Thermal cycling such as is typical in a gaming PC is far more damaging than constant temperatures. Underclock/volting cards to get a consistent higher net yiel

Thermal cycling such as is typical in a gaming PC is far more damaging than constant temperatures. Underclock/volting cards to get a consistent higher net yield is standard practice in crypto mining, just as ovectclicking/volting is standard practice in enthusiast gamer circles. The latter being way more damaging for the GPU. Those that obtain the electricity illegally, or incredibly cheaply would not be the ones selling cards now. As for fans, the things that reduce the fan's lifetime the most is dust buildup and high positive pressure configurations. Both of these are typical for bedroom gamer setups. Miner cards run in cleaner environments and open frames. I would definetly buy a GPU from a miner over one from a gamer.