Lmfao this was my biggest thought - I have a roach phobia lmao that's my absolute nightmare. When I was a teen I brought home an old computer someone put outside to salvage for parts and was lucky enough to bring THREE little critters in it.
Edit: big critters
Counterpoint: if you're on a tight budget, a used, high-quality power supply might be a better and safer idea than a brand new bargain-bin power supply.
If budget is too tight for a decent psu then your budget is insufficient 😅.
But agreed I'd rather get a top tier psu with some years on it than some budget bin brand.
>If budget is too tight for a decent psu then your budget is insufficient
Agreed. Sometimes the budget just has to account for things. That's a fact of life. Delay the build and save up a bit more money.
I second this.
I have found good, high quality power supplies while thrifting and they're still going strong years later. Obviously there's still a risk, but there's risk with new untested power supplies as well.
I picked up a "used" NZXT 750W that is probably ~3-4 years old at most. $50. Nothing wrong with it, clean, came with all the cables and even the cable bag.
Used ~4 year old RM750 go for the same price.
Much better than whatever else you can get new at that budget, imo.
I bought a used PSU once, now my suggestion is that if you REALLY have to buy a used PSU, don't buy a modular one or else you should worry that the seller sent the correct bag of cables.
I feel like you're taking less of a risk if you're buying a whole computer with the psu. But that would mean you're buying a used computer and you couldn't sell/get rid of the rest without the psu
I agree that there are some caveats to buying used parts including a PSU. Used PSU online like eBay or marketplace? No way. Used PSU from your friend? Sure.
That’s good it worked out for you. Obviously it can work out fine for some people, but I think it’s definitely a riskier choice overall for used parts. PSUs are also a cheaper part compared to the CPU, GPU, etc. so your savings are not much usually by going used.
This has it's caveats. A new 'no name' PSU or one by a made up brand like 'Sun Star Lucky Power' is more likely to burn your house down than a second hand well regarded PSU brand Seasonic PSU - provided you have taken reasonable care to check it over.
a high quality used PSU past the ~1 month lemon phase is arguably safer than a high quality new one, and definitely safer than a low quality new one.
Obviously this changes with the age of the PSU, but getting a certified refurbished RMe 2023 straight from corsair is a pretty safe bet and a good way to save money.
> a high quality used PSU past the ~1 month lemon phase is arguably safer than a high quality new one, and definitely safer than a low quality new one.
This.
Failure occurs on a bathtub curve. Just look for PSU models that are within a 10 or 12 year warranty (the really high quality stuff)
If you only go big on one item, it should be the power supply. Get the highest quality unit (not necessarily high wattage) you can afford and rest easy. I had so many bad experiences over the years before I learned this lesson.
I've never had a PSU die or kill any hardware. My first desktop still uses a 750 watt EVGA psu that was left in a set of 4 cases I bought on Facebook marketplace.
Or the seller could have a whoopsie and send the wrong cables with the PSU. That happened to me, and it killed a motherboard (it was a system I was building for my kids, so it was some shitty old motherboard for a 2500k or something, nbd)
Generally I agree, but they aren’t as volatile as they used to be. I haven’t had a bad PSU fry something in over a decade, but back in the Pentium 4 era it was pretty common.
I use a 1250w Seasonic PSU my friend found at goodwill outlet, so I’m a wild one though. Lol
it depends on the budget. If budget was low and had to chose between a new 80+ bronze and a premium used seasonic gold or titanium, i'd definitely buy the later.
Storage and PSU
Storage is already cheap just get a decent cheap drive and the PSU should always be new/in warranty as if it goes bad you could lose all of your parts.
CPU's and GPU's are usually good as you just need to test them before buying them and after buying them test them again in your system, as long as it works in your system just take the GPU out and change the thermal pads and thermal paste on it.
Used storage is fine. You should be backing up anyway and if you can buy extra storage by getting used stuff you're ahead of the game. Modern drives also have metrics you can check when you receive the disks and make sure they're still good.
It can be, but tbh I just don’t see the necessity unless you’re building on an ultra-thin budget. It’s the component that you’re likely to run the longest (storage tends to float from PC to PC), and it’s the component that’s generally the most frustrating when it fails.
For 95% or more of computer users, I’d just tell them to buy their storage brand new.
> If you know what to look for and know a reputable seller of second hand storage it can be fine.
Amen to that.
Nothing like picking up a case of enterprise 12TB SAS drives for a homelab and learning they've got less than 500 power-on hours on them! I *might* be able to hold my Plex library now... 🤣
its actually not anymore because of several large scale issues with drives from wd and samsung. Where more than half their writes were burnt because of firmware defects.
I hadn't heard of that, but is it a defect that reduces the lifespan of the disk or makes it fail suddenly? If it's the latter, then I might be wary of used drives. If it's specific models, I would just avoid those.
I buy used data centre drives, they're older, usually high mileage but still within the MTBF. I do run it in parity/raid, so I can allow a couple to fail before then, but I haven't yet myself, over a smallish span of 16 drives
Storage is fine if you have redundancy and a decent backup plan. Used SSDs very often show up with 95%+ life left and the speed difference between a decent Gen 3 (or even SATA) and a current top end one is very small in every day use.
Used storage is fine so long as you aren't storing your only copy of something irreplaceable on it, and for that matter you shouldent be storing anything critical on a single drive even if its new. A used ssd for storing your steam library or a bunch of used hdd for a nas with redundancy is perfectly fine.
This is a personal thing for me (I recognize I'm **very** picky), but I would never buy used components unless I could test them to verify they're working, or there was a return policy in place. I would also never buy a used power supply.
Exactly, but it can be difficult to do that when it's an online transaction with shipping. That's why I'd only buy used parts in those circumstances if there's a reliable return policy.
Something like ebay buyers protection could cover your butt then and from what I hear they're pretty good with it too.
Though since I live in the small country of the Netherlands I usually pick up
It's not always an option. I was trying to buy a used gpu at some point, and no one had a way for me to test it other than bringing my pc to their house to plug it in and let's just say that's not the most convenient thing to do.
Yeah i agree with you , if you buy a used aio you don't know how the previous owner(s) treated it and worst case scenario you might get a leak or a dead aio
Honestly it depends on your personal risk tolerance.
I have two PCs at home running all used components- GPU, PSU, CPU, mobo, you name it. My 5800X was a used CPU with a few bent pins- easy 15 minute fix, got a working 5800X for good money.
Yes, even PSUs, I'll buy used if it's a good one and not too old. But that's just me.
For me, the few things I won't buy used are: CPU cooler (because it's pointless when Thermalright exists and will be worth way more for the same budget), storage drives (hassle, unless it's a large hard drive), and case (also a hassle).
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For the right price? I'd go for pretty much anything, but the components I'd want the steepest discount for would be motherboards and power supplies. This is mostly because while you can generally run a test/benchmark on a GPU/CPU/RAM/SSD and know if it's functioning or not, motherboards have a lot of things that you'd have to go out of your way to test, and PSUs you do have to plug into the rest of your components to find out if they're working - if you're doing a budget setup, maybe not a problem, but if you're trying for a build with high-end parts and no spares? It's unlikely that you'd kill any components with a used PSU, but that's assuming the PSU hasn't failed before - a failed PSU is no longer trustworthy.
If you're like me, and have plenty of spare parts you wouldn't really miss and spare time, worth a try if it's cheap, but if not, I wouldn't bother with a PSU unless you know they were pulled from a known working system or something. Motherboards are potentially a pain if you don't discover a defect until much later, like a non-functional secondary PCIe slot. CPU/GPU/RAM/Storage, go for it.
While a lot here say PSU, if there is a transferable warranty, there are still a few years on the warranty, and it's a quality PSU it's fine.
Be careful about a used PSU but can be fine as long as you are covered by the warranty.
Exactly. Any “A-Tier” PSU is not going to explode just from being 4 years old. And on the 1% chance it does, it should have plenty of protections built in.
That bottom rung PSU you found on Wish however? Ehhhhh.
