[SOLVED] Should I buy a second hand Gtx 1070 or for next gen cards to drop it's price?

[MrRoadrash12]

Hello there,
I currently game on a gtx 970 and would like to sell it off and upgrade to a gtx 1070. But due to these new next gen nvidia cards rumoured by videocards.com and AMD navi 2 gpus coming out this year (claimed by gamermeld) I'm a bit hesitant to buy a the gtx1070.

As of right now the gtx 970's sell for £60 on ebay (on a good day) and a gtx1070 goes for £150-£170. Once the new gpus get released do you think within a month the gtx 1070 will have a significant price reduction? Is it worth waiting for and should I sell my gtx970 before the release?

I just need some helpful advice on the course of action I should take as If I can wait for the next 4 months for a price reduction I'll take it.

Here are my sources for the next gen gpus:
-https://videocardz.com/newz/rumor-first-nvidia-ampere-geforce-rtx-3080-and-rtx-3070-specs-surface
-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUjaZEG4vt0
(couldn't find the exact video of him leaking the date but subbed it in for a relevant video)

 

[punkncat]

IMO, wouldn't step up a single generation/same level as an 'improvement' unless something was wrong with the (lesser) one I already owned.

 

[Suffy Ali]

Well obviously when the new cards drop, the older cards will drop a couple of quid not drastically (because of the whole mining crap). so if you wanna save some money go ahead and wait.

Patience is key

 

[MrRoadrash12]

IMO, wouldn't step up a single generation/same level as an 'improvement' unless something was wrong with the (lesser) one I already owned.

My gtx 970 serves me well for almost all games except apex legends. I wanted to invest in the gtx 1070 to achieve 144 fps with my i7 4790k cpu.

 

[MrRoadrash12]

Well obviously when the new cards drop, the older cards will drop a couple of quid not drastically (because of the whole mining crap). so if you wanna save some money go ahead and wait.

Patience is key

I'm willing to wait till the may for the gtx 1070, would that enough to wait for a greater than 20-pound decrease for the card. Since you mentioned the mining fiasco that had taken over gpu during that time could you help me spot whether or not some card was used for mining?
Just because of these cards having a higher chance of being part of a mining rig I'd be willing to go to gumtree instead of ordering it off ebay.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If you wanted to upgrade now, I'd consider a new 1660 super. I just got one, was looking at the 1070 on eBay. I'm from the USA though. But 1070s weren't much less than a new 1660 super which pretty much is about the same performance. So that is the route I went. For 1080p it's ok. If figure if I want later I can probably sell the 1660 super for 150 or better and step to a newer card at that time.

But here at least, many of the 1070 cards had been used for mining, or had fans either broken or missing, or coolers that were loose. So if the one you select has those things, you will probably spend more money to fix.

 

[Phaaze88]

Well obviously when the new cards drop, the older cards will drop a couple of quid not drastically (because of the whole mining crap). so if you wanna save some money go ahead and wait.

Quite the opposite, actually. Mining has died down big time. There's a crap ton of 2nd hand RX 400-500s and some GTX 1060s and 1050Tis because the throngs of people who jumped on the mining bandwagon too late can't make any profit from it.

When the new cards launch, expect the old ones to GO UP in price. They'll be much cheaper 2nd hand.

 

[MrRoadrash12]

If you wanted to upgrade now, I'd consider a new 1660 super. I just got one, was looking at the 1070 on eBay. I'm from the USA though. But 1070s weren't much less than a new 1660 super which pretty much is about the same performance. So that is the route I went. For 1080p it's ok. If figure if I want later I can probably sell the 1660 super for 150 or better and step to a newer card at that time.

But here at least, many of the 1070 cards had been used for mining, or had fans either broken or missing, or coolers that were loose. So if the one you select has those things, you will probably spend more money to fix.

The gtx 1660 super is a great contender but I over here in the uk it goes for around £220 and has 6GB vRam compared to the 8GB gtx 1070 offers. I plan to keep this card for a long time and 8Gb will help me future proof it for a while. It just sucks that this card was prominent during the mining era.
I just wanted to ask if the rx590 makes any sense in this scenario as it offers 8GB vRam but is comparable to the gtx 1060 in performance.

 

[MrRoadrash12]

Quite the opposite, actually. Mining has died down big time. There's a crap ton of 2nd hand RX 400-500s and some GTX 1060s and 1050Tis because the throngs of people who jumped on the mining bandwagon too late can't make any profit from it.

When the new cards launch, expect the old ones to GO UP in price. They'll be much cheaper 2nd hand.

