Sparfuchs buys the RTX 3080 graphics card at half the price – but he soon loses his joy
If you want to buy a graphics card, you can look forward to falling prices. A user struck a supposedly great deal and bought an RTX 3080, but the joy didn’t last long.
Graphics cards have been really expensive over the last few months and you had to pay a lot more if you wanted to play with the latest hardware. But graphics card prices are currently falling: Former crypto miners are flooding the market with cheap graphics card offers and are still selling graphics cards below the recommended retail price.
One user just couldn’t resist one of these used graphics card offers and got a GeForce RTX 3080 for half the price. At first glance, this is a damn good offer, but after just a few hours he loses interest in the new GPU.
User buys RTX 3080 for 500 euros, but it is damaged from mining
What did the user do? A user had bought a used MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X for the equivalent of 500 euros. A crypto miner had offered him this graphics card at this price and then he had struck. Because 500 euros for a used RTX 3080, which otherwise costs twice as much, seemed to have been a good deal. But the user reported in a Chinese forum why the deal wasn’t that great (via wccftech.com).
The user quickly found out why he got the RTX 3080 so cheap. Because the seller had probably taken the graphics card apart before. The seals on the graphics card screws were broken. This means that the graphics card had already been unscrewed.
The tests of the new RTX 3080 quickly summarized – is it worth it?
What are the problems? The previous owner had probably replaced the thermal pads that were on the graphics card’s video memory. This is not uncommon as the RTX 3080’s GDDR6X memory is known to reach very high temperatures.
But the biggest problem was something else: Because at first the graphics card wouldn’t even boot. With a trick, the saver was able to start the graphics card anyway.
When he checked the graphics card with the small tool GPU-Z, he found that only 8 GB of the 10 GB of video memory was recognized. Apparently, two of the ten memory modules were broken during the mining operation and are no longer working properly.
The user can use a cheaply purchased graphics card with a few tricks and tricks. He is not really happy with it: once the memory modules are used up, there is a high risk that other memory modules will fail. The bargain turned out to be a problem purchase for the bargain hunter.
What should I do if I buy a used GPU? Take a close look at offers of used graphics cards and ask the seller if you are not sure. Because then you save yourself trouble and a lot of problems.
Even if a seller sells you a broken graphics card, you still have a good chance as a buyer. Because Amazon and eBay also clearly state that products must work as described. Otherwise, the seller has to make improvements, grant a discount or take the product back. This also applies to private providers who hide behind “no returns”.
Miners are now mass-selling GPUs for really cheap – Should you buy AMD and Nvidia graphics cards now?
Graphics cards can be operated permanently – if you stick to the rules
Normally you can also leave a graphics card running permanently. However, the prerequisite is that you operate the GPU within the recommended specifications. These are usually set by Nvidia or the on-board partners (MSI, ASUS and Co). Nothing can happen in this area.
If you are unsure whether you want to buy a graphics card, then note that the next generation from AMD and Nvidia will be coming soon. We can’t tell you whether the prices will get even better in the future:
This is what you should definitely know about the next generation of graphics cards before you buy a new one now
Reference-mein-mmo.de
The card was not damaged from mining, it was damaged from some idiot trying to upgrade his card. Mining GPUs get a bad rap for being somehow worse than non-mining or new GPUs, but there is a massive amount of evidence that shows that even after 10 years of mining, a card still functions the exact same as when it was brand new.
Screw the crypto miner greedy aholes. Stick these assholes with a bunch of used cards. They wanted those cards so God damned bad let them keep em.
This has no actual facts, who knows if it was ever used for mining! Just because the seals were broken?? Ive been mining on a 2060 since it was release and the card still functions just fine!
Not to mention my 1060, 1080, 2060, 3060, 3070…
“Graphics Cards Can Be Operated Permanently – If You Stick To The Rules”
False. By this, I’m guessing you mean perpetually, or forever. Electrical components can, and do, break down over time. Buyer beware on these mining GPUs.
If you’re comfortable with the possibility that a used mining GPU has a higher chance of breaking in a year or two, go ahead and purchase one. Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing so, as I would have no idea what kind of environment these cards were used in. You can ask the seller, sure, but what incentive do they have to be honest?
My preference would be all these miners get stuck with thousands of dollars in inventory they can never sell to recoup their investments. Screw them.
Why would you spend so much on a used 3080 anyway? There’s no warranty so you’re asking for trouble. Even if it had the full 10Gb VRAM, and worked perfectly, it could still fail in 6 months, 12 months, or 18 months etc.just like a new GPU can fail. Except a new GPU has warranty.
A half price 3080 is still a lot of money to loose. If I wanted a GPU for half the price of a 3080 then I would get a new 3060 Ti.
Crypto mining generally doesn’t break a gpu not shorten it’s lifespan, at least not to a level where it would die on you before normal replacement.
The problem is when people change the cooling systems or don’t properly cool them and that’s what has happened here and it’s exactly why you should only buy hardware from somewhere with consumer protection like eBay.
Same games for sellers. I once sold a perfectly working amd 290x trix. I recorded a video of it working and also without any edits I shut down the PC, removed the GPU and packaged it up.
Then the guy gets it and claims it’s DOA. Then the next msg I get is that he took the cooler apart.. the best cooler available on a 290x. So that was the end right there. eBay sided with me of course because he had no permission to take it apart. Now I dont know if eBay also refunded him (I hope not) but if they did he got a fully working pristine GPU that could trade blows with an RTX 1080 despite being 4 years older.
Always protect yourself when it comes to hardware.
Gpu-z only showed 8 of 10 gig memory even when the card is new. Its a flaw in some versions the Tool. Try another tool to see if you get another result.
Good, I’ve got no sympathy for this guy whatsoever, and I hope this experience has well and truly burned him. At this point NOBODY should be buying a used GPU off these miners. Remember, at the height of the crypto rush they were basically laughing in gamers faces and boosting about all the GPU’s they’d snapped up. Now the bottom of the crypto market has dropped out and they stand to lose thousands, let them burn. Leave them hanging on to their expensively purchased and now worthless cards and let them burn. The tables have turned and they need to feel it…
Lol, the 3080 only has 10gb, the tI has 12 and the 3090 has 24. Did he buy the wrong card?