Advise me before buying

[Octavious]

Well as @eidairaman1 told you earlier it seems that you used a wrong material for your card.
There are 2 types of materials used for thermal transfer in your card:
1 - Thermal pads - marked with red in picture (please be advised that there are 2 thickness for pads - one for memory chips and one for vrm's)
2 - Thermal paste - marked with green in picture

View attachment 364205

What type of thermal pad should I buy, and what thickness should it be?
His Rx 570 4gb

 

[VuurVOS]

What type of thermal pad should I buy, and what thickness should it be?
His Rx 570 4gb

Memory is not cooled on HIS RX 570. See:

You only need thermal pads for VRM. Thickness unknown.

 

[Imperator]

Hello.
As @VuurVOS pointed out already, there are manufacturers like HIS or ASUS that have a strange design when it comes to memory cooling.
So yeah, you must adapt the cooling solution to your current card.
If indeed you own a HIS RX570, then you need to search an aftermarket cooling solution for it.
Because the original one does not offer cooling solution for your memory chips.
I will atach a picture from one of my ASUS cards to see what i mean.

 

[Octavious]

What’s happening now is that the seller who sold me this card in 2021 is willing to buy it back for the same price at which I can purchase another one now. So, I believe if I find one in good condition, it would be as if I’ve solved my cooling issue. I’ll try to look for a good one, and thank you all for your help.

 

[Imperator]

Good decision!
Well done!
We are happy to help!
Cheers mate!

 

[Octavious]

Hello everyone, I found an RX 580 4GB Sapphire graphics card with someone, and it's not a store but just a user like us. He is selling it for the same price range that I talked about before, which means I won't have to pay extra for the difference between selling my card and buying this one if I go for it. I asked him to send me the BIOS file from GPU-Z, and I explained how to do that since he's not familiar with such things. He also didn’t know how to run FurMark, but after he managed to run it and sent me a picture after 15 minutes, I didn't find any data except for the power consumption and FPS. I'll attach these pictures and the BIOS file below. Please let me know if this card is in good condition. By the way, I noticed the card shows up in some places as an RX 480, but I read before that it's normal for it to appear like that.

 

[Marcus L]

Modified bios likely used to mine

 

[Chrispy_]

Hello everyone, I found an RX 580 4GB Sapphire graphics card with someone, and it's not a store but just a user like us. He is selling it for the same price range that I talked about before, which means I won't have to pay extra for the difference between selling my card and buying this one if I go for it. I asked him to send me the BIOS file from GPU-Z, and I explained how to do that since he's not familiar with such things. He also didn’t know how to run FurMark, but after he managed to run it and sent me a picture after 15 minutes, I didn't find any data except for the power consumption and FPS. I'll attach these pictures and the BIOS file below. Please let me know if this card is in good condition. By the way, I noticed the card shows up in some places as an RX 480, but I read before that it's normal for it to appear like that.

How do you find such awful junk? That's the perfect example of an almost-expired mining card.

It's filthy.
It's rusty.
It's dented.
It's been BIOS flashed.

That's every possible red flag there is. I guess the final red flag would be that his furmark screenshot has it throttling at 135W when the 580 is supposed to be a 180W GPU and the seller 'conveniently' crops the image to omit the temperatures, which are likely sky-high from the filthy heatsink and probably ruined fan bearings, so "dubious seller" for the final red flag.

Can't you just buy from ebay with a money-back guarantee rather than seeking out lowest-possible grade scam cards from scammers?

Look, this is what a clean Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GB looks like, used:



I spent 30 seconds with an air compressor to get the dust out of the heatsink and wiped it down with an alcohol wipe. That's the BARE MINIMUM you should expect from a reputable seller and I suspect that'll sell for under £75 ($100) which really is about the oldest and slowest thing it's worth using these days. As mentioned, it's already on legacy drivers, it's not particularly power-efficient any more, and it's barely good enough for new games even at low settings.

