A gamer finds a tempting offer on a used Nvidia RTX 4080 graphics card. But there is a catch and the community warns him about it.
Used hardware components are a good way to inexpensively upgrade your own gaming PC. There are many different offers on the Internet to help you find a suitable upgrade.
However, there are also advertisements that you should treat with great caution. If it is immediately clear that an item on offer has a defect, you should think about purchasing it more than once.
A player was unsure whether he should buy an RTX 4080 with a small defect and was also warned about it by other users in the community.
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Small defect with possible consequential damage
What kind of offer is this? A gamer spotted an ad for an RTX 4080 on eBay. The seller wants the equivalent of 760 euros for the graphics card. At first glance, this seems like a good price. However, the hardware has a small defect that doesn’t seem to be a problem at first.
A small piece of the circuit board has broken off at the hardware interface for connecting to the mainboard. The circuit board is also slightly torn at the break point. The actual contacts next to it appear to be undamaged. Nevertheless, the player is unsure whether he should buy the graphics card and turns to the Reddit community.
An image of the damaged graphics card on Reddit
What do others advise him? Users warn gamers not to buy the RTX 4080. At first glance, only a piece of the circuit board is missing, which only serves to give the graphics card a more secure hold in the mainboard slot. But at the time of sale, components that are not visible may already be damaged.
Games_sans_frontiers sums up the problem very well by saying the following on Reddit:
“I don’t know if it works since I haven’t tried it yet” is eBay-speak: “I know it definitely doesn’t work, but I want to pass that bad luck on to someone else while covering my butt for chargebacks.” ‘
In addition to the many components and connections on the top and bottom of the graphics card, there are also conductor tracks in the circuit board that cannot be seen with the naked eye. At the latest during hardware installation and further use, this defect can cause possible consequential damage and the hardware can become unusable.
Is such a repair worth it? Such a repair involves a lot of effort and is usually not financially worthwhile. Without special equipment and the necessary knowledge, such repairs can only be carried out by professionals.
But there are companies that offer such a service. The experts from KrisFix-Germany show how they do this in a video on YouTube.
Warning signs when buying used hardware
What does the seller say about the defect? Further details about the RTX 4080 offering from ASUS are not known. The seller openly points out the defect, but otherwise reacts in a less trusting manner. When the player asked if he could test the graphics card in advance, he replied in the negative.
He justifies this with possible damage to other components in his system. At this point, the player became suspicious and asked for advice on Reddit. He himself suspects that the RTX 4080 no longer works and that the owner wants to avoid responsibility with his comments and behavior in the event of a successful sale.
What warning signs should you pay attention to? In general, there is always the risk of receiving completely unusable hardware if it is clear in advance that there is a defect. It hardly matters where the damage occurs. For example, if the graphics card had a small scratch on the cover of the cooling structure, this would probably not be a problem.
However, as soon as a specific electronic component or the circuit board itself is affected, you should treat such offers with caution. The risk of being stuck with defective hardware is too great if the seller has made himself clear in this situation and is not aware of any guilt. The remaining risk then lies with you.
In principle, it is always advisable to have the complete function of an item demonstrated or at least to have proof of it. If problems arise, you can argue better based on the previously tested condition.
But the way a seller communicates in an ad and responds to specific questions about the hardware on offer can also be a sign that something is wrong with the hardware. If someone avoids your questions or appears uncooperative, you should stay away from the offer, no matter how tempting it seems.
This case shows that a hardware expansion does not have to be expensive at first, but great caution is required, especially with used hardware. In another case, a gamer had saved for years to finally be able to play in full HD resolution. This moment hit him emotionally: Gamer saves for years to fulfill an old dream, but can’t believe it when his wish finally comes true.