I recently bought a secondhand Palit GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming Pro 24GB GPU from CEX for £575. That’s not pocket change, especially for a used card, but the 24GB of VRAM was the big attraction.
For anyone interested in local LLMs, that amount of memory is a game-changer. It provides the headroom to run open-source models comfortably and still have VRAM available for larger context windows without spilling into system RAM. In that respect the card does deliver. It loads models well and runs them as expected.
The problem is the noise. The fans on this thing are unbelievably loud. When they ramp up it sounds more like a jet engine or a leaf blower than a GPU. Even on older titles like Resident Evil Village, the fan noise kicks in to the point where it spoils the gameplay. For a card I’ve just paid £575 for, that’s not acceptable.
This is the reality of buying a secondhand 3090. You don’t really know how hammered the card has been over the years. Many of these will have been used for crypto mining, often pushed 24/7 at full tilt with the VRAM running flat out. Others will have been overclocked to their absolute limits just to squeeze out a few extra frames.
The end result is a card that may still technically “work,” but is well past its best in terms of thermals and noise.
CEX do give a 5 year warranty, which on the surface sounds reassuring. I’ve already contacted them to ask for a properly tested replacement card, because what I received doesn’t match what I’d expect for the price I paid.
The issue is how they test. As far as I can tell they run Furmark for maybe 10 minutes and call it good. For a high end card like a 3090, that is nowhere near enough. These GPUs need to be tested under sustained heavy load to check the VRAM junction temps, hotspot behaviour, and how the fans cope when pushed. Anything less is just a box ticking exercise.
Yes, the 3090 still holds its value because of the VRAM. And yes, if you want to run local LLMs, it remains one of the most desirable consumer GPUs available. But be realistic about what you are getting secondhand. For me, the performance on the AI side is exactly what I wanted. The noise though is unacceptable and takes away from the whole experience.
So if you are looking at one of these cards from CEX or anywhere else secondhand, be cautious.
Ask yourself how many years it has been hammered, whether it was used for mining, and what corners were cut before it was boxed up and resold. The specs look fantastic on paper, but the reality can be very different once you actually get the card in your system.
For anyone interested in local LLMs, that amount of memory is a game-changer. It provides the headroom to run open-source models comfortably and still have VRAM available for larger context windows without spilling into system RAM. In that respect the card does deliver. It loads models well and runs them as expected.
The problem is the noise. The fans on this thing are unbelievably loud. When they ramp up it sounds more like a jet engine or a leaf blower than a GPU. Even on older titles like Resident Evil Village, the fan noise kicks in to the point where it spoils the gameplay. For a card I’ve just paid £575 for, that’s not acceptable.
This is the reality of buying a secondhand 3090. You don’t really know how hammered the card has been over the years. Many of these will have been used for crypto mining, often pushed 24/7 at full tilt with the VRAM running flat out. Others will have been overclocked to their absolute limits just to squeeze out a few extra frames.
The end result is a card that may still technically “work,” but is well past its best in terms of thermals and noise.
CEX do give a 5 year warranty, which on the surface sounds reassuring. I’ve already contacted them to ask for a properly tested replacement card, because what I received doesn’t match what I’d expect for the price I paid.
The issue is how they test. As far as I can tell they run Furmark for maybe 10 minutes and call it good. For a high end card like a 3090, that is nowhere near enough. These GPUs need to be tested under sustained heavy load to check the VRAM junction temps, hotspot behaviour, and how the fans cope when pushed. Anything less is just a box ticking exercise.
Yes, the 3090 still holds its value because of the VRAM. And yes, if you want to run local LLMs, it remains one of the most desirable consumer GPUs available. But be realistic about what you are getting secondhand. For me, the performance on the AI side is exactly what I wanted. The noise though is unacceptable and takes away from the whole experience.
So if you are looking at one of these cards from CEX or anywhere else secondhand, be cautious.
Ask yourself how many years it has been hammered, whether it was used for mining, and what corners were cut before it was boxed up and resold. The specs look fantastic on paper, but the reality can be very different once you actually get the card in your system.