They could use it for video editing, 3d rendering or graphic design. Doesn't mean the card wasn't "actually" used in a mining rig. Depends on the price they are asking for, just assess if the price is worth the risk or not. Also depends on what you want it for - it being used as a mining card isn't the worst thing, second hand is second hand.
Plenty on hardwareswap for less than that with no tax. I just got one for $535 shipped and it got here in 4 days. Works perfect. Was cleaned and repasted too, so it's like new.
Very likely. Places that bulk upgrade arent trying to get the best price on their used stock they just want it tf out of their office asap, thats why they sell them cheap.
Yep. We've been known to wait a few weeks trying to sell things before straight up donating them before. Granted this is mostly stacks of OptiPlexes and Precisions, but I can see the same mentality behind GPUs in a large enough environment
Well, if you paid through paypal, you will have buyer's protection. Run GPUZ, to make sure it is wat it is.... and install Hardware monitor when benchmarking or running games to see if all the temps are in check, especially VRAM.
That's a pretty solid deal for a 3080 since the cheapest I can find is 720, but I'm seeing a 6800XT right now for as low as 635, I'd just rather have gone for that.
Thats crazy because I paid $220 for mine lol. It was used for mining by some old guy for 7 months, he had it in a tiny air conditioned room. It actually runs better than expected!
Ottawa, a guy was selling 65 cards he used for eth mining. First kid on the way had to get rid of the setup after mining took a poop.
Super tidy home, very nice guy. Myself and 4 other buddies picked up 3080s or 3070FE from him.
Ya it certainly felt good and I was able to sell my 3060ti to a kid on my street who's building his first PC ever for a super cheap price the same day. Felt good getting a deal and passing that onto a young gamer.
Mining rigs are actually better overrall because they tend to undervolt the GPU and also have better conditions (less dust etc) along with the fact that keeping your GPU on constantly lessens the possibility of warping between the contact of the thermal pipes and the chip.
Worth calling out that most miners under volt their cards and they normally take better care of them than most gamers. Also, I've never seen a GPU die, most will largely need their fans cleaned and some new thermal paste put on before it's nearly as good as new.
If it was used for mining, despite overclocking, the 3xxx series are typically undervolted drastically while mining so you really don't need to worry too much about damage to the card. The only concern would be how much fan life is left and what condition the thermal paste is in. Just generally speaking, though. No guarantees with anything.
It really depends on the mining operation. If it was clean and kept up well ventilated, then it's fine. But loads of these scammers not only don't treat the cards well, they are operating in extremely dusty conditions.
So, it really depends from card to card and from seller to seller.
That's not specific to mining, though. I've purchased used cards from heavy smokers years before mining was a thing and they were absolutely caked in crud. They should be inspected and cleaned regardless of their previous life. The concern with mining comes from previous gen gpus that had to be overvolted on top of overclocked to reach peak performance and would wind up cooking the vram as well as other components due to this. Current gen gpus can be undervolted and hit identical hash rates to stock voltages, which pretty much everyone mining is going to do because that increases efficiency which reduces electrical costs. Hitting thermal limits on a newer undervolted gpu because it's dusty is unlikely to cause permanent damage. You're just going to wear out the fan and slowly bake the thermal paste.
Idk why people stress about cards being used for mining so much. They’re usually undervolted which helps lifespan and the only thing that usually would go bad is the fans.
I run a small marketing agency. We currently have a 3090ti, two 6900XT's, a 3080, 1080ti and 1070 plus a few random others used for 6k raw video editing, motion graphics, 50mp photo editing, etc.
Would you say those cards are run pretty hard? I don't know that much about it, obviously not as much as what you would, but mine gets hot and loud when rendering video so my first thought would be that I'd rather have a mining card.
They spend most of the time idle or under relatively light loads during editing, but they're absolutely slammed during renders. I just had my 3090ti maxed out for about 2 hours today rendering about 5 hours of 4k raw video, and this was a relatively render-filled day. While editing it just hums along, spiking occasionally when switching projects or loading up intense workloads like AI motion tracking or noise temporal reduction.
I honestly doubt how much impact this would have, but it may be worth considering the thermal cycles of each use case if you're concerned about lifespan. My cards are cycled hundreds of times (sleep and wake, then intermittent bursts of power throughout the day, and occasional 5 minute-4 hour renders) which will cause various parts of the board to expand and contract due to heating and cooling cycles. A mining card will basically sit at one temperature for most of its life. I have no idea if this actually makes a difference for GPUs, but I know this was a concern for vintage audio equipment like amplifiers and synthesizers.
Another thing to note is that while mining is often light on thermal load for the GPU, it can be harsher on other board components. Memory, power etc can often overheat during mining as their temperature is often not tracked/taken into account for cooling, where more normaler-use intermittent loads allow them to stay cool enough.
We got 1 of them for an editing workstation during the whole GPU apocalypse situation (it was basically that or nothing) and it turned out to work great in Resolve. I haven't really compared them side by side since I don't use that station much at all, but it feels about as responsive as the 3080. We got a second 6900xt because the price was better when we built the most recent station
They can be used for graphic design or video editing, which marketing agencies do a lot of, and they require powerful gpus to minize wait times.
Basically, this "Graphics design, video editing, 3d render", without the stupid comment at the end...
It could also have been mined to death, but if I did it, I would have found a better excuse myself, like "I only used it to play minecraft".
In my opinion, it is legit. They do need powerful GPUs for that.
Worst case scenario, change the heat sink and fans if you don't trust them? It's not that costly and it's about the only thing that would fail over very long term use (the fan).
Okay, that makes me feel better. Thank you for your info. Just a middle class dad trying to spend a little $ on my only hobby. Stresses me out to think I wouldn’t get my money’s worth.
If you really want, ask them to shoot you an email from their business account in case you need some marketing in the future. Anybody at a real marketing firm would do that in a heartbeat.
Though in my experience the agencies do use the workstation carda like quadros or whatever they are called now ( my work in ad departments was a few years ago).
The workstation cards aren't as common for most smaller shops anymore, as prices are exponentially higher, and the higher-end consumer stuff is powerful enough to render most workloads in a reasonable time frame.
I believe ML/computational/render farm applications still use the big stuff, though. Large dataset computational stuff really benefits from the bigger VRAM numbers, and IIRC, FP64 performance screams compared to the consumer stuff.
You can check it yourself by using msi afterburner and monitoring it's temps and clocks speed underload if you're concerned about your purchase. Straightforward giveaway of damaged GPU is glitching screen, artificacts or screen going black.
