Can this (pic inside) be a legit 1080?

[newbieonekenobi]

Gallant ladies and beautiful gentlemen (or the other way round), can this be a legit 1080?

It certainly isn't standard Zotac Mini or Zotac AMP — the heatsink is very different. The seller claims the card is shorter than average and insists on calling it a mini (though he does say he has no idea which manufacturer it is from), though it doesn't look like an ITX form-factor to me. Cooler has pipes but seems basic. Can't associate the shroud design with any company in the market, but I doubt a fake artist would go to the lengths of having it perforated.

I've asked him for a CPU-Z screenshot, but I'm still waiting. He's shown me some sort of screenshot, but it only shows the card reporting as a 1080, which may be the matter of a fake BIOS, obviously. I don't doubt his intentions — he's been registered on the auction site for like 15 years with all positive opinions. He doesn't seem like the type to get duped without noticing. But he isn't a hardcore gamer, so who knows. He got the card in Germany (we're both in Poland), and I know there have been some Chinese fakes over yonder.

 

[IceScreamer]

Tell him to run the very last version of GPU-Z, it's supposed to detect fake cards.

 

[Totally]

^that, and ask for a picture of the underside. Take whatever is printed on the sticker with a grain of salt, what you want to do is get the picture into a measuring app and measure the distance between the screwholes. For reference distance across PCI-e fingers is 8.5cm

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

take the cover off and get pics of all the stickers too.

 

[therealmeep]

Shot in the dark here, but I've only ever seen pascal cards with the triangular cutouts on the bracket. What may be up with it is that cooler could be an aftermarket (end user) bought cooler.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Could be legit...

In this video LTT basically bought a graphics card from Aliexpress and they all thought that they were gonna get scammed but low and behold the card was exactly what the seller described. Sometimes the card is just manufactured specifically for the Asian market but the seller decided he wanted to make it available online.

I cant remember if they bought 2 cards in this video... One possibly was a scam but the other wasnt, then somehow they managed to get their hands on an intel Larrabee processing card.

Most of the time though, its a scam.

 

[jormungand]

Money vs Doubt and no info , i will always choose money. forget the deal and keep on. the market is full of fake and scam cards.
look somewhere else, wait for another deal that makes you comfortable

 

[eidairaman1]

If you gotta question this dont buy it, report seller as fake

 

[jboydgolfer]

it looks lie a rip off shroud from either Asus DirectCU, or a powercolor unit. Very close to either of those manufacturers. could also be a knock off from china or a similar place ,where easy & cheap access to a factory to make a custom shroud is available. copy older card shrouds, add some personal touch, then either use a totally fake board, or maybe even use a genuine knockoff, and boom, label it GTX1080. So many legit options are available, i see no reason to try your luck...if the deal its too good to pass up ,theres likely a reason. ask seller for more pics.....but id wait on reporting fake, just to not falsely tarnish a possibly legitimate sellers rep prematurely. but my gut tells me that pic is a fake, or non legitimate GPU.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

could always go look on newegg, yep similar to ASUS designed shroud

 

[newbieonekenobi]

Thank you, guys. I think I've found two brothers for it, both from the same vendor located in Poland, selling them late April this year, described as Elitegroup OEM (some large corporation that makes systems for China and works with Colorful), coming in just cellophane:

https://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/geforce-gtx-1080-gddr5x-256bit-od-reki-gw-i7295460977.html
https://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/geforce-gtx-1080-gddr5x-256bit-od-reki-gw-i7295460977.html

According to information snippets in some captions when searching for images by 'elitegroup oem 1080', identically looking 1070s were used in German Medion Erazer X7739D PCs (and have a backplate and can OC to some extent):

https://www.gumtree.com/p/video-car...a-gtx-1070-8gb-gpu-video-card-used/1270132911

... and there were also 1080s available (first customer testimonial):

https://www.otto.de/p/medion-erazer...d-256-gb-ssd-671768070/#variationId=671768071

The guy who's selling it says he bought it from some other guy on German Amazon when 1080s were too hard to get in Poland, so everything seems to click.

Would you get this card or a Asus 1070ti Strix that spent 5 months mining, for like $10 more? (I'm attracted to the Strix because of its quietness, beating MSI GamingX by 2dbA under load within the 1070ti class. No 4K; either my 24'' 1080p with 1440p DSR or some new, larger 1440p monitor.)

