Should you buy a used graphics card? After dealing with cryptomining-induced GPU shortages two generations back, the prior generation graphics cards were reasonably available for the past couple of years... and then AI-induced shortages hit, retail availability became a problem, and GPU prices shot up. Finding one of the best graphics cards has become a difficult proposition, at least for certain models, leading many to consider the used graphics card market.
The good news for prior generation GPUs — the Nvidia RTX 40-series, AMD RX 7000-series, and Intel Arc A-series — is that cryptomining hasn't really been profitable for the past 2–3 years. That means any used cards likely haven't been running 24/7 at 100% load for months on end. That doesn't mean all cards have been treated equally well, but if you're careful about how you proceed, a used graphics card isn't necessarily a bad idea.
The bad news is that prices on used graphics cards — using eBay sold listings as a proxy — are likely also far higher than many will be willing to pay. The GPU shortages have caused most previous generation GPUs to increase substantially in price over the past several months. For example, here's a chart showing sold listings for Nvidia's RTX 4070 over the past six months:
