Trying to decide on an inexpensive, secondhand 1080p solution

StoleMyOwnCar

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I have a mini-ITX build in my bedroom that I just built. I need something to do 1080p gaming, mostly. Maybe up to 1440p or so, on an HP mixed reality headset, but the games I play on it won't be terribly intensive graphics wise. Budget is probably around $100, just looking for a good value. I saw some 7870 Ghz's sitting around on Ebay for cheap, but could use some suggestions.

Current parts list:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/49vHMv

Only other requirement is that the case needs to fit the GPU, but that shouldn't be a big problem considering most cards I've tried so far seem to at least fit in the case. Small and quiet would be nice, too, but not holding my breath.

I have a 7870Ghz, but my friend somehow broke it and now it has 2D (ie on desktop) artifacts. Also a 780 but it also has some sort of artifacts. And my 5850 HD sounds like a leafblower (and for some reason starts making dialup modem coil whine sounds apparently...) and I'm not sure if it's any better than the iGPU at this point.

Thanks.
 
Maybe a GTX 750 Ti? Not sure you will get much better for $100.
Nah there were plenty of 760s and even up to 780s (if you got very lucky) that got sniped on Ebay for ~100$. That being said 100$ wasn't an exact price point, I just wanted something in the area, +/- 50$ or something.

Not my proudest moment but I just went ahead and got an EVGA 960GTX for 140$. Then 10$ in shipping and some tax and it was 161$, but what can you do? I just felt like with a 900 series I would have a better chance of not running into obscure driver issues with newer software vs the aging 700 series, hopefully, when it comes to WMR. This one in particular I could have tried to bid for, but then when I bid on another one some dude took it up to 122$ with 18$ shipping. At that point that's like 10$ cheaper than the one that I went with the "buy it now" price on, and the one I bought was in pretty much immaculate condition. Plus it's very small form, which is kind of what I want. So whatever. It is what it is. Sigh... Buying an old low end GPU for only 30$ under its MSRP lol...

There was a 780 on Craiglist for 150, but it was a 40-50 minute drive and I just really didn't feel like arranging all that and then having to waste time testing it and trying to find a place we can meet up in the middle. In terms of time value vs money, it just wasn't worth it. Time to be a lazy American (even though I'm Russian).

Edit: and figures some buy it now listing that I was watching gave me a 7$ discount on their buy it now, bringing it down to 132 with free shipping, right after I bought that one. Oh well. All I can hope is that this one being in perfect condition is worth it...
 
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Well a GTX 960 is not the worst card. Considering the market I would say the price is fair. Should be okay 1080p medium settings.

Also know how you feel. I sold my PS4 because I was expecting to get a PS5 (I kept my game collection though). When PS5 was nowhere to be found, I ended up just buying a used PS4 Slim for $239 on ebay.

Kind of silly that I've owned both a PS4 and a PS4 Pro, sold them both and then bought a PS4 again, but I'd rather do that than give into scalpers.
 
StoleMyOwnCar ,Maybe a month ago. Had a thread about it which originally started something will new rtx cards work with Bios. X58 system compatibility.

Well I think the market a month ago is a bit different from the market now. I did check in FS/FT but the cheapest thing I see there is a 970GTX for 190. Which is a good price, but I strictly kind of wanted to keep it at about $100, +/- $50. I also have no heat to my name and frankly am just relatively impatient, so I guess I get what I get.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fsrp=1&rt=nc&_nkw=nvidia+960&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1

Looking at the sold listings on Ebay, prices are all over the place, and many paid more than I did.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184876562593

This is what I purchased. Mainly I really like the size, too. Would fit well in an mini-itx case.
 
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Got a time machine? That was a year ago.

Indeed.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...=1&rt=nc&_odkw=nvidia+960&_osacat=0&LH_Sold=1

You're not getting an RX 570 cheaper than 250-300+ at the moment.

Frankly I just need something to use right now. When/if the mining craze dies down, I'll just replace it and keep it as a backup GPU. There's some merit in paying more for something you can use immediately vs having to wait probably several months with nothing in your hands but hopes and dreams. It's unfortunate that all of my backup GPUs ended up being broken, so this is just an unexpected cost to my bedroom build, but I can't do anything to help it....
 
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Indeed.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...=1&rt=nc&_odkw=nvidia+960&_osacat=0&LH_Sold=1

You're not getting an RX 570 cheaper than 250-300+ at the moment.

Frankly I just need something to use right now. When/if the mining craze dies down, I'll just replace it and keep it as a backup GPU. There's some merit in paying more for something you can use immediately vs having to wait probably several months with nothing in your hands but hopes and dreams. It's unfortunate that all of my backup GPUs ended up being broken, so this is just an unexpected cost to my bedroom build, but I can't do anything to help it....

Try the trading/sale subforum here. I saw someone was selling a video card there yesterday and if people try to charge too much they'll be banned so they have to give you a fair price.
 
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GTX 960 should cover your 1080p if not playing anything too demanding. Might be bumping down to medium for some. I wouldn't try 1440p on it unless some easy to run game or something. If you can snag a decently priced GTX 970, that should cover you for 1080p high.

Concur, usually see better used GPU deals on forums like these.
 
Try the trading/sale subforum here. I saw someone was selling a video card there yesterday and if people try to charge too much they'll be banned so they have to give you a fair price.

Well, "fair" price these days is very malleable...

Anyway I tested out my card. Just received it.

1623689560675.png


Apparently I'm number 2 on the leaderboards for this exact configuration... out of 5 total. The FPS during the demo was pretty bad, around 15. But then again I'm kind of surprised it even did that well considering it's a benchmark. The GPU didn't quite come in as good of a shape as I thought though. Namely the front metal plate where the monitors hooked up was kind of rickety because for some reason the DVI port screws were loose on the top side and then outright missing on the bottom. Kind of miffed. At least it benchmarks as expected. Utterly silent, too. Fits in my case well.

Overall though the build was utterly silent throughout the entire thing. The PSU fan on my Corsair GS600 didn't even come on. The build is pretty clean, too, because of the GPU's form factor.


Hooked up my HP mixed reality headset, WMR came on with no driver issues at all, pretty much instantly. Overall, this probably accomplishes my purposes so I'm happy. If it's insufficient, I have a 1080GTX that I received for my Gigabyte 980Ti RMA back in the day. Which hilariously enough now that I think about it, I could have sold it on Ebay and basically bought two 970's if I wanted to. All I do is stream games on the workout computer, so worst case I'll swap them. But I think this 960 will be fine.
 
Try the trading/sale subforum here. I saw someone was selling a video card there yesterday and if people try to charge too much they'll be banned so they have to give you a fair price.

They don't have to give a fair price. They can just sell elsewhere.
 
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