 

[kastriot]

Nope get 1080.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Thank you, guys. I think I've found two brothers for it, both from the same vendor located in Poland, selling them late April this year, described as Elitegroup OEM (some large corporation that makes systems for China and works with Colorful), coming in just cellophane:

ECS is a rather huge Taiwanese company, but they never did all that well in retail and is considered a low-cost brand compared to the more well known brands like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte etc.
However, they also make/made products for Asus and many other companies, so it doesn't mean that their products have to be crap, as long as it's not their own designs, as they can be quite bad. Most of their stuff is manufactured in China, but that's the same as almost everyone else these days, even if some stuff is starting to move back to Taiwan.
That said, the cooling on that card looks a bit meh, compared to what you see from more retail centric brands.

 

[newbieonekenobi]

Okay, good folks, so if I'm not abusing your collective kindness, what would you choose in this situation?

PC specs: i5–6600 (non-K) on Asrock Fatality K6, 16GB DDR4/3000/15 G.Skill, R9 280X Sapphire Dual-X (needs replacement urgently because of a number of problems), SB X-fi Titanium PCIE, Samsung 250GB SSD M.2/PCIE/PVM, PSU: Corsair RM750. Chassis: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (decent airflow but not otpimal).

Monitor: Iiyama ProLite X2483 HSU, 24'', 1080p, AMVA, 4 ns reaction time, 3 levels of Overdrive. Plus flicker free, blue light reduction, custom modes etc. 'Twould be a shame to replace with a cheap IPS/1440p, but I can't really afford a quality one. VSR/DSR 1440p looks good enough. So good I'd like to make it viable (~60 fps ultra 1440p without fans roaring and chassis turning into an oven).

Game list: The Witcher 3, Dirt 4 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The rest are older games, or less demanding, such as Pillars of Eternity 2 or any isometric strategies/RPGs, for which my 280X would be sufficient, let lone 1060, which would probably even stay very quiet if not passive.

Budget: I can afford the 1080, but it might be overkill for my needs, and I don't want to start the spiral of 1080, new monitor, new CPU etc. If I could assuredly get 40-ish fps on ultra in 1080p from a 1060, that could perhaps be the more rational choice in my situation, though I do appreciate near-silence, max IQ, buttersmooth gameplay etc.

BUDGET STARTERS & VALUE KINGS:

$125 — Palit 1060 Dual Fan 3GB (very friendly to custom fan placement)

$150 — Sapphire Rx 580 Nitro+ 4GB (actually quiet 580, a little closer to 60 ultra)

($175 — 8GB if you're lucky)

MSI GAMINGX:

$275 — 1070 (TPU review, 30 dbA),10 months old and in good condition.

$325 — 1070ti (TPU review, 29 dbA), did studio work with 3 siblings in a business PC. No mining, no gaming. Warranty may be void because of type of use / use by a non-consumer, but I'm not sure.

$388 — 1080 (TPU review, 31 dbA), from a kid's gaming PC (replaced with 2070). No proof of purchase, so warranty could be impossible with MSI Poland.

OTHER 1070TI:

$318 — Colorful iGame GeForce GTX 1070Ti. Probably a poorer cousin of Colorful GTX 1070 Ti iGame Vulcan X TOP (TPU review, 32 dbA). Still three fans. The seller is a cool guy who has 30 of them, imported in bulk from China as exhibition units. Practically unused and all tested. 14-day grace period. But obviously forget about RMA. The only cheaper option is Zotac mini, which is a great card, but I have a large case and want a quieter card.

$350 — Asus 1070ti Strix (TPU review, 29 dbA). The seller has a dozen of them. They spent 5 months mining. There are proofs of purchase, and manufacturer warranty is still current, if mining doesn't void it, that is. My favourite option until recently, but pricy.

OTHER 1080 (~$330 seems to be the going price for sellers wanting a fast turnover, and patient ones with better brands want +$40–50 extra for what are still good deals):

$337 — the ECS bulk/OEM 1080 this thread was about. No warranty, no nothing, other than the seller will take it back if it's faulty. But I suspect I'd eventually end up forking out for Morpheus + 2x120mm — avoidable with GamingX or Strix. Still, it's better to pay $337 for a full 1080 than $350 for a 1070ti beefed up to come close.

$337 — Gainward Phoenix GS 1080 (TPU specs, no review). Gaming PC, I think. 100% in order. Still on warranty. Except this isn't the seller's first auction exclusive to clients of the same bank, with access to instant transfers. He claims he needs cash urgently, to the point the 1–2 days make a difference. Has been like that for weeks now. The portal offers money-back guarantee, but I'm still uncomfortable.

What say ye?

EDIT: The Gainward is no longer available, though I've seen it come and go before.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

The RX 580 4gb..
If you plan on staying with 1080p nothing more is needed.
I had a 1060 3gb.. They are great for 1080p but I did have a few stutters on a few games likely a memory size limitation.

