A gamer bought a used Nvidia graphics card. It comes with a very strange attachment. The community can quickly explain to him what he has bought, but another thing is of much greater concern.
Used hardware is an alternative for many users to save money when purchasing new components. Because used hardware is cheaper than new goods, but in many cases works just as well. Former crypto miners are flooding the market with cheap graphics card deals and are now even selling graphics cards below the recommended retail price.
A gamer recently bought a graphics card used to save money. But it looks quite strange. For this reason, he asked the community for help.
Used graphics card with passive cooler
What did the gamer buy? A gamer posted a picture of a graphics card and explained that he purchased it on Facebook. He writes (via reddit.com):
I recently bought this graphics card on Facebook. I don’t know what that is on top of the GPU. I would appreciate it if someone could identify it and [say whether] I should remove it or not.
What exactly can be seen? The picture shows the inside of the case with the installed graphics card. On the graphics card, there is a strange black object placed that looks like a net or a grid and is placed about two-thirds of the way up the graphics card.
What is it exactly? According to some users, the object is said to be a passive cooling system. You can buy these for graphics cards on Amazon and they typically cost around 10 Euros. Therefore, it is nothing dangerous.
However, some are questioning why an RTX 3060 Ti or an RTX 3070 would need such an attachment. Because these graphics cards typically do not have overheating problems.
Damaged cables worry the community more than the strange attachment
But another thing is worrying the community more than the strange component. As someone mentions:
I would leave it as others have said. But am I the only one who thinks that the cable looks a bit strange?
Others also speculate that the cable must be damaged, judging by how it looks in the picture. And damaged cables should not be used in your gaming PC. Because they can, in the worst case, cause a cable fire in the computer, which could cause significant damage.
Some therefore recommend that he check out manufacturers that offer good cables for gaming systems.
What a faulty cable can do: What a wrong or broken cable can do was tested by a YouTuber. He warns against cheap cables and explains why a faulty or cheap cable can be really dangerous for you and your hardware:
YouTuber shows how you can ruin your gaming PC with a single cable
