How do you feel about buying second hand components?

~>Dg<~ · 15 Dec 2017 at 11:28

im always buying bits and pieces 2nd hand. what i do is work out if its worth buying 2nd hand vs the warranty. for eg if i can get a 1tb hd with 2/3 years on why would i buy a 1tb hard drive 2nd hand for £10 less. so do that with most parts unless its a very small budget pc.

warranty is mainly the reason to buy new.

Saffy · 15 Dec 2017 at 17:54

~>Dg<~ said:
im always buying bits and pieces 2nd hand. what i do is work out if its worth buying 2nd hand vs the warranty. for eg if i can get a 1tb hd with 2/3 years on why would i buy a 1tb hard drive 2nd hand for £10 less. so do that with most parts unless its a very small budget pc.

warranty is mainly the reason to buy new.

I bought a 1TB HDD (manufactured in April 2017) for £23 from ebay which had 2.5 years warranty on it. I've registered the item for warranty and all is well.

~>Dg<~ · 15 Dec 2017 at 18:14

yeah it is nice when it works out.i just brought a brand new one with 3 years on from ocuk with 3 years on for £38.thats the thing you have to way up what its worth.is it worth the hassle or peice of mind for on some items a small difference.

TallPaul1878 · 15 Dec 2017 at 18:41

It depends what I'm buying. I bought my Oculus Rift 2nd hand because I wasn't sure about dropping £400 at the time on something that I might not get much use out of.

I paid a little over half of that for the Rift and got a headset in great condition that I enjoy using. I'd have probably paid full price and been happy but I felt it was a risk worth taking.

Generally I'd only buy second hand if it meant I was able to get something that I just couldn't afford brand new.

The problem with PC components is that you're probably getting something that is out dated and a brand new part is likely going to match the performance AND the price.

Take a GTX 980Ti compared with a GTX 1070. They're very close in performance and I'm not sure of the pricing right now but I'd guess there's not much in it. Not enough for me anyway to go second hand when I can have new.

It all depends on the individual product, the age and the pricing.

Armadillo · 15 Dec 2017 at 18:47

Fine with it, as long as the saving is good enough. Bought my 290 used, served me well for 2 years and is still going in another machine. Price has to be right though, not buying used for only a small amount less than new.

TheSkateyBird · 15 Dec 2017 at 19:46

No problem here, currently running a B-Grade 7950 I bought from OCUK around 2 and a bit years ago, still serving me well. GFs PC made from 90% second hand parts with no issues either. I do love taking shrink wrap and protective stickers off new products too though :3 Don't think I'd buy a 2nd hand PSU though.

memyselfandi · 16 Dec 2017 at 07:21

Had a few issues buying second hand memory but that was sorted out in the end (in my favour actually) but other than that I've mostly had entire second hand systems rather than individual components. In fact looking around me now there is the Mac Mini I'm typing this on, a Deff SFF i5 PC running Ubuntu and a HP Gen8 Microserver all of which were second hand when I bought them.

Baggi0 · 16 Dec 2017 at 11:10

I've had no problem buying second hand (touch wood)

Recently I have bought a GTX 1070, some Ram and a SSD and saved quite a bit doing so.

Got the 1070 for £265 a couple of months ago so I was pleased with that

Like others said if the savings there I'll go second hand. GPU wise I think I'll always go secondhand because you can £100+ off the retail price most of the time.

byVinq · 19 Dec 2017 at 18:54

Just bought myself a used 980Ti, works great

tamzzy · 19 Dec 2017 at 19:01

except for psu, case and hdd, my computer is 2nd hand =x

Little*Freak · 19 Dec 2017 at 19:14

As a rule, i don't buy second hand power supplies. Why risk blowing a motherboard or system?

B Grade motherboards from OcUK have all been good, so far anyway.

Everything else is up for grabs, depending on price ofc.

pooley · 19 Dec 2017 at 20:05

most of my pc set up is second hand lol

dholdi · 19 Dec 2017 at 21:31

I've posted more frequently of late with the 2nd hand market in mind

ahar · 19 Dec 2017 at 22:14

I don't usually buy second hand because I upgrade infrequently and when I do I generally go for the latest version just out.

As an example I upgraded my graphics card to a rx480 just after they came out. Can't even remember what it was before that! Wouldn't buy second hand hard drives, but anything other than that would be fine.

d_brennen · 19 Dec 2017 at 22:21

In the past yes, a lot. Don't upgrade nearly as much these days though, and use a laptop more than my workstation so generally buy new now. Having more disposable cash also helps I guess

Gimpymoo · 20 Dec 2017 at 08:27

Only from the MM

If seller has receipts, even better as even if stuff does go wrong, you can claim under the extended manufacturers warranty where applicable.

As already pointed out though, the saving has to be relative to the potential for failure, not the fault of the seller, more that components are more liable to break down the older they are.

stefk005 · 21 Dec 2017 at 16:09

Bought quite a few parts off the bay over the years, and no problems yet, touch wood. My 3-year old 3570k came used off the bay after I killed the previous one trying to delid

that one too came off the bay used, and both have been perfect, running at 4.4 or so.

Saffy · 21 Dec 2017 at 16:20

stefk005 said:
after I killed the previous one trying to delid

Have you tried de-lidding this one?

stefk005 · 21 Dec 2017 at 16:25

Saffy said:
Have you tried de-lidding this one?

No, I very much didn't

Thank you for asking though

Saffy · 21 Dec 2017 at 16:30

stefk005 said:
No, I very much didn't

Thank you for asking though

My pleasure!