By 'When the new cards launch, expect the old ones to GO UP in price' do you mean the gtx 1070 new prices will go up or the 2nd hand version will get a boost? Would you recommend me to wait till may for the new cards to come out.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If you are planning to keep the card a while then, I would suggest keep saving your money. AMD should be releasing a bigger Navi gpu, and nvidias new cards are rumored to be coming out at some point.

You could also look at the Vega 56 from AMD. It also has 8gb of ram, and doesn't cost much more here than the 1660 super. But more power consumption to.

If you are just playing 1080p, at least for now 6gb is probably ok. But on the 1070 cards, there's good pricing, just be aware that you may get a 1070 that was mined on heavily. So you may have extra costs trying to fix or the 1070 you buy may run for years. Buying a mining card is like buying a car with a lot of miles. You may get one that is able to run for a long time. But other 1070 cards may not. So you take more risk.

 

[MrRoadrash12]

If you are planning to keep the card a while then, I would suggest keep saving your money. AMD should be releasing a bigger Navi gpu, and nvidias new cards are rumored to be coming out at some point.

You could also look at the Vega 56 from AMD. It also has 8gb of ram, and doesn't cost much more here than the 1660 super. But more power consumption to.

If you are just playing 1080p, at least for now 6gb is probably ok. But on the 1070 cards, there's good pricing, just be aware that you may get a 1070 that was mined on heavily. So you may have extra costs trying to fix or the 1070 you buy may run for years. Buying a mining card is like buying a car with a lot of miles. You may get one that is able to run for a long time. But other 1070 cards may not. So you take more risk.

Thanks for the info! I'll wait until May and will keep an eye on second-hand vega 56 gpus and new rx 590 gpus. In light of the mining crisis I just won't consider gtx 1070s anylonger. Thanks for your help!

 

[Phaaze88]

By 'When the new cards launch, expect the old ones to GO UP in price' do you mean the gtx 1070 new prices will go up or the 2nd hand version will get a boost? Would you recommend me to wait till may for the new cards to come out.

I meant the RTX 20 and GTX 16 series cards to go up, since they will no longer be in production... well, that's their excuse anyway.
Pretty silly. If you want to get rid of older stock, or an excess of it, you'd think they'd drop the price to help get rid of it...
I now recall when the retail GTX 1080Ti jumped up to 1000USD+ from 700USD MSRP when the RTX 20 series was announced...

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Actually, if looking at the Vega 56, those would probably have been a good mining card, so be careful of those. I don't know what price the 1070 is. I am assuming you are from the UK. But take a look here.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...ragon-video-card-axrx-vega-56-8gbhbm2-2d2hdoc

In the United States, maybe we get a better price or something. I paid $230 for my 1660 Super. But then realized after that for about $10-15 more I could have had a Vega 56. It looks like in the UK they may be more expensive. But worth checking.

 

[MrRoadrash12]

Actually, if looking at the Vega 56, those would probably have been a good mining card, so be careful of those. I don't know what price the 1070 is. I am assuming you are from the UK. But take a look here.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...ragon-video-card-axrx-vega-56-8gbhbm2-2d2hdoc

In the United States, maybe we get a better price or something. I paid $230 for my 1660 Super. But then realized after that for about $10-15 more I could have had a Vega 56. It looks like in the UK they may be more expensive. But worth checking.

So you're basically saying watch out for mining cards by searching for deals on new vega 56 cards. Could you tell me by which card did the mining craze end by, was it during the rtx cards?

 

[MrRoadrash12]

I meant the RTX 20 and GTX 16 series cards to go up, since they will no longer be in production... well, that's their excuse anyway.
Pretty silly. If you want to get rid of older stock, or an excess of it, you'd think they'd drop the price to help get rid of it...
I now recall when the retail GTX 1080Ti jumped up to 1000USD+ from 700USD MSRP when the RTX 20 series was announced...

Thanks for clearing that up. I think I'll stick to scouting new vega 56, rx 590 & rx5600xt just to make sure it isn't mined on. I hope their prices don't increase once the new big navi cards launch. Thanks for your help dude!

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Vega 56 is an older card now. But in the USA as they clear stock, some seem to be at good deals. Just be careful of used cards in general.

 

[cryoburner]

The gtx 1660 super is a great contender but I over here in the uk it goes for around £220 and has 6GB vRam compared to the 8GB gtx 1070 offers. I plan to keep this card for a long time and 8Gb will help me future proof it for a while.

The 1660 SUPER does feature some architectural improvements that may allow it to perform a bit faster in some newer and likely future games though. And at least in current titles, the additional VRAM will tend to make no difference at 1080p, and typically no difference even at 1440p. I would assume 6GB of VRAM should handle 1080p reasonably well for some years to come, though with a new generation of consoles coming later this year, it's difficult to say for sure. Usually, VRAM demands can be lessened by lowering texture settings a bit though, in case that becomes an issue down the line.

