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A Guide To Buying And Testing Second-Hand Computer Parts

Herbert Huffner

How Can You Buy Used Parts To Save Money And Not Regret Buying Such A System After A While? Let’s Take A Look At The Steps To Checking The Health And Testing Of Second-Hand Computer Components.

Second-Hand Computer, One of the biggest advantages of a desktop computer is purchasing and supplying components separately, leaving users free to customize and select based on different priorities. For example, office PC systems with mid-range components without a separate graphics card are quite efficient, but content production PCs require high-end processors and memory. The game’s priority is to select and spend with the graphics card, usually the most expensive component, followed by the processor, memory, and storage.

However, the personal purchase of these parts can be challenging depending on the circumstances, both in terms of cost-effectiveness and overall budget constraints, which should be considered as required by financial circumstances if there are economic conditions, market conditions, and fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate, which will be very influential factors and will make buying more difficult.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Benefits of Buying Used Computer Parts

Disadvantages of buying second-hand computer parts

Someone assembling computer parts on the motherboard

Which parts can be made second-hand?

Depending on the physical health and careful examination of the function, these parts can provide second-hand by accepting a percentage of health risk:

Which parts should not be used second-hand?

Check the physical health of the parts

The first step in buying second-hand computer parts is to check the physical health of the components and their appearance. For each of the main parts, there are some points to keep in mind when considering their appearance:

Processor

motherboard

Memory

It is not difficult to check the appearance of memory chips. If the RAM modules are uncoated on the chips or heat dissipator, the least that can do is to check the appearance of the chips for any deformation, discoloration, or burn marks. But if the modules have a heatsink, they do not need to be removed, and it is enough to check the module for functionality in the next step, which is the practical test of the part.

graphic card

The physical examination of the graphics card needs to focus on a few points, the cooling of the graphics card should not be broken or deformed in appearance, and the back of the graphics card, if it does not have a protective plate (backplate), should not detect damage, bumps or Examine the effects of burns and soldering. Various screws are used on the cooling of the graphics card and on the back of the board, which you can check for appearance, whether they have already been opened and closed by hand tools or not. The cooler’s opening can be considered a reason to suspect that the card is repaired or rebuilt, although it alone can not be an unhealthy sign. Sometimes the users themselves try to replace the silicone paste used on the GPU chip. They are used to lower the chip’s temperature by a few degrees during loading, thus producing less cooling, noise, and heat and optimal work efficiency.

Other parts

The same general rule of no deformation and no impact and impact on the body is sufficient to check other components such as SSD, HDD, power supply, and case. Especially in the case of the case because of its function and constitutes the outer part of the system, the possibility of damage after the operation is high, and bumps and scratches on the body occur during heavy use, which requires careful examination. The case’s front panel is usually made of plastic, which is more vulnerable to impact during transport, and especially in the corners should be carefully inspected.

Also, check for 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch hard drives and SSDs that the SATA connectors are not bent or broken. In the case of M.2, the health of the foundations is apparently sufficient.

Practical test of parts

To ensure the correct operation of the parts, after the initial and appearance inspection of the parts, we come to their practical examination in working conditions. Without checking the performance and sometimes the efficiency, it is impossible to comment on the health of the parts, especially the main PC parts, because many parts that do not have the slightest problem in their appearance and physical dimensions may be defective and unusable. However, the important part of examining parts is to extract component information and then test them after assembly and be placed next to other computer components. At this stage, the parts must be assembled and ready to turn on the system so that their function can check in real conditions.

1- Checking the general specifications of the system

There is a variety of system software that is specifically designed and developed to extract system technical information. With the help of this tool, we can ensure the accuracy of the specifications of the parts announced by the seller and their compliance with what has been provided to us. The exact model of the processor, motherboard, memory, graphics card, storage, and other integrated devices such as sound cards are all components that will be fully identifiable and compatible with this method.

But some information such as power supply model, case fan model, or CPU cooling model should only obtain by relying on the component label and searching them on the Internet.

First, after turning on the system and making sure the device is booted, it is better to format the hard disk or SSD and install the operating system on it raw and clean. The process of installing the operating system can also help to some extent to identify possible problems or to understand the normal operation of the system. Before cleaning and reinstalling Windows or any other operating system, be sure to download and install the software drivers for the system components from the manufacturer’s site.

 Because after installing Windows and checking the system, all its hardware components must be identified and installed by the operating system.

Some components, such as graphics cards and sound cards, will not be fully usable and testable without installing a suitable software driver. To ensure the identification of all system’s internal components in Windows, you must go to the Device ManagerSee.

