Gadgetory

- Recently when I was overseas, I picked up this RX 470, 4GB, for $50 US dollars. And it's a SAPPHIRE NITRO variant. However, it does differ to a normal gaming graphics card that was sold on the shelves, in that it only has a DVI out connector at the back. Usually your gaming graphics cards will have a couple HDMIs, some display ports, though this one right here, its intention was never to be put in a normal system for playing games, until today. (techno music) Welcome back to Tech YES City, and right here I've got one of the two mining cards that I've purchased when I was overseas. The P106, that'll be getting a dedicated video of its own, because it does differ a lot to this one right here. Which is actually a pretty simple fix, and it's easy to get working as a gaming graphics card. So the NITRO variant in question right here, all you have to do to get it working properly, is download the VGA BIOS for the gaming graphics card variant of this, and use a program called ATIFlash. In order to get the flash working properly, I had to use the DOS version, and then I had to force flash the SAPPHIRE NITRO vBIOS that I downloaded from TechPowerUp onto this card itself. So, it wasn't that much of a hassle at all, and if you're gonna do this for yourself, then I recommend downloading ATIFlash, maybe put it on a USB drive, or put it in your C drive root directory, and then put the BIOS in that same directory as well. Now before you do this, do back up your vBIOS currently on this graphics card, so if anything does go wrong, you can then Flash the old BIOS back to this card, to bring it back to its original state. Also, another thing worth mentioning was, the Windows GUI version of ATIFlash didn't work properly to get the flash working 100%. So then after we flash this graphics card, we then put it in our system, download the latest driver, get that installed, and it actually recognizes it now as an RX470, 4GB SAPPHIRE NITRO, which was released on retail shelves as a gaming variant. And since we are now using this DVI port, it will function just like the original, except of course, we've only got one display out. The first thing I did when I got this card up and running was to run a 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark. This will tell you roughly how the card it performing, plus you can monitor things like temperatures, if you install MSI Afterburner. And what we saw here was this card was scoring under 12,000 points, and I did notice a little bit of stuttering during this test. And then looking at the temperatures, they were showing it was going to around 80 degrees, which during a Flash Strike run, it shouldn't be getting this hot. So what we decided to do was run it one more time, just to see if there was some variance there, but sure enough, it was running a little bit less than normal for an RX470. They should be getting anywhere between 12,000 and 13,000 points in this particular benchmark. So since this card was previously used for cryptocurrency mining, it's most likely the thermal paste has dried up on the GPU die. And since the temperatures were very hot, it's time to pull it apart, and give it some Tech YES Lovin'. (echoing music) ♪ Uh, what, hold up ♪ ♪ Sometimes you see something sitting on the shelves ♪ ♪ And you ask yourself ♪ ♪ Why isn't that in my PCIe slot ♪ ♪ They say that dogs man's best friend ♪ ♪ But I think in 2018, WD-40s man's best friend ♪ (clapping) ♪ Come on ya'll, hands up in the air, clap with me ♪ ♪ That's the sound of a greedy miner losing his money ♪ So there it all is guys. After we applied some new thermal paste, and also make it look brand new with some Tech YES Lovin', the graphics card was performing really well. I even managed to overclock it, and we're getting over 13,000 points on the graphics score in Fire Strike. And the temperatures were also really good, coming under 50 degrees, which means that this dropped the temperatures by 30 degrees, just by changing the thermal paste. Now the thermal paste beforehand was very crusty and hard. And that's a general indicator that you should be changing the thermal paste on a particular graphics card. Even if it's a gaming graphics card that's been used for a few years, as you seen in some of my previous videos when I've done used PC builds, definitely does help. And helps restore the performance to that of something that would perform like a new graphics card. So here it is right here with this RX470. Probably the best deal I've got in a long time on a graphics card. A little over $60 Aussie dollars, and you've got a card that performs so well at 1080p. I managed to put it through three different games. Battlefield 1, Far Cry 5, and also Rainbow Six Siege, and it was performing really well. 1080p, ultra settings, getting over 60 fps, and in the case of Rainbow Six Siege, it was getting over 150 fps, so it's definitely a very solid card for 1080p gaming. Couple that with a 22 or 23 inch 1080p monitor, which can be had again for around $50, and you got yourself such a good budget gaming combo for the money. Now I know there's gonna be questions about availability with these graphics cards, because currently, at the moment on eBay, or on Amazon.com, RX470s are running over $100. I did manage to take a look on AliExpress, there was nothing there, but Taobao.com did have a seller selling one of these for $55 US dollars. Now, if you've got Google Chrome and you can translate the page to English, you can create a Taobao account, and then they have their own shipping agent within their own website, which will ship the card out to you for around $7 US dollars. So you can get one of these cards shipped to your door for $62 US dollars, if you have the time and effort to sort of navigate your way through a bit of a website that is in Chinese. And also, if you manage to set up an Alipay account. So you can definitely get your hands on one of these graphics cards. Just keep in mind, you will have to flash a new BIOS, and also give it a proper clean and change the thermal paste around. But after you do that, you will then have a graphics card that will perform pretty much to that of the best prized performance money can buy. Anyway guys, I hope you enjoyed today's video of the RX470 mining edition from SAPPHIRE NITRO. I'm not sure about the other variants that are out there at the moment. Definitely Taobao had some other options that are on the website from different brands, some that I've never heard of, but this one right here with the SAPPHIRE NITRO works a treat. I can definitely recommend it for someone on a budget. And since it is a NITRO version, it will have a very good cooling solution, so it shouldn't get too hot at all. Anyway guys, if you enjoyed today's video, then be sure to hit that like button, and let us know in the comment section below what you think of the budget RX470. Love reading your thoughts and opinions as always. And right here we've got the P106, which will be getting its own video as well. Not as successful as this one right here, and if you are gonna buy these mining graphics cards, I do recommend getting one with at least one display out on it. Will make life easier. But anyway, I'll catch you in another Tech video very soon, peace out for now, bye. (techno music)