Shopper walks out with a $4.99 Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU from Goodwill — thrift stores are the hidden goldmines amid the AI-driven GPU crisis

Looking for an unbeatable deal on used PC hardware? A trip to your local thrift store might be worth it. That’s precisely what one Reddit user discovered after stumbling upon an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT at their local Goodwill for just $4.99. This is one of the many thrift-store PC scores we’ve seen recently and quite a good one considering the RX 5700 XT, which used to be one of the best graphics cards, is still capable of reliable 1080p and even 1440p gaming. Custom models are selling for over $500, according to our GPU 2026 price tracker.

According to u/12kdaysinthefire, who scored the ASRock-branded Radeon RX 5700 XT, the card was allegedly modified by its previous owner, with the thermal paste and pads replaced by copper cooling blocks. The new owner restored the card by salvaging thermal pads from an older GPU, applying fresh thermal paste, and reassembling the cooler. After the fix, the GPU worked without any issues. This shows that sometimes thrift-store hardware needs a bit of basic maintenance to function again.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT launched back in 2019, based on AMD’s first-generation RDNA (Navi) architecture. Built on a 7nm process, the RX 5700 XT came with 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, 2,560 stream processors, 160 texture units, and 64 ROPs. Positioned as a strong option for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the GPU debuted with a $399 MSRP and often outperformed Nvidia’s RTX 2060 Super in traditional rasterized workloads, though it lacked hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

$4.99 thrift store GPU from r/pcmasterrace

Thrift store finds like this highlight a pattern we’ve seen over the past year or so: capable GPUs end up at remarkably low prices simply because they are either untested or poorly labeled. In a similar case, a lucky gamer found an Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB for just $4.99, suggesting that older but still functional hardware can end up in donation piles. With many thrift stores lacking the time or expertise to evaluate PC components, working hardware can easily be mistaken for scrap.

That said, hunting for PC parts at a thrift store always comes with some risk, since there’s no guarantee the hardware will work. But this RX 5700 XT shows that older graphics cards can often be revived with basic maintenance and some PC hardware knowledge. For budget gamers or tinkerers willing to take a chance, places like Goodwill can still hide some surprisingly good deals.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.