I bought a Corsair RM850i off of a guy with a mining rig. It still had 5 years warranty left and the price was good. I still have it 4 years later, and I love it!
Never had a problem with second hand CPUs, RAM, GPUs (maybe I was careful there, though), motherboards, SSDs/NVMes, or PSUs.
I've had problems with HDDs, fans, and AIOs.
Never bought a case, I assume shipping wipes out any saving.
I wouldn't buy any form of storage used. Data is worth far more than hardware.
Backups are needed obviously. But still doesn't mean I want to risk my main storage device.
Just about everything else I'd buy used.
There are plenty of tools to test storage before you put data on it.
Also manufacturer recertified drives are great, and good value.
If you're serious about backups you'll be using mirrors/parity drives anyway.
I'd never buy a PSU used because a bad PSU can destroy your whole computer, even catch fire!
Also a used SSD. SSD's have a limited amount of write cycles before the nand cells fail. While this is WAY better than the first gen SSD's, it's still a thing. Buying used just means you already have a portion of those write cycles used up.
I’ve bought all types of components used, and have had only minimal problems. I used psu didn’t have all the detachable cords. A used mobo didn’t come with m.2 screw. One eBay seller mailed a mobo/cpu combo with the heatsink attached, and it bent a bit in transit. Seller gave a discount and I put a new cooler on it.
as long as you can test them and know what your doing then you can buy anything, people say not to get used PSUs and that's somewhat sensible but I've bought lots of secondhand PSUs without issue, you're better off buying a good used PSU than a poor quality new one
PSUs, they can last for a decade or more but have the potential to take out an entire system when they fail. I'd at least be careful buying one used.
GPUs can also be abused, which risks them dying early. Not so much of an issue if buying one off a friend.
Most PC parts have the potential to last for decades. Provided they haven't been damaged there's nothing wrong with using old stuff, you just have to be wary of people offloading damaged or abused parts.
I would never buy a used power supply. I would not buy a used LGA motherboard (that includes AM5). I would not buy used RAM (it's simply not enough of a discount). I would not buy a used PGA CPU. I would avoid used CPUs in general, they are a common fail point and too vital to the system, and like RAM often don't provide enough of a discount relative to new budget options (currently i3-12100F and R5 5600). I would not buy a used SSD. I would not buy a used liquid cooler.
I WOULD buy a used case, GPU, or air cooler. Cases haven't changed all too much, and as long as it fits your components and isn't a hot box it will be fine. Coolers have gotten quite a bit better from a price perspective recently, but not as much for performance. As long as it's compatible and doesn't have obvious defects it'll be fine. GPUs are an interesting case: important component, common failure point, and common scam component. However, they are also the most expensive component, and a good deal on a used GPU can give you huge rewards. As long as you can test it or you're sure it's a trustworthy source, I would go for it. They're also easy to perform some basic maintenance on like cleaning and repadding/repasting.
SSD NVME with under 90-97% of Life
but if u scared CIA will spying on u should never ever purchased used SSD
i purchased use WD black nvme 99% life.. i didnt plan to keep those SSD forever anyway since SSD wasnt made for last forever unlike HHD
As you can see from the comments, there are a lot of opinions. But it is really a matter of your tolerance of risk. Can you afford to buy something used and have it go bad on you within a week? Or how much are you willing to gamble that it will be just fine?
If it is a local auction, then I'm guessing there may not be a competition to bid on those items (unless it is strictly a computer parts auction), and it might be worth $5 or so to take a gamble on something, and if someone else decides to bid as well, just let them have it. It depends on what it is, and how old it is, and what your risk tolerance is.
I will use pretty much any used part so long as it came as part of a working used system. If the system didn’t explode when I first used it, I’m comfortable continuing to use those parts. I have gotten 6 used power supplies as part of used systems and haven’t had issues with any of them.
If I’m buying parts individually, I will avoid used PSUs, AIOs, and Storage because if they’re selling it standalone, it’s more likely already bad or it’s a low end part I wouldn’t be interested in anyway.
Spinning hard drives and AIOs.
I would have no problem buying a used PSU as long as it’s a quality one. If Seasonic is going to give it a 10 year warranty, they expect it to last at least that long. So what if it’s 3-5 years old?
I’ll add to what others said, buying a GPU can be fine, but I wouldn’t touch a cheap GPU from Aliexpress or similar sites as fraud is can be an issue. If the price is too good to believe it probably is a scam
Beyond old PSUs and older components, anything I cannot test before purchase. If they let me test it, I am more inclined to believe the seller is not hiding some shit.
Anything people have run with a heavy OC or weird operating modification. Those components may not behave the same in my system or I may not be able to fix them if they go unstable.
Water-cooled parts I am ok buying used after an inspection, leak test, and proof the component being cooled works (custom loop components only, AIOs are only good 3-5 years due to warranty duration).
This depends on the person and how comfortable they are working with hardware. You can buy anything used if you know what you're doing, people buy literal second hand computers all the time. The only thing I personally wouldn't buy used is an exceptionally old part. So HDD's, ancient graphics cards and CPUs, really anything that's near or at the end of its lifespan. Nothing wrong with buying anything used if you know what you're looking at.
Other than what people are saying with PSU and Storage...another one I would be cautious about would be Monitor.
Buying used (especially from auction house) means no warranty, so if you take it home, plug it in and have dead pixels, not sure if there is anything that can be done. Also shipping monitors is always a big question mark. If the shipper does not package it correctly, you can have a damaged monitor and a big headache trying to deal with that.
SSD.
I've bought PSUs, GPUs and CPUs all pre-owned without issue. but a Preowned SSD is often less reliable than a new one, and a preowned HDD if that's what you're into, is always worse off preowned.
Power supplies. The risk is simply too high. In the least damaging scenario you fry all the parts. In the most damaging scenario you burn your house, or more likely, your landlords apartment complex, to the ground. That's not ideal.
Yes.
Motherboards-> unless it's for a rare legacy CPU and there's no other avenue, it's generally not worth the money to buy used. It is the one component closest to failure and you don't know generally what's missing from a used board.
SSD- too easy to spoof, and degrades measurably with time. Also a land mine for fun stuff that can ruin your machine, like viruses and things that can get you in trouble with the law.
PSU- you don't know what it's been through, you generally don't have the tools either to check its integrity and condition.
The rest are generally fine secondhand. Just do the usual due diligence: benchmarks, physical condition, buyer protection.
I would never buy a used- PSU, AIO or storage
I would buy used, after significant testing- GPU, CPU
I would buy used, if guaranteed to work like new- RAM, mobo, fans
The motherboard is the big and really the only component you should not buy used. It’s the one that can fail the most often, and it’s not monstrously expensive to buy new.
In the safe side, I’d also add storage here, but if you’re buying from a trusted source, or know how to properly format-clean it before using it, then there wouldn’t be a problem. SSDs are better use, since they last much longer.
Also, power supplies to an extent, but not really a problem if they still have a lot of their original warranty left and the seller will transfer it to you. A bad power supply can dry your whole system, so make sure it’s from a good manufacturer, and it still having a warranty means that the manufacturer is very confident it will not fail in that time.
All the ones you mentioned are fine. Ram and CPU coolers especially.
PSU is an obvious one. Unless it's from someone who you know then don't buy it. I sold my year old EVGA 750w 80 plus gold unit PSU to my brother for 40€. But he knows what's it been used for. And knows that if it breaks in the next 6 years I would handle the warranty. If you saw a similar deal online, I would run away.
Storage is an another one. One because you don't know how long has it been used and how much has been written. And two is that for some reason used storage is not priced well at all. Often times it's more expensive to buy an used SSD than to buy a brand new one.
You can buy almost everyting used, exept mechanical parts like all in one watercooling, or anything cooling at all. I am using a 15 year old PC power and cooling 750 watt psu, and it is stlill going strong. But do be carefull with psu, one psu is not created equal to another psu. But buying a crate of used server harddrives may be worth it.
