Question Where can you get a decent nVidia graphics card these days?

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm sure there's a big ongoing discussion about the short supply of GFX cards, but I wanted to buy one in the not-too-distant future.

My GTX-1070 Mini OC card, when you can find it, is priced at around $1,000!! I paid half that amount four years ago!

I need a "Mini" card -- or I want one. All I find out there is an ASUS GTX-1650 or 1660. And I was interested in an RTX-2070 Mini. Fat chance!

WHEN can we find decent graphics cards again?! What the hell is going on? The story I heard has to do with some bitcoin-mining-fever. I just don't understand it!

 

[Mopetar]

Someone recorded this. Right in the middle of our so called GPU shortage

Are they filming from Shangri-La or some other mystical land?

My only other thought is that the store is charging whatever the scalpers are marking the cards up for, so there's not a mad rush to buy them all up and flip them online.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You know that bin in the basement where you put parts from old parted out PCs?

There.

Failing that, there's Intel Integrated Graphics.

 

[Ajay]

Are they filming from Shangri-La or some other mystical land?

My only other thought is that the store is charging whatever the scalpers are marking the cards up for, so there's not a mad rush to buy them all up and flip them online.

Looks like Taiwan - so there just *might* be a better supply there than elsewhere

 

[lane42]

Most of them that i can make out are 6700xt and 3060, so
maybe they just got a shipment in.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have a feeling this is going to help but not solve the problem.
Limited hash rate cards coming from nvidia next month.
Summary: cards sold at their regular retail cost, no way of knowing for sure if you get a limited hash rate card this should help the resale market prices for non mining buyers.
Only way to tell as of now is to disassemble the card, different part ID so porting drivers will be difficult or not work because of the “driver handshake” thing.

NVIDIA Readies GeForce RTX 30 'Lite Hash Rate' Series Graphics Cards To Combat Cryptocurrency Mining, Shipping in May

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards will soon be getting a 'Lite Hash Rate' refresh to tackle cryptocurrency mining.

wccftech.com

 

[Ajay]

I have a feeling this is going to help but not solve the problem.
Limited hash rate cards coming from nvidia next month.
Summary: cards sold at their regular retail cost, no way of knowing for sure if you get a limited hash rate card this should help the resale market prices for non mining buyers.
Only way to tell as of now is to disassemble the card, different part ID so porting drivers will be difficult or not work because of the “driver handshake” thing.

NVIDIA Readies GeForce RTX 30 'Lite Hash Rate' Series Graphics Cards To Combat Cryptocurrency Mining, Shipping in May

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards will soon be getting a 'Lite Hash Rate' refresh to tackle cryptocurrency mining.

wccftech.com

Well, hopefully this slows down card buying for mining for a bit - then some gamers can buy some cards. I don't think this is going to fixed until it depends on the presence of a non-trivial hardware component to enable mining.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

JUST RECEIVED MY PACKAGE SHIPPED FROM JAPAN -- advertised on EBay as a "New" Gigabyte GTX-1070 Mini OC card, and that's what it was.

Even so, it had no shrink-wrap seal around the box. The silvery anti-stat bag appeared unwrinkled, as if the product had never been removed from it, and was sealed with a sticker that says "Gigabyte Qualified". There is not one mark or scratch on the product box, as it would seem for "brand new". The Gigabyte disc and instruction guide were inside the box, where you would expect to find them, and the guide appeared flat and undisturbed, as though nobody had ever opened it. The disc, in its envelope, also appears never to have been touched. No fingerprints anywhere.

The box had Gigabyte's white sticker with the S/N, bar-code, model name and other relevant information. Alongside the Gigabyte label, there is a blue and white label in Japanese. The English words or letters appear with the Japanese: "Gigabyte" and "CFD". What does "CFD" mean? Do products that ship from the factory to Japan acquire these blue and white labels? Or do the labels imply something else?

It is going to be a while before I can actually test this card in a system, and I have my fingers crossed. It's a gamble. There may be a return-window with the EBay seller -- I'll need to check again. The seller, located in Tokyo, has 98% positive ratings on its sales for general items.

 

[lane42]

i think it's some kind of sale's company, CFD Sales Co.,
(20+) RE-how.net - Posts | Facebook

 

[BonzaiDuck]

i think it's some kind of sale's company, CFD Sales Co.,
(20+) RE-how.net - Posts | Facebook

Well, that seems harmless enough!

The GTX 1070 Mini is four-year-old nVidia technology. I paid more than $100 above what I'd spent in late 2016. Earlier searches in the last few months throughout our dGPU drought showed it offered at over $1,000, and even pre-owned units were commanding outrageous prices.

We all want a bargain on everything. We recoil from a potential transaction if we sense unbalanced market power of the other party.

Then, there's the old adage -- "Money talks, bullshit walks". When one talks too much with money, others may suspect a brain filled with bullshit.

If the card tests out to be no less than the original providing the display I'm looking at right now, I suppose I can pat myself on the back.

I don't need state-of-the-art top-end or even second-tier graphics hardware like an RTX 2070 or 3070, although I might imagine it as nice to have. The old 1070's are good enough for my needs. If I were really in penny-pinching mode, I suppose the Intel iGPU would work for me. But a dGPU is better. It's better even under the limitations of the recently-discovered nVidia driver overhead or bloat.

I've had Radeon cards before, and can't pass judgment on their pros and cons compared to nVidia. But comfortable old habits are hard to break.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

https://www.cfd.co.jp/cfd/english/

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Never bid early. Either use ebay sniping service or try to manually snipe in the last 10 seconds. People are emotional creatures, they will often have a set price in their mind, but they will often blow past it once they get into bidding war. Decide what you're willing to pay and bid in the last 10 seconds/use sniping service.

- I used to do that, but got tired of having to stay up at odd hours of the day to try only to get outbid at the last second by a bot.

Nowadays (or in more normal times) my tactic is to first sort by ending soonest, then always to come in and bid whatever was the most I was willing to pay for an item. If the item is sitting at $150 and the most I'd be willing to pay for it was $200, my initial bid would just be $200. If the most I would pay was $300, then bid $300.

If someone bid more than that, then it just wast meant to be and I went on to the next item in the listing.

Sometimes people put so much effort into getting a deal that its no longer a deal at all if you assign value to and add up all the intangibles...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

https://www.cfd.co.jp/cfd/english/

Even more benign indications. I'm inclined to think I got a brand new Gigabyte dGPU no different than any other brand new unit. I never heard of anyone getting a brand new dGPU that was defective. But I need to test it, and I can't get around to it for a few weeks.

The minor risks of stockpiling parts as a convenience to slowly building a perfect PC. I guess they're minor risks . . . .