Is it worth buying a Open Box or Refurbished motherboard off newegg if one can not find a motherboard at the price range there looking for?
The last 3 motherboards I’ve actually bought I’ve all bought B-grade here in the UK. Not had any issues with any of them. Only real problem is warranty is only 90 days and they don’t always come with their accessories as they would from new. For instance, my current X99 board didn’t come with the I/O Shield but it doesn’t really bother me personally.
Personally, it always scares me to buy open box, or refurb, when it comes to electronics. It SHOULDN’T. I really think it is just a psychological thing for me. It’d have to be a pretty major price drop, for me to mentally make the decision.
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The refurbs are about $50+ off there all Z97’s and the Open Boxes look to be $20 - $30 dollars off from the ones I have in my wishlist right now im watching.
Gorkie Refurbished only if it is manufacturer refurbished hardware, or under RMA new MBO (so called RMA replacement hardware ) … open box should be more or less OK, is the hardware which was used as an exhibition specimen in the shop … or return by dissatisfied customer … so open box should have normal warranty … and I would go for open box option … But always best solution is to be patient and buy a new piece of hardware on a sale …
I won’t touch anything refurb or open box myself, all your doing is buying somebody else’s problems.
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I myself have several factory refurbs and have (knock wood) had a problem with any of them.
Now new stuff is a different story.
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I buy second hand knowing the possible issues. I try to determine if its worth the chance of failure & will only pay what I’m comfortable with, i.e. my Z97 ITX mobo was purchased 2nd hand for <$50 due to the previous owner not understanding how the Asus RAM clips operated. So the plastic latches were damaged but nothing else. I was happy to gamble $50 (helped that the seller had very good auction site reputation) due to the upgrade available from H87 to Z97 & I would always be able to on sell as parts to recoup some costs if it didn’t work.
I’d be happy to buy refurb or open box if they were at a good discount; but frankly I find they’re not normally & if I can get brand new with warranty for 10% more I’ll hold off and purchase special. I find buying hardware for the sake of finally having the money a bit of a trap for me, if I’ve waited that long to get the money I’d rather make the most use of it I can.
Just my thoughts.