 

[Voluman]

Ask more picture about the card especially some markings, labels around the first card. It could be a valid oem as you write later.

Gainward Phoenix GS 1080 , this is a beast
Are these prices for a used card or new ones?

 

[newbieonekenobi]

Yeah, I regret the Gainward GS but didn't want to act impulsively in a potentially problematic situation.

All are used cards.

Right now two interesting auctions are finishing soon — 1070ti Zotac mini with 80 minutes left, and XFX RX 580 GB GTR Black Edition ending in 3 hours. The Black Edition has a really strong heatsink and allows easy fan replacement.

 

[eidairaman1]

Yeah, I regret the Gainward GS but didn't want to act impulsively in a potentially problematic situation.

All are used cards.

Right now two interesting auctions are finishing soon — 1070ti Zotac mini with 80 minutes left, and XFX RX 580 GB GTR Black Edition ending in 3 hours. The Black Edition has a really strong heatsink and allows easy fan replacement.

Mini will be power limited.

 

[EarthDog]

Didn't you go over this at OCF already? The Fake card, the GPUs, etc?

 

[newbieonekenobi]

True. And 20dbA above ambient once they start spinning. The current price already sits at $30 below MSI, so no deal. I'll hold out and see if I can grab the Black Edition XFX 580 8GB for a reasonable price. If not, I'll probably grab the MSI 1070ti. Or should I make sure I don't go below 1080 if I already get close to it?

 

[eidairaman1]

True. And 20dbA above ambient once they start spinning. The current price already sits at $30 below MSI, so no deal. I'll hold out and see if I can grab the Black Edition XFX 580 8GB for a reasonable price. If not, I'll probably grab the MSI 1070ti. Or should I make sure I don't go below 1080 if I already get close to it?

Dont bother with the 1080 card you shared

 

[FreedomEclipse]

ECS is a rather huge Taiwanese company, but they never did all that well in retail and is considered a low-cost brand compared to the more well known brands like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte etc.
However, they also make/made products for Asus and many other companies, so it doesn't mean that their products have to be crap, as long as it's not their own designs, as they can be quite bad. Most of their stuff is manufactured in China, but that's the same as almost everyone else these days, even if some stuff is starting to move back to Taiwan.
That said, the cooling on that card looks a bit meh, compared to what you see from more retail centric brands.

I wouldn't call them "quite bad", they just chose to focus on the oem or lower end segment of the market. Though they have tried to break into the enthusiast market in the skt 939 days without much affect but a few of their enthusiast 939 boards were pretty good and i remember then getting good reviews . They just didn't keep the momentum and really get a foot through the door before just fading back into obscurity.

They were kinda like EPoX almost except much bigger. They are kinda like Foxconn but just don't do as much stuff as Foxconn.

Im sure ECS makes some half decent server boards for the oem market

 

[EarthDog]

Didn't you go over this at OCF already? The Fake card, the GPUs, etc?

That's a yes.

https://www.overclockers.com/forums...he-quietest-but-still-powerful-card-for-1080p

 

[Vayra86]

True. And 20dbA above ambient once they start spinning. The current price already sits at $30 below MSI, so no deal. I'll hold out and see if I can grab the Black Edition XFX 580 8GB for a reasonable price. If not, I'll probably grab the MSI 1070ti. Or should I make sure I don't go below 1080 if I already get close to it?

1. Forget about benefits of fans that stop in idle. Its a non issue, you will have a CPU fan and case fans spinning all the time. I actually specifically tweaked my fan curve on the Gaming X so I don't hear it spin up and down all the time. Because that is more noticeable than them running at low RPM.

2. 1070ti at a good price should be considered about equal to 1080, especially on 1080p. If you intend to up your res, getting a 1080 for a 20-30 bucks more is well worth doing. GDDR5X does matter.

3. A 1080 is NOT overkill for 1080p, by a long shot. I'm still circling 60 FPS in many games at max settings over here, and yes, I can dip under. That said, if you back down off to high settings, 100+ FPS stable is very much in reach. If you ever intend to pursue high refresh rates, a 1080 is the perfect card for 1080p, and for 60hz, it will simply last you much longer than an RX580 - that card is a LOT slower, as in completely different segment.

4. Whatever the choice, get an 8GB card.

 

[newbieonekenobi]

The GPUs yes, the fake card no. I posted the photo but got no replies for some time, so I went to a larger and more general hardware forum. After establishing the card wasn't a fake, I asked the same question about recommendations. I also did on Steam forums. If I did anything wrong, I apologize, but I honestly fail to see how. Anyway, the mods here and there are free to delete both threads, along with my account. Thanks, everyone.