Second Hand GTX 970

[TheCaptain53]

So I'm currently running an FX-6300 with a GTX 960. I've been happy with this setup ever since I built it a few months ago.

I've seen a second hand GTX 970 for sale for pretty cheap, about £70-£80 below the RRP (which I think equates to $90-$110).

I'm already well aware that my AMD will bottleneck the GTX 970, but it's come up cheap and I'd be crazy not to buy it as I plan on upgrading to an i5 sometime in the future anyway.

The specific iteration in question is the EVGA GTX 970 SC.

I've already requested to see it running in a system before I even consider buying.

Would there be any potential issues buying a second hand graphics card that aren't immediately apparent if it's seen running and functional? Also, what should I look out for?

[Tim Drake]

WHAT REALLY?

 

SELL THE 960 AND GET IT RN

 

WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT BOTTLENECKS JUST SAVE UP FOR I5 BUILD

[Dabombinable]

So I'm currently running an FX-6300 with a GTX 960. I've been happy with this setup ever since I built it a few months ago.

I've seen a second hand GTX 970 for sale for pretty cheap, about £70-£80 below the RRP (which I think equates to $90-$110).

I'm already well aware that my AMD will bottleneck the GTX 970, but it's come up cheap and I'd be crazy not to buy it as I plan on upgrading to an i5 sometime in the future anyway.

The specific iteration in question is the EVGA GTX 970 SC.

I've already requested to see it running in a system before I even consider buying.

Would there be any potential issues buying a second hand graphics card that aren't immediately apparent if it's seen running and functional? Also, what should I look out for?

Well its impossible to tell without actually getting the card how bad the coil whine is. And you don't know how its been used.

[Kyuubixchidori]

So I'm currently running an FX-6300 with a GTX 960. I've been happy with this setup ever since I built it a few months ago.

I've seen a second hand GTX 970 for sale for pretty cheap, about £70-£80 below the RRP (which I think equates to $90-$110).

I'm already well aware that my AMD will bottleneck the GTX 970, but it's come up cheap and I'd be crazy not to buy it as I plan on upgrading to an i5 sometime in the future anyway.

The specific iteration in question is the EVGA GTX 970 SC.

I've already requested to see it running in a system before I even consider buying.

Would there be any potential issues buying a second hand graphics card that aren't immediately apparent if it's seen running and functional? Also, what should I look out for?

I bought used mined on cards before and haven't had problems. and fx-6300 shouldnt bottleneck to much in to many games, and if it does, it will only be higher then 1080P60fps, unless its a cpu bound game, which is the vast minority. I used one with a 7970 with zero bottlenecking. 

 

look out for wierd fan noises, coil wine, and atrifacting. besides that your good. 

[Arcanekitten]

well check for artifact a reason why he wants to sell it if the cooler works correctly and maybe ask if you can run a benchmark on so you can check temp and fps so you can verify that the fps and temp are good

[LegacyStijncat]

Would there be any potential issues buying a second hand graphics card that aren't immediately apparent if it's seen running and functional? Also, what should I look out for?

Ask if he overclocked, and what manufacturer the card is. Look for dust and scratches.

[Arcanekitten]

WHAT REALLY?

 

SELL THE 960 AND GET IT RN

 

WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT BOTTLENECKS JUST SAVE UP FOR I5 BUILD

Its crazy cheap yeah

[Lays]

Well its impossible to tell without actually getting the card how bad the coil whine is. And you don't know how its been used.

 

 

Doesn't really matter how the card has been used, 970's are still very new, and have limiters in place preventing over-volting, (which is what actually would damage the card).

 

There's hardware resistors soldered onto 90% of the 970s that prevent going over 1.32v, so the odds of it being extremely screwed up is very very unlikely. (Especially since 1.32v is not going to kill a card)

[Dabombinable]

Doesn't really matter how the card has been used, 970's are still very new, and have limiters in place preventing over-volting, (which is what actually would damage the card).

 

There's hardware resistors soldered onto 90% of the 970s that prevent going over 1.32v, so the odds of it being extremely screwed up is very very unlikely. (Especially since 1.32v is not going to kill a card)

2 words: Modded Bios.

[Lays]

2 words: Modded Bios.

 

 

Modded BIOS does not matter, the resistors PREVENT things like this.

 

[Dabombinable]

Modded BIOS does not matter, the resistors PREVENT anything over 1.32 volts.

Then explain how it is possible to go past the 'physical' limit with a modded bios?

[TheCaptain53]

So... To sum it all up:

-The GTX 970 is a pretty new card and so the potential for prematurely shagging it is low.
-Check for artefacting and coil whine
-Run a benchmark and see how it compares to other GTX 970s.

Thanks for the help!

[Lays]

Then explain how it is possible to go past the 'physical' limit with a modded bios?

 

 

Because the stock BIOS's don't have the physical limit applied, they have a 1.212-1.275v limit applied (depending on the GPU), where the resistor has effected anything yet.  The resistors are just a further "insurance" feature Nvidia makes people put on their cards.

 

The 970/980 thread on OCN is full of people putting 1.4v bios's on their cards and not receving over 1.325v, the only way to get rid of that is to unsolder the resistor, or put liquid metal over the resistor, effectively bypassing it.

[Sir Asvald]

So I'm currently running an FX-6300 with a GTX 960. I've been happy with this setup ever since I built it a few months ago.

I've seen a second hand GTX 970 for sale for pretty cheap, about £70-£80 below the RRP (which I think equates to $90-$110).

I'm already well aware that my AMD will bottleneck the GTX 970, but it's come up cheap and I'd be crazy not to buy it as I plan on upgrading to an i5 sometime in the future anyway.

The specific iteration in question is the EVGA GTX 970 SC.

I've already requested to see it running in a system before I even consider buying.

Would there be any potential issues buying a second hand graphics card that aren't immediately apparent if it's seen running and functional? Also, what should I look out for?

£70-80 for a 970?! Hollly. I need one!

[Dabombinable]

£70-80 for a 970?! Hollly. I need one!

Below the RRP, so its not the price its being sold for but how much less its being sold for.

[Sir Asvald]

Below the RRP, so its not the price its being sold for but how much less its being sold for.

Oh. Fail

[TheCaptain53]

Because the stock BIOS's don't have the physical limit applied, they have a 1.212-1.275v limit applied (depending on the GPU), where the resistor has effected anything yet.  The resistors are just a further "insurance" feature Nvidia makes people put on their cards.

 

The 970/980 thread on OCN is full of people putting 1.4v bios's on their cards and not receving over 1.325v, the only way to get rid of that is to unsolder the resistor, or put liquid metal over the resistor, effectively bypassing it.

With this in mind, what should I look out for?