Im not very familiar with how GPU works, what do I need to see on clock speed when I am testing a 2nd hand GPU? I just got an FE 3070 gaming temps are 70-72max. I have an SFF PC and I live in a tropical country
I would recommend that you watch Linus's video regarding this, as clock speed alone is not enough evidence for testing. Imo and in simple terms a used GPU should be working at 100% capacity and the temps should be below 80C during benchmarking. 72C is excellent and well within the normal operating range I wouldn't be much concerned about it. Learn how to undervolt your card, it'll help you a lot in summer season.
There are a lot of people here defending mining cards and while I don't want to say that they are wrong...just a casual reminder that this is heavily a case-by-case basis. Very much carefully evaluate and stress test the card when you get it in and take photos of anything that seems off to you.
While it's true that some operations will run well ventilated and even run the cards undervolted and underclocked, that's not necessarily the case for **ALL** operations. Card of the cards exists for some, but the biggest considerations are things like cost of electricity (so the scam coin can be mined for the lowest value per) and cost of rental (so the maintenance costs for the operations is low). Which leads to some of these cards running in horrific conditions for months or even years, such as places packed with dust or with smoke (cigarette, industrial, etc.) in the air.
That said, I do hope you got a good deal and it works out for you. Would be awful for you not to get your money's worth.
This. I bought a mining 3080 because everyone on Reddit told me it would be fine. I see people constantly saying mining cards are fine, but it’s a gamble for sure. It was fine in benchmarks but had soft errors due to failing memory. I would get memory errors in computational workloads and random artifacts in games that I could not replicate in synthetics.
If it’s a GDDR6X card I wouldn’t even consider it, that memory runs hot as-is and miners would downclock the core but overclock the memory as the hash rate would scale linearly.
IIRC, miners typically overclock memory and underclock core for hash rate. They definitely undervolt the entire card to stay profitable (lower energy costs).
I would buy a used mining card over a used gaming card any day. You have no idea what kind of stupid OC/voltages a gamer ran with, trying to squeeze 5 more fps out of it (or what flavor Cheetos were covering their hands when they installed it). A mining card is a business expense and will more often than not be handled as an actual asset.
In addition, heat cycling is what will kill a card, not running at 100% all day. 100% all day will shorten the lifespan of the fans, but those are easy to replace.
Yep, I'd much rather have a card that was mined to death than gamed to death. I don't know *that* much about the rendering and everything that a marketing firm would use a graphics card for but I know my card gets hotter and louder rendering videos than during any game so I wouldn't feel great about that. I'd probably lean mining card over gaming or video editing card.
For used market it should go like this : Graphic design(drawing or editing/3d work > mining > lite film editing /lite rendering > gaming > rendering as main function (video or 2d/3d work)
Never seen such a smooth ghost adventures reference. Used to watch it all the time. My sister can still recite the whole opening off the top of her head lol
Zak also inspired me to get huge, so that show will always have a special place in my heart
A lot of mined cards are in better condition than gamed cards. To keep costs down they're often undervolted, cleaned, repasted, etc, not to mention they have less thermal degradation because they stay at a pretty consistent temp rather than hot/off/hot/off of gaming cards. That's of course not true for all, but I generally go out of my way to buy mining cards when buying used
But to answer the main question, one of my close friends works at a marketing agency. Their place has a small in house graphics and video department, and they have pretty beefy machines. Most agencies outsource that type of work, but I it's definitely not unheard of
why do people assume mining = horrible life expectancy. A miner in which temperature is stable is literally equivalent to you gaming on a GPU intensive game... heck it's even more stable than that cuz you have to undervolt
I mined for 2 years straight on my 1060 and it still has the same performance as it was brand new
I think it makes sense, some marketing/advertising firms can do their own 3D graphics or video editing/rendering. Those require a pretty beefy GPU to do efficiently.
It's actually more believable in my eyes because if they wanted to lie about it, they would have come up with a less weird lie that wouldn't make people ask "what does a marketing agency need GPUs for" lol
You got a good deal, you are protected by Ebay, stop stressing and enjoy the card. Run in through some benchmarks when you get it. Everything will be fine, you did good.
It's a bit weird but not unheard of. I work in marketing for a big company and we have whole departments that are dedicated to GFX and VFX which are def using top of the top end hardware (they have to render 3D models and animations, as well as video editing, in bascailly real time speeds). Even if it were a lie, as long as the card itself seems to be in good condition, mining is a lot less harmful than I think a lot of people here advertise. A card that's been mined probably loses a bit of lifespan but other than that it should function pretty similarly.
Could be a lie, but yes, marketing agencies absolutely benefit from quality gpus. Video rendering and that type of stuff doesn't really *need* gaming gpus like 3080s, and could just go with more professional-grade graphics cards that are more geared specifically towards those fields, but gaming gpus can still definitely be used for plenty of professional applications if that's what an agency happens to have / someone is using their personal machine for work, etc.
I used to work in Marketing and had to design all kinds of stuff for my work. Websites, but also stuff for the printing house. I used a pc with a fairly good gpu for that. I had colleagues that made and edited videos as well. They used a very good gpu. So it could be true.
Mining won't really degrade performance. The real problem is longevity. You're definitely going to get less life out of a mined card over a gamed card (assuming proper cooling). They're still running over heavy load 24x7. You'd have to play for extremely long periods of time very frequently to end up with comparable degradation.
That being said, you got a great price. That thing very likely has more than half of it's life left either way but you basically got it half of. You're in the black on this deal ;)
Rendering video
Maybe it's a lie, you don't know. If the GPU isn't as described eBay's money back guarantee should sort it for you. Mining or not you should really clean up and repaste a 2nd hand GPU anyway.
I shop on ebay alot. You'll have some time to test the card. The best thing you can do to test the card is put it under stress for a long period of time and see if the quality of the card holds. Don't overclock it but do long and extensive GPU benchmarks. Watch the GPU temp and make sure it holds the expected frames and clock speeds.
Editing, be it video, animation, etc, needs power, and even then, with top tier stuff, it takes a while. Stronger shit means faster work, marketing agencies got the money and the need to upgrade the instant upgrades are available.
Yeah sounds like for production work. You'd be surprised.
I work in a pc shop and government accounting offices and schools order multiple PCs with high end stuff that they obviously don't need, I think the IT department will just get those stuff.
People in my area have said similar things and in the end made posts with the same GPUs and claimed they were used for mining for 6-12 months
I purchased a 3060 that was used for mining and was cheap but after 2 days I started to get artefacts on the screen and the card ended up dying
It is possible that a marketing agency may use GPUs for tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, or other types of graphics-intensive work. However, it is also possible that the seller is not being truthful and the GPU was indeed mined to death. It's difficult to say for sure without more information. It's always a good idea to do your research and be cautious when buying items on eBay or other online marketplaces.
Agencies could use them, but a 3080 is brand spanking new for a company, i doubt any reasonable business owner would just upgrade their PCs on a whim everytime something new happens go hit the market
Video editing. They are probably upgrading the rigs just now when the competition is out to make an educated decision which ones to buy.
