Used 3090 or 3090 Ti?

[Paul17]

I'm seeing a few used 3090s for sale - sometimes, a 3090 Ti.   The 3090 Ti is often recommended over the 3090 because it's A) newer; B) the memory is all on the same side or something like that?; C) newer - so, less likely to have been mined.    So, get a 3090 Ti - if it's close in price to 3090s?

 

Can someone compare these cards?: 

MSI 3090 Ti Gaming X Trio 

Asus 3090 Tuf Gaming.

They're about the same price.   I was wondering if the MSI card will be 'recommended' - the 3080 MSI cards have the plastic backplate, right?   The 3090 series including Ti - have metal (aluminum)?  

 

Is there any reason to consider the Asus Tuf card?  

 

I'm looking at used - the prices are good - cheaper than 4070, 4070 Ti and 7900 XT/XTX. 

 

I want a card for productivity, Blender/Compute, Davinci Resolve/video editing - some gaming.

 

I might have to game in Windows - I would like to undervolt the card - I want to try Linux with it as well as Windows - and I know Nvidia is often problematic in Linux - but, because of the use case - I kinda have to pick a Nvidia card.   The only AMD card worth considering is the 7900 XT/X / RDNA 3 cards - but, they're $1k CAD - even used and much higher, new.   Too expensive.     They're probably 'acceptable' in Blender and DR - but, there's features lacking, though in that area.   But, the biggest obstacle or roadblock with them is the much higher price.

 

What do you think about the used 3090s?   Thanks.  

[Brooksie359]

I would get the 3090 ti personally. As for mining I wouldn't worry about it being used for mining unless they were not treating their card right. Usually to increase profits someone mining would have to undervolt and try and run the card efficiently as possible that way the cost of electricity is lower. So yeah if a miner does it correctly it shouldn't be hard on the gpu.

[Mick Naughty]

Would only get the fe models myself. Love the look and build quality.
Does great for gaming if the cpu can handle it and editing videos is amazing with it. 
If you have the cash for a TI, go for it. Got my 3090 used but came with the $400usd block on it. Nice having a smaller card as well, opens up some build options if you go water some time. 
 

[igormp]

56 minutes ago, Paul17 said:

Is there any reason to consider the Asus Tuf card?  

 

If it's reasonably cheaper of, for some reason, newer, then I'd go for it. Otherwise the 3090ti seems like a better option.

[olofssonjoakim01]

1 hour ago, igormp said:

If it's reasonably cheaper of, for some reason, newer, then I'd go for it. Otherwise the 3090ti seems like a better option.

Yes I think so, but comparing that with 7900 XT isn't right though.
 

[igormp]

6 hours ago, olofssonjoakim01 said:

Yes I think so, but comparing that with 7900 XT isn't right though.
 

OP did mention some use cases that basically leave AMD out of the question tho

[Paul17]

3 hours ago, igormp said:

OP did mention some use cases that basically leave AMD out of the question tho

Perhaps, not out of the question 'per se' - but, some use cases might make an AMD card more 'limiting?'   But, it is good enough in some cases - the problem is it's $300 more than the 3090 / 3090 Ti cards I found* - if they're still for sale when I am ready to buy.    Even the avg priced 3090s are a little cheaper but not by much.   The price gap narrows for avg cards that become available.   The 2 I am currently looking at are $300 cheaper - so, are probably better picks for price alone?    I guess that's understandable, though, as they're older cards while the 7900 XT (for e.g.) is only a year old?  

[Paul17]

On 9/13/2023 at 5:58 AM, igormp said:

OP did mention some use cases that basically leave AMD out of the question tho

Is the 7900 XT - not good at AI?  I am reading that AMD was improving in that dept - but, then there's a bunch of topics (not here) - that it depends on ROCm - and that development is slow.    

 

The 7900 XT and XTX - seems okay with Blender - if you use HIP-RT - but, there's very few benchmarks or reports of ppl providing their performance (scores).

It's okay in Davinci Resolve.   These are the 2 main programs I intend/will use.   So, a 3090 Ti - would be good for either - and in AI/ML too - which aren't the priority but I am interested in that field.   

 

I like that the 7900 XT is A) newer/new gen; B) has AV1 (both encoding & decoding); C) has 20/24 GB (depending on XT/XTX); D) might be a better fit in Linux.   The problem with the cards in Linux though - is that HIP-RT doesn't work yet and the ROCm is not supported (officially) in Linux until ROCm ver. 6.0.    When ppl talk about slow support for AMD graphics cards/software in general - it's even worse in the Linux world - despite the support being open source.

 

Note:  I'd mostly use Windows (I'll dual boot) - but, I want to try the same programs in Linux (eventually). 

 

The other problem with going with a 7900 XT/XTX - is I'd need to save more $$ - which isn't necessarily bad - if I committed to an AMD card - it's just a matter of waiting - there might be some price discounts near Black Friday or in general - used cards might suddenly be available.   But, I'd be waiting for who knows how long - they're about $300+ than the used 3090 Ti cards I found - although, why they're still on the 'used' sites - 2 are on facebook marketplace - do ppl leave the ad up when it's sold?   I dunno.   Good prices, though.

 

The 7900 XT or XTX - I'd probably buy new anyway - so $400 more - is that worth it?   

 

A 3090 Ti power consumption looks pretty close to a 7900 XTX?   So, old gen, Nvidia - so CUDA/OptiX - 'better' for ML and AI - and 'better' for video editing (DR) and Blender - but, the RDNA 3 cards might be narrowing the gap (in performance) in the latter 2 programs/fields.