Refurb GTX 970's at Microcenter for $190. Worth it?

[Creig]

I don't think a 290 will come close to a overclocked 970 performance wise.

You're right. The 290 would be faster.

 

[Face2Face]

If you can find a GTX 970 used for around $150, I'd say that's a good deal, but at $190, I'd look to spend a little more on something else. Very capable card at 1080p, and deal pretty decent at 1440p. A 1400-1500 MHz GTX 970 is a pretty strong card.

 

[RussianSensation]

$190 for a 970 is NOT a good deal*. $190 - $200 1060 3GB or $205 RX 480 4GB are both superior. With $25 off over $200 on Newegg using MasterPass code, it's going to be easy to beat 970 on price/performance. Soon, we'll have even better deals on dGPUs as we approach November/Black Friday and Visa initiates its own $20-25 off $200 program as they usually do in Q4.

Unless an NV GPU is significantly discounted compared to a modern NV series I would not purchase it. Look at Forza Horizon 3 where GTX1060 is 50% faster than GTX970 is in the same scene (6 min 8 second mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofFpnArXbJ8

*I originally made an incorrect typo by suggesting that 970 for $190 is a good deal when I meant to type not a good deal. Corrected>

 

[Gorbugal]

I disagree, show me a card that will give you gtx980,1060,rx480 speed when overclocked @1080p, for about 150/160$. Please make it under 240 watts @ stock.nobody wants a virtual furnace in there case.

Why the need for such emotive language? 240 watts is a defined measurable amount, nobody needs this hyperbole attached to it to understand it better. Also why select such and arbitrary figure in the first place? 239 watts = acceptable but 240 watts = FURNACE!!, it's laughable. I'm sure being the reasonable and consistent guy that you are it would be easy to find examples of you chastising the furnace-like qualities of the 780ti in the past?

To the OP, I don't think it is worth it for $190 it's just too close to the price of a current gen card with a more modern architecture and more VRAM. Also as others have said the warranty is pretty poor.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

NV supporters way overplay their hands on the heat thing. The 290 is a fairly extreme case at this point, but the power consumption delta between say a 1060 and 480 is, you know, almost completely meaningless. They're always stuck making ~40W into some monumental downside. Back when the 290/X was new, we heard the same thing. You don't want that 250W spaceheater in your case, better buy that 229W 780 Ti instead.

To answer the original question, I don't think it's a great idea. Spend a little bit more and/or wait for a nice deal on a 480 or 6GB 1060. For a refurb 970, I'd expect a lower price than $190 too.

 

[happy medium]

I'm sure being the reasonable and consistent guy that you are it would be easy to find examples of you chastising the furnace-like qualities of the 780ti in the past?

To the OP, I don't think it is worth it for $190 it's just too close to the price of a current gen card with a more modern architecture and more VRAM. Also as others have said the warranty is pretty poor.

You will not find a single post recommending the 780ti, in my past.


And for the 5th time we were talking/recommending used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties. Overclock it to 1500 core and your set.

perhaps you should read the thread or ask a question before you fire a personal attack?

 

[Gorbugal]

You will not find a single post recommending the 780ti, in my past.


And for the 5th time we were talking/recommending used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties. Overclock it to 1500 core and your set.

perhaps you should read the thread or ask a question before you fire a personal attack?

I didn't say anything about recommending I said "chastising the furnace-like qualities" because you've invented some line in the sand past which everything is supposedly a furnace.

"We" aren't talking about anything. I was addressing the original post and giving my opinion about it. If you've change topic to used cards then fine, nothing to do with me or what I said. I even stated clearly I was talking "To the OP" and "for $190" I don't understand how you got the impression what you've replied to me was relevant to my comment.

Personal attack? Maybe some mild sarcasm at worst, harden up.

 

[Bacon1]

5th time we were talking/recommending used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties

You were the one to bring up $150/160. The OP was saying it cost $190.

 

[zinfamous]

You will not find a single post recommending the 780ti, in my past.


