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AMD RX 6800 and 6900 graphics cards recently came into the limelight after a number of them broke due to the GPU actually cracking physically, and we now have a clear answer as to why this happened.
This comes from KrisFix on YouTube (who runs a German repair shop that fixes hardware), who noticed the many such AMD GPUs that showed up on his doorstep that had died due to cracking.
At the time, there was plenty of speculation that AMD’s driver might be a possible cause – since all owners of these graphics cards had the latest version – but as KrisFix explains in a new youtube video (opens in new tab) (marked by Tom’s hardware (opens in new tab)), that was not the case.
In fact, KrisFix proposes a theory that the problem was caused by a combination of two factors: the GPUs are ex-crypto mining models and the way they were stored before sale.
KrisFix notes that the problem cards were all sold in late November or early December 2022 and likely came from the same second-hand source, which is a crypto-mining farm that sells a load of these AMD Radeon models.
So the idea is that these graphics cards were super-powered 24/7 during their mining duties and then probably stored in a bad environment, perhaps a warehouse with high humidity.
This means that when buyers got their GPUs through, they worked fine at first, but when gaming (or other intense workloads) pushed chip temperatures high due to the damage from the excessive humidity (combined with all those previous miles on the clock from mining), the GPU just cracked. Owners might have taken a day or two out of the cards — maybe even three — before popping.
All of the broken graphics cards showed the same type of damage and were generally in a similar condition – and the coolers had been cleaned too. (Normally there would be some dust in a second-hand graphics card, but in this case all the cards were clean, suggesting that the mining farm owner had refurbished them all before putting them up for sale).
Analysis: the dangers of the second-hand GPU market
This isn’t really a surprise as when we originally reported on this issue we noted that the affected models could be ex-mining GPUs. What KrisFix says here makes sense to us, and also explains why we don’t see this problem anywhere else – a local mining operation shut down and sold all of its graphics cards (stocked the same way) to buyers in the area, many of whom turned to this repair shop to address their woes when the GPU broke.
So the good news is that this won’t be a widespread problem for RX 6900 and RX 6800 models, and AMD’s graphics driver isn’t to blame (which KrisFix underscores in this latest video).
Instead, this episode serves as a pretty stark warning about the dangers of buying GPUs that were formerly ragged on a large mining farm, and that it’s not just the workload they’re exposed to, but the ravages of the environment ( and even storage after farm life, before the cards are actually sold).
In short, buy an ex-my graphics card at your own risk, as there are obvious and obvious risks associated with these GPUs. The problem is that sellers often don’t disclose that a pre-owned card is ex-mining stock because they know that would be off-putting to many people. So you are in a situation where you have to rely on the reputation of the seller and their integrity in being truthful about the past life of the graphics card.
All of these dangers are compounded at a time when crypto is falling off a cliff, as happened last year, and mining operations are giving up and clearly trying to sell their shares as a last-ditch cash grab. In times like these, the second-hand GPU market can become a bit of a minefield, so take extra care when buying second-hand.