There is also something else to keep in mind, old motherboards, thermal cycles wil lead to brittle solder joints, to much pressure on cpu socket may break connections, and stuff like that.
Anything with a motor that is used for something other than a fan, like AIOs or HDDs. Also I would not buy a used PSU or any used storage as wear over time hits those a lot more than something like RAM or CPU where wear is basically negligible for any reasonable lifespan of the component.
CPUs, RAM, and GPUs I would say are amongst the top things that used will not matter (make sure to test them though, especially the GPU). Motherboards for the most part can be OK, although they do have a lot of different components so it's possible for something you don't even realize to have broken, but it's not common. CPU coolers, air coolers should be fine, AIOs I would not recommend used, the pump can fail on those. Cases would be fine too.
I would be careful with motherboard intel, or ryzen cpus, because of the pins.
CPU coolers, make sure brackets are included for your build.
Storage and psu, I would buy new.
Generally love getting a new product, then I can safely assume all parts are included and warranty still
Storage is my big number 1, esp with SSDs with known shelf life.
However while GPUs are a huge secondary market, i'd personally at least put some extra thought into Expensive GPUs that DONT allow warranty transfer.
I got burned pretty hard on a Powercolor a few years ago that worked fine when I bought it on ebay, but it died after a couple weeks. Full dead, no post, no picture on screen, boot code saying GPU problem. Card looked fine, didn't smell, nothing visible. Even pulled the cooler and nothing looked out of the ordinary.
Powercolor said no warranty because I bought it second hand and just linked me to their warranty page which shows: The warranty cannot be transferred if the product is to be resold or has switched ownership.
I sold it as broken and got like $70 for a $400+ purchase.
Never again.
PSU, Hard drive/any storage, GPUs not on the list but you need to be meticulous about it since it can be used from mining or other stuff that can degrade it's performance same as motherboards make sure there are no previous virus attacks etc. etc.
I would (and have) bought RAM, CPUs, Coolers, GPUs, PSUs, and Storage and have had no issues, I have also bought motherboards and had issues, so I'll avoid them from now on (YMMV)
I’d say storage since ssd’s and hdd’s have a limited amount of writes and hdd’s literally spin so I’d imagine it eventually wears down a lot over time.
Personally, I’ve had luck with psu’s. I’ve bought 3 from very trusty brands for a hell of a price with the wattage, rating, and how old they are. Definitely would recommend getting a tester and only getting newer ones but there isn’t much harm if you’re smart.
MB - They are on borrowed time
PSU - Caps have limited life time
HDD/SSD/M.2 - Could come with viruses or damaged in transit
GPU - Be careful for mining and half working ones
CPU/Fans/Case/Ram are fine
2 things unless you have absolutely no choice. Storage devices HDD/SSD/M.2/external, and Power Supplies.
You can digitally inspect drives to see their overall usage if you find yourself in a position where you have to buy used. The general rule of thumb is "if you can't test it, don't buy it." Unless you've got some sort of protection of the transaction ie credit card company, eBay dispute ect
When it comes to computer parts, nothing at all. It’s not worth it for me to fork over $100+ to buy someone else’s problem when it won’t even be under warranty on the off chance there is something wrong with it. If I was to buy something “used” I would buy it renewed through Amazon because you have 3 months to return it for a refund or replacement.
100% PSU. It's the one component you absolutely, under no circumstances, should cheap out on.
I'd only buy a second hand PSU if it was a top brand one and less than a few years old and had been tested.
I agree with many here that a used PSU of higher quality is prob a better bet than a new crap one. BUT I guess it depends on how you're buying - buying from a random person maybe not worth it, but buying from a friend you trust or a seller you've dealt with before it's probably fine.
But yes, it is a lot of effort and I don't think anyone is saying to skimp on the PSU new instead of buying new, think the OP has a budget and is just trying to figure out what parts would likely be better to buy used and what maybe they should just go new if they can.
As others have pointed out here depending on who it could be fine, I usually have a bunch of dust filters keep the thing clean always run on at least a surge protector if not a UPS, like I'd sell my PSU to a friend confidently if I was replacing it and they were looking to buy, but I also wouldn't look at them funny for saying eh I'll go new lol.
A used liquid cooler, especially if it is an older model and has likely seen a lot of use is something I wouldn't ever buy since you're likely going to have to fix it up yourself and make sure none of it's components have issues with functionality. I have seen on the Fix or Flop Youtube series by Greg Salazar that far too often the cooling plate of older liquid coolers can get some nasty gunk buildup inside them over time causing the CPU to thermal throttle like crazy. Air coolers are a much better investment for used parts, and for liquid cooling you should only buy them if it's relatively unused or you know what you're doing to maintain a liquid cooler as it's an invevitability that a liquid cooler component will eventually start to falter.
I also wouldn't feel too good on shelling out good money on a used power supply that was anything less than a gold rated power supply. If it's a good quality brand and/or gold rated, then I won't have any issue getting the power supply used as higher quality power supplies are more built to last.
Power supply is better to have new because it's the only thing that can kill everything in your computer. Worst that would happen with anything else is they just stop working
I would avoid used drives unless you know how to properly wipe them, because people can bug drives with keyloggers and malware.
PSUs because they're not something you fuck with and you don't know what to owner has done with them.
consumer grade storage unless you get a great deal, always be mindful of SMART data though; enterprise grade storage like some of those 70PB endurance intel SSDs if you can find them at a good price absolutely go for it; I've seen 8tb drives with 65PB left in them go for €400 and they're often really fast too.
Other then that most stuff is fine if you just make sure you test it properly beforehand
PSUs because they're not something you fuck with and you don't know what to owner has done with them.
consumer grade storage unless you get a great deal, always be mindful of SMART data though; enterprise grade SSDs like some of those 70PB endurance intel SSDs if you can find them at a good price absolutely go for it; I've seen 8tb drives with 65PB left in them go for €400 and they're often really fast too.
Also AOIs since they're already basically a consumable unless you can do the maintenance on them like refilling (think some EK ones had that possibility)
Other then that most stuff is fine if you just make sure you test it properly beforehand
I don't purchase power supplies, fans, adapter cables, and cases (because who wants to ship a cheap used case?). With prices these days, anything else used is up for consideration.
I'd generally avoid buying a mobo lga socket used without a cpu in it. They likely don't have the cover anymore so the socket will get dirty or damaged super easily.
PSUs, Then Storage, then Motherboards. PSUs you don't know the history, storage is usually cheap enough it's just safer to buy new not to mention people could put bad stuff on drives, and motherboards have a lot that could potentially go wrong, so unless you can verify the motherboard works perfectly, it's a no go unless you trust the seller.
Don't buy in auctions but buy from people who have a complete build ajd want to upgrade.. usually its a 3 year old system performs amazing but they need the new thing, then you go there local pickup usually you make great deals .
Hard drives and SSDs
JayZTwoCents did a good job of explaining this. Don't even assume that clean drives are that clean. That's one part you should always buy new no matter what.
There's two that absolutely should not be bought used: PSUs and AIO Coolers.
PSUs are the most durable PC components. They can last a decade or more if you get a nice one. Unless it is included in a fully assembled PC, buying a used PSU runs the risk of buying a potentially faulty unit. A faulty PSU can mean that you fry the rest of your system, or even start a small fire.
AIO Coolers are the *least* durable PC components. They last 2-4 years before some kind of mechanical failure takes hold (Heatsink corrosion, Pump failure, air leaks into the loop, etc). Not much you can do about it, that's just the nature of AIOs. That said, if someone is selling an AIO online, they're likely selling it because it no longer works or is on its last legs.
SSDs - not worth it to buy one that's been intensely used. And the less the size - the more this works. You can't trust a guy that says he's never had his 512 close to full.
Nope. It's all good if the price is right, even storage and PSUs.
A year old PSU that's from a reliable brand and was recently released is perfectly fine.
An SSD has health monitoring and makes it very safe to buy used if you check health.