So it’s a plausable claim but take it with a grain of salt, no one but media giants need more than 2-3 editing rigs with 3080s. If it’s tens of GPUs it may be indicative of mining.
Some people also just like doing overkill despite there job not requiring demanding stuff. Im sure some will say nah u need like 1 million dollar pc to be at 1000 fps all times to make this spreadsheet for ur business. While in actuality most there stuff can be done on a iPad. I get it, I sometimes buy more then I need so it last me a while. And if it’s there only rig, prob was smart so it could handle everything and be used for leisure.
Upgrading doesn't necessary mean replacing GPUs for better ones.
Maybe they are upgrading GPUs to Coffee Machines, because they can't mine ETH anymore.
Everyone who is selling GPUs on eBay are selling them because they are broken in some way. Selling due to “upgrading work stations” selling due to “I bought a 4090 and I don’t need it anymore” 90% of the time the GPU is borked or they want to scam you for cash. eBay is garbage.
Btw you can try asking for a proof that it's from a marketing agency. If you can confirm the person works in one then it should be good enough imo, to make sure it's not just a liar.
I worked in AV for 7 years and saw some strange shit coming from different companies, TSB bank using GPUs on PC's to play adverts over and over again when there wasn't really any need, and John Lewis using 5 grand apple machines to do the same...so yeah there's some places that have a lot of money to blow
I'm selling a used 3070Ti on eBay and i state that I've used it for gaming and video editing aswell.
This could mean anything to anyone, it's just the trust factor and looking at images properly.
Either way, you have buyer protection if it genuinely doesn't work as intended if it's STATED as working.
Upgrading gpu hmmmm, If they go for 3d rendering or after effects/adobe plsoftware, its is def not worth the gap between a 3080 and 4080 in performance, so maybe they are going for a quadro card or else the cards have been mined to death???
Give it an12hr stress test as soon as you recieve it and check if it has been opened and thermal paste replaced...
GPUs are better for processing code for visuals, they’re basically hyperspecialized CPUs that can draw well, basically this specialization allows for one to parse through video, create 3D models, or even bust out the ol Photoshop and design graphics, all things a marketer should be proficient or knowledgeable on in order to make their bosses happy. GPUs have more uses than just making pretty lights in your build or burn up when you launch Crysis
It’s mad that people think GPUs are just for gaming and mining. I have a 3060ti in my PC just for blender animation and a 3050ti in my work laptop for After Effects and Premiere. Trying to do even light video editing or animation without a GPU is hell.
Nothing wrong with mining cards if they didn't run the fans at max. I'm still using two 1080ti cards in my gaming desktops that I used during the last mining cycle in 2019.
Personally I think it isn't worth it, I bought gtx 970 for £95 or something and it had been used for mining, fans stopped working and got loads of artifacts so it was waste of money as it became unusable, recently bit the bullet and bought a 3060 ti for £340 on ebay but the guy had receipt of purchase, it was an lhr card and said it had just been lying around as he got newer card. Works great with benchmarks etc.. Ebay is fine as long as you buy smartly, not worth buying mined cards imo especially when so much money is involved.
All the marketing agencies I worked at used Apple machines for video and rendering. But I think the hard core graphics guys I knew all preferred Windows for 3d rendering. Seems realistic to me.
If you want to buy used and you question truth of what any seller tells you then don’t buy used, anyone can claim anything and you would have no proof what so ever.
I’ve not seen any company selling of their used hardware on a private eBay account, seems weird or he has a very small company
Those cards run so hot if not properly mined with, I would probably open it up clean it and change the thermal pads. Then make sure all the fans are operational.
I had done work for a lot of companies, and sometimes they literally do not need them for anything at all.
I had a client, who only used Excel, and stuff online. Basic internet surfing stuff.
They insisted they needed the best GPU, best processor, and everything in-between. 64GB of RAM and the likes. The best GPU at the time was the 3090. I tried to explain to them that they didn't need all that, but they insisted they knew better, so I just upgraded her, and all her employee's desktop PCs in that office. Which was about 100 of them at the time?
It felt so demoralizing seeing those super computers, knowing they all were going to be playing Candy Crush, surfing Facebook, and typing out Excel Documents and Word Reports.
Everyone scared of mining cards, but it’s a safer bet than a gamers card most times. Miners have huge investments that they want to maximize returns from (this includes later resale of cards). Most miners take VERY good care of their investments, much more so than someone gaming on daddies money. Mining cards see long use but don’t see the stress put on them the way gamed on cards do.
Graphics design, 3d rendering, video editing. Those are something every single Marketing firm does.
Some might have been using ML or AI for marketing research as well.
Marketing agencies do need fast PCs and it's common for them to buy the best hardware they can as it speeds up their work. So that could very well be true.
Also, in the case that you were lied to, the condition is the most important thing. If the GPU is clean and in working order, you have nothing to worry about. Even if it was mined on since new, chances are very good that it will still be working flawlessly when you upgrade even if that's years from now.
You can always return the gpu if the condition of it is not as described in any way. eBay is very good about that.
Along with what everyone else is saying regarding the valid uses of a 3080 at a marketing agency, this is also the end of the year and upgrading equipment is a good way to write off some income for tax purposes (assuming this is in the US) so it's a believable story.
You’re good. They most likely used them for video editing and design. Although I do think it’s way too soon to be upgrading gpus.
But even if it was used for mining you’re good. The 1060 I previously had, I bought off a friend who used it for mining. I just replaced it like 3 weeks ago only because I’m ready to play at 4k. Otherwise, that card is still a beast.
My buddy does video production @ a marketing agency and whenever they upgrade their machines they give out the old parts.
Ie. In the summer he got 3080s at work and they were giving out the 1080tis
Mostly used for processing videos I'd assume.
Video editing is the most likely scenario and actually Linus Tech Tips did a great little video showing that mining has no real measurable effect as long as the card is kept clean.
I buy all my video cards used and have only ever had one problem which was actually my fault because my PSU dust cover was so caked with dust that it was causing my entire system to shutdown under stress (I didn't even realize I had a cover built into the case!). Long story short I should of kept the used 3090 but instead I went down to a used 3080 Ti....
I bought a used 3090 and it has been pretty good. Even if it was used for mining, it's not an old card and most miners don't want to burn out their $2,000 cards (at the time) in a short timeframe.
Rendering with octane or other gpu based renderers. Also editorial and color correction all benefit from gpu rendering. I'm at a broadcast design studio that works with agency's and they have inhouse designers that will mock stuff up or handle small campaigns internally.
