Thoughts on buying used hardware

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1

Curious what you all think about buying used hardware - mainly speaking about GPUs. What do you look for and how do you minimize the risk? 

 

Been thinking about selling my 7950 and getting an R9-290. I've seen some really good deals on some BNIB and LNIB 290's (reference and aftermarket cooled) and it's really tempting. Especially considering the upgrade may only cost $150 or so. The question is; is it worth the risk? I hear quite a few people on tech forums talking about great deals they got on used GPUs, so I'm thinking why not?

 

Bought my 7950 back in September of last year for only $169 (NCIX warehouse sale), which was an awesome deal (retail was $329 for the windforce at that time). And yeah it's still a great performing GPU, but there are some games I'd like a little more performance out of. 40fps is starting to feel a little sluggish/choppy compared to a consistent 60+. I think the end cost difference justifies the upgrade for me in that regard.

 

So yeah, what do you think about buying used GPUs? 

 

Edit: Only considering local purchase and pickup - no ebay etc. So no worries about shipping issues.

2

There is a risk the card was hammered mining bitcoins/litecoins. Who knows what condition it might be in.

3

You will want to look the card over as make sure it's free of dust and look at the screw heads make sure it has not been taken apart. The R 920 is a fairly new card and it may have been used for bit coins. And if that's the case then the card has had a stress full life and that's not good.

4

If you are buying gpu's on ebay/used ask them if they have already registered them. If not, its as good as new. If not RMA and get new one for free.