Astro Bug

CAMPBELL, Calif. - AstroBug -- eRacks Open Source Systems today published the process it applies to refurbished and renewed parts, after a customer's IT team asked for the details.

eRacks builds its new systems with new parts from authorized US distribution and validated-new sources, and that remains the default. Some customers ask for platforms that are no longer made, such as the AMD Threadripper 3000 series, or for the GeForce RTX 3090, the last GeForce card with NVLink. Those parts come refurbished or renewed, and eRacks puts each one through its own process:

1. Inspection on arrival, and parts that fall short are returned. Not every "refurbished" part passes. 2. Rework on graphics cards: fans checked and replaced as needed, thermal compound or pads always replaced, worn connectors, plugs or jacks replaced, visibly marginal solder joints resoldered, then cleaned and reassembled. 3. Assembly, double- and triple-checked, with every card recognized by its driver. 4. The operating system and drivers, with eRacks' own testing and burn-in suite. 5. A 72-hour burn-in under full load, with temperatures logged and driver logs watched. A part that fails is replaced and the burn-in restarts from zero. 6. On AI servers, the AI stack, benchmarked with real models before shipment.

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"Replacing fans, reassembling and checking everything is part of what refurbished or renewed should mean," said Joseph Wolff, founder and CTO of eRacks. "We double- and triple-check everything and make sure it's neat, clean and proper, and we have rejected and returned so-called refurbished parts that didn't meet our standards."

Refurbished parts are labeled as such in eRacks quotes, and refurbished GPUs carry a one-year warranty. The 72-hour burn-in is the same one every eRacks system receives.

The full post is on the eRacks blog: https://blog.eracks.com/2026/10/refurbished-renewed-gpu-process/