Coworker is selling me a Gigabyte 3070 Ti for $300 flat. Is it a good deal?

[Iggy Wolf]

So I have two PCs. My new one has an ASUS 3060 Ti 3 fan edition paired with an i5 10400, 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. My old PC is an i5 6400, Gigabyte 2060 Super Windforce Dual fan, 16 GB of RAM and 3 TB HDD. I'm thinking of putting in the new 3070 Ti into the old one. I know, I know, you're all probably thinking "why don't you just stick the 3070 Ti into the new one and take the 3060 Ti and put it into the old one?"

Good question. My answer might be weird to you all but it's my reasoning. I HATE the 2060 Super. It's the V1 of the Windforce that had a crappy heatsink and gets up to 83 C on heavy load, and that's ONLY because I lowered the power limit to 84. At 100% default, it was reaching as high as 88/89 C. The old case CAN fit the GPU. Although given the new 3070 Ti AND my 3060 Ti are both 3 fans, 13 inches long, the 3070 will JUST end literally almost touching the front intake fan in the old case.

But so would the 3060 Ti, so they're both much longer and bigger than the old 2060 Super, but at least would be a cool 64-70 C vs the 89 on the 2060 Super. As far as performance is concerned, my understanding is that at 1080P (which is what I mostly game at), I would see at most an 18% increase in performance on the 3070 Ti on my new PC vs the old one. Not bad, but not exactly something that would make me go "Wow". I figure if I ever need to squeeze more performance out of my new PC, I'll just swap the GPUs then.

But for now, even for the old PC, the 3070 Ti should be a MUCH greater improvement over the 2060 Super. And better, it's only $300, vs the $500 plus tax and shipping that I'd spend buying it online. His son didn't the 3070 Ti anymore because he bought a new AMD 7900 XT. So the 3070 Ti is only "used" in the sense that it was in his son's PC for the last 8 months (but he barely used it), but otherwise, it's brand new. He gets 70 C on it at 1440P at 165 FPS. It's a no brainer, right?

[emoticorpse]

Do you really game on both pcs?

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

Do you really game on both pcs?

Believe it or not, yes. The new one only has my newest games that my old PC can no longer manage and because my old PC has less space left. But most of my games are still on my old PC because the old one was a prebuilt. The new one is as well, but unlike the old one, the new one is a custom PC case with interchangeable parts and room to upgrade better MOBO, GPU, CPU, and RAM. The old one, being an old i5 6th gen will obviously never go higher than a i5 7th gen upgrade and the mobo is OEM.

So yes, the 3070 Ti might be overkill for it, but it'll also act as a backup for the 3060 Ti if and when I need to squeeze more FPS and performance should games become more demanding. The 3070 Ti still only has 8 GB VRAM though, so like the 3060, it'll still be bottlenecked by the VRAM on more newer demanding games that require more VRAM even at 1080P.

Hence why it's no issue to have it in the old one. If it was 10 GB, I'd replace the 3060 Ti with it without a 2nd thought. But I definitely DON'T want or like the 2060 Super in my old one, being underclocked because of a crappy heatsink and poor cooling solution. Plus, only my old PC has a DVD drive for old games that still uses CD/DVDs. The new one doesn't have a DVD drive bay without using an external drive.

[76561199502155650]

do a web sight comparsion on

RTX 3070 ti vs RX 6750 xt

you will see that the nvidia has better lighting effects but over all preformance is lower then the AMD RX 6750

the AMD Rx 6750 will render 40% faster which means better preformance.

you can get a rx 6750 right now for the same 300 dollars in most stores.

your friend isn't doing you a favor he prob got himself a rx6750 and is trying to recover his money for the rtx 3070 ti

tell your friend 200 dollars, its used what does he expect, its been running for 8 months at least and at 70C that is pretty hot, you would do much better just buying a new RX6750 that hasn't even hit 60c temps, and keeping it properly cooled it will never reach 60c

if this guys son was using it at 70C its either under cooled or overly used, in both instances ask for a better price an explain to him why.

brand new better Card is 280 dollars at the store.

(correction the render is only 5% better, it is the texture detail that is 40% better, )

[Illusion of Progress]

That's about what it should be for a used one. At least that's how Id personally value it. Doesn't seem to be a great price for that, just a "what it should be worth" based on pricing of new products around it in performance.

