Second hand Sapphire 5970 (sold as seen and untested).

TooCoolToRule · 27 Aug 2011 at 22:58

I know of somebody selling this. It belonged to their ex-boyfriend and they don't know if it works or not. Neither do they know if they have or can find the receipt as it may still be under it's 2 year warranty. Is it it worth buying it if it is cheap enough ?

Orcvader · 27 Aug 2011 at 23:02

Depends on how cheap it is... maybe £100?

TooCoolToRule · 27 Aug 2011 at 23:04

Possibly a little more than the cost of postage.

TooCoolToRule · 27 Aug 2011 at 23:09

According to her, it was shoved in a draw.

cmndr_andi · 27 Aug 2011 at 23:12

TooCoolToRule said:
Possibly a little more than the cost of postage.

So less than £30 all-in? If so then I would jump on it. Though see if you can get an agreement to get a refund (minus postage) if it turns out that it doesn't work.

That said, make sure you have a system that can run it. For example you will be wanting a good quality PSU of at least 650W capacity (ideally 750W).

TooCoolToRule · 27 Aug 2011 at 23:54

No, unfortunately she cleary stated it was sold as seen because she doesn't know much about computers. Best case would be her ex-boyfriend bought it and couldn't fit it in his PC and planned it as a future upgrade as he couldn't get a refund on a working product. Worst case scenario would be he overclocked it and broke it while negating the warranty. At what price point should I be thinking about walking away and if Sapphire didn't want to repair it (even at my expense), how much (roughly) would it cost to have it repaired in the worst case scenario and would it be worth the cost ? As for the PSU, I just put in a new Corsair CX600 V2. Am currently using an XFX 8800 GTX and the 5970 is a large card as well so it should (just) fit inside my case. Thanks for the replies by the way

.

Surveyor · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:10

Your PSU looks a tad under powered for a HD 5970.

The Guru3D recommendation was for a PSU with 50A on the 12V rail and your PSU only has 40A.

The Corsair spec. only states 2 PCI-E power connectors. Are these 8 pin? You need a 6 and an 8 pin power connector for a HD 5970.

Moothead2 · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:14

I'll be sure to take it off your hands if your PSU isn't up to it

.

TooCoolToRule · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:23

Surveyor said:
Your PSU looks a tad under powered for a HD 5970.

The Guru3D recommendation was for a PSU with 50A on the 12V rail and your PSU only has 40A.

The Corsair spec. only states 2 PCI-E power connectors. Are these 8 pin? You need a 6 and an 8 pin power connector for a HD 5970.

They are 2X 6+2 pin on my PSU. Guess the 5970 is out for me. The 5970 is also being sold through an Ebay link, here :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280730445301.

Even if I could have used it and it worked fine, I'm too kind to rip her off with a silly price. Somebody else will buy it.

Can someone recommend me a GPU that my Corsair can handle. I got up to £170 to spend.

Humble_Pie · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:30

Surveyor said:
Your PSU looks a tad under powered for a HD 5970.

The Guru3D recommendation was for a PSU with 50A on the 12V rail and your PSU only has 40A.

The Corsair spec. only states 2 PCI-E power connectors. Are these 8 pin? You need a 6 and an 8 pin power connector for a HD 5970.

I'm not sure, it's not an exact science. If you can get it cheapish, I'd go for it!

Marvin · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:59

600W is easily enough for a 5970. If it's £30 or less, go for it anyway. More, and you're starting to have to balance cost vs likelihood of failure.

TooCoolToRule · 28 Aug 2011 at 01:21

Thanks, Marvin. I don't have a lot of money and (after the advice I've had here and looking at reviews and specs elsewhere for that card) don't wan't to run the risk of damaging my pc testing it out seeing as I rely on my PC a lot. I'll look for something more affordable and more suitable (ie within my budget) as a birthday present like a GTX 460/470. I was having a look at the Palit GeForce® GTX460 Sonic Platinum overclocking edition. Any good ?

Marvin · 28 Aug 2011 at 01:48

The issue with those is that the GTX460 Sonic series are rather noisy. You'd be better off with something like a Gigabyte model.

jonny512379 · 28 Aug 2011 at 01:57

for Postage + a little, this has got to be worth a gamble. I'd say live a little.. if it works for this price you will be very happy for months/years with it. if it don't work you will be sad for all of 10 minutes and only a few quid down!

TooCoolToRule · 28 Aug 2011 at 02:21

Thanks for the advice, jonny512379. I'll see how much it reaches on her ebay page. Marvin, any particular card or brand you would recommended ? GTX 460/470 or 6850 ? Thanks for your advice and time.

muon · 28 Aug 2011 at 02:31

Tell her to rename the listing to HD 5970 and to put it in the correct category and it will fetch £200 probably.

TooCoolToRule · 28 Aug 2011 at 03:00

ghost101 said:
Tell her to rename the listing to HD 5970 and to put it in the correct category and it will fetch £200 probably.

Thanks, I have done.

Temi_D · 28 Aug 2011 at 03:04

I'm 99% sure the seller KNOWS that the card doesn't work and is trying to sound clueless to make people think you're getting a bargain. It will probably go for 100+ and whoever buys it will leave negative/neutral feedback. But I could be wrong.

TooCoolToRule · 28 Aug 2011 at 03:11

Temi_D said:
I'm 99% sure the seller KNOWS that the card doesn't work and is trying to sound clueless to make people think you're getting a bargain. It will probably go for 100+ and whoever buys it will leave negative/neutral feedback. But I could be wrong.

Even so, it's currently going for £1.04 + £5 p&p in the UK. That's why I wondered if it could be repaired (if found faulty) and at what maximum cost. Even now, a brand new one of these is £300+.

jak731 · 28 Aug 2011 at 03:21

lol the picture on ebay is just the heatsink and plastic shroud.. surprised nobody realised.

No pcb = worth about a fiver, he must've upgraded the cooling system.