Subyman
Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
- Mar 18, 2005
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What about the moderate? They die while you are gaming?
Those ones usually die after the 30 day return period offered by the place of purchase....Then your at the mercy of the manufacturer to rma
^^ Precisely this
Mining cards were probably run at load for a very long time but at good temperatures and normal/lower voltages. This means the actual silicon is likely in better or identical condition to gaming cards. However, the fans will have wear on them. I've read about MSI's aftermarket cooler going bad on 7950/7970's because they didnt design it for constant usage. But I agree with this. Given how cheap the mining cards are, just buy your own aftermarket fan or AIO combo and it will *still* be cheaper than new, with better cooling
The people on ebay dumping their cards for so low a price, they are cards that were used for mining despite anything they claim, and they are most likely beat to death running 24hrs a day in high heat, at full power. Sorry but you are a fool if you actually think its good for a card to be mining.
The stupid miners ruined the pricing for people wanting a new card, and now the same stupid miners have ruined the resale value of everyone else trying to sell their old cards because they are dumping their cards on ebay. I can see the forums here are full of miners.
Yes I am ticked, because I can't even sell my 7950 on ebay for what its worth. I paid $500 when I first bought the card. I guess I should have went with Nvidia.
The stupid miners ruined the pricing for people wanting a new card, and now the same stupid miners have ruined the resale value of everyone else trying to sell their old cards because they are dumping their cards on ebay. I can see the forums here are full of miners.
Yes I am ticked, because I can't even sell my 7950 on ebay for what its worth. I paid $500 when I first bought the card. I guess I should have went with Nvidia.
nitromullet
Diamond Member
- Jan 7, 2004
- 9,031
- 36
- 91
7950's we're pretty much dirt cheap prior to the mining craze. Last fall they were selling new on newegg for $180 AMIR with three games from the Never Settle bundle. Had the mining craze not happened your 7950 wouldn't be worth any more now than it is.
Actually most miners ran at reduced voltage and high fan speeds for maximum efficiency and stability. The Fans will be the only thing that took a beating.
toughtrasher
Senior member
I have a Reference 290X and although I have Hynix and can reach 1700mhz stable, benchmark scores are nearly the same at 1500mhz, so I decide to keep it a that and save power and lower heat output. Maybe memory timings are relaxed as you up the mhz?
I got mine on Monday and after cleaning the dust with the compressor I removed the thermal paste it came with and put some Artic MX-2. Using MSI afterburner to set up a fan profile.
The good.
It works fine and I was even able to OC to 1040 core and 1375 memory
Researching it seems I got lucky and mine can unlock to the 290x
The bad
It throttles a lot
It is hot (it has jumped to 84c while playing Crysis
Fan is loud after 45 %
So I already ordered the VRM heatsinks so that I can use the kraken g10 and a Corsair H50 or 55 with it and try to flash it to a 290x and OC it. So far really happy with the card.
The good.
It works fine and I was even able to OC to 1040 core and 1375 memory
Researching it seems I got lucky and mine can unlock to the 290x
The bad
It throttles a lot
It is hot (it has jumped to 84c while playing Crysis
Fan is loud after 45 %
So I already ordered the VRM heatsinks so that I can use the kraken g10 and a Corsair H50 or 55 with it and try to flash it to a 290x and OC it. So far really happy with the card.
toughtrasher
Senior member
It throttles even at stock and I have the fan profile so the hottest it has gotten is 84 but in Fallout 3 GOTY it does the same and it does not gets hotter than 65. I am using it stock while the watercooling parts arrive. I bought the reference 290 because I was planning to water cool it. It does not lag or stutters but I can see the speeds using GPU-Z and sometimes it goes down to 400 MHz.
nitromullet
Diamond Member
- Jan 7, 2004
- 9,031
- 36
- 91
Yeah, there's no overclocking with the stock cooler unless you want it to sound like a hairdryer (literally). With the reference cooler the card maintains its temperature by throttling the gpu clock speed. As much as I am liking the price of my 290, the reference cooler is garbage. It's loud and the card still runs hot.
What sinks did you get? From what I understand cooling the VRMs is the most challenging part with aftermarket coolers.
GELID Solutions Enhancement Kit for Rev.2 Icy Vision for AMD R9 290/290X VRM Cooling
http://www.feppaspot.com/servlet/the-897/GELID-Solutions-Icy-Vision/Detail
lopri
Elite Member
- Jul 27, 2002
- 13,310
- 687
- 126
I did not get a chance to play with mine but did a visual inspection. It's definitely from a miner. The card is in a mint shape and all the output ports (DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort) are squeaky clean, not even a scratch. Only the fan has dust that is not blown away by canned air. I can clean that with alcohol or something, I guess.
