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The prospect of buying a gently-used laptop or desktop is also starting to seem a lot more rosy these days, as prices for new models skyrocket. I know I’m not alone on this front, either; a recent UK-based market analysis survey shows sales of used PCs and components is rising across Europe, with the rate of secondhand PC sales nearly doubling year-over-year in the UK.
Here in the States I know I certainly wouldn’t want to try and buy a new gaming PC unless I absolutely had to, and I’d be even more scared of trying to build one myself since the cost of RAM and storage is beyond belief. I suspect that’s why this week’s episode of The Full Nerd ended up devoting so much time to the risks and benefits of buying used PC parts: more people than ever are interested in doing just that, and you want to know what you’re walking into before you take a risk on a used CPU or graphics card.
I really appreciated the hosts’ advice on how to find great deals on used PC hardware, and Adam’s insights have me second-guessing my aversion to Facebook Marketplace. Will the next PC I build be a hodgepodge of used components? Could be! I’d just better be careful when it comes to used CPUs, because it sounds like those can carry the sins of their former owners (read: bans in games like Fortnite and Valorant) more easily than other hardware.
In this week’s episode of The Full Nerd
This week it was a two-man show as regular host Adam Patrick Murray was joined by our own Michael Crider to chat about the latest Steam hardware survey, the risk of being banned from some online games if you have a used CPU and more.
PCWorld
Later in the show our dynamic duo made time to answer questions from the chat as well as the Full Nerd Discord on everything from the value of pre-built PCs in this economy to tips for buying used hardware.
Nerd news of the week
Here are a few of my favorite pieces of nerd news this week, touching on everything from the cutting edge of keyboard switches to the remarkable lengths some retailers are going to in order to stop folks from shipping their overpriced Nvidia graphics cards to China.