Question Asus TUF 3070 - Buy for 450 mined? what to look for...

[EzTec]

Hi everyone, currently running a 1660ti looking to upgrade to a 3060ti or 3070 which here In Medellin Colombia they're sitting around the same price right now. I found a guy that has the Asus Strix 3070 which he wants $495.00 for and the Asus TUF 3070 that he'll sell me for $450.00 which I think is a good deal but these cards have been used in mining rigs for a year now. I am planning on going to check out the card tomorrow and would love to know how do I determine if it's still operating well? What benchmark #'s do I look at to make sure it's still a good performer?

I already saw Linus's video about mining cards and they don't seem to lose performance all that much at all so any tips? things to look for? thanks in advance!

 

[Aeacus]

Here's GamersNexus answer to high GPU utilization (3D rendering or mining) and what can blow up (at 06:21):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WWfj7RF_z8#t=6m21s


And GamersNexus answer to if to buy mining GPUs (at 11:42):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yp6pQRdns#t=11m42s

I found a guy that has the Asus Strix 3070 which he wants $495.00 for and the Asus TUF 3070 that he'll sell me for $450.00 which I think is a good deal

I don't think so. The deal is "good" only for the seller, especially at that price point.

Brand new, RTX 3070, in a sealed package + warranty has MSRP of $499.
LHR version of RTX 3070 starts at $499, brand new,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=494,508&sort=price&page=1

What is LHR?
Further reading: https://www.cgdirector.com/nvidia-lhr-gpus/
In a nutshell, LHR doesn't matter for gaming and was implemented by Nvidia, to give consumers (gamers) availability for GPUs, while for miners, LHR GPU is repulsive due to the lower Hash Rate and thus, lower income.

Now, is 495 or 450 bucks good for used mining RTX 3070? Not by a mile.
To me, any used GPU, which i could buy, has instant 50% off of MSRP since the GPU doesn't come with a warranty and i have to take a risk. So, for RTX 3070 at MSRP of 499, ~250 bucks is what i'd pay for.
And i even don't look at mining GPUs, unless their price is good for me. Meaning another 50% off of used GPU price. So, for used RTX 3070 of ~250 bucks, ~125 bucks would be what i'd pay for mining RTX 3070.

Here, i suggest you add 50 bucks to the 450 you have and buy LHR version of RTX 3070, which has almost identical performance to non-LHR RTX 3070, while you'd be getting a brand new GPU with a warranty.

 

[EzTec]

Here's GamersNexus answer to high GPU utilization (3D rendering or mining) and what can blow up (at 06:21):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WWfj7RF_z8#t=6m21s


And GamersNexus answer to if to buy mining GPUs (at 11:42):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yp6pQRdns#t=11m42s




I don't think so. The deal is "good" only for the seller, especially at that price point.

Brand new, RTX 3070, in a sealed package + warranty has MSRP of $499.
LHR version of RTX 3070 starts at $499, brand new,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=494,508&sort=price&page=1

What is LHR?
Further reading: https://www.cgdirector.com/nvidia-lhr-gpus/
In a nutshell, LHR doesn't matter for gaming and was implemented by Nvidia, to give consumers (gamers) availability for GPUs, while for miners, LHR GPU is repulsive due to the lower Hash Rate and thus, lower income.

Now, is 495 or 450 bucks good for used mining RTX 3070? Not by a mile.
To me, any used GPU, which i could buy, has instant 50% off of MSRP since the GPU doesn't come with a warranty and i have to take a risk. So, for RTX 3070 at MSRP of 499, ~250 bucks is what i'd pay for.
And i even don't look at mining GPUs, unless their price is good for me. Meaning another 50% off of used GPU price. So, for used RTX 3070 of ~250 bucks, ~125 bucks would be what i'd pay for mining RTX 3070.

Here, i suggest you add 50 bucks to the 450 you have and buy LHR version of RTX 3070, which has almost identical performance to non-LHR RTX 3070, while you'd be getting a brand new GPU with a warranty.

Pretty sure that's a lot of great information for someone in the states but seeing as I'm in Colombia if I try to get something like that off of Amazon let's say... it will be another 150 - 300 dollars in taxes I have to pay getting it to me here in Medellin which sucks and here well the prices are what they are. That's kinda the best I can do price wise unless I pick up a used 3060ti which will be right at the same 450 dollar price tag

 

[kkcheong]

In Asia, the price of 3070TI has plummeted to USD450 for new one.

 

[EzTec]

In Asia, the price of 3070TI has plummeted to USD450 for new one.

man that's pretty awesome actually

 

[Aeacus]

Pretty sure that's a lot of great information for someone in the states

Well, i live in Europe and the info is for everybody (international). Sure, pcpp shows USA prices but you can select the region to see more region specific pricing. E.g picking Germany from pcpp shows RTX 3070 starting from €597. In my local store (here in Estonia), cheapest RTX 3070 is €652.

well the prices are what they are.

