Video Illustrates How Prolonged Crypto Mining Affects a GPU
A recent video has been making the rounds showcasing the effects of prolonged stress on desktop graphics cards. In the video, the YouTuber Testing Games claims to compare a new RTX 2080 Ti card to one that has been used for 18 months for crypto mining.
On the screen, we can see that the RTX 2080 Ti that has been subjected to crypto mining runs hotter than the brand new one resulting in lower GPU clock speeds. In fact, there are differences across all games benchmarked.
However, it should be noted that there are some flaws in Testing Games' benchmarks. The YouTuber did not benchmark the used RTX 2080 Ti after reapplying its thermal compounds meaning it remains unclear if crypto mining affects in-game performance in the long term more than gaming does.
Still, the video does serve as a warning when purchasing second-hand. If you still choose to purchase second hand we would advise you to clean the fans of the used graphics card in order to improve performance. You may also re-paste a card's GPU.
Now that's some good advice for gamers!