Safely Buying Used Hardware - pre-owned == pre-pwned?

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

This is a weird confluence of this and this.

Servers often have some gas in the tank when enterprises are dumping them, but there's always the risk of getting stuff you didn't pay for. Granted, not an apples-to-apples example- just an illustration.

I know some/most of this can be sidestepped by pre-treating and cleaning any hardware, but I'm curious of how other people are safely purchasing pre-owned hardware.
Just eBay and don't be a newfag?

Overkill example:
Was going to add an article about an OEM (Lenovo, I believe) that was shipping blades with hardware keyloggers the size of grains of rice, but couldn't find it.

 

[COME ON OUT YOU RAPIST]

Used computer parts are never worth it, especially in the age of crypto-mining which puts huge strain on the hardware and is likely what anything was "used" for.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

Used computer parts are never worth it, especially in the age of crypto-mining which puts huge strain on the hardware and is likely what anything was "used" for.

That's definitely happening, but to say mining accounts for all available hardware is an oversimplification. There are plenty of enterprises that just always want the newest LGA for the newest CPUs or they want the newest DIMMs which are keyed differently or whatever else.


Didn't add this in the original post, but not looking at GPUs here. I agree with you wholeheartedly on that side of the market. Fuck a used GPU.

 

[COME ON OUT YOU RAPIST]

That's definitely happening, but to say mining accounts for all available hardware is an oversimplification. There are plenty of enterprises that just always want the newest LGA for the newest CPUs or they want the newest DIMMs which are keyed differently or whatever else.

I'll also tell you that, with no scientific proof whatsoever, I believe any hardware is going to acclimate to your system's physical environment. The longer your RAM stick or SSD is running and warping over time to 'fit' the PSU of a very specific system, the more likely an infinitesimal difference (such as putting it into another computer, despite being compatible) will cause the whole piece of hardware to break. I've seen it a million times anecdotally.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

I'll also tell you that, with no scientific proof whatsoever, I believe any hardware is going to acclimate to your system's physical environment. The longer your RAM stick or SSD is running and warping over time to 'fit' the PSU of a very specific system, the more likely an infinitesimal difference (such as putting it into another computer, despite being compatible) will cause the whole piece of hardware to break. I've seen it a million times anecdotally.

Definitely can't debate the effects of thermal cycling, but there is a sweet spot of well-founded technofetishist enterprise that has a hard on for always having the newest possible hardware and maybe some forward planning for the lifecycle of that DIMM key or CPU socket.
I've heard of very large enterprise just hucking a relatively fresh build because sending a technician onto the floor to replace some shit is more expensive than just hotswapping the whole blade.

RAM is replaceable
CPUs are replaceable
Storage is replaceable

More curious about whether people know of good marketplaces that help them not self-own

 

[Forklift Certified]

Used computer parts are never worth it, especially in the age of crypto-mining which puts huge strain on the hardware and is likely what anything was "used" for.

I always get the flak from my uncle when i buying tech shits "HEHUHEHUHEHU why you buying it full price when you get it from used market for the fraction of the original price ? Are you a morooooon ?" Yeah dipshit but there is a small thing called WARRANTY...

but I'm curious of how other people are safely purchasing pre-owned hardware.

Anyway for used market i usually using my stock market rule as well which is "Spend exactly that amount you willing to lose on it" If the equipment crucial for you yeah buy it new if not then fuck around whit your money on the used market as much as you willing to find out. There is no safety on it, market either of stock or used is not a booster seat to reach the belt.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

I always get the flak from my uncle when i buying tech shits "HEHUHEHUHEHU why you buying it full price when you get it from used market for the fraction of the original price ? Are you a morooooon ?" Yeah dipshit but there is a small thing called WARRANTY...


Anyway for used market i usually using my stock market rule as well which is "Spend exactly that amount you willing to lose on it" If the equipment crucial for you yeah buy it new if not then fuck around whit your money on the used market as much as you willing to find out. There is no safety on it, market either of stock or used is not a booster seat to reach the belt.

Buyer beware is a thing- can't fight that and that rule is a fair guardrail.

The secondhand market isn't nothing but horror stories. I'm pretty sure at least one of the servers kf is hosted on is used. That decision was probably made with some sort of due diligence. Curious on how and where people go for that.
If it's eBay, it's eBay.

 

[COME ON OUT YOU RAPIST]

thermal cycling

That's the term, thank you.

 

[PunkinMan]

What are your thoughts on refurbished stuff then, sometimes it can be used but the seller doesn't disclose it has been refurbished so sometimes you end up with shit that's even worse than just used, I could just be stupid considering I know Jack shit when it comes to this though.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

Once upon a time Overclock.net was a safe place to buy used hardware but they got rid of the minimum rep requirement to post listings and it all went to shit. It's a gamble everywhere nowadays.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

What are your thoughts on refurbished stuff then, sometimes it can be used but the seller doesn't disclose it has been refurbished so sometimes you end up with shit that's even worse than just used, I could just be stupid considering I know Jack shit when it comes to this though.

