Following on from my sharp intake of breath at the cost of new Nvidia 10
series graphics cards (see previous).

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?
There are a few showing up as "after upgrade" priced from very low to
£60-70 which seem to be a reasonable price range compared to £170 new.

I have read about ex-mining cards being dumped but I think these are too
low specification for any recent bitcoin mining.

Alternatively, a used business machine with decent graphics capability
might be an option, although my current desktop systems seem to do all I
need (apart from supporting 4k graphics).

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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On 17/11/2022 14:43, David wrote:

Following on from my sharp intake of breath at the cost of new Nvidia 10 series graphics cards (see previous).

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?
There are a few showing up as "after upgrade" priced from very low to
£60-70 which seem to be a reasonable price range compared to £170 new.

I have read about ex-mining cards being dumped but I think these are too
low specification for any recent bitcoin mining.

Alternatively, a used business machine with decent graphics capability
might be an option, although my current desktop systems seem to do all I
need (apart from supporting 4k graphics).

Cheers

Dave R

wait till Black Friday and Cyber Monday? there might be some good deals
about?

Have you tried CCL, Scan or eBuyer?

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when you consider some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of a grand..

There is a semiconductor shortage which has affected pricing and
availability.

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Am 17.11.2022 um 14:43:17 Uhr schrieb David:

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?

I have. I often buy computer parts from eBay. Most time it wasn't a
problem. Only one time I got a broken GeForce FX, but I returned it.

You can do it, but be aware that the warranty is different and the
stuff breaks faster because it is used, specially with high end
graphics cards.

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SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when you consider
some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of a grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty good enough to output to multiple 4K monitors

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David wrote:

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?

I've heard the odd horror-story where a GPU has been flashed with crypto-mining firmware ...

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On 17/11/2022 15:30, Andy Burns wrote:

SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when you
consider some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of a
grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty good
enough to output to multiple 4K monitors

I recollect the problems that Dave Plowman had with an ebay
graphics card. According to Canada Paul it was probably
an ex bitcoin mining GPU that had had its bios reflashed
so caused all manner of issues.

Now that bitcoin has come down so much and electricity
prices have rocketted there might be a lot more of
these popping up on ebay.

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On 17/11/2022 14:43, David wrote:

Following on from my sharp intake of breath at the cost of new Nvidia 10 series graphics cards (see previous).

Not sure where you got the cost to be so high?

A 1030 will work fine and can be found <100 quid new. https://www.ebuyer.com/856068-msi-geforce-gt-1030-oc-2gb-ddr4-lp-graphics-card-gt-1030-2ghd4-lp-oc

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?
There are a few showing up as "after upgrade" priced from very low to
£60-70 which seem to be a reasonable price range compared to £170 new.

I bought a 1660 Super a few months ago and had no issues with it. Choose
your seller carefully and you should be fine. Ebay also protect buyers
much more than sellers.

I have read about ex-mining cards being dumped but I think these are too
low specification for any recent bitcoin mining.

Yup. It's top-end ones which are primarily used by miners: xx80 (Ti).

Alternatively, a used business machine with decent graphics capability
might be an option, although my current desktop systems seem to do all I
need (apart from supporting 4k graphics).

Cheers

Dave R

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when you consider
some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of a grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty good enough to
output to multiple 4K monitors

TBH if the OP is on PCIe Gen2, that must be <2012 vintage? If £170 is the budget, I'd be looking at used ex-corporate boxes: can get some quite good ~2016-18 boxes in the £100 territory.

eg
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115570610151

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125617379589

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155260581288

I searched for 'thinkcentre' (Lenovo), 'optiplex' (Dell), 'prodesk', 'elitedesk' (HP). There are vast numbers of them out there, especially
the Skylake i5 (i5-6500 and similar).

Some of these are at the smaller size, so not very expandable if needed - that's particularly the USFF and SFF versions. Typically each model comes
in a regular, SFF and USFF size.

Worth checking the outputs it has, but I was running 4K@60Hz on a Haswell (2013) system using Displayport, so I'd expect more modern hardware can do
it without too much hassle.

Theo

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On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 16:38:05 +0000, Chris wrote:

On 17/11/2022 14:43, David wrote:

Following on from my sharp intake of breath at the cost of new Nvidia
10 series graphics cards (see previous).

