8800GTS 512, 8600GTS, other old cards... any use suggestions?

[Spike]

I realized the other day that I have a 8600GTS, 8800GTS 512, 4870 512, 4350, 5870, and 5830 sitting around unused. I'm going to probably utilize the 5870 in my HTPC once I swap cases and I want to keep one or two for debugging but I'm not sure what to do with the older cards. Specifically the 8800GTS 512, and 8600GTS, I have no use for them at all. Any ideas? I can just toss them but that seems like a waste...

thanks!

 

[ramj70]

Sell them and make a few extra bucks

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Sell them and make a few extra bucks

+1, ygpm

 

[Spike]

Yeah, I thought about selling but who would pay for an 8600GTS? I was hoping there was some other use I was overlooking that someone here knew about.

 

[notposting]

5870 in the HTPC? Maybe the 5830 would be better (assuming you don't game on it also). Plus the 5870 would be worth a bit for resale versus a cheapo card.

 

[p_monks33]

I want a bunch of old cards to make an art piece but never carried through with it.

 

[Spike]

I want a bunch of old cards to make an art piece but never carried through with it.

That would be freaking awesome!

5870 in the HTPC? Maybe the 5830 would be better (assuming you don't game on it also). Plus the 5870 would be worth a bit for resale versus a cheapo card.

I actually have the 4350 in there right now which works great for my HTPC needs, but I would like it to be able to do some gaming so thats why I was looking at the 5870. My only problem is that the card is too big to fit into an Antec Solo case. I either need to swap cases with one of my spares or throw in the 5830 (assuming it's shorter, I can't actually remember and it's been in a box for months).

I remember when I had more barebones PC's than GPU's, this reverse problem is rather odd.

 

[lavaheadache]

I know what you can do with them.

 

[SPBHM]

5870 in the HTPC? Maybe the 5830 would be better (assuming you don't game on it also). Plus the 5870 would be worth a bit for resale versus a cheapo card.

the 5830 was not a very efficient card, the power consumption and performance compared to the 5870 is not very good... but OK, for basic HTPC usage it doesn't really matter...


8800GTS 512mb is probably still enough for most games using low settings,
but the 8600GTS is quite slow, probably still better than the Intel HD3000, and even the 4000 in some games... so you can probably play a few newer games at 720p, but apart from that... it's useless for physx (32 cuda cores)...

and I don't know how bad it would be for low quality gaming with only 256mb of memory.

 

[Spike]

the 5830 was not a very efficient card, the power consumption and performance compared to the 5870 is not very good... but OK, for basic HTPC usage it doesn't really matter...


8800GTS 512mb is probably still enough for most games using low settings,
but the 8600GTS is quite slow, probably still better than the Intel HD3000, and even the 4000 in some games... so you can probably play a few newer games at 720p, but apart from that... it's useless for physx (32 cuda cores)...

and I don't know how bad it would be for low quality gaming with only 256mb of memory.

The problem is lack of PC's. I don't have any extra PC's to throw these in and it would be a waste of money to build one around them, even something super cheap.

 

[EliteRetard]

I've still got a 320MB 8800 GTS as my main gaming card, a GT 512MB would be an upgrade. As would a 4870 or 5830. Don't suppose your feeling generous? In fact I would even have a use for the 8600GT (got an AMD FX55/57 PC that needs a GPU).

 

[bononos]

You could try selling it on fsft. AT has people who collect dozens of old cards.

 

[toyota]

I tried to sell my 8600gt back in Oct 2008 for 39 bucks shipped and no one was interested. people were paying the same or more for slower 6800 and 7600 cards though which made no sense. oh well its my backup card now.

 

[Spike]

I've still got a 320MB 8800 GTS as my main gaming card, a GT 512MB would be an upgrade. As would a 4870 or 5830. Don't suppose your feeling generous? In fact I would even have a use for the 8600GT (got an AMD FX55/57 PC that needs a GPU).

Lava sounds like he wanted them so I may send him a few for the cost of shipping. I think I figured out my rearranging and I'll have the 4350 (passive), 8800 GTS 512, and 8600 GTS to get rid of. I'll throw the 5870 into the HTPC and keep the 5830 as a spare (always need a spare).

Oddly enough that would give me all AMD cards for the first time in... forever. I've gone through several phases of mostly ATI/AMD then mostly nVidia, then AMD again, but I always had at least one card from the other camp. I guess I can count the 660M in my laptop for the green team even though it's not an actual card per se.

 

[skipsneeky2]

What brand is the 8800gts?

I have had the most fun ever with my evga 8800gts 512mb,it gave the best performance i could have ever asked for at the time or any time for that matter and i'm kinda feeling nostalgic enough to toy around with one.

Core 2 duo e6750 and that card blew me away better then any other upgrade i have ever done period.

 

[Spike]

What brand is the 8800gts?

I have had the most fun ever with my evga 8800gts 512mb,it gave the best performance i could have ever asked for at the time or any time for that matter and i'm kinda feeling nostalgic enough to toy around with one.

Core 2 duo e6750 and that card blew me away better then any other upgrade i have ever done period.

It's an eVGA. My first one had some issues after a year so I had it replaced and the replacement was used for maybe a month, then it went into the box.

It's kinda sad, I remember these cards giving me a great gaming experience but now they are mainly paperweights.

 

[skipsneeky2]

It's an eVGA. My first one had some issues after a year so I had it replaced and the replacement was used for maybe a month, then it went into the box.

It's kinda sad, I remember these cards giving me a great gaming experience but now they are mainly paperweights.

Double slot cooler with the green rusty bolt design sticker on it with the green pcb?

I remember my 8800gts suffered the wraith of a family member for like 3 years after i gifted it to her,she smoked and the card got caked with nicotine,it idled around 70cel and loaded at 90cel,took hours to clean it out and it still is rocking in another family members computer 5 years later.:awe:

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Selling a bunch of graphic cards for pennies each is enough to fund you your next upgrade, across all the junk you sell.

 

[Leyawiin]

Definitely try to sell them. You have so many when you add them up it'll cut the cost of your next card quite a bit when applied to it - even if you sell them for next to nothing. I've kept only one old card (an 8800 GTX) - primarily for sentimental reasons since I used it for four years before an upgrade. Plus if I ever have to do an RMA on my current card I can at least keep myself busy with games up to about Fallout 3/New Vegas era.

 

[Spike]

Definitely try to sell them. You have so many when you add them up it'll cut the cost of your next card quite a bit when applied to it - even if you sell them for next to nothing. I've kept only one old card (an 8800 GTX) - primarily for sentimental reasons since I used it for four years before an upgrade. Plus if I ever have to do an RMA on my current card I can at least keep myself busy with games up to about Fallout 3/New Vegas era.

I'm going to end up just giving them away for shipping. I'd like to sell them sure, but that will take a little effort for not much gain and with this I can clear out old stuff quickly.

I've got almost $400 in my mining account which will go towards my next vid card upgrade though sadly this will likely be the third, and last, card I buy using some or all bitcoin money. With the dedicated mining hardware now being shipped this gravy train is mostly at an end, though I will try LTC just for the heck of it.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!