Lucky PC scavenger discovers 12 RTX 3070 GPUs from the crypto mining era — cards survived years of basement storage with only minor signs of wear

A Reddit user has recently discovered a cache of 12 Zotac-branded Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics cards, which were once part of old cryptocurrency mining rigs. These GPUs had been stored away in a basement for several years, likely since Ethereum mining became unprofitable. The discovery was shared on the r/PCMasterRace subreddit, where photos of the undamaged hardware were posted.

In addition to the RTX 3070 cards, the system also included an MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus motherboard, a 1000W Gold-rated Rosewill power supply, two 4GB DDR4 RAM sticks, and two 120GB solid-state drives. Upon examination, the user noted minor silicone bleeding on most of the cards, a common issue caused by thermal pads degrading and releasing oil over time.

Commenters suggested that while the cards may require cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and replacement of thermal pads and thermal paste, they are likely salvageable. The RTX 3070 is a mid-range graphics card, based on Nvidia's Ampere architecture with 5,888 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The card gained popularity during the cryptocurrency mining boom due to its balance of performance and power efficiency.

Originally launched in 2020, the RTX 3070 was designed to provide strong 1440p gaming performance. Despite being used for mining, such hardware can still be valuable for gaming. In the case of the Reddit user's find, the 12 RTX 3070 cards combined represent a total of 96GB of VRAM, a significant amount in today's market where newer GPUs command high prices.

The user plans to individually test the GPUs to determine how many are still functioning. If most of them pass testing, they intend to sell 10 or 11 of the cards and keep at least one for personal use.