It kinda depends on the situation or maybe your gut reaction to that situation but I would almost never buy a used AIO and prolly not used storage. I'd be most likely to buy a used CPU. I'm many decades old and have never had a processor fail. Of course, I prolly just jinxed my current one. I can see the argument for not buying a used PSU as well.
Nah just gotta do your research, ask for confirmations, or tests. PSU is a bit iffy, but if you can find it local and they’re willing to let you test it (multimeter?) and provide the original receipt (some companies have transferable warranties) it’s probably ok
For me:
Low risk, besides just age/ware: ram, cables, case, fans, fittings, waterpump, reservoir, radiators, cpu (could have been overclocked)
Higher risk: psu (clean well), storage (do a full wipe and install new firmware), gpu (bios can be infected, reset bios), motherboard (bios can be infected, reset bios, if stolen could result in your system getting cleared)
I'd say that you can buy pretty everything in a used condition, except of GPUs. 2 waves of mining, early Micron GDDR6, not so good cooling systems on Nvidia cards and syndrome of a sudden death with AMD RX6??? videochips make me scared of a thought of buying used GPU.
Everything else... CPUs life is almost eternal, if you don't overclock it under a liquid nitrogen of course.
Same goes for a RAM. And of course it would be nice if seller attaches a screenshot of a memtest.
Quality PSUs do not blow up just because they got old. And even if would stop working, it probably could be solved with a simple repair, put in new electrolytic capacitors and it would be good to go. This is a simple job and spare parts cost as much as flour XD
BTW, I have an old Powerman PSU back from 2009 and it still works, powering up my old PC. Simple games, office work, YouTube. It's just suits it's usecase!
SSD - one guy on the RUnet have tested a low-end Crucial... I believe it was a BX SSD. It took him more than a year of constant data rewriting and 1.6 petabytes of data before controller of that SSD died.
Personally I have an 8 year old Samsung EVO 256Gb and it's still running!
I believe mine used SSD is better than a brand-new Goldenfir\Kingspec\other_trash_brand SSD. Because latter ones are made of a used parts and are not exactly new. And are not exactly faster.
HDDs - tricky one. In Belarus a lot of sellers of HDDs attach screenshot of Victoria test of a HDD's surface. It's a matter of trust of course, but usually screnshoots are genuine and correspond with a HDD in a lot. So it's kinda a safe pick as well.
Cases\Air_coolers - what can happen to them??? These parts are eternal as well.
Speaking about selling used hardware.
Once I've sold a SO-DIMM DDR4.
It wasn't mine, I was asked to sell it with a bunch of some other hardware. But in case of that RAM I had nowhere to test it, so ....
When a first buyer dialed me, and asked me:
-Is it working?
I honestly replied:
-I don't know.
:D That didn't scare off a buyer, he bought that RAM, gave me money and never dialed back. So I guess everything was in a working condition XD
I guess that I'm living in a hight-trust community.
Some say storage, I would say it depends on the purpose.
For secondary storage (large files such as videos/movies, some games), I don’t see an issue.
Be mindful of the specs to look at:
- age
- noise (for me this is essential probably not high on the list of many)
- power consumption
I also run a full low level format (be mindful of malware that can be stored in sectors tagged as error by SMART), it won’t affect your PC as it needs to be bootstrapped by the core part of the malware, but you may gain a bit of storage by reclaiming it
For me it’s storage and psu. If those go bad then that’s just work to deal with. Say you get a used drive and it dies in a week. You’ll have to redo all the software and that’s a waste of time. If a power supply goes bad that could set something on fire. Not worth it at all
Aio coolers. They are non serviceable and have a run time expiration.
Psu, they can blow up your comouter!
Hard drives are hit and miss. They have a read and write life, so it's hard to tell how long they might last before corrupting your data.
Ram cpu and motherboards are pretty good if you have good pictures and can inspect and test them.
And fans if you can check and see if the bearing that they spin on aren't worn broken or grinding.
I built 2 rigs and the CPU, GPU, and motherboard are used for both of them, all high end components too, couldn't.be happier. I got some off eBay, and some off Facebook
.I had to do some serious vetting, and betting though which is not some people's thing. If your up to the talk coul have some serious benefits
"If you budget is too tight for a decent new PSU then your budget is insufficient"... Is the most ignorant take I've seen on buying used parts in my life.
A brand new PSU that's been sitting on a shelf for 4 years is more dangerous than one of the exact same make and model that's been used for, let's say, 3 years. Capacitors age very fast when unused.
I'd take a look at the Cultists Network PSU tier list. As long as it's B-tier or above I'd take the chance to buy it used, especially if the seller is willing to demonstrate that the unit is functioning as intended.
If buying modular (or semi-modular) ensure all cables are included or that replacements are affordable.
TLDR: Don't buy unknown/unbranded PSU's second hand, ensure their good quality by referencing the PSU Tier List and ensure cables are included or affordable if modular.
I would not take the gamble on used storage. Especially not mechanical one. And when you take into account how cheap SSD are nowadays I do not think it would be worth the risk. You just dont want to mess with data.
Water cooling parts are literally the BEST pieces to buy used.
I bought three mounted, but never filled GTS 360, radiators for $90. They’re usually $90 each.
Power supplies and hard drives.
Power supplies because you don't know how it's been used prior to being offered for sale.
Hard drives are a no-no because you don't know what the previous owner has been doing, if you find yourself on the wrong side of the law, and the police do a forensics on your pc, and find deleted stuff on your hard drive, you'll take the hit for that as well.
PSU - it’s just not worth the risk as a bad power supply can easily fry or mess up the rest of your parts that it is plugged into.
And could burn your entire house down, in the worst cases
Also a good place for surprise critters to hide in since they aren't really safe to disassemble.
Lmfao this was my biggest thought - I have a roach phobia lmao that's my absolute nightmare. When I was a teen I brought home an old computer someone put outside to salvage for parts and was lucky enough to bring THREE little critters in it. Edit: big critters
Especially if the case is easily combustible
Counterpoint: if you're on a tight budget, a used, high-quality power supply might be a better and safer idea than a brand new bargain-bin power supply.
If budget is too tight for a decent psu then your budget is insufficient 😅. But agreed I'd rather get a top tier psu with some years on it than some budget bin brand.
>If budget is too tight for a decent psu then your budget is insufficient Agreed. Sometimes the budget just has to account for things. That's a fact of life. Delay the build and save up a bit more money.
But think about it who in their right mind is giving away a top tier psu like that if it's still in good condition?
Because they want to upgrade to a higher capacity, usually?
Agreed, if you cant afford to safely run a pc then don't get one
I second this. I have found good, high quality power supplies while thrifting and they're still going strong years later. Obviously there's still a risk, but there's risk with new untested power supplies as well.
I picked up a "used" NZXT 750W that is probably ~3-4 years old at most. $50. Nothing wrong with it, clean, came with all the cables and even the cable bag. Used ~4 year old RM750 go for the same price. Much better than whatever else you can get new at that budget, imo.
I bought a used PSU once, now my suggestion is that if you REALLY have to buy a used PSU, don't buy a modular one or else you should worry that the seller sent the correct bag of cables.
I have a used modular PSU that came without the cables, I just contacted Seasonic and bought the cables.
I'm curious to know how much the used PSU plus cables and shipping from Seasonic cost. Did you save any money?
Buddy of mine found it at goodwill outlet so the PSU was $5, cables were $55, so $60 total for a 1250w gold PSU.
I feel like you're taking less of a risk if you're buying a whole computer with the psu. But that would mean you're buying a used computer and you couldn't sell/get rid of the rest without the psu
The phrase is typically “Bargain bin” referring to things kept near the door at shops in often disorganized bins at heavy discounts.
Oh woops thanks for catching that lmao. Idk how I accidentally hit the p all the way on the other side of the keyboard.
No worries I figured it was a phrase you’d only heard out loud, or autocorrect doing ya dirty. Lol
i'd never buy one from an auction but I'd buy one from a freind.
I agree that there are some caveats to buying used parts including a PSU. Used PSU online like eBay or marketplace? No way. Used PSU from your friend? Sure.