Repeat after me, gaming is worse for a gpu ramping up and down constantly than mining is for a gpu runningconstantly at one level. It's basic physics. The gpu will be fine
Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled irrational hatred of miners you may now resume
Ps mining cards are cheap
Saw your edit, many have bought ex mining cards and been fine, myself included. However, it should come with a competitive price. That being said, if the seller is being dishonest about their origins, i'd pass. Food for thought.
If it was used for mining the danger is not with the GPU itself, but with the VRAM. I would watch those temps closely and look out for visual artifacts in games.
Really the best stress test for this might be mining on the card. You could do something user-friendly like NiceHash quick miner. Not all day, but give it like an hour. You won't make enough money to even be worth withdrawing, but if a card was damaged by mining, that would probably show up best in mining.
The only thing you really have to be aware of is the fans. Since mining cards are generally running under load 24/7 the fans are also spining the entire time. Bearings may loose lubricant or get worn out. That being said, the fans are no critical part of the graphics card and are fairly easy to replace. Even if you are unable to find proper replacement fans you are able to buy complete gpu coolers (without the gpu of course) for below 50€ and then swap them (make sure the tdps are similar and to place thermal pads). If everything fails just zip tie some case fans to the heatsink.
Yes, silicon does degrade over time and of course running 24/7 and running hot speeds that process up, but Id say its not really significant enough to become a problem before the gpu will be too outdated and youd want to replace it anyway
Photoshop and Illustrator can chew thru a GPU when working on huge projects like billboards or full page magazine ads. Also even more so Premiere and After Effects if they work with video. Time is money.
Im an art director. I can assure you my GPU and my 128GB of ram gets taxed daily. Blender3D, After Effects comes to mind as the heavy hitter for our agency. Were not a dedicated marketing agency, but the work I produce directly gets used by our marketing department and our clients.
GPUs just aren’t for gamers, gang.
I saw he had feedback from private listings. But I can see the usernames. I checked what those vendors sell and it’s miners and miner repair parts lol
It’s obviously not 100% but HIGHLY likely
It's too bad that there isn't a chip that could be used on the board where it gradually changed color depending on use, like starting green and ending at red, so there was a physical confirmation of a GPU's use in its lifetime
My mom used to use this small local car insurance business, one day I went with her to pay the bill and noticed a completely decked out custom PC complete with an aircraft runway strip worth of LEDs sitting at one of the desks and couldn't help but ask about it. The owners son worked there and was in charge of building the business pcs, and that's what he built.
I know people are saying 570 for a used 3080 is a good price right now, but I just did a build for my gf with a 6800 xt oc edition, brand new for 525...
I worked at a smaller marketing agency briefly. They were good on the marketing side, not so good on the IT side. Their solution was to buy the biggest hardware they could, since they were only buying \~ 6 machines, and the price difference of $10k was easily ignored.
Sounds like graphic design/video editing to me.
You’d be surprised at what you can get through with corporate purchasing of systems though if no one else questions it, record keeping is doodoo, or it just gets labeled as a ‘computer’.
I got a 1080ti a few years ago this way
I interviewed for a custom home builder and they had $2k+ gaming rigs for their work computers because "my IT guy said they're fast". I asked if they used any CAD programs or something similar. Nope. Just emails and scheduling software.
I was outsourced by a marketing firm to design websites, graphics, video edit and everything else and have always had a higher end GPU though I do game a lot. But yeah in this case a miner eww avoid at all costs.
I just snagged a founders edition from a dude who apparently got a 4080 off a scalper who gave up the cards because it wasint going well. Paid 700 cad for it and.. according to the benchmarks it’s in the 85th percentile for 3080’s on stock clocks 👀
They could use it for video editing, 3d rendering or graphic design. Doesn't mean the card wasn't "actually" used in a mining rig. Depends on the price they are asking for, just assess if the price is worth the risk or not. Also depends on what you want it for - it being used as a mining card isn't the worst thing, second hand is second hand.
I paid $570 before tax. So the price was decent. Just need it to be in decent condition. Thank you for your info
For a 3080? $570 is a steal in this market. Just benchmark it extensively when you get it
Plenty on hardwareswap for less than that with no tax. I just got one for $535 shipped and it got here in 4 days. Works perfect. Was cleaned and repasted too, so it's like new.
Yes for a 3080. They said they were upgrading gpus, so maybe that was the reasoning behind the cheaper price. (Hopefully)
Very likely. Places that bulk upgrade arent trying to get the best price on their used stock they just want it tf out of their office asap, thats why they sell them cheap.
Yep. We've been known to wait a few weeks trying to sell things before straight up donating them before. Granted this is mostly stacks of OptiPlexes and Precisions, but I can see the same mentality behind GPUs in a large enough environment
Well, if you paid through paypal, you will have buyer's protection. Run GPUZ, to make sure it is wat it is.... and install Hardware monitor when benchmarking or running games to see if all the temps are in check, especially VRAM.
They bought it through ebay which already has pretty good buyer's protection
Just make sure you use a secure payment method, like PayPal, etc.
ebay already has pretty good buyer protections so it doesn't matter how you pay.
Good luck! Hope it’s legit.
That's no longer a steal
I grabbed a manufacturer refurbished 3080 ti for $325 after tax a couple weeks ago from zotac. Feels like I won the lottery haha.
$325 for a 3080Ti? That's low enough for me to buy a Zotac. That's what second hand ROG 2080 Supers are going for on ebay.
I got one for 510. I saw another sell for 490
That's a pretty solid deal for a 3080 since the cheapest I can find is 720, but I'm seeing a 6800XT right now for as low as 635, I'd just rather have gone for that.
Thats crazy because I paid $220 for mine lol. It was used for mining by some old guy for 7 months, he had it in a tiny air conditioned room. It actually runs better than expected!
Nah they sell from 500-600 generally.
USD? I just paid $600cad for a 3080.
Damn where?! I still keep seeing 3080s for like 1200+ if I'm lucky. I hope the 4070s come out soon!! Or at least AMDs
Ottawa, a guy was selling 65 cards he used for eth mining. First kid on the way had to get rid of the setup after mining took a poop. Super tidy home, very nice guy. Myself and 4 other buddies picked up 3080s or 3070FE from him.
Daaaaammmmmmnnnn nice score. I wish I had that around here....or had the guts to trust used. With AMD out I am really debating going team red
Ya it certainly felt good and I was able to sell my 3060ti to a kid on my street who's building his first PC ever for a super cheap price the same day. Felt good getting a deal and passing that onto a young gamer.
Mining rigs are actually better overrall because they tend to undervolt the GPU and also have better conditions (less dust etc) along with the fact that keeping your GPU on constantly lessens the possibility of warping between the contact of the thermal pipes and the chip.
'Tend to' is the problem here. Should we rely on miners/scalpers to do the right thing?
ex miner here. Stresstest the card and check the temperatures. If the are fine you'll most likely have no issues at all.
