News LinusTechTips: Buying Second-Hand GPUs Is a Good Idea, Even From Miners

[rjohnson98126]

A journalist buys 10 or 20 used cards from some place(s) where they can be reasonably guaranteed that the cards are verified to work before being shipped, will honor return policy if not, all while using money that isn't out of their own personal savings account anyhow.

A single consumer buys 1 used card from some place that may or may not be trustworthy, using their own money which has been tightly budgeted just so they can get That One Card They've Been Waiting For.

now, what happens when the journalist gets 1 bum card? and what happens when the single consumer gets 1 bum card? and, what others said: the lifetime of the GPU will be degraded, perhaps significantly, even if it works on delivery. you cant inspect solid state components for heat damage.

so unless i know you, and know where you live, i'm not buying used CPUs/GPUs off the interwebs.

 

[Sluggotg]

It is gambling pure and simple. It is like buying used CPUs/Motherboards/Power Supplies/Hard Drives. You don't know the history of the item. I collect many things including Vintage Computers and Vintage Arcade Consoles. Those kind of items will always be a huge gamble just based on the age. Used Video Cards are more of a "Its not the age, its the miles" kind of thing. If you need to upgrade and feel comfortable with the risk then go for it.

 

[kjfatl]

Should I buy a 2 year old graphics card that has just completed a 2 year accelerated life test, or a new, card of similar performance to that of the 2 year old card that draws 1/2 of the power and is likely to last 5 times as long?
It's worth the risk at 25-30% of MSRP at most.

 

[digitalgriffin]

At best, Palit's claim could have something to do with thermal pad degradation under constant heavy load, nothing a re-paste&re-pads job wouldn't fix.

While I agree with you, a pimple face teen who saved up his entire summers pay for a new GPU might be intimidated by such an operation. Even Steve @ GN can be caught swearing at ribbon cables and odd assemblies on some cards.

I feel really bad for people in India and other countries like it They really get shafted by on cost compared to income.

 

[Ryan F. Mercer]

A used card with a return policy? Good luck with that.

I tried buying a "new" XFX 6900XT WB from a third party on Amazon, supposedly an Authorized Retailer, and received a card that was so obviously used it was near laughable. There were still droplets of water in the water block! Not to mention all the tarnish, scratches, and missing warranty sticker. So seller plays dumb and gives a full refund with no explanation.

Then I find another XFX 6900XT WB on Newegg, from the XFX Official Store, and that time I received a card that hadn't been used but had obviously been handled. Someone took it out of the box, dropped it on its metal face plate, bending it severely, and then put it back in the box and called it "new."

Both cases seemed pretty intentional, like they were just hoping someone would be dumb enough to keep the used card or violate the return policy by trying to bend the face plate back into place on the second card, likely busting the ports and making the damage their fault.

Thank goodness I'm not that dumb and I was shopping on Amazon and Newegg. Can you imagine what I might have to deal with buying a used card from Ebay? No thank you.

 

[Ganzo_]

Gamers will be spending way more time using these cards on a daily basis. And I doubt LInus' "tests" are anything approaching gamers OCing / playing X hours per day using those used cards.

If he really wanted something resembling real tests, he should have given those cards to gamers and waited a month or so and THEN he should have given us a real verdict!

There was a time when I respected this guy's opinion.....

And yes, TH article on using used cards is still very relevant, way more than TL's.

Should You Buy a Used Graphics Card?

I bet that if you'd WATCHED the video you'd have understood his rationale

Gamers will be spending way more time using these cards on a daily basis. And I doubt LInus' "tests" are anything approaching gamers OCing / playing X hours per day using those used cards.

If he really wanted something resembling real tests, he should have given those cards to gamers and waited a month or so and THEN he should have given us a real verdict!

There was a time when I respected this guy's opinion.....

And yes, TH article on using used cards is still very relevant, way more than TL's.

Should You Buy a Used Graphics Card?

I think that you misunderstand what the video is. It's primarily a buyer's guide to give you an idea of what you should be looking at when buying a used GPU to diagnose whether or not it's defective, seeing how many GPUs fail and how long the GPUs will theoretically last after purchasing them is secondary. The whole point of the video is getting people to buy a used gpu from somebody who seems transparent, reputable, and legit, or a service like Ebay that gives you strong buyer protection, then giving you the knowledge to assess what to look for to tell you if the GPU has any pre-existing problems so you can return it. When encountering odd behaviour with one of the cards, he even says (paraphrasing here) "this is something you COULD fix, however you shouldn't because it's the seller's problem, not yours, and you're safer getting you're money back". Unless you have a much larger sample size, doing endurance testing is pointless and giving less savvy buyers a set of tests they can run through quickly when actually buying the thing (when you wouldn't have days to stress test a card) is far more valuable.

