Open Box OK?

[Zeroignite]

Hey TBCS

I've been shopping for a new rig for a while now. Noticed that, on Newegg, their Open Box items are far cheaper than the retail versions. What I'm wondering is, how reliable/trustworthy are these parts? I'm guessing it could be anywhere from "Bought the wrong mobo and sent it back" to "The customer said it was broken, but we're selling it anyways".

What are your experiences in this field?

[bartvandenberg]

i bought my first asus a8ne 754 board open box. Installed it like any other time, using every care and precaution possible. pci-e slot dead. whether it was a fluke or not, i dont know, but ill never do it again, just to save a couple bucks, and lack of warranty. ended up buying a new board anyway, so it actually cost me 130 bucks more than just to buy new.

personally, i suggest against it. save a few bucks and buy 'previously opened' highly fragile components? not for me ever again.

hope my personal experience can shed some light on your situation.

oh, and note: i've built probably 100 systems in my history, and it was the only board i had 'D.O.A'.

[OvRiDe]

Another thing to beware of is, sometimes open box doesn't have everything that would normally be included in a non opened box, such as cables or other accessories.

[Eclecticos]

I would recommend against open box. For the simple reason that you never know who has tinkered around with it, and they have a very limited return policy on those items. It could have been shorted out, or things may have been installed incorrectly. I ordered 3 open box boards from newegg myself a few years ago. Two of the Three were problematic.

Remember there is always the possibility that a Brand New motherboard will be DOA.
In my opinion it is not worth the gamble, when you could probably comparison shop,
and find the same motherboard for roughly the same price.

Reconditioned, Recertified, or Refurbished is the way to go
if you want the same product at a discounted rate.

[blueonblack]

I agree with the risks above. However, I personally have bought two open box motherboards from Newegg and had absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Be aware of the risks, but I took them and was perfectly happy.

[nevermind1534]

I bought two. One, I'm not sure if I messed up, or it came DOA. I'm pretty sure that it came that way. The other one had problems from the start, and didn't last too long. It would turn on and off when I tried to turn it on until after a few tries. Now, I wonder if that could have been bad caps...

I might look into that, since I still have that second board.

[Omega]

Get re-certified or new items. More expensive, but better.

[Zeroignite]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Changed up the parts, and I'm actually getting a better rig now due to some sweet combo deals. Aww yeahh!