Welcome to the final months of 2021, where getting a graphics card is just as hard as it was
a year ago. But with recent crackdowns of crypto mining in China and waning profits for miners
around the world, we could be on the precipice of getting our hands on graphics cards on a whim.
While that should mean we could start seeing graphics cards pop up on shelves, it also means
we could very well see the second-hand market flooded with used mining cards. Let’s talk today
about what’s going on with the market, what to look for when buying a graphics card right now,
whether or not you should even consider getting a card that was previously used for mining,
and how much you should be ready to pay if you do.
It’s no secret to any of us PC Hardware enthusiasts that the market has been borked
for quite some time - really since the launch of the Geforce RTX 3000 Series.
I mean, it started off as being your typical short supply situation of new models, but quickly turned
into a full-blown fiasco when Ethereum profits went through the roof and everyone figured out
how good these new graphics cards were at mining. Couple that with an already choked supply chain
and you have a recipe for disaster, or at least a win if you’re a cloud gaming service.
BUT, as I mentioned in the introduction of this video,
China has recently banned the practice of mining in their county, and with a very large portion of
the mining power located there the potential for a second-hand market flood is very real. That is
provided they don’t just sell the equipment off to other mining operations in other countries.
If used mining cards do make their way to second-hand markets,
what kind of risks does this pose for those buyers eager to get their hands on one?
For what it’s worth, they really carry the same risks that you get with buying any used graphics
card. The biggest for me is the lack of warranty coverage by many manufacturers. I don’t know about
you but the idea of dropping over $500 on anything I have no warranty for is a bit sketchy at best.
However, something really interesting to note on the difference between used mining graphics cards
as opposed to used gaming graphics cards is they are very different uses. On one hand, if you get
one from a ‘professional’ miner the chances of it having a relatively comfortable existence is high.
What do I mean by that? Well, professional miners aren’t worried about cranking out frames,
so there’s really not a lot of ‘overclocking’ going on. Miners are out for efficiency above all.
Let me give you an example: remember recently when the RX 6600 XT launched
and it got rave numbers about mining? Well, when I tried to debunk the rumors - only to
find them true - I did so by undervolting and underclocking the card. It went from well over
100 watts of power to 60 watts total and ran so cool the fans didn’t even want to come on.
Now that’s not every card of course but that’s the goal of the miner, as opposed to the gamer who
typically wants to overclock and push the card as hard as possible. There’s also the matter of heat
cycles. See, a miner will leave the card running nonstop and it’ll remain in a constant state,
while the gamer could put their card in many hot-cold cycles. But then again if the gamer
doesn’t get much play time their card could be practically like new after years of use.
Now knowing this you’ve decided to buy a card from a miner,
what steps should you take when doing so? This is a tricky situation because you know good and
well many people on eBay and Reddit will have postings like “Never mined on”. Let’s be honest,
that’s going to be a lot like the old “Never overclocked” bull we’ve seen in the past and
we might as well assume they have. That’s why I would personally avoid these cards.
But what would I do? I would find someone who was or is an actual miner,
whether by hobby or profession, and see what they’re selling. Then ask a pile of questions.
Things like, how long have you mined on it? How did you configure it, overclocked or undervolted?
Was it run in a climate-controlled environment and how hot did it stay on average?
Did you replace thermal pads or paste? Etc.
You ask these questions to get a really good feel for whether
or not they actually took care of the equipment
or if they literally threw them to the mines and are now trying to get a quick buck off you.
You still have fears about buying a retired mining card, don’t you?
That’s perfectly normal, and you should have concerns, it’s a big purchase
from a less than reliable source. But if you’re buying from someone who took care of
the equipment you’re at much less of a risk. Now I will give a personal word of warning,
and that’s to avoid cards that have historically high thermals on their memory modules.
High thermals are the enemy of electronics and the GPU core
is easy to cool while mining because in those situations the memory is doing most of the work.
Cards with traditional GDDR6 are still fairly easy to keep cool so maybe stick to those.
This means I would recommend avoiding buying an ex-mined on RTX 3070Ti, RTX 3080, RTX RTX 3080Ti,
or RTX 3090. These cards all feature crazy fast GDDR6X and are spectacular at mining,
but have likely been sitting on the edge of their max thermal limit for
memory. They’re also all well over $600 and I would avoid that risk at all costs.
Speaking of costs, even if these cards flood the second-hand market,
they’re not going to just be giving them away. So, how much should you pay? That’s a tough
one. In the past, I’ve held steady to never spending over MSRP for anything new unless
you need it to earn your income and couldn’t wait. And I CERTAINLY have never, in the past or now,
suggested that anyone spend more than MSRP on a modern used component. So,
don’t. I can’t stress this enough. There is no game or feature or anything that is worth
spending more than the MSRP of a used component to get to enjoy. If prices are still high,
wait, don’t do it. That just tells the sellers the market will bear it and prices will never
come back down so long as people are willing to pay it. And you can bet your bottom dollar that
will only mean the next round of new graphics cards will make the last look like chump change.
So we’re all sitting at a very interesting point in the world of PC hardware.
We’ve been waiting far too long to see some glimmer of hope for a return to normality in
the graphics card scene and it feels like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There is certainly a reason for people to be considering buying a graphics card from a miner,
but if you do take caution. Know your risks, don’t be afraid to ask
questions and if you have any hesitation then step back and just keep waiting.
I want to thank you for joining me today to discuss this very important topic
and I hope I gave you a few things to think about.
If that’s the case please let me know by hitting that like button and make sure
you’re subscribed here at PCWorld for even more PC hardware discussions in the future.