The RTX 3070 and the RTX 3070 Ti in particular are such bad buys right now because they only have 8 GB VRAM but have enough performance to justify "higher" pricing (and enough performance to where they are held back by said VRAM amount, meaning you're often left with processing power you can't even utilize fully, meaning you're... paying for what is partially wasted so just save money and get a slightly slower one).

While the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is also a rather poor value, it has similar performance to the RTX 3070 (non-Ti) and shows that the 8 GB can hold back GPUs at that level of performance because the GPU is fast enough... but the VRAM holds it back. People like to excuse this with "it only happens at ultra or extreme resolutions where you shouldn't be pushing the card anyway because it would be unplayable anyway" but this is wrong and the performance results (the facts) prove it now and have been for years. In one result I saw, the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which is a bit slower, even went up towards or above 200 FPS where the 8 GB version is much lower than that simply because of lacking VRAM (and something else these frame rate bars don't show is more stutter and worse 0.1% lows when lacking VRAM). I'm not sure in what world 200 FPS is "pushing it so far it's unplayable" but people will try and excuse anything even though facts for years now have shown that level of performance is inadequate with 8 GB. You have to turn settings down, only because of insufficient VRAM. So it becomes a waste of buying processing power you can't use, so may as well just get a slower 8 GB card instead.

Now at the used pricing it helps a bit, but I'd still pass.

You already have an RTX 3060 Ti. This is only about 10% slower than the RTX 3070, which itself isn't a whole lot slower than the RTX 3070 Ti (it's too close to the RTX 3070 instead of evenly between it and the RTX 3080).

The RX 6700 XT goes for $330 and has flirted closer to $300 at times. While it's a bit slower than the RTX 3070 Ti (it's closer to the RTX 3060 Ti in rasterization), that's what it costs new, and it has 12 GB VRAM instead of 8 GB. So $300 for a used RTX 3070 Ti sounds... expected, and even still "meh" rather than "wow that's good" price to me. Maybe $250 and I'd be saying that (not saying you should try and talk them down, just saying if someone offered me one for $300 I'd instantly pass without thinking about it, and I only have a GTX 1060, I'd especially pass if I already had an RTX 3060 Ti).

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by Please Stop Stalking my Posts:

do a web sight comparsion on

RTX 3070 ti vs RX 6750 xt

you will see that the nvidia has better lighting effects but over all preformance is lower then the AMD RX 6750

the AMD Rx 6750 will render 40% faster which means better preformance.

you can get a rx 6750 right now for the same 300 dollars in most stores.

your friend isn't doing you a favor he prob got himself a rx6750 and is trying to recover his money for the rtx 3070 ti

tell your friend 200 dollars, its used what does he expect, its been running for 8 months at least and at 70C that is pretty hot, you would do much better just buying a new RX6750 that hasn't even hit 60c temps, and keeping it properly cooled it will never reach 60c

if this guys son was using it at 70C its either under cooled or overly used, in both instances ask for a better price an explain to him why.

brand new better Card is 280 dollars at the store.

(correction the render is only 5% better, it is the texture detail that is 40% better, )

Not sure what you're trying to get at. 70C isn't bad at all. Also, I use Nvidia cards cause I have a lot of raytracing games. So your suggestion for your AMD card is pointless. I'm not replacing my 3060 Ti. I'm replacing my 2060 Super. $300 is fairly reasonable for an 8 month old card that was barely even used. I mean, Nvidia isn't even making 30xx cards anymore.

You're lucky to get a new OR used 3070 or 3060 Ti for less than $400. You mentioned lower temps yet AMD cards are known for higher temps and higher power consumption. I need LESS temps and less power consumption. It's about fulfilling a need, not a matter of going cheap for the sake of cheap.

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by Illusion of Progress:

That's about what it should be for a used one. At least that's how Id personally value it. Doesn't seem to be a great price for that, just a "what it should be worth" based on pricing of new products around it in performance.

The RTX 3070 and the RTX 3070 Ti in particular are such bad buys right now because they only have 8 GB VRAM but have enough performance to justify "higher" pricing (and enough performance to where they are held back by said VRAM amount, meaning you're often left with processing power you can't even utilize fully, meaning you're... paying for what is partially wasted so just save money and get a slightly slower one).

