16:49Machine-translated from Azerbaijani by AIRead in Azerbaijani
2 Mining Rigs With 12 RTX 3070 Graphics Cards Found in Basement
A Reddit user found 2 cryptocurrency mining rigs that had sat unused in a basement for years. The rigs, which were used to mine digital currency, contained 12 Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics cards made by Zotac. The systems were likely used during the COVID-era mining boom and stored in the basement after Ethereum mining became unprofitable. Despite the components having remained unused for a long time, the photos show no serious damage.
In addition to the graphics cards, the rigs have an MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus motherboard and a 1,000 W Rosewill power supply. The power supply has a Gold efficiency certification. The system is equipped with 2 DDR4 RAM modules, each with 4 GB of capacity. It also has 2 SSDs for file storage, each with a capacity of 120 GB. In other words, the find also includes other components needed to build a working computer.
A closer inspection revealed a small amount of silicone leakage on most of the graphics cards. This occurs when thermal pads break down over time and release oil, and it is common in older cards. The cards may need to be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and have their thermal pads and thermal paste replaced. Even so, the hardware can be restored and put back into use.
The RTX 3070 was released in 2020 as a powerful midrange graphics card based on the Ampere architecture. The model has 5,888 CUDA cores and 8 GB of GDDR6 video memory. The card became one of the most popular models of its generation because of its strong gaming performance at 1440p resolution. Its high speed and energy efficiency also made it attractive for cryptocurrency mining.
Cards used for mining are not necessarily unsuitable for gaming. Graphics cards in such rigs are often operated at lower voltage and power levels to reduce electricity costs and temperatures. This mode may place less strain on the chip than normal gaming use. However, the actual condition of the cards found in the basement will be known only after each one is tested individually.
The user will now test the 12 RTX 3070 cards separately to determine how many work. If most of the cards work without problems, the user plans to sell 10 or 11 of them and keep at least 1. Because each card has 8 GB of memory, the find has a total VRAM capacity of 96 GB. At a time when new graphics cards have become more expensive, this much video memory is considered quite valuable.