Personal computing discussed

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SuperSpy
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:37 am

Sounds like a much easier market to deal with than the cut-throat PC market.

The numbers tend to more in your favor when you can charge $500 for a motherboard with a 4 year old chipset instead of scraping by competing with $80 boards from 10 different manufacturers.
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G8torbyte
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:22 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Abit was still around in mid-2007, as I bought my IP35 Pro based on this TR roundup review. It was about a year after I bought the board that Abit went Tango Uniform.

http://techreport.com/review/12747/five ... s-compared


I'm still running an Abit IP35 Pro as a home server for backups. And also since I like to use the Abit microguru panel just for looks.
http://abit.ws/upload/products/guru-panel.htm

My daughter's PC was a DFI P45 microATX up until I recently changed her over to a MSI-Z170. Good boards and still running well.
Later, -G8tor
Building PCs & gaming since"Chuck Yeager's Air Combat" 1991, Lurkin' around TR since 2004.
Current setups: Z390 Platform and DIY mini-ITX NAS Build
 
coolflame57
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:09 pm

Going back to my original question, how much could I charge for something I restored to a perfectly working order? Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:43 pm

coolflame57 wrote:
Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?

I'm new to this thread, because I didn't see it before. Reading your original post, this is what I was thinking myself - it's just kind of asking for trouble and a big pain. It might work out, it might not.

The bent-pin motherboards may not be an issue, but half-dead SSDs and some other iffy components are less likely to keep running.
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just brew it!
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:45 pm

coolflame57 wrote:
Going back to my original question, how much could I charge for something I restored to a perfectly working order?

About what other people are charging for similar used parts in "perfectly working order".

coolflame57 wrote:
Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?

Yes, I think it is a can of worms.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
ludi
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 5:55 pm

coolflame57 wrote:
Going back to my original question, how much could I charge for something I restored to a perfectly working order? Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?

You would have to sell as "used" or "refurbished" at prices similar to what you see elsewhere on eBay/Amazon/whatever, and potentially deal with a high volume of returns and possibly some nasty customer feedback if it arrived DoA or failed shortly after. If you have a lot of time on your hands and can do a bit of stress/validation testing on the repaired hardware, it might be worth it. If you're looking for easy money, look elsewhere.
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whm1974
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:00 pm

ludi wrote:
coolflame57 wrote:
Going back to my original question, how much could I charge for something I restored to a perfectly working order? Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?

You would have to sell as "used" or "refurbished" at prices similar to what you see elsewhere on eBay/Amazon/whatever, and potentially deal with a high volume of returns and possibly some nasty customer feedback if it arrived DoA or failed shortly after. If you have a lot of time on your hands and can do a bit of stress/validation testing on the repaired hardware, it might be worth it. If you're looking for easy money, look elsewhere.

I would only sell hardware that has only been used by me or at least refurbished by a decent refurbisheder that is known to a proper job.
 
The Egg
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:17 pm

coolflame57 wrote:
Going back to my original question, how much could I charge for something I restored to a perfectly working order? Is this just a can of worms if it keeps breaking and customers keep returning their broken objects that I fixed?

If it's indeed in perfect working order, I don't see why you can't charge whatever the used market allows. I don't think this is necessarily a can of worms, but in order to be successful you'll need to find the right items with the right type of problems.

Number one, you'll want to make sure there's actually a sufficient demand and market for that item in used condition. If the demand is there, the profit margin also needs to be there (i.e., can be acquired for relatively little when "broken", sold for significantly more when fully working). As for the repairs themselves, you'll want the problem to be something which doesn't meaningfully degrade from the item, once restored. You'll also want it to be something which has a relatively high ease of repair, but not so easy that the average dummy can do it with zero skill/knowledge.

If this is your wheelhouse, I don't see why you need to limit yourself to PC components either. Could try your hand at audio equipment/speakers, or mobile devices/accessories (a bit of competition here though).
 
MOSFET
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:23 pm

whm1974 wrote:
Starfalcon wrote:
They were still around and made a lot of really good socket A boards, I have a huge pile of them from back then. They actually didn't go under until late 2005, I have one of their last AM2 boards they released.

Hard to remember since this was 17 years ago. Too 3Dfx didn't make it past year 2000,and Matrox are they still around?


Dude, 17 years ago is not that hard to remember. You're 43, right? You're not ancient! You get a pass because this is mostly meaningless minutia :)
Be careful on inserting this (or any G34 chip) into the socket. Once you pull that restraining lever, it is either a good install or a piece of silicon jewelry.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:41 pm

MOSFET wrote:
whm1974 wrote:
and Matrox are they still around?
Dude, 17 years ago is not that hard to remember. You're 43, right? You're not ancient! You get a pass because this is mostly meaningless minutia :)

Matrox uses AMD silicon and ever since the Parhelia failed to attract gamers, they've specialized in driving massive multi-monitor arrays such as video walls or, more importantly for Matrox, trading desks. That's been their niche business since the gamers went away. They're also big in streaming video/capture up to 4K and 8K.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
whm1974
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:40 pm

MOSFET wrote:
whm1974 wrote:
Starfalcon wrote:
They were still around and made a lot of really good socket A boards, I have a huge pile of them from back then. They actually didn't go under until late 2005, I have one of their last AM2 boards they released.

Hard to remember since this was 17 years ago. Too 3Dfx didn't make it past year 2000,and Matrox are they still around?


Dude, 17 years ago is not that hard to remember. You're 43, right? You're not ancient! You get a pass because this is mostly meaningless minutia :)

I also have busy for those 17 years as well.
 
ludi
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:40 pm

The Egg wrote:
If this is your wheelhouse, I don't see why you need to limit yourself to PC components either. Could try your hand at audio equipment/speakers, or mobile devices/accessories (a bit of competition here though).

Been there and done that. If your time is free and the required parts are cheap, you can make a small income, but one troublesome return can wipe out a good chunk of a week's profits. In my case, I was between college and career during a recession and happened to find a couple good niches for audio component repair using tools I already owned, so it kept me busy but didn't really pay much. As a result of that experience I networked with a handful of people doing similar things and they weren't making a large income, either; it was mostly a hobby that paid for itself in between other work that paid the bills.

The only person I encountered who later made a living from the hobby was a chap named Dana Cain. Around that time he started up an annual convention called the Vintage Voltage Expo and later expanded to Dana Cain Events, which now hosts multiple A/V enthusiast expos around the Denver metro.
Last edited by ludi on Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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strangerguy
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Re: A crazy idea?

Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:47 pm

just brew it! wrote:
DFI is another manufacturer that did some good stuff back in the day, but have completely disappeared from the enthusiast motherboard market. Much like Matrox they're still around, but cater to specialized niche markets. Looks like their target market these days is industrial automation; for example, they make a motherboard that will take a modern(ish) CPU (Haswell), but has ISA slots (for those legacy industrial control interfaces).


A lot of the Taiwanese manufacturers got out of the consumer PC business because the profit margins are just crap even as the market expanded. Last time I checked NV now gets like 700% better profit/revenue compared to Asus' entire product line and the latter is already the most successful of the bunch.
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