Sell my 7870 for a GTX 590 on Ebay?

[JQLeitch]

So I have found a lot of reasonably priced GTX 590s on Ebay.co.uk, looking at this one in particular
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nvidia-GT...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item35d51b306e

Why do you think it's so "cheap", the card may be old but it's still fantastic, arguably better than the Titan in gaming performance. I would happily sell my HD 7870 for a 590 as for 1080p Gaming it would be amazing. What do you think, is this price dodgy in your opinion or should I try?

EDIT: I'm also thinking about buying the reasonably price R9 290 as well for around £235.

 

[lehtv]

If you're itching for an upgrade, first state your CPU and PSU.

So I have found a lot of reasonably priced GTX 590s on Ebay.co.uk, looking at this one in particular
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nvidia-GT...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item35d51b306e

Why do you think it's so "cheap", the card may be old but it's still fantastic, arguably better than the Titan in gaming performance.

Titan beats it quite handily.

I would happily sell my HD 7870 for a 590 as for 1080p Gaming it would be amazing. What do you think, is this price dodgy in your opinion or should I try?

Even though the price may make it seem tempting, I would look elsewhere. When there are equally fast single GPUs available (280X is just a hair away, 290 beats it), always stick to a single GPU and you won't regret your purchase. Some reasons:

• GTX 590 only has 1.5GB usable VRAM, while 280X and 290 have 3GB and 4GB, respectively; even your 7870 has more VRAM
• GTX 590 consumes a ridiculous amount of power (around 350W peak while gaming) and would certainly have a noticeable impact on your power bill over a R9 290, something you should take into account when looking at the low price tag
• with high power consumption comes high heat output, and the GTX 590 is cooled only by a single fan; it will run much hotter and noisier than any non-reference single GPU card and will surely sound like a jet engine compared to your 7870
• being a dual GPU card, it won't have the same framerate consistency and frametime consistency as a single GPU does

EDIT: I'm also thinking about buying the reasonably price R9 290 as well for around £235.

You mean a used miner card? I'd avoid. Miner cards have typically been in 24/7 load for weeks if not months.

 

[dguy6789]

You mean a used miner card? I'd avoid. Miner cards have typically been in 24/7 load for weeks if not months.

R9 290 will outlive its usefulness whether you buy it brand new today or as a used miner card easily. These things are designed to be able to run 5~+ years at full load without a break without failure. They are non moving parts devices just like CPUs. Crazy voltage stuff is the only thing that will meaningfully shorten the life of the cards and that is extraordinarily rare even in the mining scene.

To the OP: skip the 590, look at used 290s.

 

[Stuka87]

Don't buy a 590. Back then SLI still had a lot of stuttering issues as there was no hardware frame pacing like Kepler has. The 590 sucks a lot of power for its performance.

I second the used R9 290.

 

[Headfoot]

If you're itching for an upgrade, first state your CPU and PSU.



Titan beats it quite handily.



Even though the price may make it seem tempting, I would look elsewhere. When there are equally fast single GPUs available (280X is just a hair away, 290 beats it), always stick to a single GPU and you won't regret your purchase. Some reasons:

• GTX 590 only has 1.5GB usable VRAM, while 280X and 290 have 3GB and 4GB, respectively; even your 7870 has more VRAM
• GTX 590 consumes a ridiculous amount of power (around 350W peak while gaming) and would certainly have a noticeable impact on your power bill over a R9 290, something you should take into account when looking at the low price tag
• with high power consumption comes high heat output, and the GTX 590 is cooled only by a single fan; it will run much hotter and noisier than any non-reference single GPU card and will surely sound like a jet engine compared to your 7870
• being a dual GPU card, it won't have the same framerate consistency and frametime consistency as a single GPU does

You mean a used miner card? I'd avoid. Miner cards have typically been in 24/7 load for weeks if not months.

Wheres the evidence that miner cards are any worse than gamer cards? I'll spare you the trouble: there is no evidence that suggests miner cards are any worse than gamer cards. Maybe the fans will have more wear.

OP: Definitely get a 290 over the 590, its going to be about as fast and more consistent with much more VRAM. Just message any eBay seller and make sure the card was not overvolted, that's the only thing that is going to be relevant regarding quality of used card.

 

[Wild Thing]

Typically most miners are monitoring the health and condition of their cards on a day by day basis(hourly in some cases 🙂)
Most gamers however install their card and then don't look at it again for months.
You should be fine with an ex mining card,undervolting is a more common modification than overvolting.

 

[3DVagabond]

So I have found a lot of reasonably priced GTX 590s on Ebay.co.uk, looking at this one in particular
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nvidia-GT...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item35d51b306e

Why do you think it's so "cheap", the card may be old but it's still fantastic, arguably better than the Titan in gaming performance. I would happily sell my HD 7870 for a 590 as for 1080p Gaming it would be amazing. What do you think, is this price dodgy in your opinion or should I try?

EDIT: I'm also thinking about buying the reasonably price R9 290 as well for around £235.

Look at Anand bench. The 290 quite handily beats the 590 (and so would the Titan). No dual GPU issues to deal with, either.

 

[Headfoot]

Typically most miners are monitoring the health and condition of their cards on a day by day basis(hourly in some cases 🙂)
Most gamers however install their card and then don't look at it again for months.
You should be fine with an ex mining card,undervolting is a more common modification than overvolting.

This is also possible, but there is no data which quantifies either that mining cards are good or bad.

My current recommendation is to just ask each seller directly: did you use this for mining? Did you overclock? Did you overvolt? Overvolting is really the only truly destructive thing and only in some circumstances. Either way you establish that they told you it wasnt so if you later discover it was in fact used in that manner you can go through eBay dispute resolution.

I would tend to agree with you in my anecdotal experience though regarding miners.