Looking forward to installing it.
Looking forward to installing it.
nitromullet
Diamond Member
- Jan 7, 2004
- 9,031
- 36
- 91
Thanks.
If you could post back when you get it on the 290 with the Kraken that, I'd be interested to hear your experiences.
Atreidin
Senior member
- Mar 31, 2011
- 464
- 27
- 86
How many video cards and processors does everyone here have that died from being used under spec, even 24/7, compared to how many they have that still work? I've got so many old components that ran for a long time and still work, and they didn't even have all solid caps, "military spec" parts, etc.
Plus 290's aren't even that old, even if you assume they all came into existence on launch day and went directly into a mining setup. I think the huge value in used 290s right now completely outweighs any potential wear issues. Of course a few people will buy used cards and have them die, and we will hear about it and due to confirmation bias it will fuel people's preconceived notions, but if an actual study was done I doubt the defect rate would be drastically higher for properly cared for mining cards vs. new cards. I guess if it is worth it to you to pay $100 more for a card that may have a slightly lower chance of dying on you, then go for it. You could also buy a card where the warranty is based on serial number and if it dies you are still covered anyway (this applies to every used video card purchase, not just this situation).
Plus 290's aren't even that old, even if you assume they all came into existence on launch day and went directly into a mining setup. I think the huge value in used 290s right now completely outweighs any potential wear issues. Of course a few people will buy used cards and have them die, and we will hear about it and due to confirmation bias it will fuel people's preconceived notions, but if an actual study was done I doubt the defect rate would be drastically higher for properly cared for mining cards vs. new cards. I guess if it is worth it to you to pay $100 more for a card that may have a slightly lower chance of dying on you, then go for it. You could also buy a card where the warranty is based on serial number and if it dies you are still covered anyway (this applies to every used video card purchase, not just this situation).
Atreidin
Senior member
- Mar 31, 2011
- 464
- 27
- 86
Assuming you bought the card after scrypt mining took off, you still paid more than launch price (~$449) and the Summer 2012 MSRP (~$349) for a well-known highly-desired mining card, apparently didn't mine with it to make up the overpayment for some weird reason despite this fact, and are now surprised with and complaining about the price drop which everyone knew was coming eventually. I'm not sure there is much to respond to here. Were you thinking your video card purchase was going to be some kind of wise financial investment?
With Nvidia you could have bought a Titan for $1000 & then have the same gaming potential delivered, $300 cheaper a few months down the road.
Or you could have bought a 780 early on & have its price cut by $200 after a few months.
Its the same everywhere. If you bought an AMD card at the mining inflated price, than that is your fault.
Last edited:
Subyman
Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
- Mar 18, 2005
- 7,876
- 32
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Nah, I'd say most miners were dumb college kids dropping their college grant/loan on a pair. They slapped them in their Asrock and fired up GUIminer. The guys that would go as far as down clocking and maximizing their profits are probably still messing about.
Luckily the AMD prices lagged a few weeks behind the downward trend of bit coin/ltc, so I was able to offload a few while the GPU prices were really high. I didn't feel like getting into alt coins.
FWIW, my friend had issues with an R9 290 while mining. Mine stuff was water-cooled (because I did it for fun, not to get rich) and I didn't have any issues.
Subyman
Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
- Mar 18, 2005
- 7,876
- 32
- 86
I think part of the problem is that AMD brought the card to market above spec to begin with. The original R9 290 had a much lower temperature target, but AMD decided to try to compete against the 780 with it and increased the target to 95C, right at the edge of spec. A lot of computer parts have a very comfortable buffer and are hardly ever pushed to the max 24/7. Combine that with people stacking the cards right next to each other on the motherboard with reference coolers while running maxed out 24/7 and you have a torture test situation. Not to mention people using their basement/garage/open chassis in a closet to house these. Dust and constantly high humidity or high ambient temps are a concern.
Much different from playing games 2-3 hours a day.
For $199 its worth a shot IMO. Especially if you pay paypal and can file a complaint if its DOA.
I ordered this as well. However, I did make my own more substantial VRM heatsinks using an old Intel P4 heatsink. I'm going to try my own ones first and if the temps are no good I will try the Gelid one.
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