• ch00f@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I thought the efficiency curve for GPUs peaked before 100%. If electricity is your primary cost, driving the GPUs at lower loads saves money.

        So you might end up with GPUs that spent their entire life at a steady 80% load or something.

        • EldritchFeminity
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          3 days ago

          This was my understanding as well - that miners often underclock their GPUs rather than overclock them.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Yes.

      They don’t exactly age, but top of line chips have very large currents in very small conductors. When you do that with DC current, your conductors deform with time, up to the point that they stop working correctly.

      That said, you probably can get plenty of casual use out of them.

    • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Supposedly they do but I’ve had surprisingly good luck with used GPUs from ebay. I’m good with warning others against buying used GPUs on ebay though because then costs will stay lower for me.