Wisdom of buying a used motherboard?

A

arigo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2005
Messages
153
I am thinking about buying a 1156 mobo that has been used for 1.5 years. My problem being, the one hardware item that has failed on me again and again in the past is my motherboard, but I'm not sure if it was a bad power supply, bad luck or what.

Can I expect a 1.5 year old motherboard to last me a good 5 years more? Or are they prone to going back like I've experienced?
 
if the price is good, go for it. I personally haven't had a board die on me yet in my 15 years of building machines, but I did have to replace 3 motherboards for other people in the past couple of months.
 
eh, stuff is so cheap nowadays compared to a few years ago that i'd be less concerned with how long they last. but if you are having consistent failures with the same PSU then you might want to upgrade it. just make sure for any board you buy the seller guarantees no bent pins.
 
jiminator said:
eh, stuff is so cheap nowadays compared to a few years ago that i'd be less concerned with how long they last. but if you are having consistent failures with the same PSU then you might want to upgrade it. just make sure for any board you buy the seller guarantees no bent pins.
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Excellent advice. I'd take a good hard look @ that PSU. I buy almost nothing but used boards on eBay and have quite a bit of luck so far. Just ask questions, read carefully.

I buy AS-IS untested boards a lot for next to nothing. I just purchased a P5K for .99 and 10 shipping. It appears too be new and runs like a top. If your willing to take a gamble you can get some very good stuff for cheap like my 2 NFII Ultra B's in paid 9 bucks a piece for. I'd say roughly 85% of the hardware I purchase like that is in perfect working order.

I digress though. Your PSU is suspect and used hardware is fine as long as you do your research first.
 
You should also see if the board has any warranty left. It's been random with me and motherboards, I have an nforce 3 board that has been working for over 6 or 7 years now in a shuttle, but I have had a 775 motherboard that has failed within 3 months. What kind of motherboard are you looking to buy?
 
I buy (and sell) used motherboards all the time. I've probably had more new boards be DOA than used ones. That said, if I had more than one board go bad while using the same power supply, I would likely replace the power supply to be on the safe side. Always use quality power supplies.
 
Motherboard's are the one thing I always buy New. All the used one's I've bought all were CRAP. Even the one's bought from ppl with high heatware.
 
I have bought a couple used boards here on Hard Forum......Both were fair deals and both are still running.
Generally I buy new unless it is not availible or overly expensive(939),just use common sense and buy from reputable traders.
 
I'd buy from other [H] user (as long as he wasn't doing sub zero cooling on it) that way you have good chance it was used by someone who knows how to take care about equipment.

So far I bought 1 and sold quite a few mobos and haven't heard any complaints about them.
 
Motherboards RARELY die on their own. Usually due to power problems or static and shorts. Just be careful when handling it!
 
frankly, i buy most of my stuff on the forums. Used motherboards 99% of the time are fine.

besides... honestly many of the manufacturers go by board production date, and warranty it completely based on that. I especially go for those. the only ones that i wouldn't buy used anymore are evga boards simply because you are SoL since you are not the original owner...however in their defense i've never had one of their boards die on me...not even the 680i that i got from them.
 
The only new boards I buy are for clients. I haven't bought a new board for personal use in a couple of years. Most people here & on other tech forums know how to take care of their stuff.
 
My two current mb's - Gibabyte and Asus had to be rma'd after 1+ years of use.

If I did get a used one, first thing would be to fire it up with a Linux live cd for testing and to verify stability.
 
DriZzLe said:
The only new boards I buy are for clients. I haven't bought a new board for personal use in a couple of years. Most people here & on other tech forums know how to take care of their stuff.
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Same here. Most of my personal boards are used. Customers always get new though.
 
arigo said:
I am thinking about buying a 1156 mobo that has been used for 1.5 years. My problem being, the one hardware item that has failed on me again and again in the past is my motherboard, but I'm not sure if it was a bad power supply, bad luck or what.

Can I expect a 1.5 year old motherboard to last me a good 5 years more? Or are they prone to going back like I've experienced?
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Depends on the condition of the used equipment. Was it run at stock or was it abused? Also depends on where you get it from. If you buy it from a forum you'll probably have a better chance at getting a board in good condition. If you get one from a place like newegg, it could very well be broken out of the box. Either way it will be luck of the draw.
 
i used to sell alot of motherboards. I had them coming in like hot cakes from various manufacturers. I would review one, if i liked it i would keep it, if not i would sell it.

never had a problem. Good thing about buying used boards is one, very rarely are they DOA, they have been fired up before. The 2nd good thing is the price, which is always lower than retail.

In my 10+ years and 50+ mobos, i have only had one mobo fail on me. It was a abit av8, granted i abused the heck out of that board. It wasn't the boards fault, it was the power-supply.

Always use a good power-supply. [H] ocp is quite keen on reviewing power-supplies and well for good reason, it is the heart of your system. When assembling your new computer double check, then triple check everything before pressing the power button. IE is your ram seated correctly, is your heatsink properly mounted, are there and loose unterminated wires that could short out, is the motherboard secured to the case back panel and doesn't wobble around. Lastly if you have restless leg syndrome and your on carpet wear a grounding strap.
 
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