is buying a second hand mono wise?

[martinoheat]

*mobo

In my last thread I talked about how my P8Z77-V failed on me, so now I have £120 to buy a replacement. Z77 boards seem to be thin on the ground now, so unless I downgrade and lose features, I'll have to buy second hand to be able to replace my P8Z77-V with another P8Z77-V.

My question is this:
Is it sensible to buy second hand? What things should I look out for? How can I stress-test the used board if/when I buy it, to ensure it won't break a few weeks/months down the road?

 

[mickyflinn]

There are still new boards out there and a few on overclockers i would not go second hand unless there were no boards available.

What features do you need on a motherboard ?

 

[Ploppy2k3]

I have to agree, I'm not a fan of 2nd hand mobo's. Unles they a a guaranteed "B" grade I wouldnt buy one.

maybe its just me but the single most important ocmponent in your build should be bullet proof. if you start to get issues down the line you neeed the confidence that the board is good.

 

[MeatLoaf]

Nothing wrong with buying a secondhand board, but id be picky where I got it from.

I wouldn't buy one from ebay, but I would get one off members market with no issue.

OcUK have a few Z77 boards in clearance. Im sure they got a new one too for under £50.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-401-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

Unless you need SLI then I don't see the need to pay a lot more

 

[martinoheat]

There are still new boards out there and a few on overclockers i would not go second hand unless there were no boards available.

What features do you need on a motherboard ?

I don't have that many requests - I like the Asus AI suite, so Asus would be preferred, however I don't mind a different manufacturer if it's decent.
- WiFi isn't a must, but it's preferred. As is built-in Bluetooth.

- The motherboard must support crossfire though, and have decent clearance between the two X16 slots - at least 3 slots in between (I want to be able to use Accelero Xtreme coolers on both cards, and they are BIG!

- My CPU is a 3570K. I definitely want to be able to overclock (I guess that limits me to Z77 chipset?)

- also, I'd like a black PCB rather than blue.

I'll add any other features I'd like, if/when I think of them.


To be fair, I don't really require that many features, but I just hate the idea of giving up my P8Z77-V for a lesser board, even if I don't use all it has to offer

 

[martinoheat]

I have to agree, I'm not a fan of 2nd hand mobo's. Unles they a a guaranteed "B" grade I wouldnt buy one.

maybe its just me but the single most important ocmponent in your build should be bullet proof. if you start to get issues down the line you neeed the confidence that the board is good.

Are certain brands known for being more reliable than others? - i would've thought Asus is a good make?

I'm with you though - if you can't trust the motherboard to be ok, then troubleshooting becomes a LOT more time consuming.

 

[spoffle]

I have to agree, I'm not a fan of 2nd hand mobo's. Unles they a a guaranteed "B" grade I wouldnt buy one.

maybe its just me but the single most important ocmponent in your build should be bullet proof. if you start to get issues down the line you neeed the confidence that the board is good.

The CPU, motherboard, RAM and PSU are equally as important, as your PC isn't going to be doing much with any of them missing.

There's nothing wrong with buying second hand, there isn't really extra confidence that it'll be better as your brand new motherboard could be DOA, whereas the likelihood of a second hand one being DOA is less due to the previous owner having used it for a while. Boards that come out of factories are QC checked, and that's it. What buying brand new is, is a safety net for if something goes wrong with the board, you are guaranteed a replacement.

 

[Akagi]

I have bought plenty of used motherboards in the past, none have been faulty. You just have to be careful who you buy from, check the seller has good feedback and pick one with plenty of good pictures and a well written advert.

I must have bought 15 or 20 used motherboards in the past. The one in my sig rig was from eBay and it has been good for over a year.

 

[martinoheat]

I have bought plenty of used motherboards in the past, none have been faulty. You just have to be careful who you buy from, check the seller has good feedback and pick one with plenty of good pictures and a well written advert.

I must have bought 15 or 20 used motherboards in the past. The one in my sig rig was from eBay and it has been good for over a year.

Considering that I'm in this situation of needing a replacement motherboard (because the old one died), I think I'd only be comfortable with buying new....

I'm starting to think a cheap one will suffice.... ASROCK ones look smart in black, what is the general opinion of their boards? Something like this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-064-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

Considering that I'm not a heavy overclocker, most boards would probably do me, I guess a cheap, subtly styled board should suffice..... No?

 

[trentlad]

nm

 

[martinoheat]

Didn't get many recommendations, so I went and bought an Asrock OC Formula, after reading good reviews on Anandtech.

Hopefully I'll be happy with it (and it'll fit in my case! - its slightly wider than ATX size)

 

[DJ_Bucho]

I bought a 2nd hand board from a well know auction site, it turned out that memory slots A2 and B2 wouldn't read the memory. I contacted the original seller and he got in contact with the company he purchased the board from and get a replacement sent out to me, and I then returned the none working board.
I'd definitely buy a 2nd hand board again, as I saved 1/3 on the new price and in the end I got a brand new board anyway win win