Are used graphics cards worth the risk? | Ask an expert

Q: I know that buying a used graphics card comes with risk. What makes the gamble acceptable?

A: The answer depends. While this purchasing strategy can save a lot of money, we generally advise against used desktop graphics cards. That’s especially so during times like these, when the risk of getting a GPU battered by crypto-mining use is much higher. As my colleague Brad Chacos, our resident GPU guru, likes to point out, discrete graphics cards have a lot of moving parts, and they’re easy to overclock. Those two things combined make them a much more dangerous wager to stake cold hard cash on—put enough stress on a GPU, and it’ll have a higher likelihood of succumbing to an earlier-than-expected death. Add on the brutality of regular mining workloads, and that card could go toes-up even faster. You don’t want to be the one stuck with it then.

To read this article in full, please click here

from PCWorld https://ift.tt/3v9OftA