TechSpot's Annual Guide to Buying a Used Graphics Card

[Julio Franco]

If your gaming PC is in desperate need of a GPU upgrade and you want to save as much money as possible, strap yourself in, this is the guide for you. For the past weeks we've been gathering data for about 80 AMD and Nvidia graphics cards. We've tested them all in 3 representative games using 2 quality presets each, and for the sake of our sanity, limited testing to 1080p performance.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/2007-buying-guide-used-graphics-cards/

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'm one of those people who refuse to buy used, but don't mind selling outdated equipment.

I bought both my 2080Ti cards brand new.


The only video cards I could see buying new are the RTX models - and then - only if some warranty was included.

I don't trust anything from the last generation mostly because I watched people buy multiple cards 2 years ago for Bitcoin miners and I'm sure many were abused. I'm not personally into overclocking. I would prefer to buy newer hardware because I'm more certain it wasn't abused by miners and chances are, it was bought by someone who either needs to sell it for the cash or they just want to upgrade.

I'm also not a fan of cards whom non-professionals have altered: ie by adding waterblock coolers or those horrible aftermarket fans.

I'd say, you should look for the newest, most powerful card you can afford and the most delicate care having been taken of it. When the 3080Ti models come out,my lightly used 2080ti cards will go up for sale. I kept my boxes and original materials and I'd like to see the exact same care and dedication in any seller who sells a used product.

Always buy on credit card with a buyer protection plan.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Wonderful article. Insightful. Need more study than almost anything I've seen in years. I do buy used - if source is reputable AND delivery of fully functional card is guaranteed. (If the price is too good to be real, it is too good to be real.)

 

[EClyde]

Buying isn't the issue it's selling. Lotsa people out there want to chump ya

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Considering most large curved/"gaming" monitors now are 1440p instead of 4K, I'd say 1080p and 1440p are the main concern.

 

[ForgottenFox]

Considering I got a used 2080TI FE for 30% off, used is definitely viable for achieving better performance than what you can get when on a limited budget.

And before everyone gives me flack for posting, most sellers are reasonable people. I found one who was willing to listen and offered a more reasonable price. Be sure to check areas near you and see what stuff goes for used. It saved me $400 or more for essentially a new card.

 

[grumblguts]

Nothing wrong with 1440p gaming,
it looks amazing on my LG OLED 65" HDR 4K 120 HTZ TV WITH 12 MS RESPONSE .
4k is for plebs.

 

[Lew Zealand]

My issue with 4K gaming is a purely numerological one.

1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p
4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p

So the bump to 1440p is good but the bump from that to 4K is larger, for a smaller benefit. Now that seems unfair, why should that be a smaller benefit?

IMO the benefit of 4K isn't there yet because there's no additional geometry advantage. I play at 1440p and I see the geometry limitations all the time, so while I could get higher resolution texture rendering at 4K, the geometry is identical so it looks no more realistic. Distance viewing will be better at 4K but I don't find that the kind of distance viewing which takes advantage of the increased rez is something that I use in-game.

Actually if someone could post a game suggestion which makes effective use of high rez distance elements, that would be great (especially if I own it...).

I recently downgraded my rez from 34" 3440x1440 to 32" 2560x1440 to get 144Hz and was concerned that the reduction in rez (as I play zoomed out to match the screen width with some additional height) would be noticeable and it's simply not in-game, thanks to limitations in geometry.

 

[Singab]

Thanks for the article and all the testing.

Im personally thinking if buying a new PC, I'm on a relatively tight budget for a gaming PC and I'm contemplating an SLI setup with 2 older cards instead of getting a $350-$450 card.

Example, dual gtx 980 on SLI would cost around $100usd each (without shipping). Or maybe dual gtx 1070

 

[Lew Zealand]

And the used RX480 seems to be a great choice all around.

 

[Singab]

I don't think I've ever bought an amd vga card yet and I've been building my PC's for more than 20 years now I dunno why but Ive always felt that Nvidia was more stable. Just a personal opinion.

My current PC has an evga gtx 980 and I'm probably going to hand it over to my kids.

Should I just buy another 980 and any other card for the older PC or just buy a new card?

 

[amstech]

Love that pic with Steve and all the GPU's!
Awesome dude!

 

[Evernessince]

Thanks for the article and all the testing.

Im personally thinking if buying a new PC, I'm on a relatively tight budget for a gaming PC and I'm contemplating an SLI setup with 2 older cards instead of getting a $350-$450 card.

Example, dual gtx 980 on SLI would cost around $100usd each (without shipping). Or maybe dual gtx 1070

Multi-GPU is essentially dead at this point. Very few new games are supporting it anymore. You'd be much better off just getting the more expensive single GPU.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

My issue with 4K gaming is a purely numerological one.

1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p
4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p

So the bump to 1440p is good but the bump from that to 4K is larger, for a smaller benefit. Now that seems unfair, why should that be a smaller benefit?

IMO the benefit of 4K isn't there yet because there's no additional geometry advantage. I play at 1440p and I see the geometry limitations all the time, so while I could get higher resolution texture rendering at 4K, the geometry is identical so it looks no more realistic. Distance viewing will be better at 4K but I don't find that the kind of distance viewing which takes advantage of the increased rez is something that I use in-game.

Actually if someone could post a game suggestion which makes effective use of high rez distance elements, that would be great (especially if I own it...).

I recently downgraded my rez from 34" 3440x1440 to 32" 2560x1440 to get 144Hz and was concerned that the reduction in rez (as I play zoomed out to match the screen width with some additional height) would be noticeable and it's simply not in-game, thanks to limitations in geometry.