It's also worth noting that a new card should come with a warranty covering it for 2-3 years. If a used card were to fail in that time, you might need to buy another card sooner than you'd like.

The gtx 1660 super is a great contender but I over here in the uk it goes for around £220 and has 6GB vRam compared to the 8GB gtx 1070 offers. I plan to keep this card for a long time and 8Gb will help me future proof it for a while. It just sucks that this card was prominent during the mining era.
I just wanted to ask if the rx590 makes any sense in this scenario as it offers 8GB vRam but is comparable to the gtx 1060 in performance.

An RX 590 is typically no more than 10% faster than an RX 580 or GTX 1060 6GB, and maybe around 25% faster than a GTX 970 or 1060 3GB (when not limited by CPU performance), so it might not be enough of a performance difference to be worth considering, especially since they tend to be relatively power hungry under load. And more importantly, they are not quite as fast as even a 1660 (non-SUPER) in most current games. It almost certainly wouldn't be more "future proof" than a 1660 SUPER, as that card should be close to 20% faster on average.

As for Vega 56, those cards are quite power-hungry as well, and you will probably struggle to find one new without spending significantly more than a 1660 SUPER. At that point, you're getting close to the price of a 5600 XT or 2060 SUPER, which aside from VRAM might be a better option at this point. Keep in mind, the 5600 XT only has 6GB of VRAM too, and at least currently, there's a question over how each model of 5600 XT will perform following a mix of last-minute BIOS updates at the card's launch.

So you're basically saying watch out for mining cards by searching for deals on new vega 56 cards. Could you tell me by which card did the mining craze end by, was it during the rtx cards?

Nvidia's 20 and 16-series cards were released after the mining craze collapsed, as was AMD's 5000-series. Their prior 500 and Vega series were released just when mining was really taking off though (aside from the RX 590, which came shortly afterward), and Nvidia's 10-series became popular for that purpose as well. However, some people still continued to mine on GPUs after that point, so newer cards may have been used for that purpose as well. It might also be worth questioning why someone is getting rid of a newer card if they just bought it within the last year and a half.

 

[cryoburner]

As for waiting on the next generation of cards, I don't suspect those will be available within the next several months. Nvidia is rumored be announcing their next graphics architecture in March, but the actual cards may not be released until the second half of the year, much like what we saw with the 20 series, the first of which didn't launch until late September. And also keep in mind that the Initial cards that come out will most likely be targeting the "enthusiast" price bracket, perhaps starting around $500. So, they might not have an immediate effect on cards priced around half as much. New mid-range cards might not even come until after the new year. It is possible that prices could come down a bit though in anticipation of the new hardware.

AMD is also expected to be announcing a "Big Navi" card within the coming months, though again, as the name implies, that will be targeting the high-end. I wouldn't expect any new mid-range Navi cards until at least the end of the year, seeing as they just launched the current models. It's possible there may be price reductions though.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

To the guy that said how expensive Vega 56 is.... Have you looked at Newegg. Com lately? At least in the USA, they are quite reasonable atm if you don't mind the heat they put out or the power they take to run.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-vega-56-vega-56-air-boost-8g/p/N82E16814137328

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-radeon-rx-vega-56-rx-vega-56-8g/p/N82E16814930006?&quicklink=true

There are 2 within 35 dollars of the price of a 1660 super. That said, the 1660 super might be your smarter play due to using less power and generating less heat. I think my 1660 super only goes to about 66 degrees C when gaming.

 

[cryoburner]

To the guy that said how expensive Vega 56 is.... Have you looked at Newegg. Com lately? At least in the USA, they are quite reasonable atm if you don't mind the heat they put out or the power they take to run.

I'm not sure how I feel about Vega cards with blower-style coolers. Also, I'm assuming they are in the UK based on their currency, where the remaining stock of Vega 56 cards are not priced as well, and at least there, one could get a faster and more efficient RTX 2060 for about the same price or less...

Vega 56: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=404&sort=price&page=1

RTX 2060: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=436&sort=price&page=1

Or a faster and more efficient RX 5700 for not much more, if one really wants 8GB of VRAM...

RX 5700: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#sort=price&c=445

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Yes in that case, get the 2060. The Vega cards if the op had an option to get them new and at a good price, then they can be a good value. But if they are about the same price, then the 2060 is the card you want being newer with rtx and more power efficient.

 

[xrafael95x]

Well here in my country i can get a 1080 non ti for around 230 250 bucks used of course, the 1080 is better than even the 5600xt