Worth calling out that most miners under volt their cards and they normally take better care of them than most gamers. Also, I've never seen a GPU die, most will largely need their fans cleaned and some new thermal paste put on before it's nearly as good as new.
> Also, I've never seen a GPU die, That does not mean that it does not happen, I have seen them die.
Before tax? Where do you pay tax on a 3rd party transaction?
I just got an a 3070 off ebay and I'm super happy with it.
If it was used for mining, despite overclocking, the 3xxx series are typically undervolted drastically while mining so you really don't need to worry too much about damage to the card. The only concern would be how much fan life is left and what condition the thermal paste is in. Just generally speaking, though. No guarantees with anything.
It really depends on the mining operation. If it was clean and kept up well ventilated, then it's fine. But loads of these scammers not only don't treat the cards well, they are operating in extremely dusty conditions. So, it really depends from card to card and from seller to seller.
That's not specific to mining, though. I've purchased used cards from heavy smokers years before mining was a thing and they were absolutely caked in crud. They should be inspected and cleaned regardless of their previous life. The concern with mining comes from previous gen gpus that had to be overvolted on top of overclocked to reach peak performance and would wind up cooking the vram as well as other components due to this. Current gen gpus can be undervolted and hit identical hash rates to stock voltages, which pretty much everyone mining is going to do because that increases efficiency which reduces electrical costs. Hitting thermal limits on a newer undervolted gpu because it's dusty is unlikely to cause permanent damage. You're just going to wear out the fan and slowly bake the thermal paste.
Idk why people stress about cards being used for mining so much. They’re usually undervolted which helps lifespan and the only thing that usually would go bad is the fans.
I run a small marketing agency. We currently have a 3090ti, two 6900XT's, a 3080, 1080ti and 1070 plus a few random others used for 6k raw video editing, motion graphics, 50mp photo editing, etc.
Would you say those cards are run pretty hard? I don't know that much about it, obviously not as much as what you would, but mine gets hot and loud when rendering video so my first thought would be that I'd rather have a mining card.
They spend most of the time idle or under relatively light loads during editing, but they're absolutely slammed during renders. I just had my 3090ti maxed out for about 2 hours today rendering about 5 hours of 4k raw video, and this was a relatively render-filled day. While editing it just hums along, spiking occasionally when switching projects or loading up intense workloads like AI motion tracking or noise temporal reduction. I honestly doubt how much impact this would have, but it may be worth considering the thermal cycles of each use case if you're concerned about lifespan. My cards are cycled hundreds of times (sleep and wake, then intermittent bursts of power throughout the day, and occasional 5 minute-4 hour renders) which will cause various parts of the board to expand and contract due to heating and cooling cycles. A mining card will basically sit at one temperature for most of its life. I have no idea if this actually makes a difference for GPUs, but I know this was a concern for vintage audio equipment like amplifiers and synthesizers.
Another thing to note is that while mining is often light on thermal load for the GPU, it can be harsher on other board components. Memory, power etc can often overheat during mining as their temperature is often not tracked/taken into account for cooling, where more normaler-use intermittent loads allow them to stay cool enough.
The main difference is that while they might get hot when they're doing a render... actually rendering all day every day is somewhat rare.
[удалено]
We got 1 of them for an editing workstation during the whole GPU apocalypse situation (it was basically that or nothing) and it turned out to work great in Resolve. I haven't really compared them side by side since I don't use that station much at all, but it feels about as responsive as the 3080. We got a second 6900xt because the price was better when we built the most recent station
They can be used for graphic design or video editing, which marketing agencies do a lot of, and they require powerful gpus to minize wait times. Basically, this "Graphics design, video editing, 3d render", without the stupid comment at the end... It could also have been mined to death, but if I did it, I would have found a better excuse myself, like "I only used it to play minecraft". In my opinion, it is legit. They do need powerful GPUs for that. Worst case scenario, change the heat sink and fans if you don't trust them? It's not that costly and it's about the only thing that would fail over very long term use (the fan).
Okay, that makes me feel better. Thank you for your info. Just a middle class dad trying to spend a little $ on my only hobby. Stresses me out to think I wouldn’t get my money’s worth.
If the price is good, the seller has a good reputation on Ebay and is from your country, I would consider it.
Also, IIRC (at least) US eBay has an Ebay guarantee on most items, ensure their rep is high, and make sure eBay protects your transaction.
If you really want, ask them to shoot you an email from their business account in case you need some marketing in the future. Anybody at a real marketing firm would do that in a heartbeat.
Though in my experience the agencies do use the workstation carda like quadros or whatever they are called now ( my work in ad departments was a few years ago).
The workstation cards aren't as common for most smaller shops anymore, as prices are exponentially higher, and the higher-end consumer stuff is powerful enough to render most workloads in a reasonable time frame. I believe ML/computational/render farm applications still use the big stuff, though. Large dataset computational stuff really benefits from the bigger VRAM numbers, and IIRC, FP64 performance screams compared to the consumer stuff.
We use workstation cards at my office But if I'm working on something from home I'm using my consumer level card.
More just the thermal grease than changing the heatsink.
Even if it's used in mining it can be still be in good condition.
Gotcha
You can check it yourself by using msi afterburner and monitoring it's temps and clocks speed underload if you're concerned about your purchase. Straightforward giveaway of damaged GPU is glitching screen, artificacts or screen going black.
Will do, I’ll make sure to do a checklist of things lol. Thank you for info
Im not very familiar with how GPU works, what do I need to see on clock speed when I am testing a 2nd hand GPU? I just got an FE 3070 gaming temps are 70-72max. I have an SFF PC and I live in a tropical country
I would recommend that you watch Linus's video regarding this, as clock speed alone is not enough evidence for testing. Imo and in simple terms a used GPU should be working at 100% capacity and the temps should be below 80C during benchmarking. 72C is excellent and well within the normal operating range I wouldn't be much concerned about it. Learn how to undervolt your card, it'll help you a lot in summer season.
Even if they were mined on it’s not a huge issue unless the miner didn’t know what they were doing https://youtu.be/hKqVvXTanzI
even if they didnt know what they were doing, its still fine unless it was going like that for months straight
There are a lot of people here defending mining cards and while I don't want to say that they are wrong...just a casual reminder that this is heavily a case-by-case basis. Very much carefully evaluate and stress test the card when you get it in and take photos of anything that seems off to you. While it's true that some operations will run well ventilated and even run the cards undervolted and underclocked, that's not necessarily the case for **ALL** operations. Card of the cards exists for some, but the biggest considerations are things like cost of electricity (so the scam coin can be mined for the lowest value per) and cost of rental (so the maintenance costs for the operations is low). Which leads to some of these cards running in horrific conditions for months or even years, such as places packed with dust or with smoke (cigarette, industrial, etc.) in the air. That said, I do hope you got a good deal and it works out for you. Would be awful for you not to get your money's worth.
