The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is one of the fastest graphics cards you can buy for your gaming PC. Prices are around 1000 euros, which is a lot of money. A user was able to snag such a graphics card for only 640 euros. But the deal wasn’t as good as it seemed.
With the release of the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090, there are new powerful graphics cards on the market again. Some users are trying to get the current generation graphics cards like the RTX 3080 at a lower price.
A gamer recently pulled off a special coup, as he allegedly purchased an RTX 3080 Ti for only 640 euros. In retail, you still pay at least 1,000 euros or more for that.
You can read in our buying guide for whom an RTX 3080 Ti is really worth it:
Gamer installs RTX 3080 Ti – GPU is recognized as “only” RTX 3070
What is the problem? The user complained on reddit that the RTX 3080 Ti was detected by the system only as an RTX 3070. And that is already a significant difference in price and performance. He has already tried quite a bit:
- First, he updated his graphics card drivers and the software.
- Then he checked the graphics card once again with GPU Z, a small tool.
However, the graphics card continues to be displayed as RTX 3070. For this reason, he turned to the community on reddit. And here the first comment mentioned (via reddit.com):
Sounds like fraud. Try checking the device manager and see what it shows.
What is behind the problem? The annoyance was resolved quite quickly. Because the purchased graphics card was actually not an RTX 3080 Ti, but the displayed RTX 3070.
Some users explained that the supposed errors did not look like problems at all, but the graphics card simply displayed the correct data. For the buyer, this is certainly still quite annoying. Because, as another user explained, he had been sold an RTX 3070 for the price of an RTX 3080 (via reddit.com).
This makes the offer not seem so great anymore, as if he had bought an RTX 3080 Ti for 600 euros. With 640 euros, the price is actually within the range of what you would currently need to pay for an RTX 3070 in stores (like geizhals.de).
However, the situation ends well: The user explains in a short update of his thread that he is getting his money back from the seller.
The new RTX 4000 series graphics cards are being sold by scalpers at exorbitant prices, while you can still get the cards at MSRP:
Be careful what you buy and test used hardware directly
What can you learn from this? Basically, you should always be careful with offers on Amazon or eBay. Especially when a deal looks too good, you should consider whether you really want to buy the product. Because in many cases, the effort and the associated trouble are not worth it.
In the best case, consumer protection programs from eBay or Amazon will protect you, so that you at least get your money back in the most annoying cases. Also, you should always directly test hardware that you buy used. This way, you can be sure that everything works and is as it should be.
Another user had a similar experience, as he allegedly bought an RX 6900 XT for a mere 300 euros. This also turned out to be fraud:
More stories about graphics cards: Another user had purchased an RTX 3080 relatively cheaply. But he also had little joy with the graphics card, as he encountered several issues:
Frugal buyer purchases RTX 3080 graphics card for half the price – But the joy fades quickly
