Do I buy used 1080 Ti FTW for $380?

[inox]

So I'm currently running a 750 Ti in a pretty price-for-performance oriented setup and looking at upgrade options. I tend more towards strategy games than massive graphical blowout AAA shooters, but I do still play new releases and I do like to gaze at eye candy sometimes.

 

In my area, there are a few decent deals on used cards, including a $200 1060 3gb (claims it was never used, but came with pre-built system and I might be able to talk the price down), and the $380 used EVGA 1080 Ti FTW 3 (I believe that's an 11gb card) mentioned in the title. Normally I'd go for the 1060 and not think much of it, as that's good enough for me, but the 1080 is priced so low that I'm considering going for the overkill card. $380 is a lot for me, but doable. Because this card is obviously overkill for me, I'm wondering if it's reasonable to think of this as a long-term investment (say even 6 years). I usually go for cards in the $150-200 range and use them for about 3-4 years, so the 1080 would be an increase in yearly cost, but I figure on the front end I would have substantially better performance and probably pretty comparable performance to upgrading in 3 years to a mid-range card.

 

I'm basically asking for people with experience with very high end cards on how gracefully they age (if I'm going to end up wanting to upgrade again in a few years anyway) the and if the performance boost I'd get over the lifetime of the card is justifiable given the increased year over year cost of ownership for a moderate gamer over just sticking with mid-range cards for the same period.

 

The other relevant factors to consider:

-I'm running an i5-4460, so my CPU is not up to the level of the 1080, and the next upgrade is probably going to be in a year or so, once I've saved up money for it.

 

-I wouldn't need to upgrade anything else to use the 1080 (PSU, etc. are all fine).

 

[Slottr]

That seems kinda cheap for a 1080ti...

 

 

[TVwazhere]

6 minutes ago, inox said:

I'm wondering if it's reasonable to think of this as a long-term investment (say even 6 years).

I'm more wondering what the previous user was doing with that card. $380 for a FTW is EXTREMELY low. It might have been used for mining which would theoretically reduce it's life span (since miners usually run them maxed out 24/7 for a long time)

 

I'd be really cautious about that. 

[Froody129]

12 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I'm more wondering what the previous user was doing with that card. $380 for a FTW is EXTREMELY low. It might have been used for mining which would theoretically reduce it's life span (since miners usually run them maxed out 24/7 for a long time)

 

I'd be really cautious about that. 

I wouldn't be worried about mining at all, unless theyamaged to actually damage it doing so (unlikely). I would be worried about the low price. Seems a bit fishy to be selling it for so low and you might be getting something else and the seller running off with your money 

[TVwazhere]

Just now, Froody129 said:

I wouldn't be worried about mining at all, unless theyamaged to actually damage it doing so (unlikely). I would be worried about the low price. Seems a bit fishy to be selling it for so low and you might be getting something else and the seller running off with your money 

I personally would be

 

Then again, this is EVGA. So the Warranty is attached to the product, not the consumer. So that's one advantage (so long as it's a legit 1080ti FTW3)

[Biggerboot]

Seems too low to be legit, but if this is for a local listing you could ask the seller for proof that it works or if he'll let you check the card out in person first.

Personally I got a 1070 recently for the same price and with the same sort of use you're describing.  Video cards age all the same, but you can count on getting about 5-7 years of driver support.  You can look at it as an investment in that sense, but price:performance in that many years is an unknown. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

That's sketchy as hell. I'd look at used 1080 (not ti)s or a new 1070 Ti for a bit more

[Biggerboot]

1 minute ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

That's sketchy as hell. I'd look at used 1080 (not ti)s or a new 1070 Ti for a bit more

Yeah, even 1070s now are cheaper than they were a few months ago.  You may be able to find one legit for ~$325

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, Biggerboot said:

Yeah, even 1070s now are cheaper than they were a few months ago.  You may be able to find one legit for ~$325

Maybe even about $250-300 if you get lucky

[Biggerboot]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Maybe even about $250-300 if you get lucky

= haggle on craigslist or hardware swap.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

3 minutes ago, Biggerboot said:

= haggle on craigslist or hardware swap.

Yeah, I'm currently losing a battle over a 970 Strix (one of my fav looking cards ever), looks like it's going for $190 to so

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

4 minutes ago, Biggerboot said:

= haggle on craigslist or hardware swap.

Yeah, I'm currently losing a battle over a 970 Strix (one of my fav looking cards ever), looks like it's going for $190 to some dope who has no idea how much a 970 is worth

[Toysrme]

No way that's real. The best you'll ever find used high end video cards is taking the going Ebay sale rate (average the completed-sold listings over a week or month).
Then subtract 26% for ebay & paypal fees. Don't forget to add in shipping. So for the 1080Ti's I've finished offloading on ebay at $750usd; The cheapest one I sold I took $600 cash to a guy locally whom was buying it for his friend (basically I sold the card for $550 + $50 cost for us to run and ship it to his friend with $800 insurance on it).

