wdflyer
I picked up a 950 (not recertified, just open box), and haven't had any problems so far. If you can push it pretty hard within the 1st 30 days without issue I wouldn't sweat it too bad.
Then again, I only paid $159 for 950. Taking a chance on a $480 processor is a bit more of a concern. With that much money involved I would rather buy a new 970 for $549 and enjoy the 3-year warranty for the $69 more.
Hmm, that's funny, Newegg is selling the recertified 970 for $320 cheaper then the original $799 price, especially considering that they are currently selling the brand new 970 for just $549...
Yeah, I saw the discount from the "originally" price. Looking at the actual current price to get one new, the warranty is definitely worth it for most people.
If I had the money, I'd probably do it though, because odds are good if I blow up a CPU it's going to happen inside that 30 day window anyway. And like I said, I'm not exactly nervous that they may have used an electron microscope and a soldering iron the size of a bacteria to repair something that was actually damaged. So I'd just be getting something that got RMA'd by an incompetent.