Really depends on where you're located and what kind of cheap we're talking about. For instance, I buy the overwhelming majority of my equipment used or refurb -- anywhere from Amazon (warehouse deals) to Microcenter / Newegg (open box) to Ebay to sites like PC Server and Parts [0]. I also frequent thrift stores (got a perfectly good Epson Workforce 1100 for $9, just needed ink and a little love).<p>I will say that for some of it, stuff in the "really-cheap-in-comparison-to-MSRP, but still money" category, buying from a vendor that specializes in refurb/off-lease is a safer bet than a mishmash of Ebay parts just in the event that a given component is bad or unreliable. For instance, I recently put together a dual-Xeon box and the riser board was damaged in some way I couldn't repair; PCSP sent me a new one, problem solved. Would've been fairly costly had that been an Ebay buy (especially from a Chinese vendor, the shipping now! my god). All-in, I ended up with case, power supply, riser board, 2x E5-2667v4 CPUs, 256gb ram, GTX 1080ti for like $490. After using some other recycled parts and then selling some old stuff on Ebay, I ended up with a new computer for like 350 bucks... and for being essentially 10 year old equipment, it's shockingly performant.<p>You just never know what you'll find!<p>It takes time to research and decide what you actually want, then locate it at a good price, so you better be in love with the hunt hahaha.<p>[0] <a href="https://pcserverandparts.com" rel="nofollow">https://pcserverandparts.com</a>