Used Crypto Mining GPUs Flood The Market, But Should You Buy One? (Opinion)

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Gamers lastly have one thing to smile about because the crypto bear market has resulted in a mining exodus and diminished demand for high-end graphics playing cards.

Crypto Twitter is awash with photos of stacks of GPUs being bought on second-hand markets, and prices for brand spanking new and used models are beginning to come down out of the stratosphere.

Earlier this week, Hardware Times reported that Chinese reseller markets confirmed Nvidia RTX 3080s for as little as $523. Furthermore, PC players reported that RTX 3060 Ti’s had been going for as little as $300 to $350 on some used marketplaces.

Are They Safe To Buy?

As with something used, particularly pc parts, it’s a huge gamble. Components running underneath fixed heavy hundreds, excessive voltages, and excessive temperatures will get careworn, which is able to put on them out faster.

Several players on social media have issued warnings over these used graphics playing cards which have been “abused” by crypto mining. Additionally, there have been reports from patrons of used playing cards that that they had parts changed or had heating points.

Gamers are typically anti-crypto, and a few causes given for not shopping for a used GPU had been so excessive as to forestall miners from recouping any money from the method.

As with all issues, there are two sides to each story. One gamer identified that top voltage and thermal growth are the issues that kill a processor over time. “GPUs used for Ethereum mining had been sometimes undervolted to make use of as little electrical energy as potential, so voltage hasn’t degraded them,” he added.

Furthermore, mining GPUs are left in a relentless steady-state, and their temperatures fluctuate little or no since they’ve fixed cooling and minimal load spikes. He urged shopping for from a market with purchaser safety earlier than concluding:

“The important individuals who need you to consider used playing cards are unhealthy are the individuals who make new graphics playing cards.”

Hold Your Horses

PC Gamer identified that prices lastly returning to the producer’s urged retail worth after two years is nice news, however cautioned in opposition to shopping for now. Nvidia’s 4000-series is near launch, which means prices for the present batch of playing cards flooding the market will fall even additional, each new and used.

“It’s nice that we’re lastly seeing GPUs at their MSRPs, nevertheless it’s necessary to not be blinded by the actual fact they’re out there at near MSRP and even under. It’s taken so lengthy to get right here, that the next-gen is simply across the nook.”

If you’re keen to take the chance and may get an honest graphics card that you’ve seen examined and running for a few hundred bucks with purchaser safety, then it could be price pulling the set off. However, prices will proceed to fall together with demand, so for these not in a rush to improve, biding your time could possibly be a greater guess. Used pc parts are at all times a little bit of a lottery, whether or not they have been used for crypto mining or not.


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