And for the 5th time we were talking/recommending used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties. Overclock it to 1500 core and your set.

perhaps you should read the thread or ask a question before you fire a personal attack?

Who was talking about that? The OP is specifically asking about a REFURB 970 for $190. If you are talking about some other card at some other price point, then it is completely useless to the OP.

 

[guskline]

OP the link to MicroCenter is for a refurbished GTX970 for $189.99 plus tax. I would say that's too much for that card. $150 is a go but at a penny short of $190 before tax, forgo a few trips to Mickey D's and you have the moola to buy a new GTX1060 or RX 480.

 

[happy medium]

OP the link to MicroCenter is for a refurbished GTX970 for $189.99 plus tax. I would say that's too much for that card. $150 is a go but at a penny short of $190 before tax, forgo a few trips to Mickey D's and you have the moola to buy a new GTX1060 or RX 480.

well the OP seems to be MIA so........but I agree with you.

 

[Creig]

You will not find a single post recommending the 780ti, in my past.


And for the 5th time we were talking/recommending used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties. Overclock it to 1500 core and your set.

perhaps you should read the thread or ask a question before you fire a personal attack?

The thread title reads:

Refurb GTX 970's at Microcenter for $190. Worth it?

Not "used gtx970's for about 150/160$ with transferable warranties". Maybe you should quit while you're behind.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

You will not find a single post recommending the 780ti, in my past.

You've also never called it a furnace, even though by your standards it is.

 

[Mercennarius]

Much better off spending a bit more on a brand new RX 480. More features, more performance, better driver support, more VRAM, much better longevity.

 

[happy medium]

Refurb GTX 970's at Microcenter for $190. Worth it?

The answer is NO. Why? because of the 30 day warranty sucks and the card is still just a " used card".

To the original poster...
A used MSI or Gigabyte card comes with a transferable warranty on the card not the owner. I believe Evga also has some cards with a transferable warranties, you can check into that.

Right now on just about any forum you can buy a high end used gtx970 for about $150 up to $170. If you overclock you can have 95% of the $240 rx 480's performance and it will flat out crush a $190 rx 470 and that's in the same power envelope.

I would not recommend the twin power hogs, the used 290 and 290x. You will get no better performance than the overclocked 970 and ~ 80 watts more heat dumped into your case.

I also see used gtx980's for about 220$. That's also a fair/good deal. Again if you overclock they will come within 11% of a gtx980ti's performance @ 1080p.

 

[ultimatebob]

Even at MicroCenter, you can get a new GeForce 3 GB GeForce 1060 for $209. So, definitely no.

 

[RussianSensation]

Right now on just about any forum you can buy a high end used gtx970 for about $150 up to $170. If you overclock you can have 95% of the $240 rx 480's performance and it will flat out crush a $190 rx 470 and that's in the same power envelope.

MSI Gaming RX 480 4GB is only $205. You are being misleading by quoting $240 price which is for RX 480 8GB. MSI Armor GTX 1060 3GB is also $200. It's possible to bring these prices more by buying a GTX1060 or RX 480 from Jet.com.

I would not recommend the twin power hogs, the used 290 and 290x. You will get no better performance than the overclocked 970 and ~ 80 watts more heat dumped into your case.

Who is recommending R9 290/290X in this thread?

I also see used gtx980's for about 220$. That's also a fair/good deal. Again if you overclock they will come within 11% of a gtx980ti's performance @ 1080p.

OCing scaling under BF3 is irrelevant in 2016. That game engine is so old and outdated, in no way does it reflect the true potential of higher-end GPUs such as Fury X/980Ti (etc.) and more modern GPU architectures that were made for DX12, as well as next generation game engines. It's also bizarre that you suggest 980 can be overclocked but ignore that 980Ti itself has 25%+ overclocking headroom.

