How can you tell if a GPU is lightly used?

[Cyber2B]

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

[UTFapolloMarine]

Originally posted by EpicFace™:

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

the smell, a new gpu smells like the inside of the factory it was made in, a gpu that was used and refurbished wont have that good smell to it any longer.

[Snow]

Originally posted by EpicFace™:

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

There's not much you can confirm visually. The only thing I can think of if the color of textolite around the GPU and VRM - it can easily start burning out after 2-3 years of heavy usage. Look for the deals that allow you to actually test graphics card before the purchase - few minutes of FurMark under what's considered a promised overcloking capabilites of the exact model in question can easily show if there's something terribly wrong with the card.
I strongly recommend buying cards from miners and not from gamers. As mining's not that profitable anymore long time already, miners are just dancing on the edge. If a graphics card turns up dead - that's a big loss, so they do care if it can last for as long as possible. They think of cooling, they undervolt and downclock, and in the end cards used in mining can easily end up way more reliable than ones used for gaming.
ALWAYS check if it's the real thing. Check GPU-Z report, check its i/o (Pascal ones don't have VGA output), check if the framerate in benchmarks corresponds to expected. Then check again, then triple-check. There are tons of shady deals around, and it's not an uncommon thing to end up with some GTS 450 instead of 1050 Ti.

[LimminL]

My personal opinion is that you should pay the extra 20% and get a new GPU. That way you know how much it has been used (not at all) and you also get a manufacturers warranty. A potentially almost dead card is not worth 80% MSRP.

[r.linder]

Originally posted by POUusnavy:

Originally posted by EpicFace™:

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

the smell, a new gpu smells like the inside of the factory it was made in, a gpu that was used and refurbished wont have that good smell to it any longer.

Why are you sniffing video cards

Originally posted by EpicFace™:

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

Take the term "lightly used" with less than a grain of salt, because anyone with a video card designed for gaming is going to game on it, and gaming usually puts more stress on the fans and power delivery than mining cryptocurrencies do because miners almost always undervolted their cards, resulting in lower temperatures. Gaming is either at stock or overclocked where everything is constantly ramping up and down, putting more stress on the fan bearings (the most likely failure point) and the power delivery (at least when overclocked)

[Snow]

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Originally posted by POUusnavy:

the smell, a new gpu smells like the inside of the factory it was made in, a gpu that was used and refurbished wont have that good smell to it any longer.

Why are you sniffing video cards

Oh but that kinda explains why he often seems a bit out of this world you know.

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Snow:

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Why are you sniffing video cards

Oh but that kinda explains why he often seems a bit out of this world you know.

As long as people aren't snorting cocaine off of GPU backplates, we're good

[Snow]

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Originally posted by Snow:

Oh but that kinda explains why he often seems a bit out of this world you know.

As long as people aren't snorting cocaine off of GPU backplates, we're good

Well, if one's into cocaine - I really doubt they would give a rat's ass about graphics cards.

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Snow:

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

As long as people aren't snorting cocaine off of GPU backplates, we're good

Well, if one's into cocaine - I really doubt they would give a rat's ass about graphics cards.

You never know with some people, actually. Some people like to smoke a blunt before gaming here in the north.

[𝔇ave]

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Originally posted by Snow:

Well, if one's into cocaine - I really doubt they would give a rat's ass about graphics cards.

You never know with some people, actually. Some people like to smoke a blunt before gaming here in the north.

i'm guessing not VR gaming

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Dave:

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

You never know with some people, actually. Some people like to smoke a blunt before gaming here in the north.

i'm guessing not VR gaming :taloslol:

Definitely not, VR cafes strongly recommend not doing that

[THartmann9374]

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Originally posted by POUusnavy:

the smell, a new gpu smells like the inside of the factory it was made in, a gpu that was used and refurbished wont have that good smell to it any longer.

Why are you sniffing video cards

Originally posted by EpicFace™:

People are selling pascal GPUs for 80% of MSRP and state its lightly used but when they show the receipt, it shows they were pruchased in 2016 or 17 which is 3 to 2 years ago.

Take the term "lightly used" with less than a grain of salt, because anyone with a video card designed for gaming is going to game on it, and gaming usually puts more stress on the fans and power delivery than mining cryptocurrencies do because miners almost always undervolted their cards, resulting in lower temperatures. Gaming is either at stock or overclocked where everything is constantly ramping up and down, putting more stress on the fan bearings (the most likely failure point) and the power delivery (at least when overclocked)

Not everybody that has a video card designed for gaming are gamers. I have 1080 and I don't play any heavy games. So I'm saying that there are people like me too.

[FeilDOW]

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Originally posted by Dave:

i'm guessing not VR gaming :taloslol:

Definitely not, VR cafes strongly recommend not doing that

Not sure why, I've never had an issue. Love vaping some green and sweating my bag off in Beat Saber.

[𝔇ave]

Originally posted by FeilDOW:

Originally posted by 【Ｅｓｃｏｒｖｅ】:

Definitely not, VR cafes strongly recommend not doing that

Not sure why, I've never had an issue. Love vaping some green and sweating my bag off in Beat Saber.

vaping green? you're doing it wrong..

[FeilDOW]

Originally posted by Dave:

Originally posted by FeilDOW:

Not sure why, I've never had an issue. Love vaping some green and sweating my bag off in Beat Saber.

vaping green? you're doing it wrong..

Nope, I stopped burning green long ago. Much healthier to vape it. This is what I use https://www.storz-bickel.com/us/en/crafty/

You seriously have never heard of vaping herb, it burns the THC and not the carcinogenic stuff.

[𝔇ave]

Originally posted by FeilDOW:

Originally posted by Dave:

vaping green? you're doing it wrong..

Nope, I stopped burning green long ago. Much healthier to vape it. This is what I use https://www.storz-bickel.com/us/en/crafty/

You seriously have never heard of vaping herb, it burns the THC and not the carcinogenic stuff.

i didn't say i hadn't heard of vaping herb.. it's just not what we did in my day.. vaping wasn't even a thing back when i used to hang out with mary jane