[SOLVED] Slightly mined 1080ti, nice price - should I get it?

jinchuriki

Commendable
Sep 9, 2018
140
2
1,585
Hi, I have been offered a second hand Zotac GTX 1080ti mini in the $340 range. There is still 1 year of warranty, but the thing is that the seller said that the GPU has been used for slight mining and that it's still working great etc.

The seller owns the GPU for 2 years now, and says that the GPU has been mined for 6 months, slight mining? I really have no idea, and this is why I'm asking here.
Generally the price is pretty fine, but I don't know if it's worth it considering that I also have an offer for Zotac GTX 1080 AMP Extreme for $315, still in warranty as well.

So generally I'm looking for a GPU that will last me for many years, as I'm not someone who changes parts every now and then, until a few days ago I still carried my i5 3470 since 2013, along with my current GTX 770 running, so this is pretty much the scale I'd like to have here as well.
The GTX 108ti should obviously "last longer" in terms of strength, but possibly the GTX 1080 will run just fine for me and could possibly last longer because it hasn't been used for mining.

A few things I should add:
I really don't need such a strong GPU(for now at least), playing mostly CSGO/PUBG and some slight graphical design which generally doesn't require much.
My other gear is:
Ryzen 7 2700x
32GB ram
x570 phantom gaming 4
800W PSU

Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks a lot!
 
Last edited:
Solution
Fair enough:

On paper that ex-mining GPU may indeed be twice as good. Its' real condition and ability to properly function twice as good is the question and the risk.

However that "making sure" is always the issue - especially with respect to things such as electronics.

Simply a matter of trade-offs and the amount of $ you are willing to risk and potentially lose.

How you actually pay may provide some recourse if the GPU proves unsatifactory.

Truly hope you do get an amazing deal for the product and price. I just tend to be very wary of such offers,....

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
No.

You really do not know what has happened to that GPU and you have no way to really find out by testing etc....

And who remains that will truly support that/those warranties? That must be checked.

Put the money into a new GPU that meets your requirements (aka " I really don't need such a strong GPU') and budget.
 

jinchuriki

Commendable
Sep 9, 2018
140
2
1,585
No.

You really do not know what has happened to that GPU and you have no way to really find out by testing etc....

And who remains that will truly support that/those warranties? That must be checked.

Put the money into a new GPU that meets your requirements (aka " I really don't need such a strong GPU') and budget.

Why would I get a new GPU when I can get for the same money a GPU that's twice as good?

There are amazing deals in the second hand market, you just need to make sure everything works properly.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Fair enough:

On paper that ex-mining GPU may indeed be twice as good. Its' real condition and ability to properly function twice as good is the question and the risk.

However that "making sure" is always the issue - especially with respect to things such as electronics.

Simply a matter of trade-offs and the amount of $ you are willing to risk and potentially lose.

How you actually pay may provide some recourse if the GPU proves unsatifactory.

Truly hope you do get an amazing deal for the product and price. I just tend to be very wary of such offers,....
 
Solution

jinchuriki

Commendable
Sep 9, 2018
140
2
1,585
Fair enough:

On paper that ex-mining GPU may indeed be twice as good. Its' real condition and ability to properly function twice as good is the question and the risk.

However that "making sure" is always the issue - especially with respect to things such as electronics.

Simply a matter of trade-offs and the amount of $ you are willing to risk and potentially lose.

How you actually pay may provide some recourse if the GPU proves unsatifactory.

Truly hope you do get an amazing deal for the product and price. I just tend to be very wary of such offers,....

It's completely obvioua that making sure that a GPU works properly is not an easy task, more than that, I could get a GPU that has been used for mining which will work perfectly and last more than a GPU that has been slightly used, sometimes it's just a matter of luck.

Generally, my discussion wasn't about new or a mined second hand, but between second hand and that specific mined GPU. I will surely get a second hand card, as I really don't see any need for a getting a new one which will not be as good as a used for the same money.

If you think I should get another second hand card instead of this mined one, this was basically the question :)

Thanks!
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Given the choice between a second hand "un-mined" GPU and a "mined" GPU I would chose the second hand GPU.

Still some risk but much less so.

Very much in agreement with @sizzling.

To my way of thinking 6 months of hard use is all the more likely to bring the "mined" GPU to an early/earlier EOL (End of Life).
 

jinchuriki

Commendable
Sep 9, 2018
140
2
1,585
Mined for 6 month? From my understanding most miners leave their systems running 24/7. If that is the case that gpu may have been running at 100% for more time than a 5 year old gpu that was used for gaming only.

Given the choice between a second hand "un-mined" GPU and a "mined" GPU I would chose the second hand GPU.

Still some risk but much less so.

Very much in agreement with @sizzling.

To my way of thinking 6 months of hard use is all the more likely to bring the "mined" GPU to an early/earlier EOL (End of Life).

That is possible. According to my understanding though a mining GPU should also be power efficient, which means that it doesn't necessarily run on 100% all the time.
For example in order for a mining GPU to be productive, the gain from the mining should obviously be bigger than the power it consumes, so possibly(I'm far from being an expert), except for maybe the fans which could run out sooner due to extensive work, the GPU itself should suffer all that much.

All this information is according to this article: https://www.howtogeek.com/342079/is-it-safe-to-buy-used-gpus-from-cryptocurrency-miners/

Of course, that still doesn't really means that something will be good, this goes both for a mining used, regular used, or even a new hardware tbh.
 
That is possible. According to my understanding though a mining GPU should also be power efficient, which means that it doesn't necessarily run on 100% all the time.
For example in order for a mining GPU to be productive, the gain from the mining should obviously be bigger than the power it consumes, so possibly(I'm far from being an expert), except for maybe the fans which could run out sooner due to extensive work, the GPU itself should suffer all that much.

All this information is according to this article: https://www.howtogeek.com/342079/is-it-safe-to-buy-used-gpus-from-cryptocurrency-miners/

Of course, that still doesn't really means that something will be good, this goes both for a mining used, regular used, or even a new hardware tbh.

If you are buying a used partt here is no guessing in advance what the different ones will be like, how they will run for you is a guess, you are gambling cheaper price vs reliability. That is really the whole core of the thing, it's up to you what risk you are OK with. If I was spending $300 on a video card, there is no way would I buy a used one, and if I was buying a used one I wold run it with a few benchmarks to make sure it ran fine. Used parts are unique since they would be ran in different ways, reach different temps, have different PSUs powering them, have different hours on them, etc... Cross your fingers and pick one, it's as good as anything else.
 

jinchuriki

Commendable
Sep 9, 2018
140
2
1,585
If you are buying a used partt here is no guessing in advance what the different ones will be like, how they will run for you is a guess, you are gambling cheaper price vs reliability. That is really the whole core of the thing, it's up to you what risk you are OK with. If I was spending $300 on a video card, there is no way would I buy a used one, and if I was buying a used one I wold run it with a few benchmarks to make sure it ran fine. Used parts are unique since they would be ran in different ways, reach different temps, have different PSUs powering them, have different hours on them, etc... Cross your fingers and pick one, it's as good as anything else.

I've been buying used hardware my entire life as it usually just gives such an incredible value for the money I'm spending. I think I might settle for a lower end GPU though as I honestly don't need anything near a GTX 1080ti.