While the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is also a rather poor value, it has similar performance to the RTX 3070 (non-Ti) and shows that the 8 GB can hold back GPUs at that level of performance because the GPU is fast enough... but the VRAM holds it back. People like to excuse this with "it only happens at ultra or extreme resolutions where you shouldn't be pushing the card anyway because it would be unplayable anyway" but this is wrong and the performance results (the facts) prove it now and have been for years. In one result I saw, the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which is a bit slower, even went up towards or above 200 FPS where the 8 GB version is much lower than that simply because of lacking VRAM (and something else these frame rate bars don't show is more stutter and worse 0.1% lows when lacking VRAM). I'm not sure in what world 200 FPS is "pushing it so far it's unplayable" but people will try and excuse anything even though facts for years now have shown that level of performance is inadequate with 8 GB. You have to turn settings down, only because of insufficient VRAM. So it becomes a waste of buying processing power you can't use, so may as well just get a slower 8 GB card instead.

Now at the used pricing it helps a bit, but I'd still pass.

You already have an RTX 3060 Ti. This is only about 10% slower than the RTX 3070, which itself isn't a whole lot slower than the RTX 3070 Ti (it's too close to the RTX 3070 instead of evenly between it and the RTX 3080).

The RX 6700 XT goes for $330 and has flirted closer to $300 at times. While it's a bit slower than the RTX 3070 Ti (it's closer to the RTX 3060 Ti in rasterization), that's what it costs new, and it has 12 GB VRAM instead of 8 GB. So $300 for a used RTX 3070 Ti sounds... expected, and even still "meh" rather than "wow that's good" price to me. Maybe $250 and I'd be saying that (not saying you should try and talk them down, just saying if someone offered me one for $300 I'd instantly pass without thinking about it, and I only have a GTX 1060, I'd especially pass if I already had an RTX 3060 Ti).

Honestly, I thought about upgrading to a 40xx series card, but the value just isn't there. Anything less than a 4070 Ti gets a cut down bus that the extra VRAM barely ends up mattering. And the 4070 Ti is at a ridiculous $800-$900, since it was originally the 4080 12 GB. Like I said, I'm replacing my 2060 Super, NOT the 3060 Ti. Any better card would be bottlenecked by the older CPU anyway.

And if I did want a real upgrade over the 3060 Ti, I'd go for a 40xx card at a reasonable price that isn't cut down in cores or memory bus. I'm still gaming at 1080P, and higher VRAM isn't worth the current asking price. Hence why I'm asking whether the 3070 Ti is a value buy for the 30xx, NOT its relation to the 40 series or AMD cards.

[76561199502155650]

well i guess you will have to do whats right for you, i would prefer a 12gb newer card for the same price, but that is me, keep in mind that your basing the cost on what things use to be during the pandemic and when there was a microchip shortage when nvidia raised prices dramaticly.

GPU prices have come down about 30% or more since then there is a surplus of GPU's on the market and 12GB is the new stardard gaming build.

i wish you the best with your decision there is no cheap skating in getting a good deal, simply your choice if you want the deal of you want to give your friend the deal. I am sure your friend will be very happy with the 300 dollars.

it sounds like you already made up your mind, so go get yourself that used card, the misconception is that just because 70C is not the 90c or 100c that would limit break the card, you are considering it not bad, i consider anything over 60c to be hot, my GPU goes up to about 70c when the fans are improperly set and the game i am playing is very demanding.

properly set fans will keep your system from ever reaching 70c even with high preformance gaming.

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by Please Stop Stalking my Posts:

well i guess you will have to do whats right for you, i would prefer a 12gb newer card for the same price, but that is me, keep in mind that your basing the cost on what things use to be during the pandemic and when there was a microchip shortage when nvidia raised prices dramaticly.

GPU prices have come down about 30% or more since then there is a surplus of GPU's on the market and 12GB is the new stardard gaming build.

i wish you the best with your decision there is no cheap skating in getting a good deal, simply your choice if you want the deal of you want to give your friend the deal. I am sure your friend will be very happy with the 300 dollars.

it sounds like you already made up your mind, so go get yourself that used card, the misconception is that just because 70C is not the 90c or 100c that would limit break the card, you are considering it not bad, i consider anything over 60c to be hot, my GPU goes up to about 70c when the fans are improperly set and the game i am playing is very demanding.

properly set fans will keep your system from ever reaching 70c even with high preformance gaming.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I like keeping a card below 70 as well. That's why my 3060 Ti usually stays around 63-64 C. It's only cause it's summer and my room gets hot that it sometimes gets to 70, but only at heavy load and because my FPS is uncapped and allowed to get high into 140+. Honestly, I wasn't really in the market for a new GPU.

