Are used graphics cards worth the risk? | Ask an expert - carlintaid1947

Brad Chacos/IDG

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

A: The reply depends. Spell this purchasing scheme rear save a destiny of money, we generally advise against used screen background art cards. That's especially so during multiplication like these, when the risk of getting a GPU battered by crypto-mining use is much high. Equally my colleague Brad Chacos, our resident GPU guru, likes to point out, discrete artwork card game have a lot of moving parts, and they're easy to overclock. Those two things combined make them a much more dangerous wager to interest cold cash on—put enough emphasise on a GPU, and it'll have a high likelihood of succumbing to an in the first place-than-expected death. Add on the brutality of nightly mining workloads, and that card could go toes-up even faster. You don't want to be the unmatchable curst it so.

That aforesaid, some lot seat transform a pre-owned graphics card into a less risky proposition. It's possible to genuinely make KO'd well when buying from a trusted person who says the card's never been used for excavation, or who has unveiled light minelaying employ and is interrogatory for practically less than the card's worth supported its age, type of use, and frequency of use.

(By the by—in type you were wondering, buying a used CPU is less risky.)

As for a laptop with a discrete GPU, we recommend even more caution. Before the latest mining boom, opting for a previously loved gaming notebook would wealthy person been a likely mode to circumnavigate high prices for desktop graphics cards. But as rumored back in February by Turkey cock's Hardware, miners make been getting around the dearth of background graphics card game past buying dozens of high-end laptops and putt them to work. You no longer can desire that a relatively new pre-owned laptop computer hasn't been pushed to the terminus ad quem prior to it being put to sleep up for sale.

Even up older notebooks aren't unaffected to this kinda wear-and-tear risk. In general, laptops have even many complicated designs than a desktop graphics card, and it's hard to know how much they've been pushed and how that's affected the machine's lifetime. About the sole scenario that makes common sense to roll down the dice on is when your booster or loved ace truly only used it for gambling, didn't advertise information technology hard, and are request for a fair grocery store price.

Note: When you purchase something later on clicking links in our articles, we may make a small commission. Learn our affiliate link policy for more details.

Alaina Yee is PCWorld's resident bargain hunter—when she's not natural covering PC building, computer components, miniskirt-PCs, and Thomas More, she's scouring for the best technical school deals. Previously her work has appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine. You can find her on Twitter at @morphingball.