Is Buying a Used PC a Good Move?

The world sometimes enters a crisis and we cannot really find the things that we want at a decent price. Take graphics cards at the moment. They are impossible to purchase unless you want to pay double or triple over the MSRP. That is ridiculous and nobody should be paying that much money for a graphics card.

That leaves us with the used PC market. Are used PCs a good bargain? Should one be considering them? Here is how to approach purchasing used PCs.

Anything With Value is Good

If a used PC is at least 60% of the price that you would pay for a new one, then it is a good deal, unless the components are old and outdated and they would serve no real purpose other than creating heat at the expense of electricity.A used PC can save you a lot of money and the steps of assembling a PC from parts that might arrive at once or each one at its own time. Value also depends on whether you plan on using the said PC or if you plan on selling it afterwards. Using the PC is a great way to get even more value out of it.

The Condition of the Parts

It really depends on the users and their use cases. If a PC was used as a mining rig, then the components will have been worked hard, and depending on the miner, that might mean anywhere from 90% to 110%. 

If someone ran their components overclocked most of the time, then the said components could be damaged. A damaged component, like a processor, could damage and corrupt your data silently, over time. You don’t want that, which is why you should consider what the PC and its parts were used for. 

In the end, it is up to whether you trust a person to tell you the truth. You cannot really check the components for degradation and whether they were run too hot. You can check whether there was regular maintenance, dust cleaning and thermal paste changing.

There Will Always be Expenses

Unless there is a catastrophic failure which will render your used PC useless, used parts are a great bargain, especially complete PCs. Components will be changed, upgraded and they will eventually die or be put out of use due to age. Given that there is always maintenance to be done. There will be expenses so always have some money on standby if you don’t trust that your new used PC will survive long enough. Well, even completely new components stop working, for example, RAM sticks, mere months after being put to use.

Purchasing a PC on the used market is typically a good deal, if you have an idea of what the prices should be and what the components are. If you trust the seller and the PC is in good condition, then it is a perfect idea. But, one should always be on the side of caution and prepare to replace a component.