[SOLVED] Buying used GPUs from Bitcoin miners ?

[pacikjean]

Hello, since im broke and i wanted a GPU for gaming i wanna ask if is good to buy GPU from Bitcoin miners. Some people said that is good buying from them because GPU was still on the same temperature and they don't broke soon. So i wanted to know if its true or should i save some money and get the new one.

PS: sorry for bad english tho 😀

 

[WildCard999]

Your taking a big risk buying from miners. The more experienced ones would increase the fan curve and lower the voltage for round the clock mining which may be ok to buy from but those who didn't do that you would have no idea how long the cards will last.

Another thing with mined GPU's is custom BIOS which are setup for mining and not gaming.

Personally I wouldn't risk it.

 

[pacikjean]

Thanks for respond,good to know

 

[Blakblast]

In my opinion it is worth to buy from a miner if:

1. The seller is trusted (buy only from someone who already sold a lot of GPUs and got a positive feedback). If he sold a lot of GPUs already, he (probably) knows how to keep them in a good condition.
2. Seller has restored the stock BIOS (contact him to confirm).
3. There is a warranty - most of the cards should have 3 years of warranty and many miners sell the cards after 10-12months of usage (#2 is important here, in case the GPU bricks and you don't know how to or cannot flash the stock BIOS, the warranty could be avoided)

I bought 2 cards already from a miner:

1. RX 580 4GB Nitro+ for 160$ in September 2018 -> but after 2 months I sold it, because it turned out 4GB is not enough for newer games
2. Reference Asus GTX1080 Turbo in November 2018 for 350$ with 26months of warranty (pretty good deal at that time) and it still works without any issue. Right after it arrived, I installed a water colling (using Kraken G12) and I can recommend it.

Now you can get a GTX1080 for 300$ and GTX1070 for 220$, so if you plan to upgrade your GPU before the warranty expires, I would go for it. But if you plan to keep the card for a longer period (2 years+) it is a lottery.