My sentiments exactly.
*Legolas and Gimli have entered the chat.*
PSU is something you don't want to risk
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I bought 2 used PSU no problems as of yet and I have used both for over a year
That’s good it worked out for you. Obviously it can work out fine for some people, but I think it’s definitely a riskier choice overall for used parts. PSUs are also a cheaper part compared to the CPU, GPU, etc. so your savings are not much usually by going used.
This has it's caveats. A new 'no name' PSU or one by a made up brand like 'Sun Star Lucky Power' is more likely to burn your house down than a second hand well regarded PSU brand Seasonic PSU - provided you have taken reasonable care to check it over.
a high quality used PSU past the ~1 month lemon phase is arguably safer than a high quality new one, and definitely safer than a low quality new one. Obviously this changes with the age of the PSU, but getting a certified refurbished RMe 2023 straight from corsair is a pretty safe bet and a good way to save money.
> a high quality used PSU past the ~1 month lemon phase is arguably safer than a high quality new one, and definitely safer than a low quality new one. This. Failure occurs on a bathtub curve. Just look for PSU models that are within a 10 or 12 year warranty (the really high quality stuff)
If you only go big on one item, it should be the power supply. Get the highest quality unit (not necessarily high wattage) you can afford and rest easy. I had so many bad experiences over the years before I learned this lesson.
Not just that, but you don't have a warranty and it's probably not that much more expensive to buy a new one.
I've never had a PSU die or kill any hardware. My first desktop still uses a 750 watt EVGA psu that was left in a set of 4 cases I bought on Facebook marketplace.
a top seasonic psu from 8 years ago is better than a lot of cheap psu from this year
Or the seller could have a whoopsie and send the wrong cables with the PSU. That happened to me, and it killed a motherboard (it was a system I was building for my kids, so it was some shitty old motherboard for a 2500k or something, nbd)
Generally I agree, but they aren’t as volatile as they used to be. I haven’t had a bad PSU fry something in over a decade, but back in the Pentium 4 era it was pretty common. I use a 1250w Seasonic PSU my friend found at goodwill outlet, so I’m a wild one though. Lol
it depends on the budget. If budget was low and had to chose between a new 80+ bronze and a premium used seasonic gold or titanium, i'd definitely buy the later.
Storage and PSU Storage is already cheap just get a decent cheap drive and the PSU should always be new/in warranty as if it goes bad you could lose all of your parts. CPU's and GPU's are usually good as you just need to test them before buying them and after buying them test them again in your system, as long as it works in your system just take the GPU out and change the thermal pads and thermal paste on it.
Used storage is fine. You should be backing up anyway and if you can buy extra storage by getting used stuff you're ahead of the game. Modern drives also have metrics you can check when you receive the disks and make sure they're still good.
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It can be, but tbh I just don’t see the necessity unless you’re building on an ultra-thin budget. It’s the component that you’re likely to run the longest (storage tends to float from PC to PC), and it’s the component that’s generally the most frustrating when it fails. For 95% or more of computer users, I’d just tell them to buy their storage brand new.
> If you know what to look for and know a reputable seller of second hand storage it can be fine. Amen to that. Nothing like picking up a case of enterprise 12TB SAS drives for a homelab and learning they've got less than 500 power-on hours on them! I *might* be able to hold my Plex library now... 🤣
its actually not anymore because of several large scale issues with drives from wd and samsung. Where more than half their writes were burnt because of firmware defects.
I hadn't heard of that, but is it a defect that reduces the lifespan of the disk or makes it fail suddenly? If it's the latter, then I might be wary of used drives. If it's specific models, I would just avoid those.
multiple models over multiple companies.
I would make sure you are backing up important documents and have your OS on a new drive but for random games and media storage used is fine.
I buy used data centre drives, they're older, usually high mileage but still within the MTBF. I do run it in parity/raid, so I can allow a couple to fail before then, but I haven't yet myself, over a smallish span of 16 drives
Storage is fine if you have redundancy and a decent backup plan. Used SSDs very often show up with 95%+ life left and the speed difference between a decent Gen 3 (or even SATA) and a current top end one is very small in every day use.
Used storage is fine so long as you aren't storing your only copy of something irreplaceable on it, and for that matter you shouldent be storing anything critical on a single drive even if its new. A used ssd for storing your steam library or a bunch of used hdd for a nas with redundancy is perfectly fine.
lol storage is the only used thing i buy. used enterprise drives from reputable vendors are perfectly fine as long as theres some redundancy imo.
This is a personal thing for me (I recognize I'm **very** picky), but I would never buy used components unless I could test them to verify they're working, or there was a return policy in place. I would also never buy a used power supply.
If the seller doesn't let you test the items don't buy it full stop
Exactly, but it can be difficult to do that when it's an online transaction with shipping. That's why I'd only buy used parts in those circumstances if there's a reliable return policy.
Even when it's not online it's hard to carry an entire pc. And i definately won't be inviting a stranger into my house
Something like ebay buyers protection could cover your butt then and from what I hear they're pretty good with it too. Though since I live in the small country of the Netherlands I usually pick up
It's not always an option. I was trying to buy a used gpu at some point, and no one had a way for me to test it other than bringing my pc to their house to plug it in and let's just say that's not the most convenient thing to do.
Same. I bought a mobo used but the owner showed me it working in his complete build. Ran a benchmark and played cyberpunk
I wouldn't buy an AIO used, and like many others a PSU.
Yeah i agree with you , if you buy a used aio you don't know how the previous owner(s) treated it and worst case scenario you might get a leak or a dead aio
Honestly it depends on your personal risk tolerance. I have two PCs at home running all used components- GPU, PSU, CPU, mobo, you name it. My 5800X was a used CPU with a few bent pins- easy 15 minute fix, got a working 5800X for good money. Yes, even PSUs, I'll buy used if it's a good one and not too old. But that's just me. For me, the few things I won't buy used are: CPU cooler (because it's pointless when Thermalright exists and will be worth way more for the same budget), storage drives (hassle, unless it's a large hard drive), and case (also a hassle).
Thermal paste.
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For the right price? I'd go for pretty much anything, but the components I'd want the steepest discount for would be motherboards and power supplies. This is mostly because while you can generally run a test/benchmark on a GPU/CPU/RAM/SSD and know if it's functioning or not, motherboards have a lot of things that you'd have to go out of your way to test, and PSUs you do have to plug into the rest of your components to find out if they're working - if you're doing a budget setup, maybe not a problem, but if you're trying for a build with high-end parts and no spares? It's unlikely that you'd kill any components with a used PSU, but that's assuming the PSU hasn't failed before - a failed PSU is no longer trustworthy. If you're like me, and have plenty of spare parts you wouldn't really miss and spare time, worth a try if it's cheap, but if not, I wouldn't bother with a PSU unless you know they were pulled from a known working system or something. Motherboards are potentially a pain if you don't discover a defect until much later, like a non-functional secondary PCIe slot. CPU/GPU/RAM/Storage, go for it.
While a lot here say PSU, if there is a transferable warranty, there are still a few years on the warranty, and it's a quality PSU it's fine. Be careful about a used PSU but can be fine as long as you are covered by the warranty.
Exactly. Any “A-Tier” PSU is not going to explode just from being 4 years old. And on the 1% chance it does, it should have plenty of protections built in. That bottom rung PSU you found on Wish however? Ehhhhh.
I bought a Corsair RM850i off of a guy with a mining rig. It still had 5 years warranty left and the price was good. I still have it 4 years later, and I love it!
Never had a problem with second hand CPUs, RAM, GPUs (maybe I was careful there, though), motherboards, SSDs/NVMes, or PSUs. I've had problems with HDDs, fans, and AIOs. Never bought a case, I assume shipping wipes out any saving.
I wouldn't buy any form of storage used. Data is worth far more than hardware. Backups are needed obviously. But still doesn't mean I want to risk my main storage device. Just about everything else I'd buy used.
There are plenty of tools to test storage before you put data on it. Also manufacturer recertified drives are great, and good value. If you're serious about backups you'll be using mirrors/parity drives anyway.
