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Buying cards used for mining?

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  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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August 15, 2014 3:00:30 PM

Hello everyone,
Today I wanted to ask a simple question.
One of my friends tried mining for some time, but now he won't do it anymore. I'm thinking of buying one of his cards, r9 280x, and he would sell it to me very cheap.

So, my question is:
What are the risks of buying cards used for mining?
I mean, for example, a card that was used for mining for 6 months, what would be the main reason not to buy it, if it's very cheap?
And if you knew it wasn't overclocked and always worked with a top quality psu?


And if it was overclocked, and used for longer? How bad is mining fot the cards?

More about : buying cards mining

August 15, 2014 3:05:27 PM

It's just being used constantly, HEAVY duty. Compare it with a bike or a car; it just gets scratches etc. You simply don't know if it will last for 5 years without problems, or that the card will stop working in a week. It's just a risk.
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August 15, 2014 7:40:35 PM

Oh, I see... Then, it's just kind of a lottery there, you could get a really good deal, or just waste all your money...
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August 15, 2014 8:15:25 PM

I recently bought 2 R9 290's for $225 each. I bought them from a guy building rigs for bitcoin miners, he wasn't actually doing the mining. My cards look new, but I'm not sure if they were used or not. They are working fine though, and run up to the "normal" 94 deg C without issues. He was selling 10+ R9 290's since his market dried up.

I'm using them at stock clocks and have allowed the fans to go to 100%, I only plan to use them for games like iRacing and Assetto Corsa at 7680x1440p, and they work fine for that at 94C, 100% load, and all 4GB of ram is being used in AC.
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August 15, 2014 8:31:06 PM

Stock reference coolers, or aftermarket coolers? Still, great deal, and as I sometimes like to take risks like this, I might end up buying my friend's cards... Have a lot to think though, and might even wait for maxwell...
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August 15, 2014 8:33:35 PM

Mine are stock Core Edition XFX R9 290. They get loud! If I let the fans spin up then they don't throttle the CPU speed, they stay at 947MHz and 94C.
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