FS: Video Card RTX 3070 - Colorful BattleAX edition GPU

I'm putting up my RTX 3070 for sale as I'm itching to upgrade.

The card was bought from a reseller in a WhatsApp group. It was most likely used for mining before I got it, but I’ve only used it for gaming (mainly Destiny 2).
I purchased it sometime in 2022, though I don’t recall the exact date, so the date in the post is a placeholder. At the time, it had 1.5 years of warranty left, but it's now out of warranty.

As soon as I got my hands on it, I could see it was very dusty inside and the seller had only cleaned it externally (the fans n visible surfaces). After installing the card, the thermals were decent (idle around 46°C, gaming around 75°C), but the hotspot would hit 105°C. So, I decided to clean it thoroughly and repaste it myself despite knowing that it might void the warranty.
After repasting, the temps improved significantly (idle around 36°C, gaming around 65°C), but the hotspot still reached 105°C.
I attempted to change the thermal pads but couldn’t find the exact thickness specification anywhere. So took a chance and bought a Gelid 1.5mm set but it didn't fit hence I decided not to push further.

Later I applied an undervolt to it, which made a big difference. The card could do a stable 1800MHz @ 850mV with a +500MHz memory overclock. There's hardly any performance loss, but the temps have dropped considerably, and power usage has decreased from 215W to around 150W. The hotspot now tops out at around 95°C.

I've captured a screen recording while running the Heaven benchmark to show the difference. Links are provided below.

The card has been running smoothly in this condition since then (2 years now) without any issues.

Pics - https://ibb.co/album/nB8yfg
Videos:-
-- Heaven benchmark runs
-- Furmark run at stock settings
-- Furmark run with undervolt
-- Mobile camera record

Given that I’ve seen a similar sale thread go sour recently on the forum, I want to be completely transparent about the current state of the card:-

• At stock settings, the hot spot (not the GPU operating temps) reaches 105C. While this could potentially be improved by changing the thermal pads, I won’t be attempting that myself. It will be up to the buyer to decide if they want to try it.
• Regarding fan control, it’s a bit finicky when using MSI Afterburner. I’ve set a fan curve where I have set the fan speed at 0% until 40°C, then gradually ramping up to 100% at 80°C.
  While the fans mostly follow this curve, they won’t return to 0% after temperatures fall below 40°C. Instead, they stay at 30% until I restart the PC.
  Also occasionally, at around the 75°C mark, the fans will randomly spike to 100% for about a second, even though this behaviour doesn’t show up in MSI graphs. I know this because I can hear the fans ramp up for a split second.

I am willing to offer a testing warranty, but only under the following conditions:

1. The buyer must make an uncut video of the full unboxing and installation process.
2. The buyer must use the card with a proper PSU, at least a gold-rated 650W or higher.
3. The buyer must have read through the entire post and acknowledge the card’s thermal behaviour.

You can shoot me your queries via PM.
Local buyers will be preferred who can test and pick it up from my place in person.

Thanks for looking and not crapping the sale thread.

price updated to 17k

I think you didn't watch the screen recordings properly..

YeAhx said:

Also you say "hardly any performance loss" I would like to see some proper benchmark scores that can be compared

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Check out the Heaven benchmark run. It’s an uncut video that captures the full 5-minute run with both stock and undervolted settings.
I’ve set the temperature limit to 75°C to prevent the fans from ramping up to 100%, which, as mentioned in my original post, is an issue with the Colorful BIOS not following the fan curve correctly. However, even with the temp limit at 75°C during the undervolted run, the core temperature never reaches that level!
The core clocks also remain steady at 1875MHz with no fluctuations.
In the same video, I reset all settings in MSI Afterburner (including the temp limit) and ran the Heaven benchmark again.
Finally, take a look at the benchmark scores between the runs. If this doesn’t demonstrate that there’s no performance loss, please let me know what else can prove it.

YeAhx said:

I can see you have set the temp limit to 75C which will explain why it downclocks to sub 1400mhz as it is trying to maintain that temperature.

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YeAhx said:

instead of 1min short clip that barely warms up the card.

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If you are referring to the furmark video, then please check it again properly!
It is a clipped video of the very last minute of approx 10 min furmark run. Check the left pane and see the runtime, avg fps scores.
Furmark definitely hits the thermal limit of the card and hence clocks are towards the lower side. But that happens with or without the underclock settings.

YeAhx said:

For example I also own a RTX 3070 (gigabyte OC) w/ undervolt + OC and I get 123-124fps on 1440p whereas you are getting the same FPS in 1080p. Maybe furmark wasn't in focus which can explain low fps and to such degree but others factors lead me to believe this card is extremely thermal throttled.

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I would like to see it, please. Maybe try running the Heaven benchmark using the same settings that I have used in my capture and post a single run video.

YeAhx said:

What this card needs is a repaste and thermal pads exchanged with correct thickness. What you should have done initially was to take the card apart and measure the thickness of thermal pads where they were least used and ordered those. It is the best way to figure this out instead of YOLOing the process or relying on information on the internet (tons of different models, info could be wrong or get mixed up).

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I mentioned this in the initial post. However, I'm not planning to try it myself, as I don't want to take the card apart again after having already done it once.
Also I already am satisfied with the card's performance with the undervolt.

YeAhx said:

Lastly have you tried to update its vbios as that can help sometimes (would not recommend though, only do this if you have tried everything possible).

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Definitely don't want to do this as it might brick the card. There is no switch to toggle between multiple bios like in other premium cards. So don't want to take the chance.


I'm pretty confident with the testing and undervolting processes that I have followed because I recently tried the same with 2 other cards - 3070ti & 6900XT. They both have exceptional thermals compared to this 3070. The hotspot remains under 85C all the time.
Attaching the heaven benchmark results. If you compare the scores, it puts the 3070 score right around where one would expect it to be.

Undervolting is a well-known and widely used process. It offers significantly better results thermal and power consumption-wise, with very minimal performance loss. You can google and see videos on YouTube which demonstrate the same.

YeAhx said:

That doesn't change the fact that in those furmark videos your card is still reaching 104C hotspot while being undervolted severely (1400mhz @ 0.850V). There is a delta of 31C between the core temp @73C and hotspot @104C (in your last clip captured using your phone).

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Yes, I know, which is why I’ve clearly emphasized this point throughout my initial post to avoid any misunderstandings. I want to ensure that any prospective buyer is fully aware of the hotspot temperatures and understands how to work around it without losing any significant performance.

YeAhx said:

Now I'm not saying its end of the world but certainly not what you would want for a long lasting GPU.

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Correct, I didn't want it running at those temps, especially since it had undoubtedly been used for mining before I owned it. To extend the card's longevity, undervolting was the only viable option.

YeAhx said:

Also without recording my 3070 actually performed better than even your 3070ti benchmark so I don't know what happened,

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I think your processor could be one of the reasons..
Also the 900Mhz memory overclock..

YeAhx said:

apologise for shitty quality and stuttery mess, I used OBS lol

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Unless you stream, Nvidia GeForce experience recording works the best in my experience..

Since there was no interest in the card given its condition, I decided to open it up, repaste it again and do a routine cleanup.
I also rotated the thermal pads based on a suggestion I saw on a YouTube video.

To my surprise, the process worked wonders and the thermals on the card improved significantly. The hotspot temps are no longer hitting the previous maximums.

I'll be closing this sale thread and opening up a new one.

@puns please assist in closing this thread. Thanks!
New sale thread - https://techenclave.com/threads/rtx-3070-colorful.222151/