Is it safe to buy GPU's that were used for mining ?

kingdom9214

kingdom9214

Limp Gawd
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Apr 3, 2011
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I see so many GPU's for good prices on ebay but most of them were used for mining. I was wondering if I should avoid cards that were used for mining ?
 
Well I sure as fuck wouldn't do it. Especially considering that warranties don't necessarily transfer user to user and if they do, it involves hassle that the original seller may not help you with. It isn't like new cards aren't cheap either. So personally I say FUCK that. But it's all up to you, you have to weigh the risk yourself as yours alone and make your own decision.

If there were a way to reasonably guarantee that a card had not been pushed 24/7 with mining, I might do it. But ebay resellers just aren't going to be honest about this. If the card is cheap, you can bet it was pushed 24/7. And those cards are demonstrably higher in RMA % than other cards, per what some AMD reps themselves have stated.

In the end, if you buy NEW from newegg or amazon, you get:

1) 30 day return policy (well, at amazon you do)
1a) amazon offers a NO HASSLE 30 day return policy if you end up not liking the card. Ebay? Well, good luck with that.
2) guarantee of the AIB warranty for the full length. Ebay? Maybe, maybe not, more often it's a no.
3) peace of mind that you're getting a card that was just off the production line and not used. Maybe tested for verification, but not used.

To me that is well worth the slightly more money. You gotta weigh the risk vs reward yourself.
 
Depends on the price IMO!

I used 3 290x's for mining, 2 of them are now in gaming rigs without a problem.

If you can get a 290x for $300, why not? Is it safe to buy a GPU that was used for folding while not gaming? I don't really see any difference.
 
I think it depends on how long it was mined with. I bought a 290 for $280 that had only been bought new in January and mined for a few months. So far it's just fine.
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
Depends on the price IMO!

I used 3 290x's for mining, 2 of them are now in gaming rigs without a problem.

If you can get a 290x for $300, why not? Is it safe to buy a GPU that was used for folding while not gaming? I don't really see any difference.
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If you find a 290X for 300$ on ebay, you can be rest assured that the warranty is thrown away the majority of the time. Not always, but most of the time, this is the case. Would you buy something cheaper as-is with no warranty? I wouldn't. Even when I buy used on FS/T here, I *look* for a warranty. Most of those cards on ebay do not have a warranty - most AIBs will not allow transfers, or if they do, they require significant help from the original seller. They probably will not do so. They MIGHT, but probably not.

That makes all the difference to me. I would not throw a warranty away when buying used. I still look for warranty when I buy on FS/T here. On ebay? you might find something with a warranty, but probably not. Some AIBs need original invoice. Some aren't transferable. Those that ARE transferable, requires help from the original seller. Will they help you? Who knows? Gigabyte is a safe bet as they're serial based. But this all varies per AIB. Again, fuck that. Too much hassle for the risk. But this is all up to the buyer to assess that risk.

Some people are willing to take that gamble. It's much like buying a used car. I haven't bought a used car in over 10 years, always new for me. Let me quantify that actually. I *might* buy used at a car dealership. Yes, I know, they're not honest, but are more honest than John Doe on the street corner trying to sell their car. If someone has a car that is one year old that they're trying to sell, there's probably a reason. Maybe i'd buy it from a dealership if it's certified. Would I buy from a previous owner? Nah. Not without a guarantee of a warranty. Again, this makes such a difference.

If I could make an analogy, I *might* buy a refurbed card from EVGA or amazon warehouse. Why? Because you get a guarantee of a warranty. 1 year from EVGA and you get the option of buying one at amazon warehouse. No such luck at ebay. It really depends, but more often than not, there's a reason a card is super cheap on ebay.

But some don't mind the risk. Same thing with GPUs. I will never throw a warranty away for a lower price. But that's all in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has to make their own personal risk assessment depending on how much that extra 100$ matters.
 
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xoleras said:
If you find a 290X for 300$ on ebay, you can be rest assured that the warranty is thrown away the majority of the time. Not always, but most of the time, this is the case. Would you buy something cheaper as-is with no warranty? I wouldn't. Even when I buy used on FS/T here, I *look* for a warranty. Most of those cards on ebay do not have a warranty - most AIBs will not allow transfers, or if they do, they require significant help from the original seller. They probably will not do so. They MIGHT, but probably not.

That makes all the difference to me. I would not throw a warranty away when buying used. I still look for warranty when I buy on FS/T here. On ebay? you might find something with a warranty, but probably not. Some AIBs need original invoice. Some aren't transferable. Those that ARE transferable, requires help from the original seller. Will they help you? Who knows? Gigabyte is a safe bet as they're serial based. But this all varies per AIB. Again, fuck that. Too much hassle for the risk. But this is all up to the buyer to assess that risk.