 

[Octavious]

@Chrispy_
I just discovered that the graphics card driver isn't installed on his device because he recently replaced the hard drive. I believe this is why the temperature and other details aren't showing up in FurMark.

As for the seller, it's not a store but just an individual who wants to sell his graphics card. He literally knows nothing about the card and such things. In fact, when he saw "RX 480" on his screen, he thought the card had been used for mining and modified to appear as an RX 580. But the card has been working fine for him for a long time, with the maximum temperature reaching 73°C. "The temperature was showing on MSI Afterburner when he was using the old hard drive.".

Should I send him the graphics card driver and ask him to install it, and then have him send another screenshot from FurMark? In any case, 90% of RX graphics cards here in Egypt have likely been used for mining, but I'm just looking for the best among the bad options.

Regarding eBay, do you think I'll have to pay customs?

Oh, by the way, regarding the cleanliness of the card, it's clear that he doesn't care much about keeping his computer clean

 

[Chrispy_]

Yeah, most likely. I don't know import customs fees in Egypt, but usually anything over a certain value qualifies for customs fees.

What is your actual budget? maybe I've missed it - but you appear to be listing things that are near worthless and a huge gamble. $100 is barely enough to buy anything worthwhile these days but if you're not interested in any games from the last 10 years then something that could never have been mined on, is highly unlikely to have ever been BIOS-flashed and abused makes more sense.

$100 for a clean RX580 or GTX 1060 is honestly about the minimum you should be looking at, both are already unfit for games from the last couple of years, but will play everything from the XBone/PS4 era without too much trouble.

If your current GPU is basically unusable even for decade-old games, and you don't have $100, then stop trying to buy something that only exists in broken/filthy/abused states at your budget. Lower your performance expectations and get something reliable like a GTX 1050Ti 4GB for $25-50. Nobody mined on those, and if they're in a clean condition and still working today, they're likely going to keep for a while more.

Yes, an RX570 is probably 50-100% faster, but if you're playing AAA games from before 2014 you're still going to have a fantastic experience and it's a safe, affordable option that doesn't carry the risk of abused GPUs from the ETH mining era. You might even find that a good, clean 1050Ti is cheap enough that it slips in under the customs fee minimum limit.

Edit:
If you're going to hunt on ebay, look for EU countries where the average wage is lower than average for the EU, since the price of used parts in those countries should be proportionally lower. Greece/Spain/Poland are likely going to have lower prices than France/UK/Germany - to give you some examples.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hello everyone, I found an RX 580 4GB Sapphire graphics card with someone, and it's not a store but just a user like us. He is selling it for the same price range that I talked about before, which means I won't have to pay extra for the difference between selling my card and buying this one if I go for it. I asked him to send me the BIOS file from GPU-Z, and I explained how to do that since he's not familiar with such things. He also didn’t know how to run FurMark, but after he managed to run it and sent me a picture after 15 minutes, I didn't find any data except for the power consumption and FPS. I'll attach these pictures and the BIOS file below. Please let me know if this card is in good condition. By the way, I noticed the card shows up in some places as an RX 480, but I read before that it's normal for it to appear like that.

That looks decent. Modded VBIOS should not scare you as it's fairly common and doesn't hurt the card.

Modified bios likely used to mine

Even so, as long as the card is stable, having been a mining card doesn't matter. I've bought and sold a number of cards used for mining, it's no different than cards used for heavy gaming or compute use.

@Chrispy_
I just discovered that the graphics card driver isn't installed on his device because he recently replaced the hard drive. I believe this is why the temperature and other details aren't showing up in FurMark.

As for the seller, it's not a store but just an individual who wants to sell his graphics card. He literally knows nothing about the card and such things. In fact, when he saw "RX 480" on his screen, he thought the card had been used for mining and modified to appear as an RX 580. But the card has been working fine for him for a long time, with the maximum temperature reaching 73°C. "The temperature was showing on MSI Afterburner when he was using the old hard drive.".

