WORLDTECHChips & Hardware SINGLE SOURCE
Buying used CPUs can expose you to existing bans from anti-cheat engines
First reported Source: Tom's HardwareLast editorial activity
What happened
When the Redditor bought and installed it on their PC, their Valorant account received a ban, too. When they reached out to Riot for support, they found out that the CPU (the general-purpose processor at the centre of a computer) they bought on Sep.
The CPU's previous owner apparently used it for cheating on Valorant, with its HWID getting flagged by Vanguard. A gamer from Germany bought a used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and got slapped with a Valorant ban.
u/After-Cartoonist-196 shared the problem on the r/PCBauder subreddit [machine translated]; although the processor worked perfectly fine when they ran their computer, they were immediately kicked out after they fired up the game. 21, 2026, was blacklisted by Vanguard on Aug.
Key facts
- When they reached out to Riot for support, they โ found: out that the CPU they bought on Sep
Sources & evidence
- Tom's Hardware Reporting source
Buying used CPUs can expose users to existing bans from anti-cheat engines, and there's no way to check for violations before purchase โ
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/buying-used-cpus-can-expose-users-to-existing-bans-from-anti-cheat-engines-some-anti-cheat-engines-enforce-permanent-bans-while-others-have-an-expiration-date