 

[Ganzo_]

Does anybody even watch that channel? Linus is for little kids

I would never listen to anything he says he’s just a paid advertiser

personally, I detest technology channels. I would rather spend my time watching lectures from the big thinkers in the world.

anything regarding technology I can figure out myself and I don’t need some bearded wonder yakking at me on YouTube.

You strike me as somebody who's never tried to buy a decent monitor before. Buying a product like a monitor, headphones, etc, and to a lesser extent products like GPUs and CPUs without looking through decent reviews (such as the ones LTT, Gamer's Nexus, or Hardware Unboxed make) leave you as a completely uninformed consumer taking what brands say for granted with no context for the market's other options, any sort of marketing <Mod Edit>/skewing of seemingly objective results that a product claims, or pitfalls that aren't immediately apparent. Talk about tech channels being pointless all you want, but you probably wouldn't know to avoid the 3060 8gb over the 12gb because it's up to 30% slower, that the 3090 is only like 10% faster than the 3080 for double the price w/ only vram to differentiate, or which monitor with a "1ms response time" actually achieves the refresh rate on the box without horrible levels of smearing or overshoot. Every time I find myself needing to buy a product with a weaker or nonexistent review scene, I find myself sorely missing the context, quick and dirty education, and general guidance which a good product review provides.

And yes, Linus' content can be sensationalized and, especially during intros, a little hyper and high energy to the point of bordering on condescension, but that's just kinda what you need to do on Youtube and Tiktok now, especially at that size, if you want to try to capture a broader audience. They're very much a gateway channel, but they do often upload content that has valuable information/advice. That being said, the company's working on starting another division called "The Lab" that will offer objective measurements and benchmarks of a whole bunch of products, which, I think, speaks to how meaningless most marketing for just about any tech product is now adays and how you really do need to at least somewhat rely on a third party reviewer (most of the quality ones being video reviewers).

 

[USAFRet]

You strike me as somebody who's never tried to buy a decent monitor before. Buying a product like a monitor, headphones, etc, and to a lesser extent products like GPUs and CPUs without looking through decent reviews (such as the ones LTT, Gamer's Nexus, or Hardware Unboxed make) leave you as a completely uninformed consumer taking what brands say for granted with no context for the market's other options, any sort of marketing<Mod Edit>/skewing of seemingly objective results that a product claims, or pitfalls that aren't immediately apparent. Talk about tech channels being pointless all you want, but you probably wouldn't know to avoid the 3060 8gb over the 12gb because it's up to 30% slower, that the 3090 is only like 10% faster than the 3080 for double the price w/ only vram to differentiate, or which monitor with a "1ms response time" actually achieves the refresh rate on the box without horrible levels of smearing or overshoot. Every time I find myself needing to buy a product with a weaker or nonexistent review scene, I find myself sorely missing the context, quick and dirty education, and general guidance which a good product review provides.

And yes, Linus' content can be sensationalized and, especially during intros, a little hyper and high energy to the point of bordering on condescension, but that's just kinda what you need to do on Youtube and Tiktok now, especially at that size, if you want to try to capture a broader audience. They're very much a gateway channel, but they do often upload content that has valuable information/advice. That being said, the company's working on starting another division called "The Lab" that will offer objective measurements and benchmarks of a whole bunch of products, which, I think, speaks to how meaningless most marketing for just about any tech product is now adays and how you really do need to at least somewhat rely on a third party reviewer (most of the quality ones being video reviewers).

With Linus and his competitors, you also have to be cognizant of who is sponsoring whatever video you happen to be watching.

Given enough pay, people will say anything.

 

[Ganzo_]

Ltt was literally paid by the big mining companies to schill used cards. Period



Not sure if that's how you spell It

It is absolutely a gamble. Any card you buy, you should take apart to thoroughly clean and rebuild it. I've just rebuilt a used 3080 turbo. No burn marks, just a bit dusty and the grease was dried and crunchy as were the pads. Cleaned, regreased, repadded, slapped in a brand new fan just for the heck of it, and bang. All good. Half the price of a new one. Totally worth it. That said, YMMV!!!

