4 ms·

GPUs are already too expensive for gamers and now you want to do this?!

zawerf 9y ago
Isn't this good for gamers? They get to sell their idle gpu time and basically get a gpu for free. If he's really paying 2x more than cryptomining, this translates to paying off a gtx 1080 in a few months even taking into account electricity costs.
- 0xfaded 9y ago
  How do GPU's "wear", or in other words degrade with use. I often see people stating they would not buy an ex-miner GPU because of it's hard life.
  - KVFinn 9y ago
    >How do GPU's "wear", or in other words degrade with use. I often see people stating they would not buy an ex-miner GPU because of it's hard life. It's kind of overblown. If you run well within the temperature and power limits they are still usually good for years at 24/7. Usually they run a bit hotter or slower because something has evaporated or slightly worn out, or maybe a fan died that needs to be replaced, but otherwise are fine. If you are lending out your own GPUS presumably you can set a reasonable power and temperature limit.
    - snuxoll 9y ago
      I'd be lest worried about the GPU itself dying and more the fans running 24/7 at higher speeds. Still, a decent fan should last for years even running at 100% PWM - and most GPU's come with fairly length (often lifetime) warranties. I would love to let my 1080 Ti be put to use when I'm not playing games on it, cryptocurrenty mining was fairly profitable until a month or so ago and now the power usage (even at $0.10/KWh) isn't covered by the returns after paying the tax bill (I could always file the revenue under my LLC and deduct the electricity expenses and even deprecate the hardware cost, but without a dedicated rig and power monitoring it's a tax audit nightmare waiting to happen).
  - largote 9y ago
    The silicon itself gets effectively no wear and the board is actually better because it doesn't get heat-cycled as much. The fans are in a bit worse shape, but those tend to be easily replaceable if they fail.
proofofmoon 9y ago
AI research demand is a lot easier for AMD/Nvidia to project, which allows them to ramp up production and keep prices stable. Side note: AI research is more beneficial to society than running a few instances of Crysis 9 at 4K 120HZ.
- Samin100 9y ago
  Also much better than calculating the inverse of hash functions!
- lovelearning 9y ago
  ...potentially more beneficial. Also potentially very harmful depending on what it gets used for.
  - blattimwind 9y ago
    Let's just say that AI research can be useful, and thus this use of GPU time and electricity can be useful; in contrast to the alternative alternative-GPU-use, which is not useful in the first place.
ClassyJacket 9y ago
If you were paying enough that it was worth people buying GPUs just for this, you'd be better off just buying them yourself.
- mathgeek 9y ago
  Maybe. Since demand already outstrips supply for GPU's, it might be better to be the scale owner than to buy pickaxes.

Isn't this good for gamers? They get to sell their idle gpu time and basically get a gpu for free. If he's really paying 2x more than cryptomining, this translates to paying off a gtx 1080 in a few months even taking into account electricity costs.

0xfaded 9y ago
How do GPU's "wear", or in other words degrade with use. I often see people stating they would not buy an ex-miner GPU because of it's hard life.
- KVFinn 9y ago
  >How do GPU's "wear", or in other words degrade with use. I often see people stating they would not buy an ex-miner GPU because of it's hard life. It's kind of overblown. If you run well within the temperature and power limits they are still usually good for years at 24/7. Usually they run a bit hotter or slower because something has evaporated or slightly worn out, or maybe a fan died that needs to be replaced, but otherwise are fine. If you are lending out your own GPUS presumably you can set a reasonable power and temperature limit.
  - snuxoll 9y ago
    I'd be lest worried about the GPU itself dying and more the fans running 24/7 at higher speeds. Still, a decent fan should last for years even running at 100% PWM - and most GPU's come with fairly length (often lifetime) warranties. I would love to let my 1080 Ti be put to use when I'm not playing games on it, cryptocurrenty mining was fairly profitable until a month or so ago and now the power usage (even at $0.10/KWh) isn't covered by the returns after paying the tax bill (I could always file the revenue under my LLC and deduct the electricity expenses and even deprecate the hardware cost, but without a dedicated rig and power monitoring it's a tax audit nightmare waiting to happen).
- largote 9y ago
  The silicon itself gets effectively no wear and the board is actually better because it doesn't get heat-cycled as much. The fans are in a bit worse shape, but those tend to be easily replaceable if they fail.

proofofmoon 9y ago

AI research demand is a lot easier for AMD/Nvidia to project, which allows them to ramp up production and keep prices stable. Side note: AI research is more beneficial to society than running a few instances of Crysis 9 at 4K 120HZ.

Samin100 9y ago
Also much better than calculating the inverse of hash functions!
lovelearning 9y ago
...potentially more beneficial. Also potentially very harmful depending on what it gets used for.
- blattimwind 9y ago
  Let's just say that AI research can be useful, and thus this use of GPU time and electricity can be useful; in contrast to the alternative alternative-GPU-use, which is not useful in the first place.

ClassyJacket 9y ago

If you were paying enough that it was worth people buying GPUs just for this, you'd be better off just buying them yourself.

mathgeek 9y ago
Maybe. Since demand already outstrips supply for GPU's, it might be better to be the scale owner than to buy pickaxes.