Open Box: Opportunity or Disaster?

[Savio]

I'm researching for my first build, and I've noted that NewEgg.com is recognized as preeminent outlet for components. There are a couple of components that I'm interested in that are available as Open Box items from them; has anyone taken advantage of these? good experience or bad? My Money Tree still won't grow :( , so I would love to save given the opportunity; but don't want to suffer headaches if it's not worth it! Any input most welcome!!

Thanks All!

[waterman460000]

its ur choice it may be good it may be bad, feeling lucky?

[tomkear2006]

Personally Im too much of a worrier. If I got something that was "open box" then its bound to be either faulty...or I would be thinking it might go wrong any moment lol.

As waterman460000 says...feeling lucky?

[doctorgonzo]

"Open box" just means it was returned but still works; that's definitely better than "refurbished" when you know that at one point the part was faulty. If there is a reasonable return period so you can return it if you find something wrong, I don't see a problem with it.

[Savio]

Lucky... well, I've got to be due for something good to happen! :D I'll try my luck & hopefully my head won't explode. Thank you all!

[glc]

Open box may not come with necessary accessories.

[Mr.Ferrari]

What *Exact* items you thinkin about? Some parts openbox would be a good way to save money, others are just askin for trouble.

[Savio]

I was looking at both MoBo & HDD as Open Box items (those were what I found in the models I was looking for). The HDD (Barracuda 200G) has since disappeared, but the Motherboard is:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM


I've seen CPUs & a couple other components also available like this; but not the items I was searching for. I certainly wouldn't want to find a critical piece missing, but I can't imagine that being terribly common w/ a respectable supplier.

[flanzig1]

Newegg treats "open box" as OEM which means what ever came back with the product is what you get. Read their disclaimer at the bottom of the open box product listing.

[blue60007]

I definitely wouldn't get Open Box motherboards - it may not come with the I/O panel, cables and such...by the time you end up buying all the cables seperately that you need, it won't be cheaper, and maybe cost more.

[inflames988]

yeah you wont get accessories--then again, newegg says no accessories on alot of OEM stuff and you end up getting some of it, they do include the software and stuff usually. not sure what else might be missing. id say depends what it is. open box dvd drive, sure, motherboard probably not.

[Mr.Ferrari]

I definitely wouldn't get Open Box motherboards - it may not come with the I/O panel, cables and such...by the time you end up buying all the cables seperately that you need, it won't be cheaper, and maybe cost more.

QFT. I agree, I had made the mistake of buying a mobo open box. It did come with half the accessories, didnt really matter to me as it came with the driver and manuals. But I spent 2 days trying to get that thing to boot. I rma'ed shortly after.

Sometimes..there are reasons why people return stuff =/..

[glc]

I would NEVER buy an open box motherboard. I would only try an open box hard drive if you can confirm it comes with a full manufacturer's warranty, and I'd zero fill it and run diags on it before trying to use it.

[chuck4456]

There's probably nothing wrong the motherboard. When a part is taken back (under warranty) it is then returned to the manufacturer. The manufacturer tests the part. If it turns out to be OK, the part is returned to the supplier. The problem that you will have with am open box motherboard is this: No one ever returns the additional items with the part - driver cds, cables, connectors, etc. If you don't have the complete assortment, it's a no go. I buy a lot of open box video cards, but that's only because I have a stack of driver cds that I have accumulated. Open box items are usually good parts that are returned by people who just didn't know what they were doing, or ordered the wrong part.