan(s) may have some wear and tear on it depending on how long the card was mining.

5) Not really a good way to tell how worn it is except to go with a reputable seller and ask them straight up how long it was mining for and if the card exhibits any signs of a failing fan. You could even ask for a sample of the the card in action to listen for yourself.
 

Dman8777

Senior member
Mar 28, 2011
426
8
81
2 or 3 months of mining shouldn't cause any sort of lifetime issues for the silicon. The fan really shouldn't be a problem either. If you have the choice though, look for a non-reference card since the stock cooling was subpar.
 

Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
4,282
2
76


i'd echo all that good info.


I think the easiest way to go about buying used GPU if you want to go with AMD is to simply assume it was used for mining at some point and go from there. The chance from more excessive fan wear will be higher from 7970/7950/7870/7850 and prior cards due to the length they've been on the market.

I'd just ask the seller how the cards were ran and if you don't get good info about conditions of cards related to mining scenarios then seek out one that gives you the right information.

Some guys undervolt/underclock and/or and keep temps ~70c or less and others run the cards balls to the wall.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
thanks, you two.
im not familiar with some of the terms you used though so following questions ahead:

1) hmm... ok. thanks :)

2) why AMD cards are sold and not ATIs? why AMD cards are used for mining and not Nvidia?

3) how expensive is a low-end after market cooling system to a GPU whose fan has failed? if i need to shell out mroe cash later down the road to buy a cooling system than how much might that cost?

also - how hard is it to install? are these just special fans or will i need to do something to the GPU itself?

4) when i said "second hand" i meant buying from private people. not shops. just a dude i can jump over his house and buy the card, in the box with the warranty.
does that change your answers?
how should i best conduct doing business with a stranger?
it will be hard to impossible to know how nicely these cards were handled while mining since said dude can say whatever he wants and lie... :\

5) what is a sign of a fan failure? how can i tell if a GPU might have a fan failure by listening or looking at it?
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
2. AMD and ATI are the same, AMD owns ATI now. AMD / ATI cards were much better at mining than nvidia cards, so miners bought AMD / ATI cards for mining.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
2. AMD and ATI are the same, AMD owns ATI now. AMD / ATI cards were much better at mining than nvidia cards, so miners bought AMD / ATI cards for mining.

Ah. Dangit. Of course i knew that. I made a typo. Meant to say ATI cards are common while nvidia are rare.

Anyways, i would love answers to my other, more important, questions.
 

Headfoot

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2008
4,444
641
126
1) Probably due to mining becoming less profitable recently.
3) Mining won't damage a card unless it was seriously overvolted which is not the standard use case for mining. Generally mining cards are undervolted to keep power consumption in check. The wearable part of a video card is the fan. If the fan was run at high rpms while mining it would degrade the life span and you'd have to consider a possible replacement down the road.
Changing to an aftermarket cooling system is a possibility as well and would generally lower your temps and eliminate the worry of wear to the original fan.

This is 100% correct and people who tell you mining cards are de-facto worse than non-mining cards need to produce evidence that says so. There is no indication other than pure speculation that cards used for mining are as a whole worse than any other type of video card. It is most likely like any other used good: some are in better condition than others.

When purchasing the card used ask them if they overclocked and if they overvolted or undervolted. This is relevant and should let you weed out the cards that were abused vs the cards that were cared for. I wouldn't buy any overvolted card used if you are worried about it failing.
 

Demoralized

Senior member
Jul 20, 2013
294
3
76
I've bought 2 270x Toxic cards that were used for mining. Both cards are like new condition, never overvolted and always ran below 65.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
thanks for your input, everyone.

1) so if the man selling the card says it was undervolted than it's a lot more likely the card is in good condition?

also, i'll repeat the unanswered questions i had:
3) how expensive is a low-end after market cooling system to a GPU whose fan has failed? if i need to shell out mroe cash later down the road to buy a cooling system than how much might that cost?

also - how hard is it to install? are these just special fans or will i need to do something to the GPU itself?

4) when i said "second hand" i meant buying from private people. not shops. just a dude i can jump over his house and buy the card, in the box with the warranty.
does that change your answers?
how should i best conduct doing business with a stranger?
it will be hard to impossible to know how nicely these cards were handled while mining since said dude can say whatever he wants and lie...

5) what is a sign of a fan failure? how can i tell if a GPU might have a fan failure by listening or looking at it?
 

Makaveli

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2002
4,883
1,444
136
Ah. Dangit. Of course i knew that. I made a typo. Meant to say ATI cards are common while nvidia are rare.

Anyways, i would love answers to my other, more important, questions.

