If on a tight budget - do you buy new or used pc parts?

[Guest]

And for the sake of the poll - there is one rule: This is your first pc, so if it breaks you have no backup

[Zayzo]

Depends who you're buying from and your luck tbh

[PetiteBob]

TBH I always buy used parts unless you are guaranteed that they are in good work order

[ybriK]

I never buy used parts to save myself some headaches and long hours of troubleshooting.

[comicsansms]

Used doesn't mean no warranty or no support.

Chances are you can call the manufacturer for trouble shooting

And the part may only be a couple months old the so the initial warranty may still be there.

[TomvanWijnen]

On my first pc I bought a used GPU, and a used CPU+MOBO+cpucooler. Went fine. I would actually always suggest buying used, even if you have a high budget (My pc ended up costing ±930 euros).

[SImoHayha]

And for the sake of the poll - there is one rule: This is your first pc, so if it breaks you have no backup

Depends on budget .

[SkixAces]

I wouldnt buy a gpu online. Here in the netherlands we have this site called marktplaats.nl

It's kinda like ebay but a bit different. I would say 7/10 of the gpu's that are on there, admit that it has been used for bitcoin mining. 

If you see; It has been used for mining, DONT buy the gpu!

[Gale]

I'm a little paranoid about buying used online.

[david cassar]

Depends on budget, for low end I would much rather get used components in order to get more performance. For a high end build then new parts are the way to go.

[Bsmith]

I would wait and save some more, increasing your budget and maybe lowering the cost of parts.

[othertomperson]

For the budget you're talking about, used. I would only buy a 750 or a 260X tier product if I had concerns about the power supply. Otherwise you could buy a 780 or a 290 for the same budget.

 

I thought Scrapyard Wars highlighted this really nicely, why buying used beats buying extreme low end. The PCs they built for $300 were epic.

[Mew]

Buy retail stuff on sale.

[Prysin]

meh, buying used electronics is as safe as trying to pet a rattlesnake.

ill rather buy a slightly worse setup then originally planned, then upgrade later. Then buy used that maybe will work/will not be fried

[REDHOTIRON2004]

There are certain things to remember if you want to buy used product:

1. Used CPU is the safest thing to buy. For Other things like GPU, PSU, MOTHERBOARD you have to be careful as they are more prone to fail.

2. Always, try to get used products that are in warranty or atleast with a proper testing warranty from the seller. Don't forget to ask for invoice. Also, read the warranty specifics for a particular product from its website itself.

3. Be wary of sellers that ship the products on buyers risk. Remember, you can do nothing if the seller did bad packaging and the product gets broken in transit. Ask for before and after photographs of the product. Also, ask the seller to do a transit insurance to be on the safer side.

4. Out of all the computer components the PSU are actually more difficult to diagnose for problems as they go down gradually over years. So, avoid any PSU without warranty. Also, while SSD, and other solid state drives are safer. Mechanical drives or hardisk both internal and external are more prone to fail during transit. So avoid mechanical drives as well.

5. Always get the shipping cost to your place before entering in any transaction. Bulky products like cabinets might seem attractive but once the shipping cost are added they become pricey.

6. Always ask for the included accessories like the back plate of motherboard, original screws, stock cooler etc. These things are often left unmentioned. But, are quite important for the proper installation or functioning of the components.

7. Ask for high resolution price, do a visual inspection. Never deposit the entire amount all at once until you are 100% sure about the seller.

8. And last but not the least. Ask the seller to wrap the product in a lot of bubble wrap or thermocol according to the nature of the product before sending that through courier.

Just follow these points and you can easily order good quality used products at good price.