Thoughts on buying used CPU, Mobo and/or video card?

[zijin_cheng]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying used CPU, Mobo and video card, I know buying used hard drives is just stupid, but what about CPUs, mobos and video cards? Do they deteriorate after use?

If I knew the seller took good care of his parts and they never overheated, will these parts fail prematurely?

[audit13]

As with all electronic components, they can work one day and not the next.

You always take a chance when buying any used or new electronics. It just that buying from a retailer will usually get you some sort of warranty and product support; however, this type of service is factored into the price.

BTW, why is buying a used hard drive stupid? If it comes from a know seller and has some warranty, why not?

[board123]

Everything I sell is guaranteed to be in top physical condition, and have been taken care of properly since day 1. You'll just need to use your judgment as to who to buy from. Stick to people with lots of feedback as those people are generally more reliable.

As for deterioration, solid state devices are much less likely to fail than mechanical devices. Things like CPUs will almost never die as long as they're operating under nominal conditions. On video cards, it's much more likely for the power circuit on the board to fry than the GPU itself. The same goes for motherboards and other electronics. The things that go bad are always the supporting components like capacitors and regulators. These components have a relatively short lifespan, and this is the risk you run when you buy used electronics.

[lagzor]

If you are buying an entire system, make sure you test it before handing over the cash. If its individual components, same thing.

Try buying from the more reliable people on BST is probably your best bet.

[Mark77]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying used CPU, Mobo and video card, I know buying used hard drives is just stupid, but what about CPUs, mobos and video cards? Do they deteriorate after use?

A lot of this depends upon how the seller is selling stuff. For instance, if a seller is clearing out 20 computers or 20 motherboards/hard drives/video cards, that means they're not trying to unload a one-off lemon -- they're just reducing their inventory of surplus computer parts as an ordinary course of business. However, if you buy from someone who advertises "this card reliably overclocks to 4.8Gigahurtzes!@!", run like h*ll.


If I knew the seller took good care of his parts and they never overheated, will these parts fail prematurely?

Generally not. Computer gear doesn't really care who owns it. Board123 sums it up well -- as long as you avoid buying stuff from people who have obviously abused it (ie: overclockers), chances are, you'll do all right.

[JasonCao]

if the price is too cheap to resist, i will take it lol. but make sure you ask the seller to show you they are in working condition.

[willdacanucker]

Hi, I'm thinking of buying used CPU, Mobo and video card, I know buying used hard drives is just stupid, but what about CPUs, mobos and video cards? Do they deteriorate after use?

If I knew the seller took good care of his parts and they never overheated, will these parts fail prematurely? Nothing wrong with SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper "used" components including hard drives. This is what I did for my build (mostly) and I saved so much $ doing it this way, if the part fails after a year or so, no skin off my nose. I will just do it again as long as the price is to hard to ignore. That said, I have done builds out of entirely new parts and had to deal with warranty claims before. I also built machines with ALL used components and did not have any issues at all for the life of the machine.

[zijin_cheng]

Nothing wrong with SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper "used" components including hard drives. This is what I did for my build (mostly) and I saved so much $ doing it this way, if the part fails after a year or so, no skin off my nose. I will just do it again as long as the price is to hard to ignore. That said, I have done builds out of entirely new parts and had to deal with warranty claims before. I also built machines with ALL used components and did not have any issues at all for the life of the machine.

Ya I know what you mean, since CPU and Video ad RAM don't get "slower" the more you use it. But what I'm concerned is hard drives, they usually are slower than new, and how much depends on the person, like my sisters who can slow a hard drive down 80% in 5 months...

[crowTrobot]

That's why you gotta ask questions, ask for photos or closely inspect the item before the transaction. Even if its BNIB, ask if it is truly BNIB or RMA BNIB. Ask warranty, ask why they are selling. etc. If they say it isn't overclocked not even once, google their name and see if they are in overclocking forums posting suicide run scores on their cpu/card (which I have seen haha). For mobo, ask for photos of the brushes to see if there is damage or ask a screenshot of it running, or if possible actually see it running in person and test it out yourself. Not all sellers do this but there are those that do and encourage it (like me!).

I wouldn't trust used HDD unless you ask them for the CrystalDisk info photo which shows how many hours of use it has, HDD health and serial number etc. Once you have the drive, check if the serial matches the one on the screenshot.

[blueangel2323]

CPUs almost never go bad with normal use, so if it's working when you buy it (i.e. it hasn't been fried), chances are it will work forever if you don't fry it yourself.

Capacitors on motherboards have a limited lifespan, but with normal use they'll be obsolete long before they go bad. I've used one for over 7 years and when I finally sold it it was still going strong. Try to avoid boards that have been extensively overclocked or run 24/7.

Personally I've had bad experiences with video cards so I wouldn't buy them used, but YMMV.

Also, in regards to hard drives, I used 2x Seagate hard drives for 6 years with zero problems, and yet my OCZ SSD only lasted 1.5 years before it died. So it's not necessarily the case that solid state lasts longer than hard drives.

[ah802]

I have no problem buying used, key point is the technology moves so quick..
you can get the same product new for the used price if you shop RFD's.

As others have mentioned.. warranty is important

(well I'm a little hesitant to buy SDD's used.. they do have a limited life span depending on use)

[OCNAMC]

Just make sure to test the hardware. And check the reputation of the seller.

CPU -> run prime for a bit.
GPU -> Furmark.
Memory -> memtest

These are just some tests you can do.

[lead]

personally as others have stated I wouldn't buy video cards used, not after recovering my own 9800gt with the bake in the oven trick and watched it work fine afterwards. I'd want some kind of warranty.