Question If crypto crashes, will you buy a used RTX card for cheap? Will you skip next gen GPUs?

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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
If crypto crashes, I'd be tempted to get a cheap RTX 3080Ti from a miner and skip the RTX 4000 series/AMD equivalent completely. You already know Nvidia will just hike the prices again anyway, so might as well get a used card for way less. Pretty much every 3080Ti will end up in a mining farm as they've likely all been claimed by miners already in shady backdoor deals, so might as well let them pay the premium and snag it from them when crypto crashes hard. Your thoughts?
 

Mopetar

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2011
7,797
5,899
136
Has this boom even lasted as long as the previous one, which also occurred well enough after the launches of both lines that the cards were even being discounted prior to the start of the boom.

If didn't follow it as much then, but were people this level of doom and gloom back then as well? You'd think that after going through it before without any of those things happening people would be a bit more level-headed.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
I wonder why nvidia even sells GPUs anymore. They should just start their own mining operation lol When a card is produced, it should go straight to nvidia Mining LLC to mine -- more profit. When the crypto market crashes, nvidia will sell those cards as used.
Good idea, and if there were "enough" money in it, I suspect that they would. After all, NVidia Corp. is after money, in the end, and doesn't just exist to "please gamers".

Of course, ETH ASICs have appeared on the market that are capable of hashing as much as 32x3080 cards, for around $20-30K USD. So NVidia is already out-competed and out-gunned, in that dept. Not that it matters that much, either, with EIP1559 and ETH 2.0 on the horizon.
 

nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
76
39
61
RTX 3080 is $700 MSRP, so the ASIC is potentially only a little cheaper or more expensive than nvidia's offer. You can also sell the RTX after mining, so RTX is still better for miners.

The only thing stopping miners is moving away from proof of work.
 

beginner99

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2009
5,208
1,580
136
I would but I don't think the miners and I would agree what "cheap" means. Think 3080 for $300 cheap. You know like last crash when 290(x) were on fire sale for $200.
 

maddogmcgee

Senior member
Apr 20, 2015
384
303
136
That 90 percent reduction in price :cool:, If prices legit crash at some point, I am debating buying a bunch of cards for the next cycle that I assume will occur at some point
 

Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,640
1,482
126
I'm not sure how that will turn out. Games are in development for way longer than we've had this shortage, and at least some of them are probably not even considering it because they expect things to normalize before their game is out anyway. Also, the games developed for the new consoles are probably not going to be revised to lower spec just because of PC.

I dunno, last gen consoles versus current gen are basically fixed hardware and purpose PCs anymore. No reason a developer can't dial down graphics and/or sacrifice FPS to support both generations really. I do think anyone who owns a current gen video card will be set for the current console lifetime of 5+ years though. Only issue is video RAM size on some of the nVidia cards being somewhat limiting over the long term in my opinion.
 
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Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,599
5,340
106
That 90 percent reduction in price :cool:, If prices legit crash at some point, I am debating buying a bunch of cards for the next cycle that I assume will occur at some point
Maybe, but people are moving toward proof of stake systems so it seems unlikely there will be another mining frenzy.


Personally, if it gets cheap I want to buy an entire mining system for Folding@Home: https://foldingathome.org/diseases/

Multiple rtx 3000 series would be interesting for that sort of thing.
 

simas

Senior member
Oct 16, 2005
412
107
116
I dunno, last gen consoles versus current gen are basically fixed hardware and purpose PCs anymore. No reason a developer can't dial down graphics and/or sacrifice FPS to support both generations really. I do think anyone who owns a current gen video card will be set for the current console lifetime of 5+ years though. Only issue is video RAM size on some of the nVidia cards being somewhat limiting over the long term in my opinion.

on the bolded part above, CD Project Red would like to have a word with you -a bunch of overentitled dummies viciously attacked them when *gasp* they could not play latest 2020/2021 game on their 8 year old Bulldozer CPU at 4k/120. Can you imagine the travesty and the horror?! ;)

I think that taught the developers and publishers well - any cross platform gross generations and you have major PR/legal problem on your hands when people has completely unrealistic expectation about their "latest" PS4 /Xbox One hardware..
 
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Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,640
1,482
126
on the bolded part above, CD Project Red would like to have a word with you -a bunch of overentitled dummies viciously attacked them when *gasp* they could not play latest 2020/2021 game on their 8 year old Bulldozer CPU at 4k/120. Can you imagine the travesty and the horror?! ;)

I think that taught the developers and publishers well - any cross platform gross generations and you have major PR/legal problem on your hands when people has completely unrealistic expectation about their "latest" PS4 /Xbox One hardware..

Regarding CD Project Red - Don't mistake "the bean counters want this done by Christmas or else!!!" with "not technically feasible". ;)
 

fleshconsumed

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2002
6,483
2,352
136
It's all about the price.

I was lucky enough to pick up 3070 FE from BestBuy, but I would absolutely pick up used 3080 or 6800XT if it was cheap enough. If ETH successfully moves to PoS before next gen hits, and if next gen really is twice as fast, and if next gen is widely available we could see a total collapse of 30xx/6000 series resale value very much like 290's for $200. Realistically speaking, that was a lot of ifs so I'm not holding my hopes that it's going to happen.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
3,174
126
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?

LOL i have a feeling my 3090 will only increase more in value especially since it is watercooled and a eVGA.
 