Prices are always either too expensive (when buying stuff) or too cheap (when selling stuff). So, better to look at the value, which is price to performance ratio. E.g if RTX 3070 costs ~30% more than RTX 3060 Ti, while only offering ~15% better performance (comparison), then value wise, RTX 3060 Ti is better.

That's kinda the best I can do price wise unless I pick up a used 3060ti which will be right at the same 450 dollar price tag

Lets say you fork out 450 bucks for that mining RTX 3070. You can use it for e.g 2 weeks (or 4 weeks, or a month) and GPU dies. Then what? You do not have any warranty, so, no chance to get GPU replaced. And i doubt that GPU seller is going to refund you either (since they have 0 obligation to do so). At this point (if not far earlier), the reality will hit, that you should've gone with new GPU instead, for the redundancy it comes with (warranty, usually 2 years). Unless you have money to spare to get yourself 2nd working GPU.

 

[KyaraM]

Do not buy! There are far too many horror stories of dead or dying mining cards here or elsewhere. Do not, ever, buy one of those, none of them is a good deal in any way, shape or form. Heck, don't buy used cards at all right now, they will lie through their teeth about how they used the cards...

 

[Tac 25]

buy at your own risk. Save money by buying a gpu used for mining at cheap price? You could end up spending a lot more. Because now you have to pay for two gpu... the used mining gpu will die after a short while, and then you need to buy another.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

Echoing others opinions but a new 3060 ti is by far the better option. You will lose some performance against a 3070 but that is offset by the warranty and piece of mind you will have.

 

[DRagor]

The problem with mined cards is it is quite possible for it to work perfectly fine today, passing all benchmarks with flying colors, only to fail in next few weeks. That is of course worst case scenario, but it is far from rare occurrence. You have to ask yourself a question what would be your plan if that happens. What is the best local price for new 3070 (with local warranty)?

In my local store (here in Estonia), cheapest RTX 3070 is €652.

@Aeacus consider buying in Poland. Because our currency is in the pit rn you could buy here 3070Ti (Manli Gallardo version) for about 600 euro.

 

[PEnns]

A mining GPU that was used "only" for one year (how can you be sure it wasn't used longer?), must have been running 24/7/365..... which equals almost 9000 hours of non-stop mining!

A gamer averages 4-5 hours per day (assuming they game EVERY day), their total would be 1700 hours approx.

To put this into prescriptive: That used card was used 7 times more in one year (or 7 years) compared to a gamer's one year!

That "cheaper" card would be very expensive if it dies on you, and it could happen any day, unless you happen to be an incedibly lucky person!!

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

NO, just NO !

Mining cards...the bane of all 'puter users worldwide....

Would you buy a toaster that has been used heavily 24/7/365 ? a car ? a TV ?..... I doubt it...

 

[Aeacus]

@Aeacus consider buying in Poland. Because our currency is in the pit rn you could buy here 3070Ti (Manli Gallardo version) for about 600 euro.

Thanks for the tip. 👍
Though, i'm not currently looking to buy a new GPU. I'm happy with my GTX 1660 Ti (MSI Gaming X version). And in a rare chance it happens to die on me, i still have my GTX 1060 3GB (also MSI Gaming X version). 😆

--

To add what i've and others have already said, in regards of this:

I already saw Linus's video about mining cards and they don't seem to lose performance all that much

Does LTT buy used mining GPUs for themselves then? No.
But why not? They are cheaper with little, if any performance reduction, as Linus tested it out.

It's easy to say to the world to buy used mining GPUs, without buying those themselves. And Linus knows very well that used mining GPU can (and most likely will) go belly up, in a relatively short period of time.

Lets look at it on another perspective:
Why miner is selling the GPU in the first place? GPU is still a good "tool" to make money. Unless, there is an issue with GPU and it isn't "good enough" for the miner anymore. Perhaps miner also knows the signs of GPU starting to "fade out" (die), and it's time to get rid of the GPU. Preferably at the same price as MSRP, (without incurring any loss, but keeping all the profits GPU made for them).

All-in-all, regarding PC hardware, never buy used: PSU and GPU. Unless you have the money to buy 2nd one, once the used one dies on you. Though, on PSU part, things are worse since when PSU goes sky high, it has the magical ability to fry everything it is connected to. Aka your whole PC. Hence why never buy used PSU, since you don't know what kind of abuse it has seen.

Edit: Another thought.
Miners are the sole reason why we have GPU prices so high and why almost all RTX 3000 series GPUs were sold out at launch, after which, scalpers put some of them at sale, 2-3 times of MSRP. Helping miner to get rid of the useless stuff (read: burned out GPU), isn't doing any of us (gamers) any favors. Instead, it shows miners that they can get away with it and same can happen again, once RTX 4000 series launches.
So, besides risk to your wallet, there's moral reasons as well. At least to me.