The reason AMD cards are used for mining is due to higher interger performance.

This was somewhat corrected with Maxwell by Nvidia but I think AMD still holds a lead.
 
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Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
4,282
2
76
The reason AMD cards are used for mining is do to higher interger performance.

This was somewhat corrected with Maxwell by Nvidia but I think AMD still holds a lead.

Yes, AMD still wins in hash per card, but the goal posts are shifting to hash per watt as long as the hashes are reasonable per card. In the changing tide holds, nvidia's maxwell is the winner.
 

Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
4,282
2
76
thanks for your input, everyone.

1) so if the man selling the card says it was undervolted than it's a lot more likely the card is in good condition?

also, i'll repeat the unanswered questions i had:
3) how expensive is a low-end after market cooling system to a GPU whose fan has failed? if i need to shell out mroe cash later down the road to buy a cooling system than how much might that cost?

also - how hard is it to install? are these just special fans or will i need to do something to the GPU itself?

4) when i said "second hand" i meant buying from private people. not shops. just a dude i can jump over his house and buy the card, in the box with the warranty.
does that change your answers?
how should i best conduct doing business with a stranger?
it will be hard to impossible to know how nicely these cards were handled while mining since said dude can say whatever he wants and lie...

5) what is a sign of a fan failure? how can i tell if a GPU might have a fan failure by listening or looking at it?

1) This is reminding me of how my girlfriend sometimes winds me down on one question. answer: yes, gdmnit yes! :)

3) Varies per card, $20-$80

4) If you get the bad vibe, move on. You'll be taking a chance. Get pics of the card and it's box and contents. Unable to remove all the risk of going used with excess risk of abused cards due to the mining craze that's fizzling out.

5) Buzzing and or grinding noise from fans during operation. I have one of my 270 MSI gaming that does this, I can rectify it intermitently by stopping the fan and letting it spin back up. I'd reccomend avoiding MSI gaming line using the TFIV hsf due to fan issues.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
Thanks attic. Sorry for grinding it :p

So you say - try and avoid MSI cards. Ok.
How are saphire? It seems like all the 2nd hand cards i found are saphire.
Also - how does warranty work in case of a fan failure??
If i go back to the store where the card was boght from (where the original owner bought the card and where the warranty applies) will they fix the card due to fan failure?
Or will they assume the card was used for mining and concider that an abuse of the card?
 
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
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If you still have warranty, you will get a replacement card in most countries, it may take awhile as it goes through the manufacturer usually. Some retail shops directly replace your product on if they have stock.

Generally if its under warranty, wouldn't worry about it. That and a few months old is nothing to worry about. Especially for good quality fans commonly found on custom cards nowadays.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
if a fan breaks down and the warranty doesnt help, what do you do?
do you replace the GPU fan itself? do you place a new fan on top of the GPU? do you need to know how to open a GPU and replace something?
placing a new fan ont he case is easy, but is doing something to compensate for a failed GPU fan just as simple?
 
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Feb 19, 2009
10,457
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Generally you get an aftermarket cooler to replace it, or if you dont mind ugly looks, just slap on a 100mm or even 120mm fan on top of the heatsink. Pretty simple.
 

topeira

Member
May 19, 2011
77
0
0
Generally you get an aftermarket cooler to replace it, or if you dont mind ugly looks, just slap on a 100mm or even 120mm fan on top of the heatsink. Pretty simple.

i dont mind ugly looks, but i do mind not messing up putting a fan together...

how does one slaps a hitsink on top of a gpu's hit sink? dont hit sinks need to screw really really tight onto the thing they need to cool? there is no correlation between the GPUs fan and a 100mm fan so it feels like it will not let all the heat go out....
am i wrong?
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,250
136
This is 100% correct and people who tell you mining cards are de-facto worse than non-mining cards need to produce evidence that says so. There is no indication other than pure speculation that cards used for mining are as a whole worse than any other type of video card. It is most likely like any other used good: some are in better condition than others.

When purchasing the card used ask them if they overclocked and if they overvolted or undervolted. This is relevant and should let you weed out the cards that were abused vs the cards that were cared for. I wouldn't buy any overvolted card used if you are worried about it failing.

When I was mining both of my 290's were under volted running at stock speeds or lower. My rigs were kept in doors and the heat sinks were blown free of dust weekly. I was using custom fan profiles to keep them cooler. Didn't even keep the side panels on my cases to keep them supplied with the coolest air possible.

Quick and dirty....Mining weeds out the marginal quality cards that would have otherwise most likely went belly up long after the 30 day rma window of many resellers.