Buying GPU From Miner?

T

the.ronin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
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Hey guys. I'm desperate to upgrade a recently bought 1050. My 970 died and quite literally the only video card they had at Frys was a 1050. I thought I could tough it out for the time being but this card struggles too much compared to the 970. I play a lot of Ark can barely keep 30fps on modified medium settings.

I found a guy very close by with an Asus Strix OC 8GB 1070 he is willing to let go for $525. He says he got a bunch over Thanksgiving but decided mining was not for him. He says the cards were running 24/7 for the 3 months of Dec-Jan. Seems like a decent enough fellow through our emails.

My immediate alternative is to just bite the bullet and go with a new PNY 1070 that a local big box retailer just so happens to have in stock - $750 incl tax for that one.

Any advice guys?
 
I wouldn't. That's a lot of money for a heavily used card with no warranty.
 
New in box 1070 OC cards are probably doing about $530 for current MSRP and then on the open market in batches for $650

So you could wait and watch eVGA's web site and hope to get a new in box one for around US$530, or go on eBay and buy a new one anytime for US$650, or make a deal with them on the used card which would most likely work just perfectly fine for many years without issues.

I wouldn't pay $750 for a standard 1070 OC card unless it's a Ti version, there are tons to be had brand new in the US$650 range (if you can't find one, let me know and I'll find some links for you).
 
For what it's worth, since back in like august or july (whenever the prices started getting crazy) I've pretty much only been buying used cards from miners (even bought a 1070 with a real bad bend), and i've been mining with all of them 24/7 since with no problems from any of them... even the bent card.
 
If it's still under warranty I'd say go for it. Like someone else said try to push him down to 500.
 
Get the used one and see if you can knock it down to $500. I believe you can transfer the warranty on video cards these days. It's not worth overpaying 750 for a new one.
 
asus warranty is non existent on new video cards anyways, so dont use that as a factor
 
I really don't understand why people assume that if a card is running 24/7 for days on end shortens the life of the card. I would say the constant heat and cold cycle is what is "bad" for cards, I.E normal use.

Mining shortening the life of the GPU is a myth.. Ask any electrical engineer.

I say this as someone who absolutely despises miners/scalpers.
 
Jailer said:
A card used for mining has likely been run it's entire life at less than 100% to maximize profitability and lower electric use and temps. I wouldn't hesitate buying one.
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In addition to barely seeing rapid hot and cold temperature changes which is what shortens the life of any components. Card run at constant temperatures, in the case of miners, is actually highly "beneficial" to the card.
 
I guess it depends on how much that money means to you. I'm in the same boat. My 970 is starting to act funny and there just aren't many options. I almost pulled the trigger today at BestBuy on a 1070 generic for $770, but then got to thinking, if it was a TI or a 1080, it would have been a done deal, but a 1070. I'm gonna wait another week or two or until I get too desperate. If there were a $500 used TI or 1080 I would have done it already and retired my 970. The video card is the only thing holding back my whole system upgrade.
 
Krenum said:
I wouldn't. That's a lot of money for a heavily used card with no warranty.
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Depends on the mining algorithm used. Some of them are very efficient and only use a small amount of the card's capabilities while also running low temps and fan speeds. If consider mining cards, ask the sellers what they were mining, avg temps, and avg fan speeds.

Given the common Asus warranty shenanigans, I personally wouldn't buy any of their cards though.
 
ob1 said:
I I almost pulled the trigger today at BestBuy on a 1070 generic for $770, but then got to thinking, if it was a TI or a 1080, it would have been a done deal, but a 1070. I'm gonna wait another week or two or until I get too desperate.
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Considering you could get good Brand new EVGA 1070 OC models online anytime (such as eBay) for $650, why even consider Best Buy at that crazy price?
 
Thanks a lot everyone for the great responses. These are really good considerations. I think I may just hold off on third-party sale for now and see if I can luck out at any of the retailers. Reason I was even considering Best Buys super inflated price is just time. I was really hoping to get this sooner than later. We did get raided this morning by a mega tribe and held them off and I was able to fight effectively with the 1050 so maybe not as urgent.

I do see some local retailers with open box stock so I may hit them up.
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I had 0 problems when I had to send my Asus card for warranty / RMA
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I RMA'd my dead Asus 1080 ti about 3 weeks ago. Last week, they sent me a new 1080 ti. Had 0 issues with ASUS RMA as well.

This was also a second hand 1080 ti that I water cooled as well. They still honored the warranty even though I took off the cooler.
 
the.ronin said:
Thanks a lot everyone for the great responses. These are really good considerations. I think I may just hold off on third-party sale for now and see if I can luck out at any of the retailers. Reason I was even considering Best Buys super inflated price is just time. I was really hoping to get this sooner than later. We did get raided this morning by a mega tribe and held them off and I was able to fight effectively with the 1050 so maybe not as urgent.

I do see some local retailers with open box stock so I may hit them up.
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You are willing to buy open box at a retailer than buy from a guy who is guaranteeing a working card? How does that work?
 
Does the retailer accept returns on the open box? Or maybe the random guy does? :)
 
KickAssCop said:
You are willing to buy open box at a retailer than buy from a guy who is guaranteeing a working card? How does that work?
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Yea I'm willing to buy an open box from Micro Center with 30 day return and mfr warranty rather than buy from a guy who I do not know guaranteeing a working card by his words only. Call me crazy, I know.

I am lovin the 1070. I got it stable at 2.1 - I really prefer using Heaven as my stress test (that scene 6 seemed to be giving me the hardest time). I passed with much higher oc on furmark and crashed out of the game Ark before the first scene even loaded lol. I went through a mega tribe raid and the 1070 held strong on epic settings rarely ever dipping below 30fps (which to my own personal standards is stellar).

Thanks for the advice everyone!!
 
the.ronin said:
Hey guys. I'm desperate to upgrade a recently bought 1050. My 970 died and quite literally the only video card they had at Frys was a 1050. I thought I could tough it out for the time being but this card struggles too much compared to the 970. I play a lot of Ark can barely keep 30fps on modified medium settings.

I found a guy very close by with an Asus Strix OC 8GB 1070 he is willing to let go for $525. He says he got a bunch over Thanksgiving but decided mining was not for him. He says the cards were running 24/7 for the 3 months of Dec-Jan. Seems like a decent enough fellow through our emails.

My immediate alternative is to just bite the bullet and go with a new PNY 1070 that a local big box retailer just so happens to have in stock - $750 incl tax for that one.

Any advice guys?
Click to expand...
Go with this if you can afford it:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125955

Considering I paid $765 for my last EVGA, looking at $200 more - if you are not opposed to a little bit of mining you could make up that difference with today's dismal rates in less than 2 months. The difference between the 1070 and 1080Ti is so huge it is not even comparable in gaming or mining or VR. Do yourself a favor and get the 1080 Ti and mine a little.

Hey if every gamer with a decent GPU mined - not even for profit (except you probably will have some) - they would put out of the business virtually every big mining operation out there and drive the bonus's so low that very few would bother buying gaming cards to just mine with. Gamers and their cards dwarfs all the mining cards. Gamers can rule if they play.

The next revolution - gamers rule :D
 
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Personally I would not. However, these parts are more resistant to stress than people give them credit for. I don't believe that mining significantly lessens the life of a video card. Just to be safe however, do not do it.
 
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