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. However, 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. Because with so-called “memory shielding” you can disguise defective memory. You can find instructions for this in video form on the Chinese platform Bilibili (via bilibili.com).
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