Not sure where you got the cost to be so high?

A 1030 will work fine and can be found <100 quid new. https://www.ebuyer.com/856068-msi-geforce-gt-1030-oc-2gb-ddr4-lp-

graphics-card-gt-1030-2ghd4-lp-oc

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?
There are a few showing up as "after upgrade" priced from very low to
£60-70 which seem to be a reasonable price range compared to £170 new.

I bought a 1660 Super a few months ago and had no issues with it. Choose
your seller carefully and you should be fine. Ebay also protect buyers
much more than sellers.

I have read about ex-mining cards being dumped but I think these are
too low specification for any recent bitcoin mining.

Yup. It's top-end ones which are primarily used by miners: xx80 (Ti).

Alternatively, a used business machine with decent graphics capability
might be an option, although my current desktop systems seem to do all
I need (apart from supporting 4k graphics).

Thanks.
Unfortunately (?) I blacklisted eBuyer because they shafted me over a
warranty return for a HDD.

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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David <wibble@btinternet.com> wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 16:38:05 +0000, Chris wrote:

On 17/11/2022 14:43, David wrote:

Following on from my sharp intake of breath at the cost of new Nvidia
10 series graphics cards (see previous).

Not sure where you got the cost to be so high?

A 1030 will work fine and can be found <100 quid new.
https://www.ebuyer.com/856068-msi-geforce-gt-1030-oc-2gb-ddr4-lp-

graphics-card-gt-1030-2ghd4-lp-oc

Has anyone had good/bad experiences buying used card from eBay?
There are a few showing up as "after upgrade" priced from very low to
£60-70 which seem to be a reasonable price range compared to £170 new.

I bought a 1660 Super a few months ago and had no issues with it. Choose
your seller carefully and you should be fine. Ebay also protect buyers
much more than sellers.

I have read about ex-mining cards being dumped but I think these are
too low specification for any recent bitcoin mining.

Yup. It's top-end ones which are primarily used by miners: xx80 (Ti).

Alternatively, a used business machine with decent graphics capability
might be an option, although my current desktop systems seem to do all
I need (apart from supporting 4k graphics).

Thanks.
Unfortunately (?) I blacklisted eBuyer because they shafted me over a warranty return for a HDD.

The 1030 is available at other places as well for a similar price.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:29:33 +0000, Theo wrote:

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when
you consider some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of
a grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty good
enough to output to multiple 4K monitors

TBH if the OP is on PCIe Gen2, that must be <2012 vintage? If £170 is
the budget, I'd be looking at used ex-corporate boxes: can get some
quite good ~2016-18 boxes in the £100 territory.

eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115570610151

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125617379589

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155260581288

I searched for 'thinkcentre' (Lenovo), 'optiplex' (Dell), 'prodesk', 'elitedesk' (HP). There are vast numbers of them out there, especially
the Skylake i5 (i5-6500 and similar).

Some of these are at the smaller size, so not very expandable if needed
- that's particularly the USFF and SFF versions. Typically each model
comes in a regular, SFF and USFF size.

Worth checking the outputs it has, but I was running 4K@60Hz on a
Haswell (2013) system using Displayport, so I'd expect more modern
hardware can do it without too much hassle.

Theo

Returning to this thread but I bought a "gaming bundle" from Overclockers around September 2016.
Not latest tech but reasonably recent at the time.

Brief details in signature.

As it is AMD of this vintage there are no built in graphics.

I'm returning to the search.

Cheers



Dave R




--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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David <wibble@btinternet.com> wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:29:33 +0000, Theo wrote:

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when
you consider some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part of
a grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty good
enough to output to multiple 4K monitors

TBH if the OP is on PCIe Gen2, that must be <2012 vintage? If £170 is
the budget, I'd be looking at used ex-corporate boxes: can get some
quite good ~2016-18 boxes in the £100 territory.

Returning to this thread but I bought a "gaming bundle" from Overclockers around September 2016.
Not latest tech but reasonably recent at the time.

Brief details in signature.

: AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

AMD only really got back into being competitive with Zen (Ryzen), which
might explain why your system only has PCIe Gen2. It appears your CPU was released in 2012, and they weren't competitive even then.