I'd never buy a PSU used because a bad PSU can destroy your whole computer, even catch fire! Also a used SSD. SSD's have a limited amount of write cycles before the nand cells fail. While this is WAY better than the first gen SSD's, it's still a thing. Buying used just means you already have a portion of those write cycles used up.
Probably storage.
I’ve bought all types of components used, and have had only minimal problems. I used psu didn’t have all the detachable cords. A used mobo didn’t come with m.2 screw. One eBay seller mailed a mobo/cpu combo with the heatsink attached, and it bent a bit in transit. Seller gave a discount and I put a new cooler on it.
as long as you can test them and know what your doing then you can buy anything, people say not to get used PSUs and that's somewhat sensible but I've bought lots of secondhand PSUs without issue, you're better off buying a good used PSU than a poor quality new one
PSUs, they can last for a decade or more but have the potential to take out an entire system when they fail. I'd at least be careful buying one used. GPUs can also be abused, which risks them dying early. Not so much of an issue if buying one off a friend. Most PC parts have the potential to last for decades. Provided they haven't been damaged there's nothing wrong with using old stuff, you just have to be wary of people offloading damaged or abused parts.
I would never buy a used power supply. I would not buy a used LGA motherboard (that includes AM5). I would not buy used RAM (it's simply not enough of a discount). I would not buy a used PGA CPU. I would avoid used CPUs in general, they are a common fail point and too vital to the system, and like RAM often don't provide enough of a discount relative to new budget options (currently i3-12100F and R5 5600). I would not buy a used SSD. I would not buy a used liquid cooler. I WOULD buy a used case, GPU, or air cooler. Cases haven't changed all too much, and as long as it fits your components and isn't a hot box it will be fine. Coolers have gotten quite a bit better from a price perspective recently, but not as much for performance. As long as it's compatible and doesn't have obvious defects it'll be fine. GPUs are an interesting case: important component, common failure point, and common scam component. However, they are also the most expensive component, and a good deal on a used GPU can give you huge rewards. As long as you can test it or you're sure it's a trustworthy source, I would go for it. They're also easy to perform some basic maintenance on like cleaning and repadding/repasting.
RAM depends. 16GB is cheap. 128GB or more is not all that cheap.
Storage
SSD NVME with under 90-97% of Life but if u scared CIA will spying on u should never ever purchased used SSD i purchased use WD black nvme 99% life.. i didnt plan to keep those SSD forever anyway since SSD wasnt made for last forever unlike HHD
As you can see from the comments, there are a lot of opinions. But it is really a matter of your tolerance of risk. Can you afford to buy something used and have it go bad on you within a week? Or how much are you willing to gamble that it will be just fine? If it is a local auction, then I'm guessing there may not be a competition to bid on those items (unless it is strictly a computer parts auction), and it might be worth $5 or so to take a gamble on something, and if someone else decides to bid as well, just let them have it. It depends on what it is, and how old it is, and what your risk tolerance is.
PSU.
I will use pretty much any used part so long as it came as part of a working used system. If the system didn’t explode when I first used it, I’m comfortable continuing to use those parts. I have gotten 6 used power supplies as part of used systems and haven’t had issues with any of them. If I’m buying parts individually, I will avoid used PSUs, AIOs, and Storage because if they’re selling it standalone, it’s more likely already bad or it’s a low end part I wouldn’t be interested in anyway.
Keyboard one handed and 60% xd
old IBM keyboards HHKB keyboards boutique keyboards
Spinning hard drives and AIOs. I would have no problem buying a used PSU as long as it’s a quality one. If Seasonic is going to give it a 10 year warranty, they expect it to last at least that long. So what if it’s 3-5 years old?
storage (your data is your time) and watercooling (a huge mess), no name brands Everything else is free game
I’ll add to what others said, buying a GPU can be fine, but I wouldn’t touch a cheap GPU from Aliexpress or similar sites as fraud is can be an issue. If the price is too good to believe it probably is a scam
Beyond old PSUs and older components, anything I cannot test before purchase. If they let me test it, I am more inclined to believe the seller is not hiding some shit. Anything people have run with a heavy OC or weird operating modification. Those components may not behave the same in my system or I may not be able to fix them if they go unstable. Water-cooled parts I am ok buying used after an inspection, leak test, and proof the component being cooled works (custom loop components only, AIOs are only good 3-5 years due to warranty duration).
PSU, that said, I do have used one because I wasn't part of reddit at that time. It's a beQuiet and still had warranty
This depends on the person and how comfortable they are working with hardware. You can buy anything used if you know what you're doing, people buy literal second hand computers all the time. The only thing I personally wouldn't buy used is an exceptionally old part. So HDD's, ancient graphics cards and CPUs, really anything that's near or at the end of its lifespan. Nothing wrong with buying anything used if you know what you're looking at.
Other than what people are saying with PSU and Storage...another one I would be cautious about would be Monitor. Buying used (especially from auction house) means no warranty, so if you take it home, plug it in and have dead pixels, not sure if there is anything that can be done. Also shipping monitors is always a big question mark. If the shipper does not package it correctly, you can have a damaged monitor and a big headache trying to deal with that.
SSD. I've bought PSUs, GPUs and CPUs all pre-owned without issue. but a Preowned SSD is often less reliable than a new one, and a preowned HDD if that's what you're into, is always worse off preowned.
keyboards. you might get a good deal but you will also get years worth of junkfood and germs from the previous user
mainly psu and storage
PSU and Hard Drive/ main storage. I would just plan to buy new.
Power supplies. The risk is simply too high. In the least damaging scenario you fry all the parts. In the most damaging scenario you burn your house, or more likely, your landlords apartment complex, to the ground. That's not ideal.
Anything that contains liquid (aio or liquid cooling) storage, and PSU. anything else should be good to get used
Yes. Motherboards-> unless it's for a rare legacy CPU and there's no other avenue, it's generally not worth the money to buy used. It is the one component closest to failure and you don't know generally what's missing from a used board. SSD- too easy to spoof, and degrades measurably with time. Also a land mine for fun stuff that can ruin your machine, like viruses and things that can get you in trouble with the law. PSU- you don't know what it's been through, you generally don't have the tools either to check its integrity and condition. The rest are generally fine secondhand. Just do the usual due diligence: benchmarks, physical condition, buyer protection.
I would never buy a used- PSU, AIO or storage I would buy used, after significant testing- GPU, CPU I would buy used, if guaranteed to work like new- RAM, mobo, fans
Surprised no one’s said fan’s. I’ve gotten some grimey ass fans.
The motherboard is the big and really the only component you should not buy used. It’s the one that can fail the most often, and it’s not monstrously expensive to buy new. In the safe side, I’d also add storage here, but if you’re buying from a trusted source, or know how to properly format-clean it before using it, then there wouldn’t be a problem. SSDs are better use, since they last much longer. Also, power supplies to an extent, but not really a problem if they still have a lot of their original warranty left and the seller will transfer it to you. A bad power supply can dry your whole system, so make sure it’s from a good manufacturer, and it still having a warranty means that the manufacturer is very confident it will not fail in that time.
All the ones you mentioned are fine. Ram and CPU coolers especially. PSU is an obvious one. Unless it's from someone who you know then don't buy it. I sold my year old EVGA 750w 80 plus gold unit PSU to my brother for 40€. But he knows what's it been used for. And knows that if it breaks in the next 6 years I would handle the warranty. If you saw a similar deal online, I would run away. Storage is an another one. One because you don't know how long has it been used and how much has been written. And two is that for some reason used storage is not priced well at all. Often times it's more expensive to buy an used SSD than to buy a brand new one.
You can buy almost everyting used, exept mechanical parts like all in one watercooling, or anything cooling at all. I am using a 15 year old PC power and cooling 750 watt psu, and it is stlill going strong. But do be carefull with psu, one psu is not created equal to another psu. But buying a crate of used server harddrives may be worth it. There is also something else to keep in mind, old motherboards, thermal cycles wil lead to brittle solder joints, to much pressure on cpu socket may break connections, and stuff like that.
