Building Vs. Prebuilt Vs. Used??

[TootTootFinn]

Budget (including currency): 2000-3500

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming and some content creation

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

I have been looking to get a gaming pc with high end parts. What I was originally looking at was something from Puget or Digital Storm or the like of prebuilt PC. The price for parts from them is still robbery but at least the parts are available to me. I would love to build my first PC but I'm a little bit nervous about building my first one with high end parts especially at the price they're at right now. BUT, if i was able to get the parts I for a reasonable price I would love to try it on my own and I'm confident that I'll be able to complete a build on my own especially with internet resources. 

 

The reason I'm making this post is because there is a used PC being sold locally near me for around 2000 dollars US. The specs are as follows: 

GPU: Geforce RTX EVGA 3080 (supposedly with warranty from microcenter)

MB: ASUS ROG Strix Z390-H

CPU: Intel i7-9700k

RAM: 16GB GSKILLZ DDR4 3200

Case: Asus ROG Helios

Storage: Crucial 512GB and Samsung 256GB 

Cooling: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L

RGB: 4x Cooler Master MF 120R ARGB and ROG Aura Terminal

Power: EVGA 850 G3 - 80 plus Gold

 

 

I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks about buying a used PC at this price point and what you think about buying used PC in general. Personally I would like something with more processing speed although I know the one that comes with it is good enough for what I'm looking for. The main reason I want to buy the high end parts for a PC is because I dont want to have to spend a bunch on upgrades in the future as content gets more demanding. However, I do realize that I'm new to this and going completely overkill might not get me the life span of what I'm looking for. Basically I'm looking to spend the money now so I can have a PC that isn't being challenged by any of the content that I consume or create now and for the foreseeable future.

 

The new prebuilt PC's that I have been looking at from Puget/Maingear/DigitaliStorm etc. would have more processing power, more RAM and more SSD storage/HDD storage. But for new parts I would be paying close to double the price with those specs than this used PC. I would love the "Boutique" look to my PC but honestly with the prices right now I'm really not sure that I want to spend 4-5k for the performance AND the look of hardline liquid cooling and RGB/Boutique case. I would much rather save that money or use it for something that will benefit me more. 

 

Would love to hear what some people think about this. 

 

[Bombastinator]

36 minutes ago, TootTootFinn said:

Budget (including currency): 2000-3500

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming and some content creation

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

I have been looking to get a gaming pc with high end parts. What I was originally looking at was something from Puget or Digital Storm or the like of prebuilt PC. The price for parts from them is still robbery but at least the parts are available to me. I would love to build my first PC but I'm a little bit nervous about building my first one with high end parts especially at the price they're at right now. BUT, if i was able to get the parts I for a reasonable price I would love to try it on my own and I'm confident that I'll be able to complete a build on my own especially with internet resources. 

 

The reason I'm making this post is because there is a used PC being sold locally near me for around 2000 dollars US. The specs are as follows: 

GPU: Geforce RTX EVGA 3080 (supposedly with warranty from microcenter)

MB: ASUS ROG Strix Z390-H

CPU: Intel i7-9700k

RAM: 16GB GSKILLZ DDR4 3200

Case: Asus ROG Helios

Storage: Crucial 512GB and Samsung 256GB 

Cooling: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L

RGB: 4x Cooler Master MF 120R ARGB and ROG Aura Terminal

Power: EVGA 850 G3 - 80 plus Gold

 

 

I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks about buying a used PC at this price point and what you think about buying used PC in general. Personally I would like something with more processing speed although I know the one that comes with it is good enough for what I'm looking for. The main reason I want to buy the high end parts for a PC is because I dont want to have to spend a bunch on upgrades in the future as content gets more demanding. However, I do realize that I'm new to this and going completely overkill might not get me the life span of what I'm looking for. Basically I'm looking to spend the money now so I can have a PC that isn't being challenged by any of the content that I consume or create now and for the foreseeable future.

 

The new prebuilt PC's that I have been looking at from Puget/Maingear/DigitaliStorm etc. would have more processing power, more RAM and more SSD storage/HDD storage. But for new parts I would be paying close to double the price with those specs than this used PC. I would love the "Boutique" look to my PC but honestly with the prices right now I'm really not sure that I want to spend 4-5k for the performance AND the look of hardline liquid cooling and RGB/Boutique case. I would much rather save that money or use it for something that will benefit me more. 

 

Would love to hear what some people think about this. 

 

The availability of GPUs pushed a lot of home builders first into the used market, then into prebuilts simply because the GPUs could be had there.  It was starting to get better, then stopped.  Prebuilts can have some weirdly low quality components.  Motherboards, PSUs, and memory are traditional.  They have an advantage though in that they’re generally configured to at least usability.   No such guarantees with the other two. 

[TootTootFinn]

38 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The availability of GPUs pushed a lot of home builders first into the used market, then into prebuilts simply because the GPUs could be had there.  It was starting to get better, then stopped.  Prebuilts can have some weirdly low quality components.  Motherboards, PSUs, and memory are traditional.  They have an advantage though in that they’re generally configured to at least usability.   No such guarantees with the other two. 

What would your recommendations be for knowing I'm getting a quality used part? GPU especially? Thanks for the reply

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, TootTootFinn said:

What would your recommendations be for knowing I'm getting a quality used part? GPU especially? Thanks for the reply

Spoiler

If it works it works..  if it’s not possible to remove the cooler the only thing that can be checked is if the fans spin freely. Coil whine isn’t something that anything can be done about reliably but it also doesn’t affect function. Becomes a question of how much does it annoy you?  If the cooler can be removed one can look for bowing in the caps but with no cooler removal (pretty normal) that’s all that can be checked. 

It does make sense to run the card before buying it and check the video of a game to make sure there’s no artifacting, and to check the heat profile to make sure it’s not getting abnormally hot. but that’s about what can be done usually.  Asking to take the cooler off a card can be a bit extreme as putting one back on again is a production, and having to do it a dozen times for each potential buyer can get crazy.  Standard questions like is the seller the origional owner (flipping cards is a thing these days) was it a mining card, has it ever been overclocked are questions that can be asked.

 

If it was a mining card it’s not a no-go, necessarily. fan wear can be an issue. Video cards in mining rigs generally aren’t run hard (unless they are.  It’s generally inefficient to do that because of electricity costs though) but they are often run 24/7 for a long time so the fan motors may have a lot of hours on them. Fans are replacable.
 

A very old card that has never been repaired could have hardened paste but that will show up as a heat issue, as will a dying gpu.  No way to check caps except by pulling the shroud and looking at them.  An artifacting card or one with heat issues is a quick “nope”. Though. 
 

with just about everything else it’s model.  PSUs can also have age issues though.  PSUs age. They’ve also gotten better over time so an old PSU is potentially more problematic than a newer one even if it’s of better quality. PSUs don’t sell well used.  Other parts can though.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Bombastinator