• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Are used graphics cards risky?

Associate
Joined
4 Feb 2009
Posts
115
Location
Derbyshire
I have got an old PC with an i5-3450, 24Gb RAM, Windows 10, PCI Express 3.0 x16 capable motherboard. I want to add a reasonable graphics card to it so my teenager can get some use out of it but I appreciate I am going to be limited to what I can do with it.

I was thinking about trying to get either a used 1060 or new 1650. Are used graphics cards too risky to buy? From what I have read, some graphics cards can only last for just over 3 years.
 
The PC currently has a 350W PSU in it but I do have a OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W squirrelled away that I could fit in it.
 
A used GTX 1060 is a pretty cheap card, is it really a problem if it only lasts 3 years?
If the card is already 3 years old when I buy it, then it is nearly dead to begin with. This is my worry.
What would you recommend that could work with a i5-3450 and not break the bank?
 
If the card is already 3 years old when I buy it, then it is nearly dead to begin with. This is my worry.
What would you recommend that could work with a i5-3450 and not break the bank?
I happen to have recently added the RTX 3060 12GB onto a i5 3570 (so a fairly similar setup to yours) and it can run something like Baldur's Gate 3 in 4K all settings on. I can also tell you that prior to that, I had an AMD RX580 8GB in that system and it ran Baldur's Gate 3 with most settings on at 1080P and ran up to around 45FPS depending on where you were.

Given the RX580 is roughly analogous to the 1650, I would avoid that card (1650) if possible. So I would suggest anything from the previous NVidia generation (2060 or onwards) and their AMD equivalent cards for selection choice (depending on pricing and budget you can afford). But don't get the latest cards, as you'll likely be missing out on performance that the CPU can't drive the GPU at (and also need more power to run it from the PSU). For example, that AMD RX580 8GB? Previously in an older X79 (4930k at 4.2Ghz) it couldn't run Baldur's Gate 3 above 45FPS at 1080P in the best of situations (usually 25 to 30 FPS instead). However, once it got into a Ryzen 9 7950X system, it was able to drive it closer to 60FPS. But all of this also required more PCIe 8 Pin connections from the PSU, so you'll need to factor that in your budget. The 3060 I got was because it only needs 1 PCIe 8 Pin power connector, so fairly easy on the system. However, in your case of the 350W PSU, you'll likely need to swap in that 600W one you have stashed away (assuming it has a PCIe 8 Pin available).
 
Last edited:
I happen to have recently added the RTX 3060 12GB onto a i5 3570 (so a fairly similar setup to yours) and it can run something like Baldur's Gate 3 in 4K all settings on. I can also tell you that prior to that, I had an AMD RX580 8GB in that system and it ran Baldur's Gate 3 with most settings on at 1080P and ran up to around 45FPS depending on where you were.

Given the RX580 is roughly analogous to the 1650, I would avoid that card (1650) if possible. So I would suggest anything from the previous NVidia generation (2060 or onwards) and their AMD equivalent cards for selection choice (depending on pricing and budget you can afford). But don't get the latest cards, as you'll likely be missing out on performance that the CPU can't drive the GPU at (and also need more power to run it from the PSU). For example, that AMD RX580 8GB? Previously in an older X79 (4930k at 4.2Ghz) it couldn't run Baldur's Gate 3 above 45FPS at 1080P in the best of situations (usually 25 to 30 FPS instead). However, once it got into a Ryzen 9 7950X system, it was able to drive it closer to 60FPS. But all of this also required more PCIe 8 Pin connections from the PSU, so you'll need to factor that in your budget. The 3060 I got was because it only needs 1 PCIe 8 Pin power connector, so fairly easy on the system. However, in your case of the 350W PSU, you'll likely need to swap in that 600W one you have stashed away (assuming it has a PCIe 8 Pin available).
Thanks, that makes sense. If I aim for a 2060 then it will also have a bit of upgrade potential left in it too. I would also like to give my son something that he can tweak and use to learn.
 
Are used graphics cards too risky to buy? From what I have read, some graphics cards can only last for just over 3 years.

If you can't afford to lose £50 - £100, I'd just get a RX 6600, you can buy them under £200 now and if/when the system needs an upgrade, take it with you. 1630/1650 are both overpriced if you're buying new, even more so now that the 6600 has dropped under £200.
 
If the card is already 3 years old when I buy it, then it is nearly dead to begin with. This is my worry.
What would you recommend that could work with a i5-3450 and not break the bank?
Oh I didn't realise you meant like that, they last longer than 3 years, my 1070 for example I used for 5 years, sold 2 years ago and haven't had any complaints.

The only thing I'd be concerned about when buying used is if the card has been tampered with or used in a mining rig, other than that you're probably good.

Keep things in perspective, if you want to buy a card as cheap as a used 1060 then you've already made the decision to prioritise price, if instead your priority is longevity then you need to pay the premium to get a new card with a warranty.
 
but the latest cards are more efficient. 4060ti offers 3060ti performance but pulls 40-50w less power. :confused:
True but how did we go from a used 1060 (about £60) to a 4060ti (about £400)?

I'm all for efficiency but if you're paying £340 for energy savings you'd have to game four hours a day, every day for something 13 years to make it back.
 
I would first make sure the BIOS is updated and secondly make sure any of the newer cards won't have compatibility issues with an older motherboard.

Also the RX580 is faster than a GTX1650:

An RX6600 is also probably the one of the most efficient card of the last generation,and consumes 120W(which is even less than the GTX1060 or RTX4060TI):

It is almost double the performance of an RX580 and around RTX2070 level rasterised performance:



NV GPU driver overhead on older hardware could be something to look into.

He also tried a G3258 too:

The RTX3070 cannot beat a slower RX5700XT in most cases.

Something similar was also seen with a newer Core i3 10100:

The RTX2080TI is also usually quicker than an RX6700XT but not in this case.

The AMD cards do seem to have lower driver overhead in newer games. I think in some older DX11 games,Nvidia did have an advantage in the past.
 
Last edited:
From what I have read, some graphics cards can only last for just over 3 years.

My brother is still using one of my old GTX Titan X cards, which I bought in 2015. If it didn't have a broken fan, my 2013 vintage GTX 780 Ti would work fine. My GT 240 (from 2009) still worked the last time I tried it. I've kept them all well.

CFRWj3C.jpg


(GT 240, 780 Ti, second GTX Titan X, RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 3090)

The go-to new card has to be the RX 6600.
 
Back
Top Bottom