Used R9 290 - Looks Okay? Help!

[AmisThysia]

Hi all,

 

I'm planning my first ever build - very exciting - and am working on a low budget (around £350). I've decided to go the used parts route (somewhat inspired by Scrapyard Wars..) and found an MSI R9 290 not too far from me. I'm going this Friday and have been assured I'll be able to test it.

 

The questions I have are:

 

1. Based on these images (see https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/538138203486147/?ref=messenger_banner), does the card look okay? On the second image there seems to be some sort of black marking/gunk on one of the chips, on the underside of the GPU.

2. What sort of tests should I run? At the moment I'm planning to just download userbenchmark's tool, check it performs as expected, and then boot up some games to check framerates. Is this sufficient?

 

Thank you in advance for any responses, very much appreciated! :) 

[LukeLinusFanFic]

Not worth. You can get a GTX 970 or rx480 for that price on eBay, probably even less.

(The guy wanted 70 pounds for it, lol)

[Deuxez]

Just now, LukeLinusFanFic said:

Not worth. You can get a GTX 970 or rx480 for that price on eBay, probably even less.

(The guy wanted 70 pounds for it, lol)

Yeah i totally agree. Look for something else and just comment if you want to make sure the new thing got a good value.

[AmisThysia]

1 minute ago, LukeLinusFanFic said:

Not worth. You can get a GTX 970 or rx480 for that price on eBay, probably even less.

I went this route because it allows me to A) not pay for P+P and more importantly B) test the hardware before I spend any money on it. 

 

Howweeevvveeerrr, I just found out that SAPPHIRE do officially refurbished cards on ebay (via realtime_distribution?) and there's a 480 there for £55 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sapphire-RX-480-Nitro-Graphics-Card-4GB-GDDR5-DVI-D-HDMI-Display-Port/174184234980?hash=item288e307fe4:g:En0AAOSwGpBePWHv). Excellent call, thank you! Generally they were going for £70 or more but with no testing opportunity, but the official refurb makes it super worth even if it was £70.

 

Do you have any comments about that black stuff, and what tests are good to run? Just so I can recognise what might/might not be a problem in the future if ever buying components - really I'm doing this build to learn!

[weeblord]

You should get a GTX 970 like this on Ebay.  It's only $90 if you buy out + shipping.

It's worth it at the price you're at.

[AmisThysia]

10 minutes ago, weeblord said:

You should get a GTX 970 like this on Ebay.  It's only $90 if you buy out + shipping.

It's worth it at the price you're at.

Afaik the RX 480 and GTX 970 are pretty much the same performance - found a refurb'd RX 480 for £55 (see above.) Would there be any reason to go for a 970 over (what seems to me) a good RX 480 deal?

16 minutes ago, DankDeuxez said:

Yeah i totally agree. Look for something else and just comment if you want to make sure the new thing got a good value.

See above.

 

Thank you for the response and help, all of you! Definitely a learning experience for me.

[MrPerforations]

I have some AMD™ Radeon™ R280's and they are worth £30 in CEX, so check your price.

that AMD™ Radeon™ RX480 sounds a lot better.

[AmisThysia]

1 hour ago, MrPerforations said:

I have some AMD™ Radeon™ R280's and they are worth £30 in CEX, so check your price.

that AMD™ Radeon™ RX480 sounds a lot better.

That's their buy price - unfortunately the sell price is approx. double in CeX, so a 280 costs £60 there, and a 290 costs £70 (although will have been tested so still would have been a better deal!) Came close to getting ripped off.

By contrast their 4gb rx480s are going for £95, so the £55 deal on ebay seems like what I'll go for.

 

Thanks!

[SpaceGhostC2C]

6 hours ago, AmisThysia said:

Howweeevvveeerrr, I just found out that SAPPHIRE do officially refurbished cards on ebay (via realtime_distribution?) and there's a 480 there for £55

That's a steal.

 

6 hours ago, weeblord said:

You should get a GTX 970 like this on Ebay.  It's only $90 if you buy out + shipping.

It's worth it at the price you're at.

 

I doubt USD 90 +shipping to the UK is worth it.

In the US, maybe. Maybe still too high for a 970 or a R9 290.

 

5 hours ago, AmisThysia said:

Afaik the RX 480 and GTX 970 are pretty much the same performance - found a refurb'd RX 480 for £55 (see above.) Would there be any reason to go for a 970 over (what seems to me) a good RX 480 deal?

 

It depends - do you like less VRAM and older hardware?