The end of the cryptocurrency boom means different things for different people. For OEMs, it usually results in a sharp drop in sales, primarily due to the emergence of a large volume of cheap, second-hand units, while for gamers, it’s a time of opportunity. While GPUs used for mining should generally work for a year or two with some maintenance, you should still be careful with what you buy.
Miners in China have started getting rid of their gear as the profitability of Bitcoin and Ethereum has continued to drop over the last few months. The GPUs being sold include many latest GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD such as the Radeon RX 6000 and the GeForce RTX 30 series for close or even lower than the MSRP.
The GeForce RTX 3070 has been going for $499, the RTX 3060 Ti for $370, and the RTX 3060 for under $300. These prices are hardly justified for second-hand units, but considering recent market prices, you can guess the kind of reactions gamers would have looking at them.
As always, buying a second-hand part is a risk, and you might get something completely different from what you were promised, or the product might simply stop working in a few days or weeks.
Source: HKPC