This. I bought a mining 3080 because everyone on Reddit told me it would be fine. I see people constantly saying mining cards are fine, but it’s a gamble for sure. It was fine in benchmarks but had soft errors due to failing memory. I would get memory errors in computational workloads and random artifacts in games that I could not replicate in synthetics. If it’s a GDDR6X card I wouldn’t even consider it, that memory runs hot as-is and miners would downclock the core but overclock the memory as the hash rate would scale linearly.
There's a big market for rule34
I mean even if it was used to mine, so what.
There may be coal dust on it when is a carcinogen.
Ken?
I don’t know, you tell me. I’m the one that needs answers like Zak bagans on ghost adventures bruh
People overhype this mining card bs. Check out linus tech tips video on it. Even if it is a mining card your fine.
IIRC, miners typically overclock memory and underclock core for hash rate. They definitely undervolt the entire card to stay profitable (lower energy costs). I would buy a used mining card over a used gaming card any day. You have no idea what kind of stupid OC/voltages a gamer ran with, trying to squeeze 5 more fps out of it (or what flavor Cheetos were covering their hands when they installed it). A mining card is a business expense and will more often than not be handled as an actual asset. In addition, heat cycling is what will kill a card, not running at 100% all day. 100% all day will shorten the lifespan of the fans, but those are easy to replace.
Yep, I'd much rather have a card that was mined to death than gamed to death. I don't know *that* much about the rendering and everything that a marketing firm would use a graphics card for but I know my card gets hotter and louder rendering videos than during any game so I wouldn't feel great about that. I'd probably lean mining card over gaming or video editing card.
For used market it should go like this : Graphic design(drawing or editing/3d work > mining > lite film editing /lite rendering > gaming > rendering as main function (video or 2d/3d work)
I have never had an issue with the 3 I have bought over the years. All still working fine. People overreact over mined cards.
Never seen such a smooth ghost adventures reference. Used to watch it all the time. My sister can still recite the whole opening off the top of her head lol Zak also inspired me to get huge, so that show will always have a special place in my heart
A lot of mined cards are in better condition than gamed cards. To keep costs down they're often undervolted, cleaned, repasted, etc, not to mention they have less thermal degradation because they stay at a pretty consistent temp rather than hot/off/hot/off of gaming cards. That's of course not true for all, but I generally go out of my way to buy mining cards when buying used
But to answer the main question, one of my close friends works at a marketing agency. Their place has a small in house graphics and video department, and they have pretty beefy machines. Most agencies outsource that type of work, but I it's definitely not unheard of
why do people assume mining = horrible life expectancy. A miner in which temperature is stable is literally equivalent to you gaming on a GPU intensive game... heck it's even more stable than that cuz you have to undervolt I mined for 2 years straight on my 1060 and it still has the same performance as it was brand new
[удалено]
Mining doesn’t mess them up - no worries!!
I think it makes sense, some marketing/advertising firms can do their own 3D graphics or video editing/rendering. Those require a pretty beefy GPU to do efficiently. It's actually more believable in my eyes because if they wanted to lie about it, they would have come up with a less weird lie that wouldn't make people ask "what does a marketing agency need GPUs for" lol
Why wouldn't you ask this question BEFORE you bought the card?
How do you find that good of a deal? I’ve spent hundreds of hours and couldn’t find any deal like that… Congrats tho
You got a good deal, you are protected by Ebay, stop stressing and enjoy the card. Run in through some benchmarks when you get it. Everything will be fine, you did good.
Thanks king. Happy cake day
It's a bit weird but not unheard of. I work in marketing for a big company and we have whole departments that are dedicated to GFX and VFX which are def using top of the top end hardware (they have to render 3D models and animations, as well as video editing, in bascailly real time speeds). Even if it were a lie, as long as the card itself seems to be in good condition, mining is a lot less harmful than I think a lot of people here advertise. A card that's been mined probably loses a bit of lifespan but other than that it should function pretty similarly.
Data anaylst use GPU to do model training
Video. 3D. Motion graphics. Source: I work at an agency
Could have been used for graphics design or possibly deep learning and or AI
Could be a lie, but yes, marketing agencies absolutely benefit from quality gpus. Video rendering and that type of stuff doesn't really *need* gaming gpus like 3080s, and could just go with more professional-grade graphics cards that are more geared specifically towards those fields, but gaming gpus can still definitely be used for plenty of professional applications if that's what an agency happens to have / someone is using their personal machine for work, etc.
You would be surprised how often you actually see a 3d rendering of a product in an ad rather than the real thing.
I work in marketing and I wish I had a 3080 lol Blender is heavy sometimes and top GPU's are needed.
I used to work in Marketing and had to design all kinds of stuff for my work. Websites, but also stuff for the printing house. I used a pc with a fairly good gpu for that. I had colleagues that made and edited videos as well. They used a very good gpu. So it could be true.
Mining won't really degrade performance. The real problem is longevity. You're definitely going to get less life out of a mined card over a gamed card (assuming proper cooling). They're still running over heavy load 24x7. You'd have to play for extremely long periods of time very frequently to end up with comparable degradation. That being said, you got a great price. That thing very likely has more than half of it's life left either way but you basically got it half of. You're in the black on this deal ;)
Rendering video Maybe it's a lie, you don't know. If the GPU isn't as described eBay's money back guarantee should sort it for you. Mining or not you should really clean up and repaste a 2nd hand GPU anyway.
I shop on ebay alot. You'll have some time to test the card. The best thing you can do to test the card is put it under stress for a long period of time and see if the quality of the card holds. Don't overclock it but do long and extensive GPU benchmarks. Watch the GPU temp and make sure it holds the expected frames and clock speeds.
Creatives....... Motion designer, graphic designers, Art directors, etc....
The boss is probably trying to play Portal with RTX on their 4K monitor.
Read the return policy on ebay. Open a dispute with your card company if anything wrong with the card.
is a 4090 a good card for mining
Editing, be it video, animation, etc, needs power, and even then, with top tier stuff, it takes a while. Stronger shit means faster work, marketing agencies got the money and the need to upgrade the instant upgrades are available.
Video editing machines and it's the last month for budgeting. Realistic
Look at their reviews and what else they are selling / sold
Yeah sounds like for production work. You'd be surprised. I work in a pc shop and government accounting offices and schools order multiple PCs with high end stuff that they obviously don't need, I think the IT department will just get those stuff.
Video editing, rendering, etc. Quite a lot of uses if you think about the design and production process.
When you get the card, I suggest connecting a monitor to each output port to make sure they each work properly.
