On Amazon and eBay, you can find used high-end processors for little money. An expert has now explained why it only makes limited sense, even though the prices look great.
If you want to upgrade your gaming system, you can either buy new or used hardware. Particularly with used hardware, you can often save money and sometimes make real bargains. Due to the high prices, even old graphics cards are currently worth a lot of money.
But what about high-end hardware that is a few years old and no longer receives updates or drivers? An expert has now conducted a test by buying old high-end processors and comparing prices.
Who is speaking? Linus Sebastian is the head of the YouTube channel “Linus Tech Tips” where he tests hardware or tries out new gadgets. On YouTube, he and his team are among the most well-known tech experts. He has tested, among other things, whether AMD or Intel offers the faster gaming processor. As of the current date (January 28, 2022), he has more than 14 million subscribers.
What is it about? In his video, Linus tested several processors that are already several years old. The reason for this test is simple: Currently, you can get the processors at a really low price:
- On eBay, the Xeon X5690 is going for around 60 euros.
- The i5-2500K is even available for about 20 euros on eBay.
- The even faster i7-2600K is also available for just under 60 euros.
The processors are on average already around 10 years old, but they still offer a lot of performance for their age. For example, the colleagues at GameStar explained in their previous test of the i5-2500K and i7-2600K that you get excellent processors for the money.
However, Linus has found that in very few cases is it really worth buying old hardware. You can currently watch the complete video on YouTube:
Used hardware can become a trap
Linus tested the processors in practice and explained that the processors are significantly weaker than modern processors in multithreading. Multithreading refers to how many processes the CPU can handle simultaneously. In games, however, the old processors can certainly keep up, even beating processors of the new generation from Intel and AMD, as many processors still do not support more than 4 cores.
Why is the purchase still not worthwhile? In connection with old hardware, there are several problems:
- For the seemingly cheap processor, you still need a corresponding motherboard. And those can become really expensive. Here you would easily pay around 150 euros for an outdated motherboard. Additionally, DDR3 RAM will cost around 40 euros.
- From an upgrade perspective, buying outdated hardware is always a dead end, as you cannot mount a new processor on the old motherboard. DDR3 RAM is also not compatible with new motherboards.
- For many old models, support has also expired; in the worst case, you won’t receive any software for Windows 10, and support for Windows 11 is also questionable.
Accordingly, buying correspondingly old hardware does not make sense especially if you already own new, modern hardware. Here, you would ultimately end up paying for the downgrade.
What is the biggest problem? If you buy a modern motherboard and DDR4 RAM today, you only pay a few euros more compared to the outdated hardware. For the well-reviewed “MSI B450 GamingPlus MAX,” you would pay around 90 euros on Amazon. With such modern motherboards, you are currently more future-proof than with hardware that is years old.
For modern processors, you do pay more, but you also rely on a future-proof platform and won’t have any issues when you want to buy a faster processor. Linus also clearly states in his video:
It is hard to justify investing in old hardware when faced with these two problems [price and support] and the complete lack of an upgrade path.
So if you are considering old hardware for a cheap price, you should think this purchase through thoroughly. Because in most cases, it hardly makes sense to invest in such old stuff.
Old hardware is an option for many users to spend not much on hardware. Because in the current situation, it is difficult to get good prices for gaming hardware. In the following article, we explained why many users currently have little chance of buying a graphics card:
Why you as a gamer currently have little chance of buying a graphics card
The offers listed here are equipped with so-called affiliate links. If you buy through one of these links, you support MeinMMO: Without affecting the price, we receive a small commission from the provider.