Should I send him the graphics card driver and ask him to install it, and then have him send another screenshot from FurMark? In any case, 90% of RX graphics cards here in Egypt have likely been used for mining, but I'm just looking for the best among the bad options.

Regarding eBay, do you think I'll have to pay customs?

Oh, by the way, regarding the cleanliness of the card, it's clear that he doesn't care much about keeping his computer clean

Before buying it, make sure he shows the card running with drivers installed and a well known 3D benchmark complete at least one run. Anything from Unigine or even a FinalFantasy14 benchmark would do.

 

[Chrispy_]

Even so, as long as the card is stable, having been a mining card doesn't matter. I've bought and sold a number of cards used for mining, it's no different than cards used for heavy gaming or compute use.

It's the physical damage that puts me off that one. The backplate has taken one hell of a smash to receive that dent. If it works now, who's to say it'll survive transport?

It's also neither a 580 nor a 480 with only 2048SP. At best it's a re-flashed 470 to get VRAM overclocking. At worst, it's an ex-China market RX 580 2048.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's the physical damage that puts me off that one. The backplate has taken one hell of a smash to receive that dent. If it works now, who's to say it'll survive transport?

I've seen worse, that wouldn't bother me at all as long as the card is stable.

It's also neither a 580 nor a 480 with only 2048SP. At best it's a re-flashed 470 to get VRAM overclocking. At worst, it's an ex-China market RX 580 2048.

That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me either. Again, as long as the card is stable and performs as it should, I'd be ok with it as long as the price was reasonable.

 

[Marcus L]

That looks decent. Modded VBIOS should not scare you as it's fairly common and doesn't hurt the card.


Even so, as long as the card is stable, having been a mining card doesn't matter. I've bought and sold a number of cards used for mining, it's no different than cards used for heavy gaming or compute use.


Before buying it, make sure he shows the card running with drivers installed and a well known 3D benchmark complete at least one run. Anything from Unigine or even a FinalFantasy14 benchmark would do.

Don't get me wrong I've bought my fair share of used GPUs and even a few 580s likely used for mining and flashed /modded bioses on them, I was simply stating to the op it's a modded/mining bios, though that card looks rough I would personally want something that at least looks like it's been looked after.

Also depends how they have been kept, some miners kept them in sheds/garages and ran them balls to the wall, oxidisation on the heatsinks etc so you can't just assume every ex mining card is no worse than one that was only used for gaming

 

[lexluthermiester]

Don't get me wrong I've bought my fair share of used GPUs and even a few 580s likely used for mining and flashed /modded bioses on them, I was simply stating to the op it's a modded/mining bios, though that card looks rough I would personally want something that at least looks like it's been looked after.

Also depends how they have been kept, some miners kept them in sheds/garages and ran them balls to the wall, oxidisation on the heatsinks etc so you can't just assume every ex mining card is no worse than one that was only used for gaming

For those reasons & uncertainties that is why I suggested to the OP that the have the seller show them the card running, with drivers install and a known reasonable benchmark run.

 

[Octavious]

I sent him the driver, it works now.
The temperature is 70°C after 15 minutes, but what worries me is that both the core and memory speeds are different from the default according to the card's specifications. Would flashing the original BIOS onto the card show a different result?

 

[Marcus L]

I sent him the driver, it works now.
The temperature is 70°C after 15 minutes, but what worries me is that both the core and memory speeds are different from the default according to the card's specifications. Would flashing the original BIOS onto the card show a different result?

Yes it would restore the default clocks as long as you find and flash the original bios, maybe the seller can do this if he flashed it originally

 

[lexluthermiester]

I sent him the driver, it works now.
The temperature is 70°C after 15 minutes, but what worries me is that both the core and memory speeds are different from the default according to the card's specifications. Would flashing the original BIOS onto the card show a different result?

Looks stable to me. If it's a good price, I'd say you got a winner.