Refurb typically carries some semblance of warranty and usually rests somewhere between secondhand (not refurb) and new in terms of price.
I don't hate the idea, but I honestly haven't poked aroused much for servers in this space. Most of the time when I see refurb it's for single components instead of a turnkey machine.

It's not a horrible idea if you can get an idea of what the refurb process entails. I think some of the larger OEMs will reflow PCBs and shit as part of the refurb, which is nice.
Not a bad idea.

 

[libRT]

I ebayed a poweredge r810 and 4 cpus for it, has scratches on it but not had any major faults. Though now it just sits there mostly unused. TBH it depends on the hardware, I'd definitely be wary of SDD/HDDs and GPUs, also the higher end CPUs and RAM that gets overclocked/volted. I don't think I've been burned buying used, but I'm not pretending its a perfect market.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

I ebayed a poweredge r810 and 4 cpus for it, has scratches on it but not had any major faults. Though now it just sits there mostly unused. TBH it depends on the hardware, I'd definitely be wary of SDD/HDDs and GPUs, also the higher end CPUs and RAM that gets overclocked/volted. I don't think I've been burned buying used, but I'm not pretending its a perfect market.

Yeah. I think I'm asking for something that doesn't exist unless you know the seller. It's the "2015 Porsche with 3000 miles owned by a grandma who drove to church" schizo-optimistic shit that's unknowable by most prospective buyers.
Otherwise, there's no way to know if something has been ridden hard and put away wet short of the [re]seller doing some form of testing that you're willing to trust.

inb4

 

[PovertySprocket]

In my experience, the worst place to buy (used) computing stuff are online classified ads (FB Marketplace, Craigslist, Kijiji, ect...). Everyone there seems to be a broke retard trying to exploit the buyers lack of legal recourse.

 

[WULULULULU]

Refurb typically carries some semblance of warranty and usually rests somewhere between secondhand (not refurb) and new in terms of price.
I don't hate the idea, but I honestly haven't poked aroused much for servers in this space. Most of the time when I see refurb it's for single components instead of a turnkey machine.

It's not a horrible idea if you can get an idea of what the refurb process entails. I think some of the larger OEMs will reflow PCBs and shit as part of the refurb, which is nice.
Not a bad idea.

*stares at 2 refurbished 2080tis*

Now you have my attention.

 

[Rock hard as a Flintstone]

Used computer parts are never worth it, especially in the age of crypto-mining which puts huge strain on the hardware and is likely what anything was "used" for.

It's probably an outlier but I'm certain the RX580 that I've been using for almost 5 years was an ex-mining card and it hasn't given up yet.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

*stares at 2 refurbished 2080tis*

Now you have my attention.

Who does the refurb matters. I vaguely remember EVGA had a program like this, but I've been out of the GPU game for a minute.

It's probably an outlier but I'm certain the RX580 that I've been using for almost 5 years was an ex-mining card and it hasn't given up yet.

Anything is possible, I guess. I'm looking more at server/constant load stuff. I imagine some work has been done in the GPU space to make them (particularly mining and server-grade AI GPUs) more constant load-y.
Not to say GPUs more focused on servers didn't exist before.

 

[Dawdler]

There is a flood of cheap used hardware which will last a good while, but for daily and professional use I would never consider something used.
You get older parts for a spare rig or something you don't care about, like media pc. Same goes for every other component.
GPU's are completely insane and overpriced market. You never know what you'll get.
Monitors are always a gamble.
PSUs you never buy old because it will burn your entire rig and house down.
Memory and cpu last decently. MB's are so-so. Used ssd's, while I didn't have issues, I never used them as main drives and brought new for such purpose.

People forget that on some parts, even if they have warranty, it expires the moment it gets resold to a new person.

With that said, you can get entire servers for 100€, old dell cases which will go for another 10 years easily and so on for basically nothing.
It just depends on what you need.

It's probably an outlier but I'm certain the RX580 that I've been using for almost 5 years was an ex-mining card and it hasn't given up yet.

Mine was a mining card. Mined on it myself. Lasted for 8 additional years overclocked to the limit and then it died.
Was well worth the purchase.

 

[85CentSoda]

There's about to be so much e-waste and a flood of old-ish hardware on the market due to the end of Windows 10. So much perfectly good hardware is going to end up as e-waste simply because Microsoft says everybody has to have TPM 2.0. Great.

 

[Sultan Bin Jewstar]

There's about to be so much e-waste and a flood of old-ish hardware on the market due to the end of Windows 10. So much perfectly good hardware is going to end up as e-waste simply because Microsoft says everybody has to have TPM 2.0. Great.

Hadn't thought of this. It looks like server instances are exempt from the requirement, but we'll see how many people get herded into "windows number too small" mindset.