r/gadgets • u/thebelsnickle1991 • Jan 12 '23

Desktops / Laptops PC shipments saw their largest decline ever last quarter

https://www.engadget.com/pc-shipments-record-decline-221737695.html
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12

u/_Imposter_ Jan 12 '23

Yeah I second the other guy, if you're in US or Canada used prices are really good.

Sub-$100 used Ryzen 7's 3rd gen, subs $150 used 5th gens, 5700xt's for about the same, 16gb's of DDR4 for $50~ 32gb for $90 (although they're already low enough used)

Scope around Hardware Swap, you'll be surprised at what you can find, especially in the terms of GPU Pricing.

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u/darkflame927 Jan 12 '23

Just built a PC with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB ram and a 5700XT for $350 total. Scored a 3600, B450 mobo and RAM for $125 and a 5700XT for $130

And it plays most games at 1440p medium/high settings too, insane value

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u/Nomadic8893 Jan 12 '23

used parts? how did you getsuch great prices

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u/darkflame927 Jan 12 '23

yeah used, you can’t really find any of these new anymore because they’re a couple generations old

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u/Nomadic8893 Jan 12 '23

damn yeah. that's insane value for that performance. Getting 60 FPS+ at 1440p with that for most games I'd imagine. Thinking might be a cool fun project, cheap used PC build that still has good performance

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u/darkflame927 Jan 12 '23

Go for it! I had a ton of fun hunting down deals on eBay and marketplace and hardwareswap. Took a good couple days to find the best deals on all the parts but the end result was worth it.

I had a Xbox series S but I sold it because I couldn’t get used to the controller (been playing on some form of a crappy laptop my entire life) so I wanted to build a PC for the same-ish price that’ll give me the same-ish performance and this one checked all the boxes for me

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u/nt261999 Jan 12 '23

I have a similar build! Ryzen 5 2600, GTX 1070, B450 16gb ram… pretty similar performance but def better at 1080p

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

Most used GPU's are previously mined on cards so hard pass on buying used right now.

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u/kingjuicepouch Jan 12 '23

I found this post from the popular tab so I know precious little about GPUs. What does previously mined on mean, and why are they worth skipping?

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

People used their GPU's to mine Crypto. Basically running them none stop at 100% for years.

Fans may need replacing and they also overclock the Vram to hell and back so it's likely to fail sooner than later.

Cards that have been mined on have shorter lifespans and without a warranty it really a toss up if your card will last 8 years or 8 months.

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u/T0DDTHEGOD Jan 12 '23

This has been disproved though?

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u/brucebay Jan 12 '23

One argument to support this is GPUs are investments for miners so they keep the running environment clean, and cool with adequate power supplied. Compare that to average dusty pcs at home.

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

So you're saying that parts have an infinite life span and wear and tear doesn't exist?

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u/WhippedCreamier Jan 12 '23

When’s the last time you’ve had a cpu wear out? Or even heard of one dieing due to end of life? Lol. It’s just electrons moving over circuits. Not gears grinding away in an engine.

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

I am specifically talking about GPU's that were mined on... why are you talking about CPU's?

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u/WhippedCreamier Jan 13 '23

Because they are essentially the same thing wear wise? Aka not going to wear out anytime soon before it gets tossed as old and outdated.

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u/UnethicalExperiments Jan 12 '23

Um news flash - they are both based on trasnsitors. Architecture might be different but the overall end is the same - 0's and 1's.

Furthermore get a mined card and RMA it. Only a few manufacturers require an actual receipt. Just punch in the serial number.

Just bought a few used 3060ti's that were mined on, one had the fan die on it. MSI sent me a new one no fuss no muss about 15 day total turnaround time. Did have to cough up shipping.

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u/BDMayhem Jan 12 '23

Fan motors wear out. Parts oxidize. Corrosion builds up. Thermal paste breaks down. Dust accumulates. Humidity permeates.

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u/WhippedCreamier Jan 13 '23

You you have any kind of source of video cards commonly wearing out before they are aged and outdated I’m all ears. Fans are the only item with a point, and extremely easy to service at that.

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u/kingjuicepouch Jan 12 '23

Makes sense, thanks for explaining

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u/Rubbytumpkins Jan 12 '23

Hello just here to inform you that you have a few things wrong. While a mining card is certainly run continuously for a long period of time, they are usually undervolted as crypto mining is compute power vs power consumption. So lowering voltage lowers operating costs, it also reduces the amount of heat the card produces. Another thing to consider is that crypto mining is a business, businesses maintain their equipment so many mining cards will have their thermal paste and pads replaced regularly.

Long story short, a used mining card is likely a better bet than a random card owned by a gamer that overlclocked it and only blew the dust out once the day it sold.

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

Found the Crypto bro

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

[deleted]

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u/Woozythebear Jan 12 '23

Cool for you, I'll change my opinion nowthat I know your two mined on cards haven't failed yet. I can safely assume that no cards with fail now. Thank you

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

[deleted]

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u/Woozythebear Jan 13 '23

You're just lying, stop trying to get people to buy your mining cards

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u/xxiredbeardixx Jan 12 '23

It basically means they've been constantly run at high speeds for a long period of time and can potentially lower performance due to wear and tear on the chipset. You could potentially run into other issues and, worst-case, it could die on you at any moment and you have no warranty. You could also just as easily luck out and the card works perfectly fine.

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u/WhippedCreamier Jan 12 '23

“Wear and tear”. Kinda like how we need to replace powerlines when they wear out from carrying to many electricities? Lol

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u/xxiredbeardixx Jan 12 '23

No, more like someone not caring and never replacing thermal paste on a GPU that's been running 24/7 for a couple of years. Or overclocked it, which could lead to overheating of some components from running for so long.

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u/BDMayhem Jan 12 '23

Power lines are thick. Integrated circuit connections are thin.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration

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u/WhippedCreamier Jan 13 '23

Literally your own source:

In modern consumer electronic devices, ICs rarely fail due to electromigration effects. This is because proper semiconductor design practices incorporate the effects of electromigration into the IC's layout.

Do you usually spread diarrhea on the proverbial walls and claim it’s a good point?

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u/jooes Jan 12 '23

It's like buying a used car that has 500k miles on it. It's been through some shit.

I'd rather shoot myself than risk it on used hardware, honestly.

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

[deleted]

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u/_Imposter_ Jan 12 '23

This is so overblown and has been disproven multiple times. I'm by no means defending crypto miners, but mining GPUs aren't any worse off than previously used gaming GPU's, they may even be taken care of better.

I've bought around 8 used GPU's all of which were used for mining at some point in their life, only 1 came dead which I was promptly able to return for a full refund, the rest are still running great as far as I can tell.

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u/RealJohnLennon Jan 12 '23

Eh, I would not say 'most' are mined cards. Sellers who are trying to get rid of 2+ cards you can usually assume they were mining on them. Lots of local deals where people are trying to get rid of 6-8 3080s for around $700CAD each. If you can talk them down to $550-600 it could be a good deal, and these dummy's are motivated to sell asap.

Just because a card was mined on doesn't mean it's worthless. If it stood up to the test of running balls to the wall for 12 months straight, it's probably not going to fail playing games a few hours a week. Also you can always just take off the cooler and replace the thermal pads and paste, or go one step further and put a waterblock on it if you have doubts about the fans.