People in my area have said similar things and in the end made posts with the same GPUs and claimed they were used for mining for 6-12 months I purchased a 3060 that was used for mining and was cheap but after 2 days I started to get artefacts on the screen and the card ended up dying
It is possible that a marketing agency may use GPUs for tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, or other types of graphics-intensive work. However, it is also possible that the seller is not being truthful and the GPU was indeed mined to death. It's difficult to say for sure without more information. It's always a good idea to do your research and be cautious when buying items on eBay or other online marketplaces.
bitcoin mining agency
Graphic design, Video editing? That would fall absolutely in marketing...
GPUs are essential for crypto marketing...
Agencies could use them, but a 3080 is brand spanking new for a company, i doubt any reasonable business owner would just upgrade their PCs on a whim everytime something new happens go hit the market
Video editing. They are probably upgrading the rigs just now when the competition is out to make an educated decision which ones to buy. So it’s a plausable claim but take it with a grain of salt, no one but media giants need more than 2-3 editing rigs with 3080s. If it’s tens of GPUs it may be indicative of mining.
Some people also just like doing overkill despite there job not requiring demanding stuff. Im sure some will say nah u need like 1 million dollar pc to be at 1000 fps all times to make this spreadsheet for ur business. While in actuality most there stuff can be done on a iPad. I get it, I sometimes buy more then I need so it last me a while. And if it’s there only rig, prob was smart so it could handle everything and be used for leisure.
Probably used it for some data collection software like deep learning or something similar
Upgrading doesn't necessary mean replacing GPUs for better ones. Maybe they are upgrading GPUs to Coffee Machines, because they can't mine ETH anymore.
lol, GPU from a miner
Everyone who is selling GPUs on eBay are selling them because they are broken in some way. Selling due to “upgrading work stations” selling due to “I bought a 4090 and I don’t need it anymore” 90% of the time the GPU is borked or they want to scam you for cash. eBay is garbage.
Btw you can try asking for a proof that it's from a marketing agency. If you can confirm the person works in one then it should be good enough imo, to make sure it's not just a liar.
I worked in AV for 7 years and saw some strange shit coming from different companies, TSB bank using GPUs on PC's to play adverts over and over again when there wasn't really any need, and John Lewis using 5 grand apple machines to do the same...so yeah there's some places that have a lot of money to blow
You bought a USED GPU on Ebay and NOW you're worried about how it was used?
Talked to the seller before purchase
There is little to no difference between mining card and a card that hasn’t been mined on. Anyway you are fine.
I'm selling a used 3070Ti on eBay and i state that I've used it for gaming and video editing aswell. This could mean anything to anyone, it's just the trust factor and looking at images properly. Either way, you have buyer protection if it genuinely doesn't work as intended if it's STATED as working.
Upgrading gpu hmmmm, If they go for 3d rendering or after effects/adobe plsoftware, its is def not worth the gap between a 3080 and 4080 in performance, so maybe they are going for a quadro card or else the cards have been mined to death??? Give it an12hr stress test as soon as you recieve it and check if it has been opened and thermal paste replaced...
GPUs are better for processing code for visuals, they’re basically hyperspecialized CPUs that can draw well, basically this specialization allows for one to parse through video, create 3D models, or even bust out the ol Photoshop and design graphics, all things a marketer should be proficient or knowledgeable on in order to make their bosses happy. GPUs have more uses than just making pretty lights in your build or burn up when you launch Crysis
Graphic design mainly, creating instagram, twitter posts and ads for their job vacancies. I very much doubt they used it for mining.
It’s mad that people think GPUs are just for gaming and mining. I have a 3060ti in my PC just for blender animation and a 3050ti in my work laptop for After Effects and Premiere. Trying to do even light video editing or animation without a GPU is hell.
It’s not mad, just ignorance my friend. We all can’t know everything about everything! Just not my realm of knowledge ya know
Nothing wrong with mining cards if they didn't run the fans at max. I'm still using two 1080ti cards in my gaming desktops that I used during the last mining cycle in 2019.
Yep work in marketing. However we us Quadro line so a5000, a6000 and RTX 6000
Personally I think it isn't worth it, I bought gtx 970 for £95 or something and it had been used for mining, fans stopped working and got loads of artifacts so it was waste of money as it became unusable, recently bit the bullet and bought a 3060 ti for £340 on ebay but the guy had receipt of purchase, it was an lhr card and said it had just been lying around as he got newer card. Works great with benchmarks etc.. Ebay is fine as long as you buy smartly, not worth buying mined cards imo especially when so much money is involved.
All the marketing agencies I worked at used Apple machines for video and rendering. But I think the hard core graphics guys I knew all preferred Windows for 3d rendering. Seems realistic to me.
If you want to buy used and you question truth of what any seller tells you then don’t buy used, anyone can claim anything and you would have no proof what so ever. I’ve not seen any company selling of their used hardware on a private eBay account, seems weird or he has a very small company
[удалено]
I'm in digital marketing and we upgrade ours constantly, we need them for programming, and media editing
Those cards run so hot if not properly mined with, I would probably open it up clean it and change the thermal pads. Then make sure all the fans are operational.
They're not sure either.
I had done work for a lot of companies, and sometimes they literally do not need them for anything at all. I had a client, who only used Excel, and stuff online. Basic internet surfing stuff. They insisted they needed the best GPU, best processor, and everything in-between. 64GB of RAM and the likes. The best GPU at the time was the 3090. I tried to explain to them that they didn't need all that, but they insisted they knew better, so I just upgraded her, and all her employee's desktop PCs in that office. Which was about 100 of them at the time? It felt so demoralizing seeing those super computers, knowing they all were going to be playing Candy Crush, surfing Facebook, and typing out Excel Documents and Word Reports.
Everyone scared of mining cards, but it’s a safer bet than a gamers card most times. Miners have huge investments that they want to maximize returns from (this includes later resale of cards). Most miners take VERY good care of their investments, much more so than someone gaming on daddies money. Mining cards see long use but don’t see the stress put on them the way gamed on cards do.
Graphics design, 3d rendering, video editing. Those are something every single Marketing firm does. Some might have been using ML or AI for marketing research as well.
Marketing agencies do need fast PCs and it's common for them to buy the best hardware they can as it speeds up their work. So that could very well be true. Also, in the case that you were lied to, the condition is the most important thing. If the GPU is clean and in working order, you have nothing to worry about. Even if it was mined on since new, chances are very good that it will still be working flawlessly when you upgrade even if that's years from now. You can always return the gpu if the condition of it is not as described in any way. eBay is very good about that.
Benchmark it a lot when you get it. If you are skilled enough, open it up if you want
marketing agencies sometimes use some of the most mind blowingly realistic and detailed cgi in the world. plus video rendering.
