used motherboards good?

[oshu091]

in the future im planning to get an atx motherboard, are using used motherboards to save money a vile option?

[oshu091]

also, the motherboard will have an X chipset.

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, oshu091 said:

in the future im planning to get an atx motherboard, are using used motherboards to save money a vile option?

Motherboards and power supplies are the worst components to skimp out on.

 

Problem I have with used motherboards is that even a quality technician is unlikely to see/test every component on a motherboard properly, so doing proper QA on them in my opinion is difficult.

 

Unless you're testing every connection to its fullest on a motherboard, its not fully tested. That includes RAM slots, PCIe slots to full bandwidth and 75W power draw, etc.

 

At least with a new motherboard, there's a 1st party guarantee and warranty if something is defective.

[Zando_]

Fine in my experience. Only board I've had issues with is the one UPS tried to bend like a taco. Make sure you're buying one without visible damage, confirmed working, and that looks properly cared for, and you should have no issues barring shipping company shenanigans (which is a risk with any package ever, used or new). 

[tkitch]

it's a roll of the dice.

 

One thing to keep in mind:  Mobos are more likely to die than CPUs or most other components.  If it's a current gen chip, I'd buy the board new personally.

[BlackDragon1971]

2 hours ago, oshu091 said:

in the future im planning to get an atx motherboard, are using used motherboards to save money a vile option?

A viable option? ... Yes it can be.

It can be a toss up for quality of the boards getting them off eBay or such. I've found quality Refurbished or New Old Stock (NOS) from Newegg Market Sellers to have boards of better quality.

I've gotten my ASUS x99 Deluxe II through a Newegg Market Seller about 2 years ago now.. Though if you are going X series chipset for Intel, I recommend getting the X299 chipset based motherboards. X99 is getting a little long in the tooth and requires Fuckery to install Windows 11 Pro.

Though I run Windows 11 Pro well on my system with the TPM 2.0 module and Secure Boot enabled. It's a chore to bare metal install each major Feature Update like 22H2...

[Mister Woof]

bad motherboards are also one of the biggest pains in the ass to troubleshoot so 

[Echothedolpin]

I’ve bought used everything except for SSDs and power supplies since about 2004.

 

While I’ve had great luck with motherboards, I’ve found that socket damage is becoming more and more common. That’s just anecdotal, but it would be something to keep an eye on.

 

If your nervous but still want to save a few bucks, find a certified refurbished board that comes with a warranty. They’ll cost close to new,  but I’ve had lots of luck there.

[mtbboy1993]

If it's a decent price, and seller is trusted, and has tested if it works, then it's worth it, if it's an old pc and you can save the old pc with a new second hand motherboard that's not made, then it's the only option, unless you change CPU. Depends what you want to do and what you need, and what your options are. i rebuilt my old pc with a second hand motherboard. It was a slight upgrade. But old motherboard was bent, fan header was dead, also USB devices randomly disconnected. pc became super slow randomly. those are signs the mother board is dying.

Upgraded the ram to 16gb, as ddr3 was cheap and the ram worked well.

CPU was fast enough for most tasks so kept it, I guess I could have went for motherboard and CPU upgrade, but did the simple thing. Cooling was bad, so got a Noctua NH-U12S cooler. But upgrading everything would mean a new pc, so that would cost more. If the pc is really old, it might be worth buying a new pc. If the motherboard is broken swap that. but keep in mind if motherboard is dying, and you have an SSD too the SSD might be dying too.

The old pc has been rebuilt quite cheaply, and additional costs were upgrades I would have had in any pc anyway.

 

[TheOtherAndy]

8 hours ago, Echothedolpin said:

I’ve bought used everything except for SSDs and power supplies since about 2004.

 

While I’ve had great luck with motherboards, I’ve found that socket damage is becoming more and more common. That’s just anecdotal, but it would be something to keep an eye on.

 

If your nervous but still want to save a few bucks, find a certified refurbished board that comes with a warranty. They’ll cost close to new,  but I’ve had lots of luck there.

I suspect socket damage would be more of a thing for Intel boards, since AMD sockets are just a bunch of holes. Am I right on this?

 

I don't think I'd trust a used Intel board for that reason. Maybe an AMD board, but even then there's so much to go wrong with a motherboard.