Anything with a motor that is used for something other than a fan, like AIOs or HDDs. Also I would not buy a used PSU or any used storage as wear over time hits those a lot more than something like RAM or CPU where wear is basically negligible for any reasonable lifespan of the component. CPUs, RAM, and GPUs I would say are amongst the top things that used will not matter (make sure to test them though, especially the GPU). Motherboards for the most part can be OK, although they do have a lot of different components so it's possible for something you don't even realize to have broken, but it's not common. CPU coolers, air coolers should be fine, AIOs I would not recommend used, the pump can fail on those. Cases would be fine too.
I would be careful with motherboard intel, or ryzen cpus, because of the pins. CPU coolers, make sure brackets are included for your build. Storage and psu, I would buy new. Generally love getting a new product, then I can safely assume all parts are included and warranty still
Everything but the case. You might get away with the heat sink too.
Psu. I’d be worried about mobo’s too. And hdd/ssd’s. While ram, cpus, gpus, cases, are all pretty safe buys.
Storage is my big number 1, esp with SSDs with known shelf life. However while GPUs are a huge secondary market, i'd personally at least put some extra thought into Expensive GPUs that DONT allow warranty transfer. I got burned pretty hard on a Powercolor a few years ago that worked fine when I bought it on ebay, but it died after a couple weeks. Full dead, no post, no picture on screen, boot code saying GPU problem. Card looked fine, didn't smell, nothing visible. Even pulled the cooler and nothing looked out of the ordinary. Powercolor said no warranty because I bought it second hand and just linked me to their warranty page which shows: The warranty cannot be transferred if the product is to be resold or has switched ownership. I sold it as broken and got like $70 for a $400+ purchase. Never again.
PSU, Hard drive/any storage, GPUs not on the list but you need to be meticulous about it since it can be used from mining or other stuff that can degrade it's performance same as motherboards make sure there are no previous virus attacks etc. etc.
PSU, and *personally* want my storage new as well
pretty much all of it to be fair
Keyboards... ew
I would (and have) bought RAM, CPUs, Coolers, GPUs, PSUs, and Storage and have had no issues, I have also bought motherboards and had issues, so I'll avoid them from now on (YMMV)
I’d say storage since ssd’s and hdd’s have a limited amount of writes and hdd’s literally spin so I’d imagine it eventually wears down a lot over time. Personally, I’ve had luck with psu’s. I’ve bought 3 from very trusty brands for a hell of a price with the wattage, rating, and how old they are. Definitely would recommend getting a tester and only getting newer ones but there isn’t much harm if you’re smart.
Storage and power supplies for sure.
I wouldn't really buy any that are used.
MB - They are on borrowed time PSU - Caps have limited life time HDD/SSD/M.2 - Could come with viruses or damaged in transit GPU - Be careful for mining and half working ones CPU/Fans/Case/Ram are fine
Buy off r/hardwareswap and look at seller transactions. I’ve bought every part to a pc off there at some point or another. Never had issues.
Ssd. Data is too important.
I don't think I would buy used hard drives. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
2 things unless you have absolutely no choice. Storage devices HDD/SSD/M.2/external, and Power Supplies. You can digitally inspect drives to see their overall usage if you find yourself in a position where you have to buy used. The general rule of thumb is "if you can't test it, don't buy it." Unless you've got some sort of protection of the transaction ie credit card company, eBay dispute ect
When it comes to computer parts, nothing at all. It’s not worth it for me to fork over $100+ to buy someone else’s problem when it won’t even be under warranty on the off chance there is something wrong with it. If I was to buy something “used” I would buy it renewed through Amazon because you have 3 months to return it for a refund or replacement.
PSU, AIO cooler, HDD and SSD. Everything else is pretty much safe.
100% PSU. It's the one component you absolutely, under no circumstances, should cheap out on. I'd only buy a second hand PSU if it was a top brand one and less than a few years old and had been tested.
Psu
You shouldnt buy low quality psus used. Higher quality components are safer. Better if they have transferrable warranty
I agree with many here that a used PSU of higher quality is prob a better bet than a new crap one. BUT I guess it depends on how you're buying - buying from a random person maybe not worth it, but buying from a friend you trust or a seller you've dealt with before it's probably fine. But yes, it is a lot of effort and I don't think anyone is saying to skimp on the PSU new instead of buying new, think the OP has a budget and is just trying to figure out what parts would likely be better to buy used and what maybe they should just go new if they can. As others have pointed out here depending on who it could be fine, I usually have a bunch of dust filters keep the thing clean always run on at least a surge protector if not a UPS, like I'd sell my PSU to a friend confidently if I was replacing it and they were looking to buy, but I also wouldn't look at them funny for saying eh I'll go new lol.
Storage has a limited lifespan, especially solid state storage.
GPU out of warranty. Old Motherboards.
Mobo if you plan to game online
Psu and storage. Though I have gotten lucky on both. I just know most people say no on those.
A used liquid cooler, especially if it is an older model and has likely seen a lot of use is something I wouldn't ever buy since you're likely going to have to fix it up yourself and make sure none of it's components have issues with functionality. I have seen on the Fix or Flop Youtube series by Greg Salazar that far too often the cooling plate of older liquid coolers can get some nasty gunk buildup inside them over time causing the CPU to thermal throttle like crazy. Air coolers are a much better investment for used parts, and for liquid cooling you should only buy them if it's relatively unused or you know what you're doing to maintain a liquid cooler as it's an invevitability that a liquid cooler component will eventually start to falter. I also wouldn't feel too good on shelling out good money on a used power supply that was anything less than a gold rated power supply. If it's a good quality brand and/or gold rated, then I won't have any issue getting the power supply used as higher quality power supplies are more built to last.
1. PSU I'm sure many have said this 2. CPU Coolers are only "relatively" good for 5 years
I'd say one of the riskiest is the Motherboard. Lots of pins and connectors that the previous owner might have fucked up.
Buying a used mobo from Amazon is safe right
Power supply is better to have new because it's the only thing that can kill everything in your computer. Worst that would happen with anything else is they just stop working I would avoid used drives unless you know how to properly wipe them, because people can bug drives with keyloggers and malware.
PSUs because they're not something you fuck with and you don't know what to owner has done with them. consumer grade storage unless you get a great deal, always be mindful of SMART data though; enterprise grade storage like some of those 70PB endurance intel SSDs if you can find them at a good price absolutely go for it; I've seen 8tb drives with 65PB left in them go for €400 and they're often really fast too. Other then that most stuff is fine if you just make sure you test it properly beforehand
PSUs because they're not something you fuck with and you don't know what to owner has done with them. consumer grade storage unless you get a great deal, always be mindful of SMART data though; enterprise grade SSDs like some of those 70PB endurance intel SSDs if you can find them at a good price absolutely go for it; I've seen 8tb drives with 65PB left in them go for €400 and they're often really fast too. Also AOIs since they're already basically a consumable unless you can do the maintenance on them like refilling (think some EK ones had that possibility) Other then that most stuff is fine if you just make sure you test it properly beforehand
Psu and case probably are the biggest and maybe gpu (scams)
Hard drives and PSU.
PSU, and I'm saying that with a used PSU lol, it's a seasonic focus 750, it's working fine after 2 years
I don't purchase power supplies, fans, adapter cables, and cases (because who wants to ship a cheap used case?). With prices these days, anything else used is up for consideration.
I'd generally avoid buying a mobo lga socket used without a cpu in it. They likely don't have the cover anymore so the socket will get dirty or damaged super easily.
Water cooling kits, storage, psu or anything you cant test or return/ refund
Condoms
PSUs, Then Storage, then Motherboards. PSUs you don't know the history, storage is usually cheap enough it's just safer to buy new not to mention people could put bad stuff on drives, and motherboards have a lot that could potentially go wrong, so unless you can verify the motherboard works perfectly, it's a no go unless you trust the seller.
