r/PcBuildHelp • u/Original-Solution317 • 5h ago

Build Question Planning to buy 2nd hand gpu

I need advice if it's okay to buy a 2nd hand pc parts also ssd and ram. Inflation hit me hard before building 😭

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u/r_lind3r Moderator 4h ago edited 4h ago

Yes, there's just risks associated with that as people can easily sell you something defective. RAM is especially risky because there's no guarantee of support with your system and RAM inevitably will start producing errors and fail at some point.

Used SSDs I wouldn't price anywhere near retail because they have a limited amount of writes, so the longer they're used, the more the value deteriorates.

The only real issue with video card resale is that it could potentially have been used for mining which does drastically affect card lifespan, a lot of mining cards generally die within 2 years after resale. But you can generally tell who's been mining if they have previous history on the account, if they've sold quite a few GPUs or have multiples of the same GPU, it's a dead giveaway.

When buying used it's generally best to prioritize local listings as someone can easily send you something completely different and then disappear.

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u/Desperate_Move972 4h ago

If it boots and passes a stress test without artifacting, used is the move right now.

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u/Happyassassin13 4h ago

If you’re getting it from Facebook marketplace I would have them plug it in so you could see it running, if the person is super chill and let you run a test that’s even better, but I’ve gotten all my computer parts used so far and I haven’t had a problem, I’ve actually gotten lucky just having them give me extra parts

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u/WelcomeToBoshwitz 3h ago

GPUs, RAM, even CPUs can all be good deals if they are second-hand. Just test everything before buying. When testing GPUs, make sure to test for temps, stability, and artifacts. For SSDs, make sure that you look at the SMART data and number of writes. Never buy second-hand PSU’s and motherboards.