I’ve been building PCs for two decades, and have used around five graphics cards during this time. From the 1GB Radeon HD 5670 launched in 2010 to the RTX 3080 I’m using now, I have somehow never bought a pre-owned GPU. Part of it was my perception of used graphics cards — I was wary of making a bad purchase and losing the little budget I had during those days. Even after I had started earning and knew enough about testing a pre-owned GPU, I leaned toward buying new due to longer warranties and newer features. Today, however, I find myself considering a used GPU as the only reasonable option in this market. Buying a new GPU is unthinkable right now, thanks to the crazy prices of the latest Nvidia and AMD cards. Used, previous-gen graphics cards are not only powerful and affordable, but also far less risky than they used to be just a few years ago.