That's how you get "good deals" on things. Don't use ebay & Paypal... Use ebay just as a guide on the going rate of something. I made the same thing selling it to him IRL at $550usd as I would have selling it on ebay + paypal for $750. $550usd is SUPER CHEAP for a 1080Ti right now. The going rate is still $675-750'ish (725-800 for the watercooled cards).

[inox]

Sorry, for those worried about the low price, I should mention I've been watching it for a while. It was initally listed for $500. Two months ago. My local market is hilariously terrible for sellers (I know from experience). It is also a local listing, so it's not as though I have to fork over the money sight-unseen.

 

However, my presumption is that it probably was used for crypto mining.

[inox]

16 minutes ago, Toysrme said:

No way that's real. The best you'll ever find used high end video cards is taking the going Ebay sale rate (average the completed-sold listings over a week or month).
Then subtract 26% for ebay & paypal fees. Don't forget to add in shipping. So for the 1080Ti's I've finished offloading on ebay at $750usd; The cheapest one I sold I took $600 cash to a guy locally whom was buying it for his friend (basically I sold the card for $550 + $50 cost for us to run and ship it to his friend with $800 insurance on it).

That's how you get "good deals" on things. Don't use ebay & Paypal... Use ebay just as a guide on the going rate of something. I made the same thing selling it to him IRL at $550usd as I would have selling it on ebay + paypal for $750. $550usd is SUPER CHEAP for a 1080Ti right now. The going rate is still $675-750'ish (725-800 for the watercooled cards).

You've really never gotten hardware below the going eBay rate from craigslist?

Maybe this is just a market dependent thing, but the going eBay rate is my ceiling when dealing with craigslist parts. Not my baseline. If you buy things through PayPal you at least get some protections, so if I'm going to pay the same as I would to get something off eBay, I usually would prefer to do so.

 

As a side note, if you just search eBay for 1080 Ti's right now you can do "Buy it Now" and still pay under $550 inclusive of shipping on an air-cooled card. I think your numbers might be slightly out of date.

[Biggerboot]

37 minutes ago, inox said:

Sorry, for those worried about the low price, I should mention I've been watching it for a while. It was initally listed for $500. Two months ago. My local market is hilariously terrible for sellers (I know from experience). It is also a local listing, so it's not as though I have to fork over the money sight-unseen.

 

However, my presumption is that it probably was used for crypto mining.

I'd be fine with a card used for mining if the person knew what he was doing when he mined.  I think it's at least worth paying a visit and seeing if it was taken care of.  Have him let you run some benches, etc.  But keep the cheaper 1070 in mind as well if you think you're just overkilling.  You certainly won't be hitting its max on a quad core anymore.

[inox]

Just another update:

I contacted the guy with the 1080 Ti. He said he used it for machine learning and occasionally gaming. More importantly, he had the original box (serial number matched the card) and he let me test it before buying it.

It's the real deal.

... And I bought it.

 

Below is some evidence. Keep in mind for the benchmark that the performance is held back by my mediocre processor.

 

[Mick Naughty]

Doesn’t matter what it was used for. It’s gonna perform all the same for the same amount of time. 

 

Get it or don’t. 

[Indominus-Rex]

On 8/3/2018 at 1:46 PM, inox said:

Just another update:

I contacted the guy with the 1080 Ti. He said he used it for machine learning and occasionally gaming. More importantly, he had the original box (serial number matched the card) and he let me test it before buying it.

It's the real deal.

... And I bought it.

 

Below is some evidence. Keep in mind for the benchmark that the performance is held back by my mediocre processor.

 

You're a lucky man

[Jrasero]

On 8/2/2018 at 4:06 PM, TVwazhere said:

I'm more wondering what the previous user was doing with that card. $380 for a FTW is EXTREMELY low. It might have been used for mining which would theoretically reduce it's life span (since miners usually run them maxed out 24/7 for a long time)

 

I'd be really cautious about that. 

Yeah lowest I have seen people get for a 1080 Ti is $500, I just sold my Hybrid for $600 since there going used on ebay for $650 but I didn't want to pay all the fees. 

 

now I see it's authentic fantastic steal man

[TVwazhere]

On 8/3/2018 at 1:46 AM, inox said:

Just another update:

I contacted the guy with the 1080 Ti. He said he used it for machine learning and occasionally gaming. More importantly, he had the original box (serial number matched the card) and he let me test it before buying it.

It's the real deal.

... And I bought it.

 

Below is some evidence. Keep in mind for the benchmark that the performance is held back by my mediocre processor

Thats awesome! Glad to see you got such a killer deal!

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

On 8/3/2018 at 1:46 AM, inox said:

snippity snip

 

Nice! That card's bound to serve you well for a while. I say this as an owner