The Curious Case of the "Passively Called" GTX 960

As I sat at my desk, browsing through online marketplaces, my curiosity got the better of me when I stumbled upon a passively called GTX 960 for sale. The price was unbeatable - just £40 with next-day delivery. I couldn't resist the opportunity to investigate further and see what this supposedly "passive" graphics card had in store.

The stock photo accompanying the listing didn't exactly fill me with hope, but I decided to take a chance and place my order. After all, who needs innovation when you can have a cheap price tag, right? What arrived was not quite what I expected, however. The seller had simply removed the fan from the card and called it a day. Yes, you read that correctly - no fan, no problem.

I soon realized that our definitions of "works fine" vary somewhat, especially when it comes to electronic components like graphics cards. In this case, the lack of a fan seemed to be the only issue, but I was determined to find out more. Before jumping into any games, I decided to try and find a replacement fan for the card, which ended up costing me just a few pounds on eBay.

Despite my best efforts, it seemed that any damage had already been done by the previous seller. I couldn't help but wonder if their "passive cooling solution" was indeed ingenious or just a bit of luck. The only time MSI Afterburner worked without causing a huge system crash was when I first plugged in the card. However, even then, it revealed that the card was staying at reasonable temperatures - even with the fan disabled.

The results were not exactly what I had hoped for, especially when it came to gaming. Fallout 4, which is notoriously demanding on graphics cards, ran at a paltry six frames per second. Powerpoint 2077, another popular game, lasted only a few minutes before causing a black screen. Different games produced different results - sometimes resulting in a low frame rate and system crash, while other times just a low frame rate without any issues.

It was interesting to note, however, that the weird artifacts that plagued the card during startup seemed to disappear when gaming began. Perhaps this was some sort of clever trick by the seller? Unfortunately, overall, it seemed like I had been ripped off by the zero-feedback seller I bought from. Not every video idea turns out as planned, and sometimes it's better to just admit defeat.

Despite the disappointment, I hope that you've enjoyed this little excursion into the world of potentially faulty graphics cards. It's not always smooth sailing when it comes to online shopping, but sometimes lucky bargains can be found if you're willing to take a chance. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll find another great deal and manage to turn this disastrous purchase into something worthwhile. Until then, I bid you farewell for now - I'll see you all again soon!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome to another video now last week my curiosity got the better of me when i bought a passively called gtx 960 that i know doesn't exist at just 40 pounds with next day how could i resist the stock photo didn't give me much hope either and i assume that whatever turned up would probably be some diy called card that may have actually made for an interesting video it seems i should learn to assume less often because what actually arrived was this there's no innovation here the seller had simply removed the fan and called it a day our definitions of works fine also vary somewhat before jumping into any games i decided that the best thing to do was to try and find a replacement fan and this ended up costing me just a few pounds on ebay it seemed however that any damage had already been done by the previous seller whether this was because of their ingenious passive calling solution or other reasons i can't be sure but the one time that msi afterburner did work without causing a huge system crash revealed that the card was staying at reasonable temperatures and this was the case even with the fan disabled at least for the first 15 or so minutes of gameplay an actual nuclear apocalypse may be preferable to playing fallout 4 with 6 frames per second and as for powerpoint 2077 well that runs for a few minutes before causing a black screen different games will produce different results either you'll get a low frame rate and a system crash or just a low frame rate it differs from game to game and isn't consistent either so the game might crash once and then that same game might work fine albeit with a very low fps the next time around think of it as a very unpleasant surprise it's interesting to note that the weird artifacts do disappear when gaming though but overall the zero feedback seller i bought this from might have ripped me off it's not always smooth sailing and lucky bargains here on this channel as you can probably tell just like with the exploding psu last week this did start off as a serious video idea but yeah it didn't all go to plan nonetheless i hope you've enjoyed it and i'll see you all again soonhello everyone and welcome to another video now last week my curiosity got the better of me when i bought a passively called gtx 960 that i know doesn't exist at just 40 pounds with next day how could i resist the stock photo didn't give me much hope either and i assume that whatever turned up would probably be some diy called card that may have actually made for an interesting video it seems i should learn to assume less often because what actually arrived was this there's no innovation here the seller had simply removed the fan and called it a day our definitions of works fine also vary somewhat before jumping into any games i decided that the best thing to do was to try and find a replacement fan and this ended up costing me just a few pounds on ebay it seemed however that any damage had already been done by the previous seller whether this was because of their ingenious passive calling solution or other reasons i can't be sure but the one time that msi afterburner did work without causing a huge system crash revealed that the card was staying at reasonable temperatures and this was the case even with the fan disabled at least for the first 15 or so minutes of gameplay an actual nuclear apocalypse may be preferable to playing fallout 4 with 6 frames per second and as for powerpoint 2077 well that runs for a few minutes before causing a black screen different games will produce different results either you'll get a low frame rate and a system crash or just a low frame rate it differs from game to game and isn't consistent either so the game might crash once and then that same game might work fine albeit with a very low fps the next time around think of it as a very unpleasant surprise it's interesting to note that the weird artifacts do disappear when gaming though but overall the zero feedback seller i bought this from might have ripped me off it's not always smooth sailing and lucky bargains here on this channel as you can probably tell just like with the exploding psu last week this did start off as a serious video idea but yeah it didn't all go to plan nonetheless i hope you've enjoyed it and i'll see you all again soon\n"