All the hardware components of the system are listed here. The appearance of any yellow exclamation mark is a sign that a specific driver for one of the system components is not detected or installed, which should be fixed by installing the software driver.

Here’s a look at some of the most popular, practical, yet accessible tools on the Internet and common software packages on the market:

The effective memory frequency for all DDR modules is always twice that of the DRAM Frequency listed in the Timings section.

In Memory can have complete information about the type of memory (DDR2, DDR3, DDR4), the total size of memory modules, the actual frequency RAM, and schedule (timings) to access memory addresses above. Note that the “effective frequency” of memory for all DDR modules is always twice that of the DRAM Frequency section in the Timings section. In fact, the effective frequency is the same frequency mentioned in the RAM model, and the manufacturers also introduce and sell memory modules with an effective frequency.

To ensure the frequency and timing supported by the memory, you should look at the SPD section in the CPU-Z program and view and record the exact model of the memory module in the Part Number section. By searching for Part Number in Internet search engines, you can ensure your actual frequency and memory specifications.

However, at the bottom of the SPD window, a Timings Table section, where the supported frequencies and access schedules are listed separately.

For example, if there is an XMP-3400 option in this table, it means that your RAM also supports the 3400 MHz frequency.

Of course, you should not expect the latest memory-supported frequency to be usable on any system with any CPU and motherboard model. This frequency depends on more advanced factors related to the CPU and the chipset model or motherboard chipset. Sometimes The highest memory frequency will only achieve in overclocking mode, which requires mediocre technical knowledge and sufficient experience working with the hardware and is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Recently, a section called Graphics has been added to the CPU-Z, which is clearly able to identify a separate graphics card model installed in the system or a graphics chip integrated with the processor.

The GPU-Z has a section for detecting the motherboard graphics card bus standard, which by performing a simple graphics test, the bus standard used on the motherboard and the graphics card itself (such as PCI Express 2.0 or PCI Express 3.0 and its number of routes ( x8 or x16 which is one route) Complete depends on the standard on your motherboard and graphics card, depending on the processor model and the graphics card itself.

In addition to displaying this information, which includes the number of times the drive is turned on and the hours used, CrystalDiskInfo also reports the drive temperature and overall health status based on data reported by SMART.

This information is beneficial in checking the drives’ performance and helps ensure proper storage conditions, especially if it is mechanical. Also, if the system’s internal storage has not been upgraded before, the operating hours reported by this program can be considered operating hours of the whole system and can be compared with the seller’s claim about the PC’s life.

In the case of SSDs, the program also provides an estimate of the remaining life of the driver based on the drive model and the amount of data written on it from the beginning, which does not necessarily mean the failure of part of the NAND memory, but the estimated amount. Expired SSD is interpreted.

After collecting the general information of the system and comparing them with the specifications announced by the seller, and after we are relieved of the compatibility of its internal parts, we reach the stage of practical testing of the parts.

2- Software test

For component testing, it may always be best to install and run used software or games of interest, but this is not necessarily the best idea for definitive conclusions over a limited period of time. The job of specialized software for testing and testing the computer’s stability is to force all or part of the system’s internal components to work at maximum power, which may not be possible if you run a software application or a particular game. In fact, not all system power may be used when running it.

Setting the system components to maximum capacity and loading 100% can help diagnose potential hardware problems much shorter, especially if we have only 24 or 48 hours to check the component’s health or used parts of the system.

To check the performance of the power supply, you can also select all the selectable components in the stability test together to request the maximum power required from the power supply. Simultaneous operation of these components can receive the highest amount of energy required for the operation of components from the power supply.

Conclusion

The methods described above were only part of the tried and tested methods used to check and diagnose the health of used parts, which can not necessarily violate some similar methods or software to ensure the performance of parts. Some more powerful software requires a higher level of technical information to run and conclude, and it is not recommended to use them indiscriminately and unknowingly. At the same time, there is no control over the operating signs of the system and thermal sensors and even for systems. Weaker may produce damage.

Many of the above points are actually used to troubleshoot parts. Still, the physical and functional inspection scenarios may differ for a little older and make separately. For example, using and testing memory modules on a motherboard that has not been used before is different from identical modules that have been installed and used in a PC for a long time, because in the first case, we are not even sure of the basic compatibility of the modules with the motherboard. Boot and scan through the motherboard BIOS at the beginning of the test. Still, the memory installed in the system and has been working without problems for a long time certainly can not have problem compatibility with the motherboard.

What methods and software have you used or suggested to buy and review used computer parts? Could you share your comments with us?

 

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