Part Recommendations

[red5]

I just read an article on wccftech.com about how the secondary market for graphics cards is tanking due to the crypto crash. The question then is, how much cheaper than MSRP would a gpu have to be before you'd buy it? (knowing that it was probably used for mining?)

I'm pondering that myself since I'm working towards building several PCs for my basement gaming setup. I need to save money where I can, but do I want to take that risk?...................

[johnnyenglish]

I strongly believe that not every miner took good care of their hardware. So maybe no.

Although... the odds are good for the buyer, but like I posted before, I'm seeing too much Polaris cards problems lately.

I bought lots of used hardware, but not from miners. The ones I know dont actually take good care of the stuff.

Just my 2cents

[Amber_AMD]

This is a good question.. If you're buying from an individual I would maybe ask some questions like: 

- When did you purchase this? 

- How long did your rigs mine for at one time? 

- How often were you mining?

This could maybe help determine how much it was used previously. But overall, I feel it's the same risk as purchasing any second-hand part. It could be worth it for a LAN party since it won't be used all the time anyway! 

🙂 

[red5]

If you're buying on Ebay or Marketplace you can look at the sellers' other auctions/ads and see if they have quite a few other gpus for sale.   This would give you an idea of the scale at which they were mining.  Most miners grew their farms over time, and I doubt they really kept track of which cards were mining for how long. So you could get a card that was mined for a month, or one that was mined for 18 months.  Silicon only has so much useful life even if it's undervolted and kept at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, I would consider buying a mined card if it was a good enough deal. And I don't see any deals out there good enough.... yet...

[Anonymous]

Bought an RX580 from a miner during the previous Crypto crash for 90 bucks.

Worked great.

Sold it for 300 two years later.

Miners generally undervolt their cards, to keep temp and energy costs as low as possible.

Just make sure you are good with re-flashing the bios, if the seller installed a miner bios.

Enjoy!

[BigAl01]

I didn't realize there was a 'miner BIOS'; where would you find such a file?  For that reason alone, I would not purchase a video card that has been used for mining.  I would even be reluctant to buy a used video card from a gamer!  Now if a sweet old lady decides to part out the computer her son built her over the summer, well......sure.

[Key-J]

The main factor for me would be depending on if it was a hobby miner or a mining farm.

That card might not have any life left in it, or it might be right as rain!

[darthbaggins]

I'm always hunting for a deal for new hardware since my current setups are aging, and I would like to update my son's RX580 so he gets a more consistent frame-rate.  I have no issues buying second-hand but I need to see the hardware functioning before I dish out money, even if it has been mined on.

[Vynski]

No! Never

Even if you get the product for 1/2 MSRP, it is an  "AS IS" purchase.  

No warranty or guarantee of any kind.

Too much money, unless you like to gamble.

Refurbished at least carries a 30 - 90 day warranty.  I still have and use a refurbished 19" Phillips monitor I purchased about 20 years ago on my security system.  Refurbished is not the same as an "AS IS" product.  It has been repaired by the manufacturer and tested the same as a new product.  I have purchased new products that were DOA,(one of them an XFX Radeon 570X graphics card) and was able to return it for a refund. 

[Dragokar]

Well, I did it in the past but only from “professional” miners. Not some, I try it at home and don't care about the hardware guys......

[popichu]

No. 

There are multiple clips of miners pressure washing their gpus with hoses, and selling them by the bunch.

They are in terrible condition, and your better off waiting and buying a 30 series gpu

-popichu

[Justifier]

Nope. At least not at normal prices

QC on the 6000 Radeon and 3000 Nvidia cards was already sketchy from the supply shortages/lockdowns from 2020-mid 2022

Far too many brand new miners who had no idea what they were doing entered that sphere

The combination of those two things significantly lowers the value of the cards in my eyes.

I consider them to be worth about 1/4th MSRP, with the exception of perhaps cards that are waterblocked, if I had a custom loop system, those cards even if they were used to mine would have been properly cooled and cared for by adequately skilled users

[elstaci]

First as mentioned it is a used GPU card so you don't know what type of history or abuse it had before your purchased it.

Second it has no Warranty unless it is a Refurbished Limited Warranty.

Third: If it was used for Mining then most likely you will need to download the original vBIOS and replace the Mining vBIOS on the GPU card to get it to work correctly.

Fourth: If you are in a desperate need to purchase a Used GPU card, due to financial reasons,  buy one from a reliable Retailer with a good Return or Refurbished Warranty policies.

Anyway those are some of the negative reasons that I can think of at the moment.

The Pro is you will get a High Quality GPU card for less than what it would cost new.

[danny92178]

Looking back at this. When mining profitability dropped and the Ethereum Merge eliminated GPU mining for ETH, there was a flood of used mining GPUs hit the secondary market that drove prices down significantly after the prolonged period of high demand and inflated prices during the mining boom. 

I stopped following after that. What's the situation now?