The second-hand trading market has always been full of unknowns and surprises (or frights). Recently, an overseas player shared his “super-level leakage” experience in the second-hand market on Reddit. He purchased an Intel Z690 motherboard for only US$50 (approximately NT$1,500), but unexpectedly discovered that the motherboard came with 4 M.2 SSDs with a total capacity of up to 12TB. If calculated based on new product prices, the total value of these SSDs can reach approximately US$2,000.
Transaction process: The seller does not understand computers and the buyer has a keen eye for pearls.
According to Reddit user R550MAGIC2 shared that while browsing the second-hand market, he noticed a Z690 motherboard priced at only $50. From the photos provided by the seller, he keenly discovered that the four NVMe slots on the motherboard seem to be equipped with SSDs. The user immediately contacted the seller and learned that the seller was a woman who claimed not to know much about computers. The motherboard had been idle at home, so she decided to sell it. R550MAGIC2 immediately agreed on a time and place to meet, and after driving for about half an hour, he successfully purchased the motherboard for US$50.
The inspection revealed that the Socket pins were bent but the SSD was intact.
After getting the motherboard, R550MAGIC2 found that the Socket pins of the motherboard were bent. This may be one of the reasons why the seller sold it at a low price. However, when he removed the four M.2 SSDs from the motherboard, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the specifications of these storage devices were quite impressive.
The four SSDs are: 2 WD Black SN850X 4TB, 1 Intel 670P 2TB and 1 Corsair MP600 2TB, with a total capacity of 12TB. Among them, WD Black SN850X is Western Digital’s high-performance gaming SSD. It uses PCIe 4.0 interface and has a read speed of up to 7300MB/s. It is one of the top consumer-grade NVMe SSDs on the market.
The SSD is in good condition and the writing volume is not high.
R550MAGIC2 formatted all SSDs and conducted detailed tests. The results showed that these SSDs were operating normally, and the writing volume was not high, indicating that the usage was quite light. In the current market environment where SSD prices continue to rise, the total value of these SSDs can reach approximately US$2,000 based on new product prices. Compared with the purchase price, the value gap is as high as 40 times.
point of view
This incident triggered heated discussions in the online community, mainly focusing on two core issues. On the one hand, some netizens believe that buyers should return the SSDs to their original owners. After all, the sellers obviously do not know the value of these SSDs, which involves ethical considerations. On the other hand, some netizens cited US consumer protection laws and pointed out that after the seller delivers the goods, the recipient can treat the extra goods as gifts, and from a legal perspective the buyer has no obligation to return them.
From the perspective of the secondary trading market, this incident highlights the opportunities and risks brought about by information asymmetry. For sellers who are not familiar with computer hardware, small storage devices such as M.2 SSD are installed on the motherboard and are easily overlooked. This also reminds consumers to carefully check every detail of the equipment before selling second-hand electronic products to avoid losses due to information gaps.
From a technical perspective, the Intel Z690 chipset supports the 12th generation Alder Lake processor and provides multiple sets of PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, making it one of the mainstream choices for mid-to-high-end players. The motherboard in this incident can install four M.2 SSDs at the same time, indicating that it is a high-end model. Even if the Socket pins are bent, the motherboard itself is still of considerable value as long as it is repaired properly.
However, not everyone is so lucky to pick up the missed ones. As long as you are watching “Repairing Graphics Cards”Brother Zhang“As you can see from the video, buying faulty products from the second-hand market is inherently risky. Of course, there are many people who are lucky and win big prizes. It’s just a matter of “survivor bias”. So if it were you, would you be willing to return these high-priced SSDs?
Source: KOCPC Chinese