Hey guys so I'm in a bit of a kerfuffle. I'm building a buddy a PC, so I've decided to include my EVGA GTX 670 FTW in the build, leaving me an empty slot in my PC that needs filling. I live in Canada so if anyone is linking prices please make sure they are Canadian. I'm looking at the 290 and the 290x. Here are my options:
XFX Double D 290 brand new- $360 after the smoke clears, bunch of free games etc.
Reference 290 USED- $200-250, I'm negotiating with a guy in my area who has reference 290s, presumably used for BitCoin mining until the crash. I offered $250 before seeing the new aftermarket cooler cards on NCIX. I later told him $250 seemed too high when I can buy new aftermarket cards, with Never Settle Bundles, for not a ton more. He said, shoot me an offer and told me he could sell me a reference 290x for $280
Reference 290x USED- $280/obo
Any Suggestions???
If the 2nd hand 290's come with a receipt for warranty and they are in good working order then I'd grab one and stick a waterblock or af cooler on it.
If no receipt then dont touch em.
Also a flogged out artifacting card can still mine, so you'd want to test and see for yourself.
The xfx dd 290's are really nice cards, I watched this review a few days ago. Very impressive indeed.
Stay away from the reference R9 290 (X) card unless you plan on putting a waterblock on it. They get way too fucking hot and loud to be really usable.
Be careful when buying any used AMD card. They may have really gotten burned out mining.
Prices may change in the near future
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/general-discussion/amd-live-stream-announcements/184274
If you could wait a couple weeks it might be worth it.
Yeah, I'll ask him about the receipts and warranties. Ill also run Kombuster and Valley for a half hour to make sure they are solid