Some people are willing to take that gamble. It's much like buying a used car. I haven't bought a used car in over 10 years, always new for me. Let me quantify that actually. I *might* buy used at a car dealership. Yes, I know, they're not honest, but are more honest than John Doe on the street corner trying to sell their car. If someone has a car that is one year old that they're trying to sell, there's probably a reason. Maybe i'd buy it from a dealership if it's certified. Would I buy from a previous owner? Nah. Not without a guarantee of a warranty. Again, this makes such a difference.

If I could make an analogy, I *might* buy a refurbed card from EVGA or amazon warehouse. Why? Because you get a guarantee of a warranty. 1 year from EVGA and you get the option of buying one at amazon warehouse. No such luck at ebay. It really depends, but more often than not, there's a reason a card is super cheap on ebay.

But some don't mind the risk. Same thing with GPUs. I will never throw a warranty away for a lower price. But that's all in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has to make their own personal risk assessment depending on how much that extra 100$ matters.
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What does the price have to do with warranty =)?
 
A card without a warranty obviously will have an indirect effect on the selling price. Again, sometimes you might be able to get a warranty but the majority of those ebay sales with super cheap and used cards are a no-go warranty wise. There are certain brands that are safe (gigabyte I know of) but most brands aren't transferable or require original invoice.

I'm not saying what I would do is what everyone should do. But I sure as fuck wouldn't buy a card, even with a heavy discount, unless I had reasonable assurance that a warranty is in place. That's the first thing I would check if buying used. You will have less luck getting a warranty on ebay than you would buying on even FS/T here. You just have to make your own decision and your own risk assessment.
 
Mine lasted about one month until the fan went funky.

Based on my experience, if it was my money, I sure as hell wouldn't either.
 
xoleras said:
A card without a warranty obviously will have an indirect effect on the selling price. Again, sometimes you might be able to get a warranty but the majority of those ebay sales with super cheap and used cards are a no-go warranty wise. There are certain brands that are safe (gigabyte I know of) but most brands aren't transferable or require original invoice.

I'm not saying what I would do is what everyone should do. But I sure as fuck wouldn't buy a card, even with a heavy discount, unless I had reasonable assurance that a warranty is in place. That's the first thing I would check if buying used. You will have less luck getting a warranty on ebay than you would buying on even FS/T here. You just have to make your own decision and your own risk assessment.
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all you really need for a warranty is a receipt, so just ask for the original receipt, chances are these people still have them, if they ran mining farms, they would need them come tax time, and if they are normal people mining with a few cards, they would keep them for warranty, I know I did.
 
People have no hesitation buying 'great overclocking' cards and CPU's second hand. In fact, they sometimes carry a premium and those cards were pushed to the absolute limits - sometimes with a lot of voltage to get there. Now, most were not run 24/7 but when they were ran, they were ran hard. Mining cards are generally open air and decently cooled, along with being undervolted and underclocked but the downside is 24/7 usage. I'm guessing it evens out in the end.

As long as you have the original receipt and have a comfortable amount of warranty left, I don't see a problem with either.
 
Yeah I'm kinda of the mindset that if it was going to fail... it would have... people love to stress test their rigs.. well these cards come pre-tested for you!
 
Cards I used for mining either work, or failed right away due to a manufacturing defect. I've yet to have a card fail later after it's "burn-in" period. Lubricate the fans regularly if needed and they work.

I don't have an issue buying them cheap used.
 
Yea some people here are over dramatic when it comes to mined cards. My friend bought a pair of 290x for cheap on eBay and they have been running like champs, even OC'd.
 
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Your asking if it is safe to buy something used.

In the sense you likely will not get a warranty
Unknown amount of previous usage.

Most respectable sellers will give you the information you ask. The only real downside is the lack of warranty in most cases. Not that warranties really matter to much to people on this site, since 90% of the users here will void the warranty by overclocking or replacing thermal pastes etc...

I would have no problem paying 300$ for a used R9-290/X. Why would I care if it has been mined on?
 
i think you guys are overly concerned about the cards. It's not like they wear out. I would justr get the cheapest card you can find and put an aftermarket cooler on it.
 
ebduncan said:
I would have no problem paying 300$ for a used R9-290/X. Why would I care if it has been mined on?
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Because miners run their cards, at maximum capacity, for the entire time they have them. Cards aren't supposed to take that kind of abuse 24/7. Warranty doesn't mean much when manufacturers are turning down service on mine cards because it's not regular use.
 
jwcalla said:
Do you have any suggestions on how to do this? I think I'd rather try that than deal with RMA.
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Depends on which model of card you have.

Reference cards are simple, take off the shroud and "pop" the Fan off, lubricate, pop fan back on, re-apply TIM (which will probably be dryish anyways running 24/7), and put it back together. I do that every two years or so on my old cards. Still have my reference 5870 from launch chugging along 24/7 like that. There are many YouTube videos showing how to do it.

Other models will vary.
 
