Second hand storage?

[miningshark23]

Hi, so I'm trying to get back into PC building after not really doing much for a few years, mainly due to money restraints, however I have started to get frustrated with how slow my PC was becoming so I've decided to replace almost everything except for the GPU and PSU as they are still more than adequate and would not limit the new components I am planning.

The system I am planning will contain:
CPU: Ryzen R3 2200G
MOBO: Asus Prime B350M-A
RAM: 8gb (single stick so I can upgrade up to 64gb when I get some more money)
GPU: Sapphire R9 380 4gb Nitro
HDD: A few old HDDs I have lying around + the point of this question
Case: Coolermaster Masterbox Lite 3.1
PSU: Corsair CX550M

As you can probably tell from the specs I've listed, I'm on a budget.

I am planning to trade a few old games and an old iPhone into a local shop a few miles from me and buy some DDR4 RAM and a Samsung PM961 256GB NVME SSD. This is where my question begins, I know that SSDs are limited to a certain number of reads and writes, but I am on a tight budget so buying this would take a large chunk out of what I would like to spend but I'm wary of buying it and having it fail only a few months after. I'm also not sure about 2nd hand memory.

Any advice that could be given would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SkyBill40]

Personally speaking, I'd never buy second hand on anything CPU related and especially not on an SSD; however, I do understand your budgetary limitations and desire to get the most for your available money. I'd go with what you have as far as HDDs and save until you can buy a new stock SSD that fits your capacity needs.

Again, this is merely my personal opinion. Your experience and that of others may differ. Good luck either way.

 

[miningshark23]

Personally speaking, I'd never buy second hand on anything CPU related and especially not on an SSD; however, I do understand your budgetary limitations and desire to get the most for your available money. I'd go with what you have as far as HDDs and save until you can buy a new stock SSD that fits your capacity needs.

Again, this is merely my personal opinion. Your experience and that of others may differ. Good luck either way.

I was going to use the SSD for my boot drive, so that would make it a key part of the build. I wouldn't consider storage to be anywhere to close to my area of expertise so I appreciate any input that I can get. I bought my first PC a few years ago second hand and it did a pretty good job till I built my own so I have had a pretty good experience with second hand but I've never owned a SATA SSD nevermind an nVME drive so I can't comment on anything related to them.

Thank you for your fast reply.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

If you are planning to buy a second hand SSD, but are able to run software that can read SMART info from it, you can get a reasonable determination of the SSDs remaining lifespan. Both CrystalDiskInfo and Hard Disk Sentinel can tell you the remaining life of an SSD. You can get plenty of information about spinning platter drives using tools like this as well.

CPUs tend to either work or not. If you are concerned, run the respective manufacturer's stability test on it.

RAM can also be tested, and is reliable enough unless abused that it usually carries a lifetime warranty.

There is nothing wrong with buying used parts, so long as they work. Whether you can test them before purchase is between you and the seller. I've had experienced sellers insist on demonstrating the part working before letting me go with it. Protecting the sale can go both ways.

 

[miningshark23]

If you are planning to buy a second hand SSD, but are able to run software that can read SMART info from it, you can get a reasonable determination of the SSDs remaining lifespan. Both CrystalDiskInfo and Hard Disk Sentinel can tell you the remaining life of an SSD. You can get plenty of information about spinning platter drives using tools like this as well.

CPUs tend to either work or not. If you are concerned, run the respective manufacturer's stability test on it.

RAM can also be tested, and is reliable enough unless abused that it usually carries a lifetime warranty.

There is nothing wrong with buying used parts, so long as they work. Whether you can test them before purchase is between you and the seller. I've had experienced sellers insist on demonstrating the part working before letting me go with it. Protecting the sale can go both ways.

The only components I'm planning on buying second hand are the SSD and RAM, which for some reason are both the most expensive part of the system. Thanks for the help, I wasn't sure on how RAM aged and I also didn't know what benchmarks I would use to check on the SSD. The place I'm buying them from probably doesn't have the facilities to run these benchmarks but they have a standard returns policy so if I don't like what I see I could probably just return it.. Again, thank you for the help.