It's simply put, the GPU needed for a solid 4K at 60FPS or better is too expensive right now.

No wonder Techspot didn't bother talking about anything other than 1080p.

You really don't wanna have anything less than a 1060 6GB nowadays, but you're best off buying RTX 2060 or better if you need a card today.

 

[georgejepsen]

I'm one of those people who refuse to buy used, but don't mind selling outdated equipment.

I bought both my 2080Ti cards brand new.


The only video cards I could see buying new are the RTX models - and then - only if some warranty was included.

I don't trust anything from the last generation mostly because I watched people buy multiple cards 2 years ago for Bitcoin miners and I'm sure many were abused. I'm not personally into overclocking. I would prefer to buy newer hardware because I'm more certain it wasn't abused by miners and chances are, it was bought by someone who either needs to sell it for the cash or they just want to upgrade.

I'm also not a fan of cards whom non-professionals have altered: ie by adding waterblock coolers or those horrible aftermarket fans.

I'd say, you should look for the newest, most powerful card you can afford and the most delicate care having been taken of it. When the 3080Ti models come out,my lightly used 2080ti cards will go up for sale. I kept my boxes and original materials and I'd like to see the exact same care and dedication in any seller who sells a used product.

Always buy on credit card with a buyer protection plan.

Buying used is very much a gamble when spending $300+. But if you buy from a reputable seller with multiple stocks, there's a good chance they'll replace a bad card if you're unlucky enough to get one.

 

[hahahanoobs]

"We're also sticking to DirectX 11 as this API is better supported by older GeForce GPUs."

Should be because it's the most widely used and stable for BOTH sides.

 

[Steve]

"We're also sticking to DirectX 11 as this API is better supported by older GeForce GPUs."

Should be because it's the most widely used and stable for BOTH sides.

No it's 100% for the reason stated. AMD does have an advantage in titles such as Battlefield V and Breakpoint using the low level APIs, especially when comparing Pascal GPUs and older. Same goes for Fortnite DX12, Rainbow Six Siege Vulkan, DOOM Eternal, The Division 2 DX12, Control DX12, Call of Duty Modern Warfare DX12, F1 2019 DX12, Strange Brigade, Metro Exodus, WWZ and the list goes on and on and on.

 

[toooooot]

I'm one of those people who refuse to buy used, but don't mind selling outdated equipment.

I bought both my 2080Ti cards brand new.


The only video cards I could see buying new are the RTX models - and then - only if some warranty was included.

I don't trust anything from the last generation mostly because I watched people buy multiple cards 2 years ago for Bitcoin miners and I'm sure many were abused. I'm not personally into overclocking. I would prefer to buy newer hardware because I'm more certain it wasn't abused by miners and chances are, it was bought by someone who either needs to sell it for the cash or they just want to upgrade.

I'm also not a fan of cards whom non-professionals have altered: ie by adding waterblock coolers or those horrible aftermarket fans.

I'd say, you should look for the newest, most powerful card you can afford and the most delicate care having been taken of it. When the 3080Ti models come out,my lightly used 2080ti cards will go up for sale. I kept my boxes and original materials and I'd like to see the exact same care and dedication in any seller who sells a used product.

Always buy on credit card with a buyer protection plan.

A full cover waterblock only means the card worked on extremely low temps. I have sold multiple cards with full cover waterblocks and people were happy to get them.
If anything, a waterblock indicates an advanced user possessed the card.

 

[EClyde]

If anything, a waterblock indicates an advanced user possessed the card.

Hardly

 

[grvalderrama]

Last 2 gpus I bought them from resellers. A mighty asus gtx 670 2gb, and my current radeon 580 8gb from sapphire, both work flawlessly. My next gpu will probably be a used one too. I sure do my research before buying used stuff, but there's nothing to be afraid once you know where and whom to buy from

 

[Lounds]

The last card I bought new was based on techspots recommendation for best gaming value for 1080p back in early 2013 and that was the 7870XT (might as well been called the 7930), I'm not sure if Steve wrote that article?
Anyways it eventually died this time last year and I don't get to play games all that much and when I do I go back to the ones I like such as CSGO. So I looked at the used market and people were still selling 7970s for £50+ so I looked and managed to get a used RX 470 for £65 off eBay and I don't regret it, brilliant card.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

A full cover waterblock only means the card worked on extremely low temps. I have sold multiple cards with full cover waterblocks and people were happy to get them.
If anything, a waterblock indicates an advanced user possessed the card.

Some people do not feel comfortable purchasing a device that has been dismantled and reassembled in terms of adding a water block to a graphic card.

 

[PEnnn]

When the 3080Ti models come out,my lightly used 2080ti cards will go up for sale.

I'd be very interested in buying one from you.

 

[PEnnn]

"The only issue with that is that less than 100 of them have been sold this year, so finding a 4GB model at the right price will be harder than finding a GTX 960, of which 355 have sold although that's generally a tad more expensive for about the same performance."

Yep, I haven't sold my GTX 960 either! Not sure what's the story with the 960, it's super quiet, can handle most games (even the new ones) at very decent fps...maybe that's why people are not selling them! I am keeping mine for a few more months.

 

[Mokona]

And the used RX480 seems to be a great choice all around.

The RX480 has been great overall - I bought mine at launch for a good bit less than a GTX 1060, and it continues to kick butt. AMD cards in general tend to have a longer shelf life than Nvidia's, which tend to drop more steeply in performance as time goes by.

Ironically I now find myself hunting for a used Nvidia card despite this fact, for hardware transcoding on my Plex server...