Buying new vs Second Hand

[Flex]

This is one of those topics where everyone will have their own opinion from personal experiences. So please bare that in mind when responding.

This actually applies to all electronic appliances in general, but since this is a gaming forum, we will look at the pros and cons of buying second hand vs new Computer hardware and consoles. Especially since Computer part depreciate day by day.

Personally I believe that there are 2 categories of buying second hand hardware.

Firstly buying hardware that is still under warranty from the supplier or the manufacturer. This provides the buyer with some protection and guarantee that the product he is buying won't just give in and never work again.

Secondly buying older hardware that have expired warranties. Now this is where it gets risky for the buyer. When buying hardware like this it is always a good idea to buy them from a known source or avoid these products.
Sites like OLX and Gumtree are festering grounds for people taking chances and selling their faulty hardware that look fine. For example. The GPU would run fine under no load, but as soon as it heats up it causes the pc to restart.

If you do decide to buy second hand and you are part of a closed community with reputable people (example. Carbonite) then you can get very good deals from honest people. BUT it is still a risk you are taking. Make sure to physically see the product, how it works and the specs. If you are not able to do this, suck up your pride and take someone with that knows more.

BUYING SECOND HAND
PROS
Cheaper than buying new
Can get hardware that is not stocked anymore or rare

CONS
A risk that product is faulty


On the other hand buying new has much fewer pains involved.
You are buying it from a supplier or store which can not just up and disappear ( Well in South Africa you never know ).
So you have the usual 3 year warranty and reassured if something goes wrong, they can either repair or replace it.
You will however be paying much more for that extra piece of mind knowing that your paws are the first on that piece of hardware.

BUYING NEW
PROS
Full Warranty
Knowing you are the first to use it

CONS
Stock could be a problem and delay your purchase
Price will be much higher

I have personally bought lots of second hand and new parts. And have not had a days pain with either in my current setup.

​

 

[Gforced]

If the second hand goods are stock and not been overlocked and not mechanical like hard drives, then their life spans are pretty good most of the time.

 

[AstroTurf]

When it comes to gaming specifically and back when I was a purist a pc gamer I would only buy new.
Everything had to be perfect, not a speck of dust or the impure touch of another installer.
I was OCD about it, to the point where I once insisted that they give me a new card because while the guy was talking about it he opened the box in front of me.

With marriage and children my responsibilities and priorities changed drastically, my interests also evolved then branched out to other more satisfying (and expensive) hobbies. My work involves a diverse amount of hardware, computers not being the least of it so I still get my fill of shiny and new hardware and gadgets most of you have never seen, let alone touched or played with.

Gaming inevitably took a back seat for a while.





Now the reboot.

I no longer spend days on end playing games, even if I wanted to I simply do not have the time and as it is entertainment, I am willing to spend the amount of money on gaming as the amount of time I can spend on gaming, there are of course all the other factors of life that limit the amount I can spend (sick children, accidents, surprise expenses and my other hobbies needing attention or additions).






So after quite a bit of research, testing out systems and lists of pros and cons between pc, xbox, wii and ps I ended up buying a 2n'd hand ps3 slim 12gb for a grand total of R2000 from Cash Crusaders.
I could have got a much cheaper system elsewhere but I went to CC for the warranty on a 2n'd hand item.
I also already had a 2.5" 500gb hard drive lying around.

I could have bought a PS4 but between my rural internet connection and the price per game for new games I decided against it quite quickly.

So for a total spent to date of around R3600-R4000 I have a ps3 with around 25 games I had never played before, 2 controllers, a ps eye and 2 move controllers (I did mention having children before?).

It's a perfect toy for me, I don't mind if my kids play with it due to price, I don't particularly care if it breaks (most repairs seem pretty easy to DIY and there are many guys around that can fix the things I can not) and unlike the ps4 the games just get cheaper and cheaper.







PC gaming.

I end up with plenty dead hardware from helping my local community. I don't charge them (one of those aforementioned hobbies) and about half the time they give me their leftovers.

Current "gaming" pc (more of an all rounder).
Newest game I have tried on it was the Tomb Raider Reboot.

GPU:
I took all the plastic bits and fans off an old Nvidia I got from someone that would reset the pc on boot, after every boot.
I stuck it in the oven (lots of instructions on the web, I used a type k thermometer with 2 probes to get oven temperature exactly right), took it out, put it back together and it worked. He told me I could keep it.

Motherboard+cpu (core 2 duo 3.2)+ram (6gb) came together. Did an upgrade for a friend after his motherboard died, he gave me the leftovers.

Replaced 2x capacitors on the board and good to go.

Hard drive was one of mine before upgrading my media pc from 1tb drives to 3tb drives.

When i put it together it was around 9pm and I did not have a working power supply so I dug around the garage and built one with all the required connectors out of 3 broken ones. Also had to take a cap off one of the others.

Case:
Years ago I built my dad a pc for his office. He upgraded and gave it to my brother, it died and he gave it to me. He killed himself so now I use the case as a remembrance type thing (keep your shiny led's, my case has real personal to the bone history).

Keyboard and mouse, given to me.


Monitor is the only thing I bought.

My wife plays sims 3 and 4. I play Dungeon keeper and a few other oldies on it. Other than that my wife uses it to draw and design and I use it for working from home.

 

[Flex]

If the second hand goods are stock and not been overlocked and not mechanical like hard drives, then their life spans are pretty good most of the time.

Also very important! But difficult to see though

 

[Solitude]

My pc is secondhand. So is my screen. And my XBox One.

Actually my pc was a freaken bargain. I've got a 980 Ti and all kinds of top of the range hardware. Just because I spotted a bargain at Carbonite.

My screen was also a bargain and also bought from there.

The biggest worry when buying secondhand is that you would get conned. So you have to be very careful. Do your homework.

 

[mottamort]

My pc is secondhand. So is my screen. And my XBox One.

Actually my pc was a freaken bargain. I've got a 980 Ti and all kinds of top of the range hardware. Just because I spotted a bargain at Carbonite.

My screen was also a bargain and also bought from there.

The biggest worry when buying secondhand is that you would get conned. So you have to be very careful. Do your homework.

I'm fortunate that a BIG chunk of my gear (at one point: Monitor, keyboard,case, psu,hdd,mobo,cpu) came from carbonite, and more importantly, from a really trustworthy guy who lives in my town. So I've been VERY lucky with that. As it stands, for the past few years the only upgrades ive needed to do are adding an SSD, and upgrading gfx card. the i7 3770k and mobo i got for R2500 total and the case/psu/monitor are all going strong

 

[AstroTurf]

My pc is secondhand. So is my screen. And my XBox One.

Actually my pc was a freaken bargain. I've got a 980 Ti and all kinds of top of the range hardware. Just because I spotted a bargain at Carbonite.

My screen was also a bargain and also bought from there.

The biggest worry when buying secondhand is that you would get conned. So you have to be very careful. Do your homework.

Other big killer for new is the R/$, both for hardware and games.