Looking at eBay seems like 290X are going for ~$300 pretty regularly... I'm in for one.
 
lloose said:
Because miners run their cards, at maximum capacity, for the entire time they have them. Cards aren't supposed to take that kind of abuse 24/7. Warranty doesn't mean much when manufacturers are turning down service on mine cards because it's not regular use.
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Yet guys pay premiums for 'golden sample' overclocking chips that have been hit with LN. Also, no one batted an eye on the FS/trade forums when people were selling cards that had been folded with or had some other sort of distributed computing.

Sorry, but if a component has been subjected to temperatures and voltages within operating specs it has every chance of being fine, or failing, as any other component that has not undergone significant use.

And what, you buy a used card that was mined with and when you RMA you say 'hey, this card was mined with at some point' - who the fuck does that?
 
SilverSliver said:
Sorry, but if a component has been subjected to temperatures and voltages within operating specs it has every chance of being fine, or failing, as any other component that has not undergone significant use.
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Edit: Nevermind. I'm just going to leave this here instead of arguing about it. Is this what's supposed to happen when a card is "subjected to temperatures and voltages within operating specs"?
 
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Strategy said:
Proof? I don't see how that's possible or how they could even prove it.
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Go back a few months in the video card forum when the alt coin boom was going on. There was at least a thread a day from people complaining about having to RMA they hardware used for mining. There are a few where the manufacturer refused to honor a warranty because mining isn't considered "regular use" as stated in the warranty.
 
lloose said:
Edit: Nevermind. I'm just going to leave this here instead of arguing about it. Is this what's supposed to happen when a card is "subjected to temperatures and voltages within operating specs"?
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Card didn't have VRM cooling and it didn't throttle itself based on VRM temps. Plenty of other guys do fine with them. I'm glad it failed for me sooner rather than later. What would have happened if I had overclocked it? I told EVGA I had mined on it and they said that it should not have failed, period.
 
For me price is a big determining factor. I'd take a chance on something $250 or less. But if i'm going to go anything over $400 I'll most likely get it new anyways.
 
I would. I'm considering selling my gtx 780 ti, getting 290x with a transferable warranty and aftermarket cooling. And pocketing about 250/300 bones.
 
Having mined myself, with several different cards. Its not going to make a card self destruct. It doesn't hurt them in any other way other than usage. Like I said before I had a few 6870's that I mined with for over 3 years. 24/7 It doesn't hurt the cards anymore than using a graphics card. Its relatively nonsense to say a card that was mined on is worthless, and that is basically what your saying.

Like any consumer computer part they are designed to operate 24/7 for at least a year. ( think warranty)
 
If you take care of your parts, they will last longer bottom line. There are some that do abuse the equipment like everything else but some will undervolt/underclock and even make sure cooling is better then most people to keep them running well. Not including like several have stated most will keep the receipts incase something happens and I know if I sold my cards and something happened I would be more than willingly to help with a RMA if it should occur.
 
A lot of good points in this thread. I do think that buying used cards for a GOOD price with a warranty is a relatively safe thing to do, but you have to consider a few things. First, as with all used cards, it's about how the previous person took care of it. The guy earlier in the thread who reapplied TIM and regularly lubricated his fans? I'd buy from that guy, if he's mining he's probably undervolting and running the card cool.

The thing about mining is that, since the card is being used 24/7, any neglect to temperatures or maintenance is amplified compared to a card that's just gamed with a few hours every other day. If Joe Bob has his 7970 running at 90C for 8 months, never blowing the thing out with air, that's a lot different than someone gaming in a similar situation. Another aspect is the card's cooling; something like an XFX you can guarantee there's been a lot of stress put on the VRMs. From my reading and personal experience, cards with the MSI aftermarket cooling system have fans that like to fail. The problem with those fans is they're not easy to lube, I have the MSI 270x and I had to drill a hole in it just to get to the sleeve bearing and put some singer oil in.

I will say that my circa Jan 2012 reference 7970 seems to have been run a bit too hard (I stopped mining on it after a month or so) @ 78C for long periods of time as it artifacts at lower clocks than it used to. Could just be the card getting old too, I'm not sure, I've never seen that happen before.

I'm also not sure why people would be selling their cards off now, I guess because the bitcoin price is lower now than it was? X11 is way better than scrypt ever was imo.
 
Mining is better for cards the gaming, with gaming they suffer frequent temperature changes.

With mining they stay a relatively level temperature.

With mining cards either die very quickly due to bad components or live a long life.
 
Spazturtle said:
Mining is better for cards the gaming, with gaming they suffer frequent temperature changes.

With mining they stay a relatively level temperature.

With mining cards either die very quickly due to bad components or live a long life.
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Quoted for truth, also the fans stay at a nice constant speed instead of revving up/down a ton. Mining/gaming are both just different types of loads, there's nothing wrong with a card used for mining. The only difference is you'll see a bad card go bad in a shorter amount of time because it was used more, while good cards will be the same either way. If you're concerned about failures you always should be buying cards with valid warranties from the manufacturer anyway, making this all a moot point.
 
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