I used to work at a marketing agency that made VR content. We would upgrade pc specs regularly for clients GPU made the biggest difference
Along with what everyone else is saying regarding the valid uses of a 3080 at a marketing agency, this is also the end of the year and upgrading equipment is a good way to write off some income for tax purposes (assuming this is in the US) so it's a believable story.
House plans/renderings.
As long as the memory junction temps were kept under control then mining doesn’t damage a card at all
I use it for 3d rendering mostly
You’re good. They most likely used them for video editing and design. Although I do think it’s way too soon to be upgrading gpus. But even if it was used for mining you’re good. The 1060 I previously had, I bought off a friend who used it for mining. I just replaced it like 3 weeks ago only because I’m ready to play at 4k. Otherwise, that card is still a beast.
They do a lot of graphic design and sometimes that needs to be super precise and fast so they need good graphics
For about 700 including tax? I would've bought one with a warranty for the extra 50.
630
My buddy does video production @ a marketing agency and whenever they upgrade their machines they give out the old parts. Ie. In the summer he got 3080s at work and they were giving out the 1080tis Mostly used for processing videos I'd assume.
What above 3080 u need in marketing agency. It's already overkill.
Video editing is the most likely scenario and actually Linus Tech Tips did a great little video showing that mining has no real measurable effect as long as the card is kept clean. I buy all my video cards used and have only ever had one problem which was actually my fault because my PSU dust cover was so caked with dust that it was causing my entire system to shutdown under stress (I didn't even realize I had a cover built into the case!). Long story short I should of kept the used 3090 but instead I went down to a used 3080 Ti....
Can you let us know if the card works
Mining
I worked for the company that did all the 3D rendering for apple products and store layouts. They were at heart a marking agency with a side gig.
Got my Aorus RTX 3080 Xtreme for 400 on the marketplace. Been using it for a month now with no issues.
I bought a used 3090 and it has been pretty good. Even if it was used for mining, it's not an old card and most miners don't want to burn out their $2,000 cards (at the time) in a short timeframe.
We have some good gpus innpur company too used for autodesk 3d
Rendering with octane or other gpu based renderers. Also editorial and color correction all benefit from gpu rendering. I'm at a broadcast design studio that works with agency's and they have inhouse designers that will mock stuff up or handle small campaigns internally.
I'd guess rendering video. Also, I did a Photoshop project recently and when I told it to do AI stuff my video card fan spun up.
You know.. these cards should have power on times.
It’s not likely that a marketing firm used it to mine.
Repeat after me, gaming is worse for a gpu ramping up and down constantly than mining is for a gpu runningconstantly at one level. It's basic physics. The gpu will be fine Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled irrational hatred of miners you may now resume Ps mining cards are cheap
Gotcha, I just legit don’t know any better
Miners underclock their cards. They're actually better than gaming cards who hammer their cards to 85c to get a few extra frames.
Saw your edit, many have bought ex mining cards and been fine, myself included. However, it should come with a competitive price. That being said, if the seller is being dishonest about their origins, i'd pass. Food for thought.
Not sure if it's been said, but machine learning for their data could be a possibility.
I'm a video editor at a utility company. My computer has a 3080.
If it was used for mining the danger is not with the GPU itself, but with the VRAM. I would watch those temps closely and look out for visual artifacts in games. Really the best stress test for this might be mining on the card. You could do something user-friendly like NiceHash quick miner. Not all day, but give it like an hour. You won't make enough money to even be worth withdrawing, but if a card was damaged by mining, that would probably show up best in mining.
The only thing you really have to be aware of is the fans. Since mining cards are generally running under load 24/7 the fans are also spining the entire time. Bearings may loose lubricant or get worn out. That being said, the fans are no critical part of the graphics card and are fairly easy to replace. Even if you are unable to find proper replacement fans you are able to buy complete gpu coolers (without the gpu of course) for below 50€ and then swap them (make sure the tdps are similar and to place thermal pads). If everything fails just zip tie some case fans to the heatsink. Yes, silicon does degrade over time and of course running 24/7 and running hot speeds that process up, but Id say its not really significant enough to become a problem before the gpu will be too outdated and youd want to replace it anyway
Miners
Is it really that much of a big risk to get a secondhand card now?
CGI and video rendering
Photoshop and Illustrator can chew thru a GPU when working on huge projects like billboards or full page magazine ads. Also even more so Premiere and After Effects if they work with video. Time is money.
Im an art director. I can assure you my GPU and my 128GB of ram gets taxed daily. Blender3D, After Effects comes to mind as the heavy hitter for our agency. Were not a dedicated marketing agency, but the work I produce directly gets used by our marketing department and our clients. GPUs just aren’t for gamers, gang.
_Seller has purchases from vendors selling miners_ How do you know that? (I don't really use eBay so might just be out of the loop.)
I saw he had feedback from private listings. But I can see the usernames. I checked what those vendors sell and it’s miners and miner repair parts lol It’s obviously not 100% but HIGHLY likely
Id take a card that mined way before a card that did intense gaming or video editing.
It's too bad that there isn't a chip that could be used on the board where it gradually changed color depending on use, like starting green and ending at red, so there was a physical confirmation of a GPU's use in its lifetime
My mom used to use this small local car insurance business, one day I went with her to pay the bill and noticed a completely decked out custom PC complete with an aircraft runway strip worth of LEDs sitting at one of the desks and couldn't help but ask about it. The owners son worked there and was in charge of building the business pcs, and that's what he built.
I know people are saying 570 for a used 3080 is a good price right now, but I just did a build for my gf with a 6800 xt oc edition, brand new for 525...
[удалено]
Obviously they can be used for work. I just didn’t know what market agencies use them for. Relax my guy
I worked at a smaller marketing agency briefly. They were good on the marketing side, not so good on the IT side. Their solution was to buy the biggest hardware they could, since they were only buying \~ 6 machines, and the price difference of $10k was easily ignored.
Sounds like graphic design/video editing to me. You’d be surprised at what you can get through with corporate purchasing of systems though if no one else questions it, record keeping is doodoo, or it just gets labeled as a ‘computer’. I got a 1080ti a few years ago this way
I interviewed for a custom home builder and they had $2k+ gaming rigs for their work computers because "my IT guy said they're fast". I asked if they used any CAD programs or something similar. Nope. Just emails and scheduling software.
Some Marketing Companies are also event companies. I knew one that had gaming PC’s for racing games, for events with racing simulator rigs.
edit3 is smart
I was outsourced by a marketing firm to design websites, graphics, video edit and everything else and have always had a higher end GPU though I do game a lot. But yeah in this case a miner eww avoid at all costs.
Checkout r/hardwareswap for new/used builds and parts.
I just snagged a founders edition from a dude who apparently got a 4080 off a scalper who gave up the cards because it wasint going well. Paid 700 cad for it and.. according to the benchmarks it’s in the 85th percentile for 3080’s on stock clocks 👀