Got a lot of used dell 3080s to split with my friends at 550 cad a pop while that's what like, a 3060 on sale before tax, or a 6600xt after tax, and 3080s START at like 1300 as far as I can tell (I can't even find them in stock lol but the 3070ti sits at like 850 or 900 ON SALE). Sold the 3060ti I bought at launch for around 450 and got a big upgrade for like, 100 bucks, not including the 300 or 400 bucks I got just casually mining on it when I wasn't on my pc while that was stupid profitable. I did get one GPU that may have been a lemon (still need to properly test it as it may have been the computer it was in) but I probably would have caught it had this vid come out a month or two ago, and the seller is replacing it for me anyways. As long as you're savvy about who you buy from and you do your homework on how to properly test them before locking yourself into a deal with no recourse, you should be perfectly fine in most cases. My philosophy is like... sure you might get a dud but at the same time... I could have bought two or 3 of these for the price of a single equivalent or slightly better new card and if I really get THAT unlucky with my card dying on me outside a warranty, it could have just as easily happened with a brand new card.

I mean like, 3 or 4 years ago the used market here was trash and honestly not worth it at all, but I think that in this market you'd be insane not to at least check unless money is no object or you're deadset on getting a 4090.

 

[Ganzo_]

Ooh look it's a new kind of crazy conspiracy theory in the wild! Fun!

what even is a "big mining company"??? Like, Nicehash? He dropped them as a sponsor ages ago for their practices and I fail to understand how driving the sales of used GPUs would benefit them. Mining firms with tons of stock to liquidate? I doubt most would have enough gpus to justify paying for his endorsement out of pocket, at that point they might as well just drop the cards on the market for next to nothing given they're probably already selling at a loss and already made bank using the things.

Actually gormless lmao

 

[Ganzo_]

With Linus and his competitors, you also have to be cognizant of who is sponsoring whatever video you happen to be watching.

Given enough pay, people will say anything.

What, Nvidia, who he has a tenuous relationship at best ever since their scandal where they tried to pressure a different reviewer into changing the narrative on one of their products in a review, is going to pay Linus off to... tell people to buy used GPUs that Nvidia gets no return on instead of buying a new card at a grossly inflated price which they see direct margin on? These channels prove time and time again that they don't take money to shill sponsors. In the independent tech reviewer space, and with the consumers in this industry likely having a much better understanding of what they're buying than in most others, I think any reviewer shilling a bad product, providing factual, but largely useless, information, or straight up lying about a product that can be objectively measured by the end user is just a death sentence. Integrity is everything in that industry, and without it you immediately lose the influence you were getting paid off to exploit in the first place.

 

[USAFRet]

These channels prove time and time again that they don't take money to shill sponsors.

A list of (some of) their sponsors.

Linus Media Group - Sponsorship Master List

Hey Everyone! Here's a list of sponsors we currently work with: https://lmg.gg/partners

linustechtips.com

I'm not saying that they actually lie about all their reviews based on who pays them.
But you do have to look at it with a critical eye, when it says "Brand X is great", and at the bottom (sponsored by Brand X)

 

[btmedic04]

LTT is basically the best buy of tech-tubers 🤢. He's trash and anything on his channel is trash

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

Negative, just no.

Want to buy a used GPU? Make sure it's from a friend or coworker that you know does not use it for mining, otherwise skip and get a new one.

I don't think there's any place where you can get a good used GPU, since it's been since at least 2014 since GPUs have been scalped for the pointless mining.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Okay guys,

While I don't agree with Linus, he's a good guy. He's affable and works hard. He also makes his channel accessible to all in a relatable way. He isn't as technical in the details in the mud as Steve @GN. He's also more even handed in his reviews. I mean I love Steve but Linus has his place.

He's humble unlike some other YouTubers out there who have a thin skin and sense of arrogance about them.

 

[Daedolus]

Yeah, no. Beyond the fact I really doubt this "experiment" is reliable for long term usage, I refuse to give money to the people that created the GPU shortage in the first place.

Let the dumb cryptobros rot with inventory they can't get rid off.

 

[Daedolus]

Then you will never buy a (working) used GPU. You may assign whatever arbitrary value you want, but the bottom line is that the value of a used GPU isn't based on your gut, it is based on the market's assessment of its performance (relative to other options) and risk profile. And you will find no evidence that supports the idea that used GPUs have a failure rate remotely high enough to justify that much of a discount to MSRP (unless the GPU is 5+ years old perhaps).

Hey guess what, he's part of the market too.

 

[Co BIY]

With Linus and his competitors, you also have to be cognizant of who is sponsoring whatever video you happen to be watching.

This is true. Although I think Linus is pretty straight forward about sponsored video's and such.

Pretty sure that this was a topical interest piece and not sponsored by "Big Mining Conspiracy Associated".

Given enough pay, people will say anything.

Not all people will say anything. Very few people will say outrageous lies for what the market will pay for them.

