loads of 7970 fs why? bad time to buy?

[DownTheSky]

From my experience aftermarket 7970/280X are great cards for mining. Run cool and quiet and should be ok over the summer. Thus the summer excuse drops. R 290 on the other hand is just too much hassle and there is absolutely no reason to buy a 290 over a 280 for mining.

 

[DownTheSky]

From my experience aftermarket 7970/280X are great cards for mining. Run cool and quiet and should be ok over the summer. Thus the summer excuse drops. R 290 on the other hand is just too much hassle and there is absolutely no reason to buy a 290 over a 280 for mining.

 

[TreVader]

This is the beginning of the end for the crypto currency trend. I expect very few of the 7970s to sell anywhere near $320. If I can buy a 280x for $299 there is no reason to pay more than 230 for a used one, especially one used mining.



I remember when I posted that there would be a glut of 7950/7970/290 cards when the mining bubble bursts and everybody was like "BURST, impossible". Mmmm the sweet sweet I told you so.

 

[KingFatty]

I am interested in buying another 7950, but I haven't seen any availability on craigslist so far in my area (DC metro) that has a lot of computer activity on craigslist. Maybe the glut will come soon?

 

[Dribble]

It's a bad time to buy if they are all ex-mining cards. They've had a very hard life.

 

[Subyman]

I sold my R9 290 a few days ago and went with a 780 instead. I didn't abuse it, but I don't see the prices staying high for long and I purchased it for $399, so I thought I'd go ahead and take advantage of the high prices. Ended up with a water-cooled 780 and $150 bucks in my pocket.

 

[JDG1980]

This is the beginning of the end for the crypto currency trend. I expect very few of the 7970s to sell anywhere near $320. If I can buy a 280x for $299 there is no reason to pay more than 230 for a used one, especially one used mining.

I remember when I posted that there would be a glut of 7950/7970/290 cards when the mining bubble bursts and everybody was like "BURST, impossible". Mmmm the sweet sweet I told you so.

I know it seems counterintuitive, but I'm actually considering building a mining rig at this point. (Currently I just mine on the two 7870s installed in my primary PC.) AMD GPU prices are finally starting to come down to reasonable levels, and the local Micro Center just got in some H81 Pro BTC motherboards. Sure, it might take a year to pay for itself at current rates, but that's not too bad - and a decent mining rig would let me get a jump on profits if crypto prices start going back up and the cards become scarce again. Even if ASICs manage to outpace GPUs decisively on Scrypt (and I don't see that happening for over 6 months, at least), there's still Vertcoin and whatever other alt-algorithm coins come out in the future.

 

[Pandora's Box]

I know it seems counterintuitive, but I'm actually considering building a mining rig at this point. (Currently I just mine on the two 7870s installed in my primary PC.) AMD GPU prices are finally starting to come down to reasonable levels, and the local Micro Center just got in some H81 Pro BTC motherboards. Sure, it might take a year to pay for itself at current rates, but that's not too bad - and a decent mining rig would let me get a jump on profits if crypto prices start going back up and the cards become scarce again. Even if ASICs manage to outpace GPUs decisively on Scrypt (and I don't see that happening for over 6 months, at least), there's still Vertcoin and whatever other alt-algorithm coins come out in the future.

Too many "if ands and buts" for me.

 

[nwo]

I know it seems counterintuitive, but I'm actually considering building a mining rig at this point. (Currently I just mine on the two 7870s installed in my primary PC.) AMD GPU prices are finally starting to come down to reasonable levels, and the local Micro Center just got in some H81 Pro BTC motherboards. Sure, it might take a year to pay for itself at current rates, but that's not too bad - and a decent mining rig would let me get a jump on profits if crypto prices start going back up and the cards become scarce again. Even if ASICs manage to outpace GPUs decisively on Scrypt (and I don't see that happening for over 6 months, at least), there's still Vertcoin and whatever other alt-algorithm coins come out in the future.

Do it as a hobby, not for the profit. There is simply too much uncertainty and risk involved at this point to make it a valid investment..

 

[MrK6]

Because:

- Warmer temps are right around the corner, the 7970 runs pretty damn hot
- People are greedy and would rather have $10/day in their pocket versus $5 in their pocket

Most of the sellers are probably trying to recycle cards they bought at the peak of the mining boom over the last 3 months and recoup their "investment" dollars, even though they likely got their money's worth just from mining, and then some. What's funny is that this cycle will "probably" repeat itself in several months time.

I agree, although it's early to sell for temperature reasons in most areas of the northern hemisphere. Maybe some folks are trying to beat the rush. That said, mining is still profitable, a single 7970 can pull $75+ a month depending on your power costs and preferred altcoin.

 

[greenhawk]

This is the beginning of the end for the crypto currency trend.

Bitcoin has gone with it being asci only
Litecoin I read recently is about to go as first generation asci's are in use (some posts indicate the manufacture is going to over mine the market before selling noticable number of units to the public).


So without a new coin that breaks these new miners, gpus are about to be useless like for Bitcoin. Not over night, but enough that it is too late to join in from scratch. Those in might get 3-6 months more as production of the new units pick up (like all chips, getting the first one is hard, then from 1 to 10,000 is only a matter of weeks).

So either a new coin in the next 3 months or going to be more video cards being sold is my prediction.

 

[x3sphere]

Bitcoin has gone with it being asci only
Litecoin I read recently is about to go as first generation asci's are in use (some posts indicate the manufacture is going to over mine the market before selling noticable number of units to the public).


