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I don't know much about GPUs and am curious how this "burn out" happens, do you have a link for those of us who'd like to read more about this?
by cle 5y ago
I don't know much about GPUs and am curious how this "burn out" happens, do you have a link for those of us who'd like to read more about this?
- toomuchtodo 5y agoIf your GPUs run too long hot, the board literally starts to melt (the plastics, solder, etc).
- princeb 5y agoon contrary, miners tend to run gpus undervolted and underclocked for efficiency. gamers tend to run gpus overclocked (and sometimes overvolted) for performance.
- Dylan16807 5y agoMiners care enough about power efficiency and longevity; they don't run cards super hot.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- TrainedMonkey 5y agoMost scale oriented mining rigs I've seen pack cards super close together, even if you run them at reduced frequencies thermal environment is not great. See https://us.v-cdn.net/5021640/uploads/editor/do/j86gsm9cxvl2.jpg https://us.v-cdn.net/5021640/uploads/editor/do/j86gsm9cxvl2.... for example. Aside from a few top end models modern desktop GPUs are not designed for continuous operation at max load. When you combine than with higher temperature the lifespan of the cards is indeed reduced. The real question is how much this matters.
- fomine3 5y agoLatest Nvidia GPUs have large Tensor cores and RT cores but miners never use them. I wonder is it better for the situation.
- op00to 5y agoToo much heat causes flex and movement that can break solder traces, and makes it easier to let the magic smoke out.
- SilverRed 5y agoFlex is caused when the temp changes. Mining cards stay at the same temp and don't move around a lot while overclocked gaming cards are getting flexed multiple times a day
- akelly 5y agoThere's three main ways GPUs wear out, silicon electromigration, electrolytic capacitor dryout, and fan bearing failure. And the first two happen much faster at higher temperatures. Temperatures are similar between gaming and mining, but miners run 24/7 compared to gaming 1-2 hrs/day, so the GPUs age like 10x faster. But still, GPU failures are pretty rare, I think the concern is overblown.
- girvo 5y agoMiners undervolt and often underclock though: heat is their enemy, so they’re more particular about this than gamers are these days.
- irq 5y agoTotally true- I went through the process of manually overclocking my 2080ti for max hash rate and the best settings involved setting a power limit that is less than half the card’s 100% limit.
- emmelaich 5y ago> Heat is their enemy Sometimes literally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8bp8a2QS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8bp8a2QS4 "A Bitcoin Miner Heatstroked In His Sleep. This Is What Happened To His Organs."
- hddherman 5y agoThey also sometimes do GPU BIOS modifications, which is a fun thing to discover once the card ends up on the second-hand market and you happen to buy one. Luckily the fix is to reflash the BIOS using a matching one from TechPowerUp GPU database, but this assumes that you even know that this is something to pay attention to. Source: happened with an RX 560 that I bought second-hand. Driver installation failed in Windows 10 due to the modified GPU BIOS. Was fixed with a reflash of a stock GPU BIOS using atiflash.
- solarkraft 5y agoAny idea what they modified?
- bserge 5y agoJust normal wear, accelerated because it's always under load. The used cards are fine most of the time if the temperatures were stable under 80-90 degC. The main cause of failure is the VRM, those components are the hottest, least reliable and least cooled. Sadly, sometimes a blown transistor or capacitor can take out the whole GPU.