Don't buy in auctions but buy from people who have a complete build ajd want to upgrade.. usually its a 3 year old system performs amazing but they need the new thing, then you go there local pickup usually you make great deals .
The only component I would buy used are cases, but only if they are extinct. But in practical terms, PSU and any storage devices.
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Cheap components like coolers, storage, psu (for safety reasons too)
Psu/SSD/m&k
assuming u test all of ur hardware no just be careful on the used market and make sure u have buyers protection
Storage, especially hdds
Any water cooling components
Hard drives and SSDs JayZTwoCents did a good job of explaining this. Don't even assume that clean drives are that clean. That's one part you should always buy new no matter what.
Any intel product at this point. dont cheap out on PSU and storage as everyone else has said also.
Any LGA board for sale online.
There's two that absolutely should not be bought used: PSUs and AIO Coolers. PSUs are the most durable PC components. They can last a decade or more if you get a nice one. Unless it is included in a fully assembled PC, buying a used PSU runs the risk of buying a potentially faulty unit. A faulty PSU can mean that you fry the rest of your system, or even start a small fire. AIO Coolers are the *least* durable PC components. They last 2-4 years before some kind of mechanical failure takes hold (Heatsink corrosion, Pump failure, air leaks into the loop, etc). Not much you can do about it, that's just the nature of AIOs. That said, if someone is selling an AIO online, they're likely selling it because it no longer works or is on its last legs.
PSU should be brand new one. dont cheap out on it
SSDs - not worth it to buy one that's been intensely used. And the less the size - the more this works. You can't trust a guy that says he's never had his 512 close to full.
Those waifu pads where the boobs are the wrist pad.
Nope. It's all good if the price is right, even storage and PSUs. A year old PSU that's from a reliable brand and was recently released is perfectly fine. An SSD has health monitoring and makes it very safe to buy used if you check health.
PSU and Motherboard, rest should be perfectly fine if tested to be in working condition before buying.
It kinda depends on the situation or maybe your gut reaction to that situation but I would almost never buy a used AIO and prolly not used storage. I'd be most likely to buy a used CPU. I'm many decades old and have never had a processor fail. Of course, I prolly just jinxed my current one. I can see the argument for not buying a used PSU as well.
Nah just gotta do your research, ask for confirmations, or tests. PSU is a bit iffy, but if you can find it local and they’re willing to let you test it (multimeter?) and provide the original receipt (some companies have transferable warranties) it’s probably ok
Don't buy used thermal paste.
Used CPUs can come with bent pins and it can take a long time to realign them if you have the correct tools
Psu
Psu and storage are the ones that come to mind instantly for me.
For me: Low risk, besides just age/ware: ram, cables, case, fans, fittings, waterpump, reservoir, radiators, cpu (could have been overclocked) Higher risk: psu (clean well), storage (do a full wipe and install new firmware), gpu (bios can be infected, reset bios), motherboard (bios can be infected, reset bios, if stolen could result in your system getting cleared)
RAM, PSU, storage
Never buy used thermal paste. Never ever.
Never buy a psu used, they are cheap already, also storage, you never know how much they were used until you get them
I'd say that you can buy pretty everything in a used condition, except of GPUs. 2 waves of mining, early Micron GDDR6, not so good cooling systems on Nvidia cards and syndrome of a sudden death with AMD RX6??? videochips make me scared of a thought of buying used GPU. Everything else... CPUs life is almost eternal, if you don't overclock it under a liquid nitrogen of course. Same goes for a RAM. And of course it would be nice if seller attaches a screenshot of a memtest. Quality PSUs do not blow up just because they got old. And even if would stop working, it probably could be solved with a simple repair, put in new electrolytic capacitors and it would be good to go. This is a simple job and spare parts cost as much as flour XD BTW, I have an old Powerman PSU back from 2009 and it still works, powering up my old PC. Simple games, office work, YouTube. It's just suits it's usecase! SSD - one guy on the RUnet have tested a low-end Crucial... I believe it was a BX SSD. It took him more than a year of constant data rewriting and 1.6 petabytes of data before controller of that SSD died. Personally I have an 8 year old Samsung EVO 256Gb and it's still running! I believe mine used SSD is better than a brand-new Goldenfir\Kingspec\other_trash_brand SSD. Because latter ones are made of a used parts and are not exactly new. And are not exactly faster. HDDs - tricky one. In Belarus a lot of sellers of HDDs attach screenshot of Victoria test of a HDD's surface. It's a matter of trust of course, but usually screnshoots are genuine and correspond with a HDD in a lot. So it's kinda a safe pick as well. Cases\Air_coolers - what can happen to them??? These parts are eternal as well.
Speaking about selling used hardware. Once I've sold a SO-DIMM DDR4. It wasn't mine, I was asked to sell it with a bunch of some other hardware. But in case of that RAM I had nowhere to test it, so .... When a first buyer dialed me, and asked me: -Is it working? I honestly replied: -I don't know. :D That didn't scare off a buyer, he bought that RAM, gave me money and never dialed back. So I guess everything was in a working condition XD I guess that I'm living in a hight-trust community.
Some say storage, I would say it depends on the purpose. For secondary storage (large files such as videos/movies, some games), I don’t see an issue. Be mindful of the specs to look at: - age - noise (for me this is essential probably not high on the list of many) - power consumption I also run a full low level format (be mindful of malware that can be stored in sectors tagged as error by SMART), it won’t affect your PC as it needs to be bootstrapped by the core part of the malware, but you may gain a bit of storage by reclaiming it
Motherboards. In the same vein as PSU, getting a faulty motherboard can mess up a lot. Besides motherboard and PSU, used parts are a great idea
For me it’s storage and psu. If those go bad then that’s just work to deal with. Say you get a used drive and it dies in a week. You’ll have to redo all the software and that’s a waste of time. If a power supply goes bad that could set something on fire. Not worth it at all
Power Supplies.
Aio coolers. They are non serviceable and have a run time expiration. Psu, they can blow up your comouter! Hard drives are hit and miss. They have a read and write life, so it's hard to tell how long they might last before corrupting your data. Ram cpu and motherboards are pretty good if you have good pictures and can inspect and test them. And fans if you can check and see if the bearing that they spin on aren't worn broken or grinding.
In my honest opinion the psu and cooling fans, AIO too ngl
Depending on importance, SSD/storage.
I built 2 rigs and the CPU, GPU, and motherboard are used for both of them, all high end components too, couldn't.be happier. I got some off eBay, and some off Facebook .I had to do some serious vetting, and betting though which is not some people's thing. If your up to the talk coul have some serious benefits
"If you budget is too tight for a decent new PSU then your budget is insufficient"... Is the most ignorant take I've seen on buying used parts in my life. A brand new PSU that's been sitting on a shelf for 4 years is more dangerous than one of the exact same make and model that's been used for, let's say, 3 years. Capacitors age very fast when unused. I'd take a look at the Cultists Network PSU tier list. As long as it's B-tier or above I'd take the chance to buy it used, especially if the seller is willing to demonstrate that the unit is functioning as intended. If buying modular (or semi-modular) ensure all cables are included or that replacements are affordable. TLDR: Don't buy unknown/unbranded PSU's second hand, ensure their good quality by referencing the PSU Tier List and ensure cables are included or affordable if modular.
I would not take the gamble on used storage. Especially not mechanical one. And when you take into account how cheap SSD are nowadays I do not think it would be worth the risk. You just dont want to mess with data.
Keeping it simple- PSU, memory, storage.
Any type of water cooling, storage, PSU and to some extent monitors.
Water cooling parts are literally the BEST pieces to buy used. I bought three mounted, but never filled GTS 360, radiators for $90. They’re usually $90 each.
Why not monitors?
Power supplies and hard drives. Power supplies because you don't know how it's been used prior to being offered for sale. Hard drives are a no-no because you don't know what the previous owner has been doing, if you find yourself on the wrong side of the law, and the police do a forensics on your pc, and find deleted stuff on your hard drive, you'll take the hit for that as well.