Yes it would restore the default clocks as long as you find and flash the original bios, maybe the seller can do this if he flashed it originally

Again, if it's stable, it's nothing to worry about.

 

[Imperator]

but I'm just looking for the best among the bad options.

Regarding eBay, do you think I'll have to pay customs?

Yes, indeed, when you do not have too many option, you will choose usually the one that will fill your needs.
As for customs- i can assure that all contries in the world have this customs policy.
Except if you are in EU and buy something from other Eu country.
But yes, you will pay something. It could be Tax + VAT.
So better ask at customs what will be the amount you must pay, before the seller post the card.

 

[Octavious]

I find it impossible for him to know how to flash the original BIOS for the card. Maybe someone can send it and list the steps so I can forward them to the seller to perform. After that, I will ask him to test it again on FurMark to see if there is any change with the temperature or something like that.

As for customs, I'm mentioning it because if I order a graphics card with the return option, I will lose what I paid for shipping and customs if the card has an issue. Additionally, the customs and shipping cost will be almost the same as the price of the card, so I think I'll end up paying 2x.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I haven't read the entire thread, but OP, unless you can afford to throw this in the trash and buy another at a whim, I strongly suggest you reconsider buying this graphics card, even if you're on a budget. The MSI Armor series have always been the cheapest models, with poor cooling, and used for Ethereum mining in bulk. Unless you know the origin of this card and know that it was not abused with coin mining, I can't in good conscience tell you to purchase this. It's a VERY high risk investment.

Avoid RX 400 and 500 series, as well as R9 Fury and Radeon Vega series entirely. RX 5700 XT is undesirable due to being downlevel hardware. I suggest an RX 6600. Great cost/benefit ratio.

 

[natr0n]

I got a sapphire 590 I use sometimes. Not bad but not good either(for me). 60 fps is yesterdays snow.

emulators should work great though on your card if youre into that

 

[lexluthermiester]

Avoid RX 400 and 500 series, as well as R9 Fury and Radeon Vega series entirely. RX 5700 XT is undesirable due to being downlevel hardware. I suggest an RX 6600. Great cost/benefit ratio.

The OP lives in Egypt, a tougher market for PC parts than most. They kinda need to grab what they can get. As long as it's stable(starting to feel like a record with a needle stuck in the groove), the card should be fine.

 

[Marcus L]

@Octavious There is nothing local to your country?

The OP lives in Egypt, a tougher market for PC parts than most. They kinda need to grab what they can get. As long as it's stable(starting to feel like a record with a needle stuck in the groove), the card should be fine.

Always amazes me when someone posts a thread like this, they can barely afford a $50 GPU and people think they are going to go out and buy the latest AAA titles at $70 a pop I was using a 580 a few years ago, did an amazing job if your expectations aren't 1440p-4k ultra, 1080p and medium in most cases will net you 60fps in most titles barring current gen AAA 23-24> this is where the expectations come in, you will need to turn settings down to low, use upscaling and/or FG as and where possible, but would I be happy doing that on a $50 GPU, yes as my expectations would match what the card is capable of

 

[lexluthermiester]

@Octavious There is nothing local to your country?

Always amazes me when someone posts a thread like this, they can barely afford a $50 GPU and people think they are going to go out and buy the latest AAA titles at $70 a pop I was using a 580 a few years ago, did an amazing job if your expectations aren't 1440p-4k ultra, 1080p and medium in most cases will net you 60fps in most titles barring current gen AAA 23-24> this is where the expectations come in, you will need to turn settings down to low, use upscaling and/or FG as and where possible, but would I be happy doing that on a $50 GPU, yes as my expectations would match what the card is capable of

The thing is, they're not being malicious for the most part. They just don't realize that in many parts of the world tech is hard to come by and expensive at that. Older hardware that some of us might turn our nose up at can be a god-send for many. And I don't say this in any way to shame anyone, it's just the way life is.