Risky Ebay purchases

[luke10050]

hey guys, since i know nothing hahaha, how risky out of ten would these be? just wondering at the chances of getting any of this stuff working really.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ASUS-HD-6...6493149&_uhb=1

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Radeon-HD...d65be0c&_uhb=1

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Powercolo...d643dc0&_uhb=1

has anyone here heard much about the 69** series cards going blank like that?

[SeanB]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

9.5/10 would be my guess for risk, either cooked chips or dead capacitors in nearly impossible to reach locations. Probably the fans got dust in them and the heatsink turned into a fluffball.

[tmiha71]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

As stated in ads, FOR PARTS, but if they were in oven /or similar/ they 're for dumpster...

[SuperDuty]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

I've repaired a GTX480 with a simple reflow, it's been running strong for two weeks now. But I got it for nearly nothing in a lot of 16 modern cards. I wouldn't pay more than 10€ for a bare dead card : I got a dead Gigabyte HD5870 but complete in its box at this price.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

10/10, I'd say most things sold as faulty would probably already have gone though some type of fix by the owner.
Like the "owen trick" for consoles & videocards, a pretty sure fire way to kill stuff...
(Yes I know it can work if done right, but that's not likely to be the case for the majority of cases).

[luke10050]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

point taken, i have used the oven trick before with sucess but i guess i made sure to remove plastic and caps from the board... would try the 4870x2 if it weren't for the shipping costs. one of the 6950's looks good as the fans spin up

[ratdude747]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

This all said, on one occasion Topcat got a lot of EVGA GeForce 7600 GT's for cheap like this... all with blown Sacon FZ's.

If the issue is obvious and fixable, then it may be worth it. However, for modern cards, this rarely is the case...

[Topcat]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

This all said, on one occasion Topcat got a lot of EVGA GeForce 7600 GT's for cheap like this... all with blown Sacon FZ's.

Yup....its a gamble sometimes....I had about a dozen of them. I think 3 were not repairable. Polymodded the rest of them. sold some, used a couple for bench test cards, and used a pair in SLI in a system I had on hand.

[luke10050]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

okay, thanks for the great advice guys! i might have a better think about buying used stuff from ebay. sounds promising especially if you get them in lots

im thinking the 4870x2 might be an interesting project, i mean worst case scenario i can scavenge 4870 chips off dead cards

also a price like this for a 7600GT is a bit outrageous right?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Gigabyte-...7393e86&_uhb=1

[ratdude747]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

Yup....its a gamble sometimes....I had about a dozen of them. I think 3 were not repairable. Polymodded the rest of them. sold some, used a couple for bench test cards, and used a pair in SLI in a system I had on hand.

FWIW mine from the lot is used daily and still is strong (in my parent's rig). IIRC some were given lytics?

[ratdude747]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

okay, thanks for the great advice guys! i might have a better think about buying used stuff from ebay. sounds promising especially if you get them in lots

Now, if you buy working used stuff on ebay, you sometimes can make big scores... I've gotten kickass workstation CPU's this way (oldish but still very powerful usually).

[Topcat]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

FWIW mine from the lot is used daily and still is strong (in my parent's rig). IIRC some were given lytics?

Yea, I think I did do a few in lytics now that you mention it.

[luke10050]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

Now, if you buy working used stuff on ebay, you sometimes can make big scores... I've gotten kickass workstation CPU's this way (oldish but still very powerful usually).

like a GTX480 for $85?

[ratdude747]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

Yea, I think I did do a few in lytics now that you mention it.

Yeah, I remeber being given a choice when I bought one.

like a GTX480 for $85?

I'm not familiar with newer card models so I don't know if that's a deal or a joke...

[luke10050]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

I'm not familiar with newer card models so I don't know if that's a deal or a joke...

its ok for a 3-4 year old card.. they are up to 7** now right? so its 3 years old and it would do better than my 4870

[SuperDuty]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

It's the most powerful single GPU card of 2010. And they still are pretty good. It's about 10% faster than an HD5870. It's similar in performance with the newer GTX570, the GTX660 and the GTX760 192bit.

But damn it's LOUD with the stock cooler...and it runs very hot.

[momaka]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

I wouldn't pay more than 10€ for a bare dead card :

+1, best advice in this thread so far.

I've bought quite a few broken video cards from eBay before. It is a gamble indeed.
The first lot I got was eight broken/as-is Radeon 9700s for close to $60 IIRC (that was back in 2006, when working ones were still worth about $30 each). Got 4 working out of that, but this was only recently. They all needed a reflow + some missing components added back due to careless seller (or whoever handle it before the seller).

The second lot was the 13 video cards Topcat got. At the time, I didn't have a computer with PCI-E to test or the proper tools for a recap, so I posted the link here on BCN as I thought it would be a good deal. Seems like it was .

The third lot I got was just last summer: one GeForce 8800 GT, one 7900 GS (or GTO?), and one EVGA 7600 GT. The EVGA had bad caps just like the 13 that TC got. Unfortunately, on mine, the RAM got damaged when the caps went bad. I went as far as replacing the RAM, but looks like the GPU took some damage too. Haven't played with the 8800 or 7900 yet, but they both need a reflow I'm sure.

The last lot I got this fall: five low-profile Radeon HD3450/3470 for $10 shipped. All were promised as working pulls and they were. One got a bit damaged from the shipping (due to seller using a small box to save on shipping), but I got that fixed.

So yeah, it's a gamble. But if you're experienced with reflowing/reballing and look regularly on ebay, you can find some pretty decent deals.

also a price like this for a 7600GT is a bit outrageous right?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Gigabyte-...7393e86&_uhb=1

VERY.
You can get a working 7600GT for close to $10 if you look. I saw one go as low as $8 shipped. Didn't even need a recap as it used good caps. No one bid on it too.

[luke10050]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

hmm sound advice, i got a decent rework station recently so i will have a look into it

[gn2]

Re: Risky Ebay purchases

Price paid is the biggest consideration, IMHO...ALL the stuff you posted links to were so over priced as to be poor purchases. $5./card would be max, and with the cost of shipping, you're paying too much for anything from ebay unless you can walk over to where it is and pick it up without paying shipping...

Do you have a local recyclers near you ? E-waste facility, etc ? That is how to get items for repair. Place an ad offering to pick up e-waste for free in the local classified*(kijiji, craigs, whatever is popular...).

PS: Personally, I think ebay is the most EXPENSIVE place to find items. It *used* to be cheap, but that was a decade ago...