For example, here's the CPUbenchmark scores comparing its 6 cores against
the i7-4790 (2014), the i7-6700 (2016), the i7-8700 (2018) and the i7-11700 (2021), which are mostly nothing-out-of-the-ordinary i7s: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/1781vs2226vs3099vs3947/AMD-FX-6300-Six-Core-vs-Intel-i7-4790-vs-Intel-i7-8700-vs-Intel-i7-11700

scores:
FX-6300: 4183
i7-4790: 7222
i7-8700: 12966
i7-11700: 20149

Personally I'd not waste time upgrading such an ancient system - I'd look
for something newer, probably an Intel with integrated graphics.

The Ryzen G-series (eg 5300G, 5500G, etc) are also not bad if going for a new(ish) machine, although you may want to stay with an older machine if you don't want to upgrade to newer Windows (which you should, as Windows 7 has
been out of security support for 3 years).

Theo

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On Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:30:00 +0000, Theo wrote:

David <wibble@btinternet.com> wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:29:33 +0000, Theo wrote:

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

SH wrote:

£170 for a graphics card capabale of 4k doesn;t sound too bad when
you consider some extreme gaming graphics cards are the best part
of a grand..

But the "free" graphics built-in to most CPUs nowadays is plenty
good enough to output to multiple 4K monitors

TBH if the OP is on PCIe Gen2, that must be <2012 vintage? If £170
is the budget, I'd be looking at used ex-corporate boxes: can get
some quite good ~2016-18 boxes in the £100 territory.

Returning to this thread but I bought a "gaming bundle" from
Overclockers around September 2016.
Not latest tech but reasonably recent at the time.

Brief details in signature.

: AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

AMD only really got back into being competitive with Zen (Ryzen), which
might explain why your system only has PCIe Gen2. It appears your CPU
was released in 2012, and they weren't competitive even then.

For example, here's the CPUbenchmark scores comparing its 6 cores
against the i7-4790 (2014), the i7-6700 (2016), the i7-8700 (2018) and
the i7-11700 (2021), which are mostly nothing-out-of-the-ordinary i7s: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/1781vs2226vs3099vs3947/AMD-FX-6300-

Six-Core-vs-Intel-i7-4790-vs-Intel-i7-8700-vs-Intel-i7-11700

scores:
FX-6300: 4183 i7-4790: 7222 i7-8700: 12966 i7-11700: 20149

Personally I'd not waste time upgrading such an ancient system - I'd
look for something newer, probably an Intel with integrated graphics.

The Ryzen G-series (eg 5300G, 5500G, etc) are also not bad if going for
a new(ish) machine, although you may want to stay with an older machine
if you don't want to upgrade to newer Windows (which you should, as
Windows 7 has been out of security support for 3 years).

Theo

Ta.
The system will run Windows 10, having had a trial upgrade a few years
back.
It still seems to do everything I need apart from 4K graphics.
I am always very reluctant to ditch a working system unless there is an
obvious major gain, and over the last decade the practical performance increases seem to be pointless if the old system isn't being stressed.

Upgrading would require a minimum of mother board, processor, memory which isn't going to be anywhere near as cheap as an upgraded graphics card.

Looking for a used business computer seems the most sensible suggestion if
I do need a general increase in capability.

Cheers



Dave R




--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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David wrote:

Returning to this thread but I bought a "gaming bundle" from Overclockers

I doubt many people remember details of the thread from 3+ months ago,
what do you want this machine be used for?

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On Fri, 24 Feb 2023 21:14:00 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

David wrote:

Returning to this thread but I bought a "gaming bundle" from
Overclockers

I doubt many people remember details of the thread from 3+ months ago,
what do you want this machine be used for?

I assumed that the news reader would show the previous posts.

Anyway, this is my daily driver and I've just lost one of a pair of
screens.
An ancient 15" Dell display.
This PC is downstairs in the living area.

I miss the ability to display two workspaces at the same time.
My eyesight is also getting worse.

The obvious answer seems to be to upgrade to a 4K screen which will
display two work areas side by side.
I know because I have one in the office (which I rarely seem to use).
However my current graphics card, Nvifdia GeForce GT 710, doesn't have the power needed.

So this thread was one investigating a suitable upgrade, new or used from
eBay.

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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