I mean, I'm happy with my 3060 Ti. It's my 2060 Super that I hated being nerfed just to maintain stability. As you said, you don't want it in the 70s or 80s, and the Super can get up to 83 C at heavy load, even AFTER being limited to 84% power limit. The card's basically a dud that only works after being heavily nerfed (Damn GIgabyte and their crappy Windforce line). At least this new one is a 3 fan edition and MAXES out at 70 as opposed to 83.

If I didn't like raytracing (really, it's more the games themselves and that they just "work" with those effects), I would have considered an AMD 6700 or 7800. But I literally got burned by an AMD card in the past (it was a Radeon 3870). I know and I'm sure they've improved heat and power consumption since then, but I don't like risking it.

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

Do you really game on both pcs?

Believe it or not, yes. The new one only has my newest games that my old PC can no longer manage and because my old PC has less space left. But most of my games are still on my old PC because the old one was a prebuilt. The new one is as well, but unlike the old one, the new one is a custom PC case with interchangeable parts and room to upgrade better MOBO, GPU, CPU, and RAM. The old one, being an old i5 6th gen will obviously never go higher than a i5 7th gen upgrade and the mobo is OEM.

So yes, the 3070 Ti might be overkill for it, but it'll also act as a backup for the 3060 Ti if and when I need to squeeze more FPS and performance should games become more demanding. The 3070 Ti still only has 8 GB VRAM though, so like the 3060, it'll still be bottlenecked by the VRAM on more newer demanding games that require more VRAM even at 1080P.

Hence why it's no issue to have it in the old one. If it was 10 GB, I'd replace the 3060 Ti with it without a 2nd thought. But I definitely DON'T want or like the 2060 Super in my old one, being underclocked because of a crappy heatsink and poor cooling solution. Plus, only my old PC has a DVD drive for old games that still uses CD/DVDs. The new one doesn't have a DVD drive bay without using an external drive.

Well, I suppose if buying this used card at $300 will save you from buying any other card in the near future then yes, I think it it's a good idea for you to get it. Mainly to get rid of that 2060 Super and maybe use as a troubleshooting card.

But if you would get a like much better card soon to replace the one in your more powerful pc, I would just do that and pass down that 3060 ti.

[Illusion of Progress]

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:

Honestly, I thought about upgrading to a 40xx series card, but the value just isn't there. Anything less than a 4070 Ti gets a cut down bus that the extra VRAM barely ends up mattering. And the 4070 Ti is at a ridiculous $800-$900, since it was originally the 4080 12 GB.

While the price/performance uplift for the RTX 40 series is mediocre, and while they have some cut down specifications per tier, they're still better price/performance vis-a-vis than what the RTX 30 series represents.

Granted, that's comparing new for new. Used usually does have a better value for the fact that its used. The best thing you'll get new for $300 is the RTX 4060 (non-Ti). It's a bit slower than the RTX 3070, let alone the Ti. Go for it if you want it.

Also, the RTX 4070 Ti has the same cut bus width/VRAM the RTX 4070 has so I don't know why you said below the RTX 4070 Ti.

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:

Like I said, I'm replacing my 2060 Super, NOT the 3060 Ti. Any better card would be bottlenecked by the older CPU anyway.

Right, I did notice that part, but I guess I was looking at from the perspective of whether you give the entire upgrade to the weakest card (RTX 2060 to RTX 3070) or "spread it evenly" (RTX 3060 Ti to RTX 3070 Ti, and RTX 260 to RTX 3060 Ti), it seems like a low change for the cost either way.

But since you seem like you want rid of your RTX 2060 for other reasons, and since it is better than your best new option, go for it if you want.

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:

Hence why I'm asking whether the 3070 Ti is a value buy for the 30xx, NOT its relation to the 40 series or AMD cards.

What determines the value of a given thing is precisely how it compares in price/performance to products around it though, no? Value isn't intrinsic in nature. Ergo, you sort of can't ignore those other options for a question like this as they are necessary for drawing that conclusion.

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:

As you said, you don't want it in the 70s or 80s, and the Super can get up to 83 C at heavy load, even AFTER being limited to 84% power limit.

Out of curiosity, is this the "problem" with the RTX 2060 Super? If so, it's not the problem you think it is.

Many graphics cards use less aggressive fan curves for the reason of lower noise, dust, and/or fan life, and because 80C is not a problem. My EVGA GTX 1060 is like this with its stock behavior. Your RTX 2060 may be as well.