I don't think it is necessary to attack Linus' character to disagree with his work. I especially find it unlikely that there is any financial incentive involved in him pointing out that used cards are a viable option if approached carefully.

Used products can be a value proposition and they are a risk. The value needs to be calculated against a realistic assessment of the risk and used to created an expected value. The risk can be mitigated to an extent but it takes effort.

 

[consptheory77]

FWIW, I just read an article in PC World from August of last year on that topic

6 things to consider before buying a used graphics card

 

[Co BIY]

It is absolutely a gamble. Any card you buy, you should take apart to thoroughly clean and rebuild it. I've just rebuilt a used 3080 turbo. No burn marks, just a bit dusty and the grease was dried and crunchy as were the pads. Cleaned, regreased, repadded, slapped in a brand new fan just for the heck of it, and bang. All good. Half the price of a new one. Totally worth it. That said, YMMV!!!

I'd read an article or watch a video on how this is done.

 

[Co BIY]

I wouldn't consider used cards at more than 1/3 of their retail or MSR price, whichever is lowest.

Fair enough to know where you are at but the used cards have always gone for more than that. Usually higher than 50% of the market price of new cards at the same level of performance.

I suspect that is because in general electronics are pretty durable and really don't wear out compared to how fast they are superceded and made obsolecent. Mining cards "rode hard and put away wet" might be an exception to that. Although a lot of them might have been underclocked for efficiency, monitored closely for perfomance and pampered in air conditioned buildings.

I think graphics card card demand is very sensitive to price (high price elasticity of demand - for fellow econ nerds). Which makes sense as they appeal to a younger demographic and are rarely a necessity.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

That didn't age too well with AMD dies cracking.

 

[InvalidError]

I suspect that is because in general electronics are pretty durable and really don't wear out compared to how fast they are superceded and made obsolecent.

In Ze Ole Days, used GPU prices crashed like mad because new GPU generations brought massive performance improvements often at lower prices gen on gen. Even previous-gen stuff often had massive discounts new to clear old stock. We don't have that anymore. Instead, we have major price hikes that make the perf-per-dollar proposition almost flat and companies holding onto their old stock and trickling their under-selling overpriced stuff to market to reduce supply so prices remain artifically inflated.

Used GPUs maintain their value better today because performance per dollar on new stuff is stagnating for the bottom ~70% of the market: the RX470 from six years ago which could be bought new for as low as $100 until the 2nd crypto boom is still competitive with today's best GPUs under $200.

 

[KyaraM]

I could have bought two or 3 of these for the price of a single equivalent or slightly better new card and if I really get THAT unlucky with my card dying on me outside a warranty, it could have just as easily happened with a brand new card.

I mean like, 3 or 4 years ago the used market here was trash and honestly not worth it at all, but I think that in this market you'd be insane not to at least check unless money is no object or you're deadset on getting a 4090.

I really wanna know how that brand new card of yours can already be outside warranty unless you tampered with it.

Yeah, no. Beyond the fact I really doubt this "experiment" is reliable for long term usage, I refuse to give money to the people that created the GPU shortage in the first place.

Let the dumb cryptobros rot with inventory they can't get rid off.

Amen. May they choke on their worn-out crap.

On topic. Test them for a month or two, then we talk again. Otherwise, there is simply not enough proof of long-term stability and reliability. Like the one and only used card I had so far. Ran fine for a couple of months, then started artifacting under pretty light load at stock settings. And that one was tested thoroughly, too.

 

[evilpaul]

Yeah, no. Beyond the fact I really doubt this "experiment" is reliable for long term usage, I refuse to give money to the people that created the GPU shortage in the first place.

Let the dumb cryptobros rot with inventory they can't get rid off.

Skip to 11:20 in the LTT video you didn't watch, but have strong opinions about. Nvidia was selling directly to miners and lying to their investors (which is frowned upon) about it during the last crypto boom. This time around Nvidia were selling "custom" mining GPUs (not those...whatever the mining-only ones were called that could only use drivers that had DirectX/Vulkan support turned off. "CMX" I think? I don't remember.) directly to the big miners while nerfing the cards they sold to the public with LHR to stifle competition from ordinary people not buying in lots of 10,000+.

I really wanna know how that brand new card of yours can already be outside warranty unless you tampered with it.

You're allowed to open your own GPU up without voiding the warranty. If you own a GPU with GDDR6X memory and haven't replaced the factory-defective thermal pads, then I hope you aren't planning on using it much past its warranty expiration date, because it's going to die just past that regardless of what you've been doing with it. (Look up the closing thoughts in the Tom's Hardware 3080 review.) It's going to be hilarious when the only GDDR6X cards still working five years from now are the ex-mining cards.😁