Cool, crypto miners sell repainted GPUs and make them look like new

Now that they don’t have anything left to mine, some Chinese language crypto miners are doing all the pieces they will to dump their closely used mining GPUs. They go in attention-grabbing methods, equivalent to repainting their stock on the market and deceptive patrons by itemizing them as new on some retail websites.

With Consolidation shifting crypto mining from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, the necessity for warehouses stuffed with video playing cards has been diminished dramatically almost overnight (opens in new tab).

Examine Youtuber Alexander Souza (opens in new tab) and Paulo Gomes (through video cards (opens in new tab)), claims that some third-party retailers in China are promoting GPUs that look new however have been retouched to cover the truth that they’re used for crypto mining.

The Brazilian duo shared some indicators that point out whether or not a GPU is getting used or modified in a roundabout way. The simplest technique was to search for a yellow tint within the reminiscence on the GPU, which is at all times brought on by one in every of two methods; prolonged use or they’ve been re-soldered to newer boards.

The video reveals the reminiscence of a mining GPU in several phases of utilization, and you may see the reminiscence go black on model new playing cards. The extra it’s used, the extra yellow it turns into. To cover this, distributors repaint reminiscence chips in GPUs in order that they appear to be new at a look. on this part of the video (opens in new tab)You possibly can see the paint peeling off the chip.

Paint peeling from the memory of a GPU.

Paint peeling from the reminiscence of a GPU. (Picture credit score: Youtube – Iskandar Souza)

There are extra apparent methods to inform if a card has been tampered with; lacking or discolored guarantee labels, in addition to lacking or free screws. This drawback will not be distinctive to Chinese language retailers; TecLab identified a 12 months in the past that repainted GPUs had been paving the way in which for some Brazilian tech retailers.

Soldering reminiscence to a brand new board is a standard trade observe for repairing and refurbishing graphics playing cards. Nevertheless, on this case, the merchandise is normally listed as ‘refurbished’ or ‘refurbished’ at retail and is listed as ‘new’.

So when you’re in a market new GPUstick to first-party sellers with beneficiant return insurance policies.

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