It's inexplicable why you continue to push 2-year-old Maxwell GPUs such as suggesting a $220 980 when a brand new Gigabyte Gaming 1060 6GB is $240. For $20 more, the gamer gets up to 2 more years of warranty against a used 980, 2GB of extra VRAM, superior feature set, lower power usage, and NV's driver priority for at least 2 years before Volta launches. Additionally, newer cards such as RX 480 or GTX1060 are likely to retain higher resale value in 2 years from now when it comes time to upgrade.

Finally, November-December is usually a period where the best GPU deals comes. Prices drop and there is often a chance to take $20-25 off with Visa Checkout or MasterPass. This guarantees that it's just a matter of time before there will be a November-December 2016 deal on a $220 RX 480 8GB or GTX1060 6GB.

I would only recommend the older GTX970/980 cards if they were knew and the discount was huge.
http://galaxstore.net/9-Series_c_15.html

Even at MicroCenter, which the OP sighted for comparison, has various GTX1060 cards for $190-$200.

Something for the OP to think about is the relative standing of RX 480/GTX1060 against his HD7970. Almost all HD7970 can overclock to R9 280X speeds.

1080p
R9 280X = 100%
MSI GTX 970 Gaming = +46%
MSI R9 390 Gaming = +47%
Sapphire RX 480 Nitro 8GB = +57%
MSI GTX1060 Gaming 6GB = +65%

Gigabyte GTX1070 Gaming 8GB = +123%
https://www.computerbase.de/thema/grafikkarte/rangliste/

If we break things down like that, neither the RX 480 nor the GTX1060 are the most bang-for-the-buck upgrades:

$250 AIB RX 480 8GB / 57% = $4.39 for each 1% performance increase
$240 AIB GTX 1060 6GB / 65% = $3.69 for each 1% performance increase
$390 AIB GTX 1070 8GB with Gears of War 4 - resell game for $30 = $360 / 123% = $2.93 for each 1% increase in performance (*** WINNER ***)

GTX1070 is actually the best upgrade path here, despite costing the most $. First of all, it will MORE than double the FPS in nearly every single modern AAA game over 7970 OC, something GTX1060 or RX 480 can only dream of. The only thing to be careful about is 2500K OC becoming a bottleneck in terms of minimum FPS in some games. Personally, if I were in OP's shoes, I'd probably wait a bit and once Vega is released and Pascal refresh cards come out, try to get GTX1070 level of performance for $320 in Q1 2017. It seems well worth the extra $ over the $240-250 RX 480/1060 cards in light of the overall context given that he already has an HD7970. That SB rig would take the 1070 as the absolute last upgrade and then in 2-3 years the OP can rebuild his entire system around Ice Lake and Volta.

Of course if the desire is to play less demanding titles and budget is tight, then GTX1060 is the next best option.

 

[RussianSensation]

Another alternative between a $200-250 RX 480/1060 and the $390 GTX1070 is the Fury which is faster then the former cards.

Newegg.com has Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury 4GB HDM Video Card (100379NTOC+SR) on sale for $279.99 - $25 w/ promo code MPGAMER16 = $254.99 when you checkout via Masterpass Checkout. Shipping is free.

Jet.com also has for their New Jet Customers: Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury 4GB HDM Video Card (100379NTOC+SR) on sale for $255.91 when you apply promo code TRIPLE15 at checkout. Shipping is free.

15% faster than a GTX1060, 20% faster than RX 480 and 33% faster than a GTX970:

 

[happy medium]

Another alternative between a $200-250 RX 480/1060 and the $390 GTX1070 is the Fury which is faster then the former cards.

Newegg.com has Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury 4GB HDM Video Card (100379NTOC+SR) on sale for $279.99 - $25 w/ promo code MPGAMER16 = $254.99 when you checkout via Masterpass Checkout. Shipping is free.

Jet.com also has for their New Jet Customers: Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury 4GB HDM Video Card (100379NTOC+SR) on sale for $255.91 when you apply promo code TRIPLE15 at checkout. Shipping is free.

15% faster than a GTX1060, 20% faster than RX 480 and 33% faster than a GTX970:

I think you posted in the wrong thread.......?
mabe you meant to post here?
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...fers-the-best-performance-per-dollar.2487019/