Issue with a purchase and seller is missing

[Ion]

[H]ard DCOTM February 2024
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
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I purchased a Geforce GTX970 from a seller here on [H] on July 14th. The card was shipped out on the 15th and was delivered the 19th. I was out of town and only got around to actually installing it on August 5th, when I noticed some pretty substantial flickering and tearing on the second monitor (which had previously behaved just fine with the same HDMI cord on my previous Geforce 220 (yes, a huge upgrade)).

I sent the seller a PM them explaining the issues. I sent the seller an email (to the address I paid) on August 11th and again on the 13th explaining that things were getting worse. I've received no replies to any of these inquiries--and the seller has not been online on [H] during this period. At what point would it be reasonable to escalate this with PP?

Seller is a longtime (10+ yr) member with good (150+/0/0) heat, so I doubt it is an attempted scam.
 
Sorry but why did you order something used while you were out of town, that you couldn't test for several weeks...? Seems kind of dumb to me. Anything could have happened in that time period and you could have just made this story up to seem like you just took the card out and threw it in your rig and it doesn't work properly. If I were the seller I'd probably ignore you (well I'd respond but definitely not offer you a refund...) as well if you waited that long after receiving it to claim something was wrong.
 
So, the full story is, the case I had wasn't big enough for it (a single-slot half-height card is all it would fit...hence the Geforce 220). I ordered a new case a day or two after I purchased the card, but Newegg's free shipping took over a week. I had expected to install everything by the time I left town and verify that everything was working fine, but the case hadn't arrived yet by the time I'd left (and I didn't have any other systems with space for the card and an appropriate PSU).

And it's not like I'm a new member with poor Heat...I'm not going to ruin my 390/0/0 over $200.
 
Does the card have a warranty? Maybe you can try going that route. It's worked for me in the past.

Also I'm not accusing you of lying or anything, I'm just looking at this based on my personal experience with a scammer trying to say something was defective weeks after they received it, even though it was perfect when I sent it.
 
I'm not sure. I will check when I'm home from work to see if it's based on serial number or what.
 
So, the full story is, the case I had wasn't big enough for it (a single-slot half-height card is all it would fit...hence the Geforce 220). I ordered a new case a day or two after I purchased the card, but Newegg's free shipping took over a week. I had expected to install everything by the time I left town and verify that everything was working fine, but the case hadn't arrived yet by the time I'd left (and I didn't have any other systems with space for the card and an appropriate PSU).

And it's not like I'm a new member with poor Heat...I'm not going to ruin my 390/0/0 over $200.

Not doubting you but you don't need a case to test a card. Pull your system out and test it in the open air. When people delay checking items I send, i'm very hesitant to offer up a refund. People have tried to pull fast ones by mining or abusing parts for a short period, then trying to return them later when an issue pops up. I'm NOT saying that's what has happened, but you should ALWAYS check things out ASAP. Time is your enemy when dealing with used parts.
 
People have tried to pull fast ones by mining or abusing parts for a short period, then trying to return them later when an issue pops up. I'm NOT saying that's what has happened, but you should ALWAYS check things out ASAP. Time is your enemy when dealing with used parts.

Yeah, I agree with Gillbot. Not saying you arent telling the truth, but people have tried to scam me in the past, especially when abusing CPUs and video cards, then trying to return them.
If u went outta town, then that is that and you didnt test till you got back. But as a seller, I always expect people try my stuff shortly after receiving them. I always send a follow up email after my stuff arrives, if I dont hear anything after a few days, then I hope all is well cause I am done with the deal.

From a trouble shooting aspect, is it happening in 2d or during gaming? Also, try swapping cables. Good cables go bad all the time, and that once last removal or insertion can be where they fail.
 
2D. Interestingly it _doesn't_ seem to happen while playing games...only at the desktop or other light tasks. It's started happening on the primary display too since I sent the PM and (original) email. So it seems unlikely that it's a cable issue, but I can certainly check.

Not doubting you but you don't need a case to test a card. Pull your system out and test it in the open air. When people delay checking items I send, i'm very hesitant to offer up a refund. People have tried to pull fast ones by mining or abusing parts for a short period, then trying to return them later when an issue pops up. I'm NOT saying that's what has happened, but you should ALWAYS check things out ASAP. Time is your enemy when dealing with used parts.
You're right. In hindsight, I should have done so...but at the time I was working two jobs and this wasn't a priority for me. Live and learn I suppose.
 
2D. Interestingly it _doesn't_ seem to happen while playing games...only at the desktop or other light tasks. It's started happening on the primary display too since I sent the PM and (original) email. So it seems unlikely that it's a cable issue, but I can certainly check.


You're right. In hindsight, I should have done so...but at the time I was working two jobs and this wasn't a priority for me. Live and learn I suppose.

Have you done a clean install of drivers?
 
Yes. The ones that Windows 10 found automatically and the ones straight from nV.
 
Seems odd. Flickering may be due to a bad cable? I've had strange issues due to cables.
 
2D. Interestingly it _doesn't_ seem to happen while playing games...only at the desktop or other light tasks. It's started happening on the primary display too since I sent the PM and (original) email. So it seems unlikely that it's a cable issue, but I can certainly check.

So you replicated the issue on a second display, but used the same cable right? Definitely try another cable. Also try another port if you haven't already. I'd also try reseating the card; it's possible (though unlikely) a dust bunny got inside the PCI-E bus when you were swapping cards. Happened to me years ago.
 
2D. Interestingly it _doesn't_ seem to happen while playing games...only at the desktop or other light tasks. It's started happening on the primary display too since I sent the PM and (original) email.

Hey man, that reads like classic hardware accel problems. Flicker on 2D but no 3D... try reading this guide on the part about using RTSS.

The AMD How To Thread
 
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