The good 6970's have disappeared...

A

ArbY

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
390
Specifically, the MSI Lightning R6970 and the PowerColor PCS+ AX6970. Both cards were factory overclocked and had quality coolers, and they've both been listed as "Deactivated" on Newegg. They're not in stock anywhere else and prospects for a new shipment aren't looking good (Amazon saying 1-2 months, i.e. possibly never). They are probably the best 6970's to buy, but they've all but disappeared.


Were these cards offered in very limited quantities and for a short time only? Should I expect to see more in the near future? Does anyone know ANYTHING? :confused:
 
Damn that's suprising. I bought mine after a friend got his and I noticed how quiet it was.
 
Yeah they are cards in demand. I had about three Lightnings for sale and sold all of them within a day or two. Still have a PowerColor AX6970 though.
 
SolidBladez said:
Yeah they are cards in demand. I had about three Lightnings for sale and sold all of them within a day or two. Still have a PowerColor AX6970 though.
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How do you like your powercolor compared to the lighting? (will be getting a powercolor pcs+ 6970 here soon.)
 
Maybe they are clearing stock in preperation of next generation cards, the HD7000 series.
Check out this, google translated so please forgive the grammar.
http://translate.google.com/transla...-7000-pa-ratt-spar-for-lansering-2011&act=url

Edit: giving things a bit more thought, it is possible there is a shortage of parts for the cards due to the big earthquake in Japan earlier this year and hence we have bigger demand than supply leading us to having a hard time to find the more popular cards.
 
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get a HIS IceQ Turbo 6970 i bought one of theses and i really like it. It's really quiet and stays very cool.
 
Would many people in-the-know really buy a 6970 at this late in the game though?

If you're in the market for a $300+ video card, you're most likely an enthusiast. And if you're an enthusiast, you know that the new cards are coming soon. And if you've read anything about the new cards, you know that they're TWO die shrinks and a new architecture.

Who would spend $350 now with that kind of potentially game-changing hardware in the pipeline?
 
That's_Corporate said:
Would many people in-the-know really buy a 6970 at this late in the game though?

If you're in the market for a $300+ video card, you're most likely an enthusiast. And if you're an enthusiast, you know that the new cards are coming soon. And if you've read anything about the new cards, you know that they're TWO die shrinks and a new architecture.

Who would spend $350 now with that kind of potentially game-changing hardware in the pipeline?
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Me. I just bought a ASUS 6970 DCII (upgraded from a xfx 6950 ver 1.0).. I know the new cards are just around the corner. But I plan on upgrading to a Crosshair V Formula soon and my next card would probably be Nvidia. But I hear those don't come out for a long while.. This 6970 should hold it down for BF3 until the next Nvidia cards come out. If the next AMD series ends up being really badass, I can always sell the 6970. I just wanted something really good for BF3. And I don't do Crossfire or SLI. Unless it was a 6990 or a 590 but I don't see myself doing that.
 
I bought 2x Lightnings about 2 months ago because I knew I'd be running them hard all the time (Bitcoin Mining); figured I'd splurge a little since they'd pay for themselves in "no time". Too bad that didn't work out like I'd thought. Anyway, perhaps miners bought them all up?

I did not know that the 7xxx series was getting two die shrinks; that's very interesting.
 
Roman79 said:
I did not know that the 7xxx series was getting two die shrinks; that's very interesting.
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Yes, down from 40nm to 32nm to 28nm. The AMD 6000 series were first planned to be on 32nm until TSMC canceled the whole 32nm production.
 
That's_Corporate said:
Would many people in-the-know really buy a 6970 at this late in the game though?

If you're in the market for a $300+ video card, you're most likely an enthusiast. And if you're an enthusiast, you know that the new cards are coming soon. And if you've read anything about the new cards, you know that they're TWO die shrinks and a new architecture.

Who would spend $350 now with that kind of potentially game-changing hardware in the pipeline?
Click to expand...

People are buying them for bitcoin mining, not gaming.
 
Roman79 said:
I bought 2x Lightnings about 2 months ago because I knew I'd be running them hard all the time (Bitcoin Mining); figured I'd splurge a little since they'd pay for themselves in "no time". Too bad that didn't work out like I'd thought.
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What happened? IE, how much less did you make than expected?
 
Bitcoin bubble is analogous to the housing bubble. It just hasn't popped yet. It will. There's no value being created.
 
shantd said:
What happened? IE, how much less did you make than expected?
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I forget the exact figures, but to the best of my recollection I figured I'd make about $1000/mth; this was back in late May / early June. This was based on 2x 6970s and 1x 5850.

Since about mid June I've made about $300 gross, not including the massive amount of power that I used. Not bad for a $1500 investment lol
The price went down, difficultly went up, and my PC wasn't mining 100% of the time. Lots of hash rate fluctuations, random downtime, and I do like to game once in a while :D
 
Roman79 said:
I forget the exact figures, but to the best of my recollection I figured I'd make about $1000/mth; this was back in late May / early June. This was based on 2x 6970s and 1x 5850.

Since about mid June I've made about $300 gross, not including the massive amount of power that I used. Not bad for a $1500 investment lol
The price went down, difficultly went up, and my PC wasn't mining 100% of the time. Lots of hash rate fluctuations, random downtime, and I do like to game once in a while :D
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Interesting, thanks for that. Sounds like a fair bit of hassle. $300 isn't an insignificant amount of cash I suppose but as you say you've got to factor in power consumption. I imagine all that usage will kill the life of the cards as well. Makes me wonder how others are making money doing it... Maybe several computers with several 5x cards in each, working around the clock?
 
The people who are making the money are the ones who got in really early. They earned their coins and are able to sell them at profit, where people who have come in since the media news pieces on it are not going to see those types of returns. It's a bubble near its peak and it will burst.
 
That's_Corporate said:
Would many people in-the-know really buy a 6970 at this late in the game though?

If you're in the market for a $300+ video card, you're most likely an enthusiast. And if you're an enthusiast, you know that the new cards are coming soon. And if you've read anything about the new cards, you know that they're TWO die shrinks and a new architecture.

Who would spend $350 now with that kind of potentially game-changing hardware in the pipeline?
Click to expand...

Well, I just got CFX 6970's, because I didn't know any better. But I have budgeted for selling them, my 2600K, and my old mobo at some point, and using the returns to pick up 2 7xxx's, and Ivy Bridge next spring for cheap (er. It'll still be a few hundred).
 
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