Unboxing the AMD Instinct Mi60 Shroud & Fan: Is It Worth Buying Used in 2025 for Blender & AI?
In this post, I will walk you through the unboxing and first impressions of the AMD Instinct Mi60 GPU cooling fan and shroud, which I purchased used from eBay for my Blender and AI development workstation in 2025. You can find the exact item here: AMD GPU Cooling Fan Shroud for Mi50 / Mi60 on eBay
My 2025 Workstation Build
Here is a breakdown of my current workstation, which was upgraded to support the AMD Instinct Mi60 GPU thanks to the arrival of the aftermarket shroud and fan:
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Case | Deepcool Tesseract BF (with 1 original fan) |
| Additional Cooling | 5x Thermalright TL-S12 120mm Case Fans |
| Motherboard | Used MSI B550-A PRO ProSeries |
| RAM | 32 GB Timetec DDR4 2133 MHz (2×16 GB) |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (with integrated graphics) |
| Power Supply | SAMA G850W ATX 3.1 |
| GPU | AMD Instinct Mi60 with newly installed shroud and fan |
Note: The Mi60 was passively cooled until I installed the shroud. It is now actively cooled and runs much more reliably under Blender and AI workloads.
Unboxing & First Impressions
Although the listing described it as an “AMD GPU Cooling Fan Shroud Mi50 RADEON INSTINCT Accelerator Card EXTRA SMALL AI”, it fit perfectly on my Mi60 card.
- Build Quality: Solid aluminum construction with a compact footprint
- Cooling: Once installed, airflow improved drastically
- Fitment: Seamless installation on the Mi60 with the existing screw points
Theoretical Benchmark Comparison
Below is a comparison of the AMD Instinct Mi60 (32 GB HBM2) versus an EVGA GeForce GTX 950 (2 GB GDDR5), showing their theoretical compute capabilities and representative synthetic benchmark scores.
| Metric | AMD Instinct Mi60 | EVGA GTX 950 |
|---|---|---|
| FP32 (single precision) | ~14.75 TFLOPS | (Not specified, but substantially lower) |
| FP64 (double precision) | ~7.37 TFLOPS | (Negligible / minimal) |
| Memory Bandwidth | ~1024 GB/s (1 TB/s) | ~105.8 GB/s |
| CompuBench Face Detection | Not listed | ~60 mPixels/s |
| CompuBench Ocean Surface Sim. | Not listed | ~759 FPS |
| CompuBench T-Rex (FPS) | Not listed | ~4.3 FPS |
The Mi60 offers orders of magnitude more compute power and VRAM—especially critical for large Blender scenes or AI workloads—while the GTX 950 is severely constrained by its 2 GB VRAM and limited bandwidth. The Mi60 is clearly the superior choice if you can manage cooling and drivers.
Live Screencast & Screenshots
Below, you will find combined screenshots of:
- The unboxing
- Case airflow configuration
- Blender GPU preferences showing the Mi60
- ROCm test setup for AI inference
Screenshots And Screencast
Is the Mi60 Worth Buying Used in 2025?
Yes, with some caveats. Here is how it performs in my build:
| Feature | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Blender Rendering | Excellent with HIP support |
| AI Model Training | Good with ROCm – less mainstream than NVIDIA |
| Cooling | Great with added airflow from TL-S12 fans |
| Software Support | Needs ROCm (best on Ubuntu LTS) |
| Value | Fantastic if bought used and properly cooled |
Want to Learn More?
If you are learning Python for AI, scripting in Blender, or GPU programming, I have published the following:
You can also enroll in my online course:
One-on-One Python, Blender & AI Support
I also offer personalized 1-on-1 online tutorials and services, including:
- Python programming basics to advanced
- Blender scripting and automation
- Setting up and using AMD GPUs for AI
- ROCm installation and migration from CUDA
Let’s Chat
Have you tried building with used server GPUs like the Mi60? Would you consider installing your own fan shroud to save money? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
🚀 Recommended Resources
Disclosure: Some of the links above are referral links. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase at no extra cost to you.
