[SOLVED] My 980ti blew up at the worst time for buying new GPUs

[kay_]

My 980ti just blew up - I recently upped the voltage to try and get a better overclock (to about 50% on MSI AfterBurner's top slider), and after about 30min of gaming, my pc shut off with a distinct smoke/burning smell, later confirmed to be coming from the gpu... So the pc wouldn't power on at all with the 980ti in, but thankfully everything else works fine (with a MUCH older card). Good times!

I could really use some advice here - given the timing this happened. This could be the absolute worst stretch of time to buy a new video card (with the new generation amd/nvidia cards not available yet, and may not be for another 1-3 months or so).

I was considering buying a used card to tide me over, then reselling it when the new gen options get stock in ... but don't you think prices for the same used cards of older generations will plummet when the new cards actually get healthy stock levels in?

What card right now do you think will hold it's resale value when Nvidia 30 series and AMD 6000 series get a healthy stock more readily available?

 

[Lutfij]

Make and model of the PSU and it's age? I don't think the prices of new parts will drop or the ones prior will either. If you really need a discrete GPU, I'd suggest buying one soon. If you can hold out until the Q1 of 2021 then that would give you some gauging time to see what's in store.

 

[kay_]

Make and model of the PSU and it's age?

My psu: "EVGA Supernova B2", 750w Bronze 80+
I got it 15 months ago.

 

[kay_]

Is the situation I discribed with my 980ti (MSI) worth looking into some kind of repair option? I mean, what if it's just a capacitor that blew and needs a replacement one? .. does anyone buy cards like this on ebay to repair and flip them? is that a thing these days?

 

[Flayed]

You could just get in the queue for an Ampere card

 

[geofelt]

Don't you hate it when you fix a minor issue and create a major issue??
Take this not as a criticism, but as a suggestion, based on experience.

I think there is a lesson here:
Do not overclock something not designed to be overclocked.
Graphics card vendors bin their chips and use the better ones in factory overclocked versions
that they can sell for more. You may be able to OC more, but then again, perhaps not.
They try to differentiate by adding cosmetics and fancy coolers which also sell for more.
If you need more performance, then buy a higher tier card in the first place.

Now, what to do??
At least, you can run with your old card.
On ebay, you can sell your GTX980ti for something.
Yes, there are buyers that will pay something for it.
On ebay, it looks like about $50.
But, be careful to explicitly describe the card as non working just for parts.

How is your budget?
You could buy a GTX1660ti which is in the same performance class as the GTX980ti.
But since you wanted more performance, I expect you might as well upgrade to a stronger card.
Something like a RTX2080 super would be a modest boost.
I don't know that I would buy a new card now with various strong 3000 series cards launched and coming.
If you do buy a current gen card, look at a evga card, they have a 90 day free trade in upgrade option. Read the fine print.
It is not clear to me if a card you want will be available within that time period.

You might be able to find a GTX1080ti on ebay in the $400-$450 price range.
Look for a founder's blower cooler card, they seem to sell for less.
I actually prefer the blower coolers.

I think if you can hang on for a while, the market will stabilize in a couple of months.

 

[RainingTacco]

How the hell you overriden safe voltage limits and why would you do that? Limits are there for a reason and put by smarter people than you or me.
Buy the cheapest GPU you can get just to have working PC[unless you have iGPU] and wait for your desired card.

 

[spentshells]

look for a used 5700 or 2060 or 1080
you will find these all to be significant upgrades and you would be able to sell it afterwards
a used 1070 would put you slightly ahead of where you were with the 980ti