I currently have a HIS 7970 Ghz edition can't buy them any more so I am going to crossfire it with a HIS R9 280X which you can't really find these on the internet new either.
I have a guy I found selling one that he claims to be brand new never used in an open box for $220, is this a good deal I don't exactly remember what I paid for my 7970 but I think it was between $400 and $500 but I do believe prices have seem to have gone down a bit.
To my knowledge there is no way to tell if a card is new or if its been used. Does anyone know of a way to tell?
If you do please let me know this would be really useful.
You can find used ones for like $150. People sell them around the forums from time to time. Check the for sale section.
I'm currently shopping for a new R9 280X and I can tell you that you can get a new one for $220. The only HIS card that Newegg has is selling for $260 right now (I don't know if it is the one you're looking at). You have to decide if you're willing to pay a bit (perhaps a lot) extra for the exact card that you want. You'll save a good amount of money if you are willing to get mismatched cards.
Well the 7970 and the R9 280X are pretty much identical cards except for the renaming. HIS isn't the most popular company but my 7970 that I got from them has served me well it has played everything I have thrown at it on ultra no problem in my opinion. I had a forum thread awhile ago asking about a compatible card for my 7970 since I can't find them any more. Pretty much the solution was to get the R9 280X. I am not looking at new egg they are out of stock for the card that matches mine with identical core clock speeds. I honestly can't believe the card cost so much less I bought my 7970 like 2 to 3 years ago and paid between $400 and $500 from Newegg and used pcpartpicker.com to get it cheapest. I also know it will work but is frowned upon to use 2 different brands for crossfire plus I couldn't find another card from a different manufacturer that matched the clock speeds.
I just messaged the guy seeing if he would do it cheaper explaining that they sell retail for $220. What do you think I should pay for an open box card, that is claimed to be new and never used but have no idea if it is true or not. If any one knows where I could get one retail for $220 I need the turbo/Ghz edition meaning it has a core clock with out over clocking of 1,000 Mhz. I don''t want to over clock and void any warranty's.
Or should I just bail on HIS and try to find some kind of 2 card special on R9 280X's because if they are that cheap it seems possible.
The brand doesn't matter. You can Crossfire an ASUS with an HIS, or any other brand. The chip inside is what dictates what can Crossfire with what, and in your case that would be Tahiti. So you should look for any of the following:
HD 7990 (If you really wanted to.)
HD 7970
HD 7970 GHz
HD 7950
HD 7950 Boost
R9 280
R9 280X
And disregard the brand differences unless you absolutely want the cards to LOOK identical.
yeah I know I'm talking to some one else about just getting new cards all together them being identical would be nice but is not mandatory. My problem is when I looked at other brands none of them matched the clocked speeds so the card would be down clocking to match and I am really not a fan of that at all.
That no longer happens with Crossfire. They revised that 5 years ago at least, each card will run at independent clock rates. You can overclock cards separately in CCC now too.
really because that is what like 10 people told me in the thread that I was talking about and that was a couple months ago. God, I love learning computers are the pest so much better than console, never ending customization ability's.
$220 is a bit steep for a gpu that may be 'unused', but in any case its out of warranty. Its still a 2nd hand gpu at the end of the day. An unused gpu would still be in its anti-static bag with the sticker seal unbroken as well as all the plastic film over parts of the heatsink shroud.
For all intents and purposes you would be better off selling your existing 7970 and buying a new gpu if you're after better performance, as well as a fresh warranty, no crossfire headaches, less heat and lower system power consumption (and load upon the psu).
You can buy a new 380 tonga for that price, it's a bad deal all around, but if you want a new 280x Tahiti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150678
there new 280x for the same price
I tried talking the guy down to $120 and he was considering it when someone offered him $180, so its a no go any way. This is all still very valuable information. I am now considering Gigabyte R9 390X and just selling my 7970 on eBay.
you can find them for $150-200 used. i would check http://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap