Reply 43940 of 45960, by TrashPanda
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Cuttoon wrote on 2022-04-15, 14:10:I'd agree that on average, the price reduction well justifies the risk with untested or parts of somewhat fuzzy background. Make […]
Meatball wrote on 2022-04-15, 13:43:I usually take the leap on expensive untested equipment if it looks good and the seller has a good track record. You cannot hid […]
TrashPanda wrote on 2022-04-15, 07:34:I've bought a number of GPUs untested and so far gotten lucky enough to have them all work just fine, if the seller has decent enough photos it helps to identify possibly bad GPUs but for me .. I honestly dont mind the gamble so long as the buy in price isn't something stupid. $20 - $30 bucks isn't terrible, 35 euro is a bit steep for most untested GPUs but for a 3DFX card its just low enough to be a decent gamble and not feel terrible if it doesnt work. Banshees can be repaird pretty easy if there is no physical damage to the PCB.
I can say that my biggest gamble was a HD4870x2 for 150 AUD, the seller tried testing it but didn't have a PSU capable of powering the GPU up, was interesting times testing when it arrived but the old girl roared into life when hooked up to a PSU with a high AMP 12v rail. (in my experience 4870x2s wont even post if they cannot get the required minimum power from the PSU)
Honestly the noisiest GPU I have ever used but the thing is a pure joy to see working and just eating whatever old games you throw at it. (I still prefer 4890s in Xfire however)
I usually take the leap on expensive untested equipment if it looks good and the seller has a good track record. You cannot hide behind the “parts only” crap description on eBay, which is why I pay the premium prices.
Ironically, in the 2 last years, I’ve only had tested equipment fail, and usually on first boot; 1 sound card, 1 scsi cdrom, and 4 video:
Soundblaster Live!
NEC SCSI
Voodoo3 3000
S3 Trio 3D
Rage XL
Voodoo1 Pure3D (locks up on 3D initialization)I got my money back or seller exchanged on all of them. That’s good service.
I'd agree that on average, the price reduction well justifies the risk with untested or parts of somewhat fuzzy background.
Makes sense, as many more sane people out there want a working product (with some probability), not just stochastics.Plus, personally, I much rather take my chances with low-priced, "as is" gear than to argue with brick-ignorant ill-tempered traders about return vs. review...
But that Voodoo Banshee at 35 € - it was really close. I just figured that buying it would mean I'd finally have to join "hoarders anonymous".
I already have an AGP Banshee, V1,2,3 and don't actually mean to collect those.
And my "safe investment excuse threshold" is still around "50 % of estimated resale value, max" - without increased risk.But, TrashPanda, they can be repaired pretty easy without physical damage? What other damage it there? You mean to say "no mechanical"?
And how? Still have my old V3 waiting to be repaired or finally put in my "CS habit memorial shrine".
As in, as long as the PCB itself is intact the other components on the Banshee can be replaced, as soon as you have damaged tracks or deep scratches or ESD damage then the chances of a simple solder job go out the window and you have to really weigh up the cost of fixing it. Voodoo 3s would likely be a bit harder to repair by simply replacing missing components but as long as its not the GPU core itself you could source replacement parts from other unfixable Voodoo 3s. The key here is factoring in time vs money for the repairs sadly for most retro hardware the cost of doing the repairs will usually be higher then the return on reselling said GPU. (This doesnt really apply if its to keep for your own use)
All this is only valid if you have a soldering station, microscope and the steady hand required, if your an old bastard like myself then steady hands are a big issue but given enough time and patience I have done passable repair jobs on hardware.
Oh noes, the cap let the shmooo out 😁
