Should I get a used or new i5-2500k?

Should I get a used or new i5-2500k? - for the prices I listed

  • Used

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • New

    Votes: 9 90.0%

  • Total voters
    10

fearless92

Honorable
Mar 10, 2012
14
0
10,510
Hi all,

I have the option today of purchasing an i5-2500k on ebay used for £110 (approx $178) which has apparently never been overclocked in the 2 months since the owner bought it.

Or I could buy myself a new one for £155 (approx $250).

Which should I do? Comments and discussion will be much appreciated :)
 

fearless92

Honorable
Mar 10, 2012
14
0
10,510
Is it really much of a gamble? Or was I just lucky when I upgraded my laptop CPU last year that it all went smoothly?
 
Buying a processor on Ebay is risky to begin with and than when you are talking about unlocked processors like the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K you are risking getting a processor that may have been exposed to some heavy voltage that may limit the lifespan of the processor.


Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team
 
Its a gamble because

A. You don't know the person selling you the product.
B. You don't know how it was "used", somebody could have overclocked the ever loving crap out of it, jacked up the voltage without any kind of knowledge or caring of the ramifications and Intel does not transfer warranty. So you have zero recourse if the ebay seller refuses to replace it should the CPU turn out to be a dud.
C. This could happen to you, you really don't know what you're buying when you buy on Ebay. Ebay is great for some things, but not for used CPUs, in my opinion.
http://www.neowin.net/news/intel-investigates-counterfeit-processors-300-fake-chips
 

fearless92

Honorable
Mar 10, 2012
14
0
10,510



Point B of your's is the point I was most concerned about as I know unlocked desktop CPUs are a complete different kettle of fish compared to a laptop CPU. He claims to have never taken it past stock clocks or voltages, of which I know the voltage or extremely high clocks aren't a good thing as you have both pointed out. And the more I think about it why would anyone sell a 2 month old CPU if there wasn't anything wrong with it? I can't see why you would buy a 2500k in March knowing IB was coming within 2 months and SB-E the only other real upgrade was already out.

So concluding this I shall not buy it :) I think I just needed someone to talk me out of it/make me see logically.
 
Well, you have to remember some people aren't that bright. I have a friend whos always broke, can't pay his bills, but he'll spend 50 bucks on lottery scratch off tickets.. He won 1000 bucks once, but the question is how much did he spend in tickets before he won that much?

Got another friend who sold his Xbox 360 controller for gas money for 15 bucks.. Week later he bought a brand new one from walmart for 30 to replace that one.. People buy stuff without thinking. Maybe there is nothing wrong with that CPU, but you just have no way of knowing.
 

LOL! I did drive my sports sedan at 140 MPH on I-72 West! Floored it and that was the fastest it would go. It was chip limited to 140 MPH for the US market. Dinan wanted $500 to reprogram it for a different shift curve and faster speeds, but they wanted $500 for a 5-minute job. They told me that it would take 5 minutes and that they would do it right in their parking lot.
 

fearless92

Honorable
Mar 10, 2012
14
0
10,510


Yeah haha, I guess in comparison selling a k edition chip and claiming not to have overclocked it would be like selling (insert favourite fast as f**k car/bike here) and saying you never once took it past the speed limit.
 
Absolutely buy new. I've literally OC'd my 2500K (in varying degrees) since day one, just because I could, so I'd be very wary of anyone saying they've NEVER OC'd with a 2500K, especially after 2 months. Why would he have bought a 2500K in the first place, if he was content to just let it sit at stock speeds? lol
 

True eBay! (True lies).