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simas

Senior member
Oct 16, 2005
412
107
116
Regarding CD Project Red - Don't mistake "the bean counters want this done by Christmas or else!!!" with "not technically feasible". ;)

I remember it was both.. the crazy demand of 'it must be in 2020! you already moved it 4 times' with 'I cant believe how bad it plays on PS4. Whereiz ma framyrates??!' . LOL . Ancient GPU, ancient CPUs - what do you expect?
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?

LOL i have a feeling my 3090 will only increase more in value especially since it is watercooled and a eVGA.

I wouldn't be surprised if you can sell that card for $5000 after LHR cards drop. That's not much of a stretch since they already go for over $3000.
 

DeathReborn

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2005
2,743
734
136
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?

LOL i have a feeling my 3090 will only increase more in value especially since it is watercooled and a eVGA.

My 3080 will never be sold or traded, I will keep it long after I upgrade to something better.
 

simas

Senior member
Oct 16, 2005
412
107
116
No one defined what 'cheap' means in 'buy it for cheap'. If I am offered a $700 MSRP card 'cheap' at only 1.5 times MSRP (vs 3X it was trading previously) than to me it is a hard pass. if there is something with decent performance in the impulse buy category (say under 150-200) then who knows. otherwise, the risk is too great to buy unknown, untested, unwarranted, who knows how it was used piece of equivalent for multiple hundreds of dollars..
 

Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
3,599
5,340
106
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?

LOL i have a feeling my 3090 will only increase more in value especially since it is watercooled and a eVGA.

It is so weird, but I have no interest at all in the LHS ones. On a certain level it seems like the most anti-consumer anti-environment thing Nvidia has done in a long time.

All those graphicless mining cards are never going to get a second life in some kids first gamer pc, and are straight to the landfill.

The flip side is the LHS units have their science value neutered, to be purely entertainment objects.

The miners will find a way past the block, but normal people will not. Look at the 3060, all the miners have the driver, but the rest of us do not. Even if you have the driver, it is not capable of mining while your at work, and then gaming when you come home. Pick mining or gaming, but not both. LHS just harms the consumer and nobody else.

it is just lose lose for everyone but nvidia's pocketbook.
 
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Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
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on the bolded part above, CD Project Red would like to have a word with you -a bunch of overentitled dummies viciously attacked them when *gasp* they could not play latest 2020/2021 game on their 8 year old Bulldozer CPU at 4k/120.

The PS4/XBO are actually Bobcat CPUs :p No relation to *Dozer CPUs.

As for buying a mining card. If its a current gen card, you know it hasn't been used for mining for years or anything. But you may also have to deal with weird BIOS mods and such.
 

Skillz

Senior member
Feb 14, 2014
911
929
136
Maybe, but people are moving toward proof of stake systems so it seems unlikely there will be another mining frenzy.


Personally, if it gets cheap I want to buy an entire mining system for Folding@Home: https://foldingathome.org/diseases/

Multiple rtx 3000 series would be interesting for that sort of thing.

IIRC, F@h will be severely limited by the x1 slots that most dedicated mining rigs use. F@H needs all 16 lanes (or at least 8 lanes) of the GPU PCI-e to be fully utilized. There are, however, some BOINC projects that can be run on x1 lanes without a performance hit.
 
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CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,508
586
126
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?

LOL i have a feeling my 3090 will only increase more in value especially since it is watercooled and a eVGA.

I would just keep it, too much work to switch at this point. Maybe at some point when it's time to get a 4090/7900/etc it will fetch more on ebay, where all my old hardware goes.
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
6,806
5,769
136
Yeah, but what does cheap mean? If the used cards return to MSRP prices, is that a "deal" given current market conditions?

My shut up and take my money line is currently drawn around 3070/2080Ti performance for $300-400. Once things drop into that territory (and the cards also aren't ancient) I will pull the trigger.

With how good of value the $500 consoles are right now and given that doing just a platform upgrade to be competent in 2021 and the rest of this console gen would run me nearly $500, I don't see buying a PC gpu until I can get RTX 3080 performance for $300 or less. If I'm going to be paying $800 instead of $500 I need the system to completely destroy XBox Series X and its 2080 Super level gpu. That ain't coming for a long long time so I anticipate this console gen I'll use my PC mostly for indies, visual novels, and emulation when it comes to gaming and save the AAA stuff for my PS5 and for the Series X I'll probably buy in a year or two.
 
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SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
6,806
5,769
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on the bolded part above, CD Project Red would like to have a word with you -a bunch of overentitled dummies viciously attacked them when *gasp* they could not play latest 2020/2021 game on their 8 year old Bulldozer CPU at 4k/120. Can you imagine the travesty and the horror?! ;)

I think that taught the developers and publishers well - any cross platform gross generations and you have major PR/legal problem on your hands when people has completely unrealistic expectation about their "latest" PS4 /Xbox One hardware..

CDPR marketed it as a PS4 / XBox One game. I don't see what's entitled about people being pissed and wanting refunds after they bought a game that couldn't run at 900p/20 with N64 level graphics.
 

CakeMonster

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2012
1,384
482
136
Real question tho... those of us who do have unlocked 3000 series... would you trade your unlocked for a LHS one + cash?
In a heartbeat. I'd want the same model and OC capability though.

Not gonna do it since I hate dealing with flaky people on ebay and thos kinds of sites, or just people in general really. My hardware goes to friends for very good rebates when I'm done with it.