[SOLVED] Should I buy a used graphics card that has been used for mining, at all?

[consptheory77]

I'm looking to buy a MSI RADEON RX 580 Gaming X 8GB. The seller says it was used for mining for two months. He has good feedback on ebay. I'm planning to make him an offer of $140 plus $15 shipping. His asking price is $160 plus $15 shipping. I read an article from about two years ago which says that the state of mining is such that GPUs are more likely to be undervolted than overclocked because miners are now focused on stability. I also read another article that says one should do a stress test upon receiving a used graphics card. I already have a MSI Gaming X R270 that I bought used a few years ago and have no idea whether it was used for mining, but have not experience any issue with it.

 

[Raccoon753]

I don't know, I wouldn't do that cause of the chances it could be burned or as you say undervolted. It's all about you if you dare to try it.

 

[Senbonzakura_miku]

undervolting does not damage gpu, but inappropriate overclocking.. you should make sure it has stock bios if the previous owner has changed it.
i have bought a mined 1060 6gb for a very good price and using it for about 1 year without any problem, except coil whine( which disappeared by the time). the seller said it is not used for mining but i toke it to another seller and he said it is obviously mined( said the board has turned into yellow).in my case it was out of warranty/guarantee period when i bought it, but in your case it is 2 months old so it might be one of these:

1. a great chance if it is cheap and you should not loose it
2. or it might be very used for mining very improperly and damaged it physically or basically.

 

[poorbugger]

Gpu mining is a term that most people sees as a bad thing. Most miners know how to take care of their components. I would ask the seller to take pictures of it first and examined them to make sure it's in good physical condition. Then, i would ask the seller to post a screenshot of gpuz to make sure the bios is flashed back to normal instead of the mining bios. Rx580 is a great gpu even today. If the seller has good feedback then you can go for it. If you have the money to spare, wait for the next gen gpu in around 5 months. I bought an used rx580 from china (even worse and riskier) but it's working well and pushing games to high settings at 60fps with solid thermals.

 

[consptheory77]

Gpu mining is a term that most people sees as a bad thing. Most miners know how to take care of their components. I would ask the seller to take pictures of it first and examined them to make sure it's in good physical condition. Then, i would ask the seller to post a screenshot of gpuz to make sure the bios is flashed back to normal instead of the mining bios. Rx580 is a great gpu even today. If the seller has good feedback then you can go for it. If you have the money to spare, wait for the next gen gpu in around 5 months. I bought an used rx580 from china (even worse and riskier) but it's working well and pushing games to high settings at 60fps with solid thermals.

As it is, I bought a different version of the card from a different seller. Not that I distrusted the other seller, I think the card he was selling was fine. I wish he would have included more photos of the card, I'm told there is a certain "burn-in" one can see on the back plate if it's been worn out. But I opted instead for a (used) XFX XXX Edition which seems to be for some reason (hopefully not a a bad one, it's shipped, but I haven't received it yet) on average cheaper than the Gaming X editions from MSI.