MSi GX740-235 Open Box from newegg

Hi.

Yesterday, during black friday, I noticed that newegg put up >one< unit of MSI GX740 "open box" for $845.



I... didn't think clearly through and just jumped at the price and the opportunity. Even after tax, It was more than $100 cheaper than from Amazon.



But after looking at the spotty record of open boxes, I am very, very worried. I thought that because it's the holiday season, anyone who returned it probably did it brand new. But it seems that's not really it.

In addition to the possible loss of power cable/battery, I've read here in this forum that ppl need to to bios/vbios flashes, and a bunch of other things that an amateur can easily brick a computer.





.... So I'm extremely worried that the unit is just "bricked" and will be DOA.

From the order record, it hasn't been packaged/shipped yet so I can cancel it right now without paying the return shipment.


What are the odds of me having a completely unworkable unit? Should I cancel the order? If, by chance, the item was bricked, can I call the MSI customer support and tell them it was DOA, rather than go through Newegg's customer support?


I am so, so worried.

 

I mean, I honestly thought open box > recertified, but it looks like it's worse - they wouldn't even guarantee that it works out of the box.

 

YOu can return it to newegg if it's DOA

 

No harm in waiting for it. Just make sure to test it extensively when you do get it to rule out possible faults in the hardware.

 

Can someone guide me on how I would go about testing it once I get it? Is there a guide out there that has a "checklist" of what I should look out for, what programs I should run to check out? How would I verify that the bios was not improperly flashed or the graphics card was not wrongly overclocked?

 

Benchmarks like 3DMark06 or 3DMarkVantage for general performance. Intel Burn Test to test the CPU. Furmark for GPU testing. HDTune for HDD tests. Memtest for RAM. OCCT for a demanding PSU test, though I don't recommend doing that too often.

Also, the easiest is to load your favorite, most demanding game and have at it for a few hours.

In general, inherent faults on the hardware level should show up relatively quickly.

 

Excellent post. Thank you very much. I'll go through each of those.

 

Just for fun, check the battery wear level with CPUID HW mon or something like that.

Can also maybe check the HDD smart data to see how long it's been used, crystaldiskinfo can do that.

Check it cosmetically, make sure there are no dead/stuck pixels.

Check that all the rubber feet are still on.

Check that it has the right specs and that all of the accessories are in the box (I once bought a demo notebook and when I opened the box none of the manuals or accessories were there, though I didn't care since the price was great).

Pretty sure there is no way you can find out if it has been overclocked/overvolted (unless if arrives overclocked).

 

Oh my god, you guys are awesome! I will definitely do all that asap when I get it!

 

-Although I can live with stuck pixels, the software check with:
1. 3dMarkVantage
2. Intel Burn Test
3. Furmark
4. HDTune
5. Memtest
6. OCCT

And the hardware tests for:
1. CPUID HW mon
2. crystaldiskinfo



are all definitely necessary.


I've been told that testdisk 1.1.3 could be good to see if how many things were installed/deleted, and orthos/prime95 also tests something... which I'll see.


Can all these run from a USB? Or would I have to run an installation for each?

 

CPUID HW mon and crystaldiskinfo have portable versions.

Not sure about the rest (they are small though), but 3dMarkVantage is one that I have not seen a portable version of.

 

Ah, thanks for the quick responses.

Should I run these one at a time, or can I run these all concurrently?

And I saw something called "LinX" in a few people's screenshots - is that something important?

 

You can run a lot of them at one time, probably even all of them.

I have never seen LinX before, google says it's a linpack interface, which I think is the same as Intel Burn Test.

 

What Moral said.

The Linx library--I think it's a library--is used by both IBT and OCCT Linpack CPU test.

 

Thanks a lot - I'll keep you updated.

 

LCD panels are fairly cheap, if you dont like stuck pixels.

 

Not cheaper than the amount he saved though.

Yep, just run all the tests that others have suggested and you should be fine.

Of course, things like Furmark are mainly run to test your cooling system but it's also good for stability testing

 

Just upgraded from an ASUS G50VT-X6 to an MSI GX740-235U. Can't ing wait. It will be here day after tomorrow!

 

I think I actually got pretty lucky. I haven't run all the tests yet - will do in a few days. But all the covers are intact, and the keyboard sponge/surface vinyl works fine too. I updated the VBIOS and BIOS and firmware to the latest versions, so hopefully it'll work ok.

I'll continue to update you with results of any tests or any anomalies I notice.