If you don't like that behavior, did you try setting a more aggressive fan curve? It might be better to try that instead of spending $300 on a problem that perhaps isn't a problem.

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by Illusion of Progress:

As you said, you don't want it in the 70s or 80s, and the Super can get up to 83 C at heavy load, even AFTER being limited to 84% power limit.

Originally posted by Illusion of Progress:

Out of curiosity, is this the "problem" with the RTX 2060 Super? If so, it's not the problem you think it is.

Many graphics cards use less aggressive fan curves for the reason of lower noise, dust, and/or fan life, and because 80C is not a problem. My EVGA GTX 1060 is like this with its stock behavior. Your RTX 2060 may be as well.

If you don't like that behavior, did you try setting a more aggressive fan curve? It might be better to try that instead of spending $300 on a problem that perhaps isn't a problem.

I actually did. It's already set to spin to 100% even when it reaches 70 C. Gigabyte knew of this problem with the card, because they released a Revision 2.0 that had a better heatsink. The same problem plagued the regular 2060 at the time. The heat sink and fans would push the hot air DOWNWWARDS into the case, which naturally caused it to warm up cause the hot air wouldn't be pushed out the back or side.

I even tried to initially RMA it when I first got it but they sent it back, apparently because it "performed to specs". I guess the temps getting as hot as 89/90 C is "performing to specs". The case was so hot to the touch you could feel the heat at the very top.

Also, I feel like I should ask this though. Is the new card being like 2-3 cm away from the intake fan bad or no? The case is only so big (15 inches) while the card is 13 inches. The front intake fan is an inch itself. That leaves like 1 inch if not less of space between the card and intake. If anything, it should be better for cooling as long as it doesn't block airflow, right? The intake is a Noctua 80 mm fan. So it's small but it's also made of Noctua's traditional wood, so no worry of "metal to metal" contact due to being so close to the GPU.

[N3tRunn3r]

I have just read your first sentence...

If this GIGABYTE 3070 Ti is "second hand", "used", "opened", "refurbished" or similiar, THEN STAY FAR AWAY in general... if it is "FACTORY NEW", then yes. It might be worth.

However, many "GIGABYTE" RTX cards from the range of 3070x to 3090x and mainly the 3080x have bricked during various Diablo IV Betas. So even if you get that card "FACTORY NEW", I still highly suggest you should stay away from that cheap and bricky brand "GIGABYTE" as just GIGABYTE RTX 3070x ~~ 3090x have bricked.. while other brands from the 30xx series had crashed game and OS only.

Even Gigabyte's Warranty Site has been locked since then.. not sure if they have re-opened..

Just google 'Diablo IV Gigabyte bricked'.. here an example:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d4/t/diablo-4-bricked-my-gigabyte-3080-ti/4201/145

[C1REX]

I think $300 for 3070Ti from a trusted source is not bad.

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by N3tRunn3r:

I have just read your first sentence...

If this GIGABYTE 3070 Ti is "second hand", "used", "opened", "refurbished" or similiar, THEN STAY FAR AWAY in general... if it is "FACTORY NEW", then yes. It might be worth.

However, many "GIGABYTE" RTX cards from the range of 3070x to 3090x and mainly the 3080x have bricked during various Diablo IV Betas. So even if you get that card "FACTORY NEW", I still highly suggest you should stay away from that cheap and bricky brand "GIGABYTE" as just GIGABYTE RTX 3070x ~~ 3090x have bricked.. while other brands from the 30xx series had crashed game and OS only.

Even Gigabyte's Warranty Site has been locked since then.. not sure if they have re-opened..

Just google 'Diablo IV Gigabyte bricked'.. here an example:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d4/t/diablo-4-bricked-my-gigabyte-3080-ti/4201/145

Uh, if I remember, that was a problem with Diablo IV, not the GPUs themselves. They said the same about supposedly 4080s or 4090s getting bricked by Diablo IV. I wouldn't base my purchase on one game, nevermind new games that I don't actually intend to play or install on my OLD PC. Anything new and bigger is always going on my new PC with the ASUS TUF Gaming 3060 Ti V2.

It's actually exactly why I'm NOT putting the 3070 into it. I trust ASUS. I never trusted Gigabyte for their cards after the 2060 Super fiasco, except in their other product lines (monitors, etc.). I imagine most people would say EVGA cards were the best and they're probably right. Too bad those aren't being made anymore.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

It seems like an exciting buy at first. Then you regret that purchase down the road. $300 is too much to spend on regret.