So without a new coin that breaks these new miners, gpus are about to be useless like for Bitcoin. Not over night, but enough that it is too late to join in from scratch. Those in might get 3-6 months more as production of the new units pick up (like all chips, getting the first one is hard, then from 1 to 10,000 is only a matter of weeks).

So either a new coin in the next 3 months or going to be more video cards being sold is my prediction.

There's already plenty of coins that are resistant to scrypt ASICs. VertCoin, ProtoShares, Darkcoin, MaxCoin, just to name some of the bigger ones. None of them are anywhere near as big as Litecoin though but my guess is one of them will blow up in the future.

 

[KingFatty]

Not over night, but enough that it is too late to join in from scratch. Those in might get 3-6 months more as production of the new units pick up (like all chips, getting the first one is hard, then from 1 to 10,000 is only a matter of weeks).

There are video cards for sale right now that would at least pay for themselves and probably turn a profit in about 3-6 months, so if that is the worst-case scenario, then it is still a good decision to build a rig and turn it on now and make your money back, especially if you are already paying to heat your home (cold temperatures) or you have cheap/free electricity. For example, my wife will use an electric space heater to heat her office, but I replaced it with a mining rig instead. So it makes sense especially now to use electricity that makes heat and money (mining), instead of just heat (space heater).

 

[nwo]

Bitcoin has gone with it being asci only
Litecoin I read recently is about to go as first generation asci's are in use (some posts indicate the manufacture is going to over mine the market before selling noticable number of units to the public).


So without a new coin that breaks these new miners, gpus are about to be useless like for Bitcoin. Not over night, but enough that it is too late to join in from scratch. Those in might get 3-6 months more as production of the new units pick up (like all chips, getting the first one is hard, then from 1 to 10,000 is only a matter of weeks).

So either a new coin in the next 3 months or going to be more video cards being sold is my prediction.

Agreed, bitcoin is ASIC only right now.

However, regular scrypt based coins are far from that point. The first generation of scrypt ASICs are going to have one major advantage and that is power consumption. However, their major disadvantage is cost. Their hashrate is about 2-4 times the cost of a comparable GPU.

Unless scrypt ASICs become more efficient (higher hashrate) or lower cost, I do not see anyone going crazy over them, especially since the majority scrypt coins are in the gutters right now.

There are video cards for sale right now that would at least pay for themselves and probably turn a profit in about 3-6 months, so if that is the worst-case scenario, then it is still a good decision to build a rig and turn it on now and make your money back, especially if you are already paying to heat your home (cold temperatures) or you have cheap/free electricity. For example, my wife will use an electric space heater to heat her office, but I replaced it with a mining rig instead. So it makes sense especially now to use electricity that makes heat and money (mining), instead of just heat (space heater).

I'm glad I got in months ago and not now... Most of my gear is already paid off, even at the current low values of LTC/BTC. But I have not cashed out yet and plan on holding for a while.

With crazy winter temps continuing throughout March, I'm glad I have 3 mining rigs heating my office and 1 still heating my bedroom

 

[Imaginer]

FS/FT forums
$320 for a 7970 with lifetime warranty is a good deal on paper. However, XFX cards are not only under-performers, but their 7 series cards are notorious for overheating issues

I can also vouch for overheating AND failed fans. One card's fans completely died, another card has one fan about to die. I am going to replace them with waterblocks anyways and not really using them for crypto-mining - which brings me to...

No lifetime warranty*

Depending on the serial, some cards DO have the lifetime, but most only have the 2 year warranty as it is in the 7000 series that XFX stopped offering the lifetime warranty. Also, removing that sticker that obscures the heatsink fan screw, will void the warranty (no matter what).

As much as reliable as my XFX HD6950 card is, I am more or less not inclined to purchase any more from XFX (I purchsed the XFX 7970 DD models after being happy with the their HD6950, but reversing my XFX stance with their 7970 usage).

 

[wand3r3r]

^ XFX USA allows you to still change the cooler (without voiding the warranty) but only IF you contact them beforehand via email.

 

[nwo]

I can also vouch for overheating AND failed fans. One card's fans completely died, another card has one fan about to die. I am going to replace them with waterblocks anyways and not really using them for crypto-mining - which brings me to...

No lifetime warranty*

Depending on the serial, some cards DO have the lifetime, but most only have the 2 year warranty as it is in the 7000 series that XFX stopped offering the lifetime warranty. Also, removing that sticker that obscures the heatsink fan screw, will void the warranty (no matter what).

As much as reliable as my XFX HD6950 card is, I am more or less not inclined to purchase any more from XFX (I purchsed the XFX 7970 DD models after being happy with the their HD6950, but reversing my XFX stance with their 7970 usage).

Yep, I also heard that they are no longer offering lifetime warranty so that's definitely a thing to lookout for.

However, when I had overheating issues with my 7870, they sent me a replacement HSF. They told me to replace the HSF myself because removing the stickers does not void the warranty in North America. I used the replacement, temps got worse, then I had to RMA the card. I got a free upgrade to a 7870 Tahiti, asked them if I still have my original warranty. They told me that the lifetime warranty from my 7870 DD transferred to the new card.

I think you have to register your card with XFX to check if you have lifetime warranty and also possibly to be eligible for it in the first place.

If you ask me, I would RMA your card for a chance at a free upgrade. If you have a 7970 now, odds are you will get a 280X. As far as I know, XFX fixed their HSF issues on the new cards, so it would be something to look forward to.