Many repair guys will scam you by doubling the price of the part you needed to replace. Recently I decided to buy reserve computer parts so it will be available when it gets broken. I decided to buy parts I know have the high risk to get broken like a Motherboard, Graphics card, Ram Card , BIOS Chip and a microprocessor. Buying extra parts saved me from a lot of trouble because it got repaired faster and I saved money because the repairman didn't end up selling me overpriced parts.
It seems like you've just bought an extra CPU minus the casing and hard disk! I wouldn't do that. I'll only buy the parts myself when it gets broken. Besides that, the parts' warranty are running without them being used so that's a waste. But you are right about not allowing the repair man to supply the parts unless he has a cheaper source for the same brands you would like to use.
Same here, I don't think I would want to spend my money on PC parts just in case it gets broken because PC's also upgrade in time. Like before we have the IDE and dual core features of the PC. Now we have SATA and Intel's Core I processors, so you would most likely end up with an outdated PC if you bought all the parts needed to assemble it as reserve. I think it's better to just buy parts as they get broken and not in anticipation of when they get broken.
One way to avoid been scammed by the repair persons when it come to part replacement is to arrange for the repairer to give the specs for the required part and you purchase it yourself and you should also request that he gives you the part that he has removed which could make it easier when you are purchasing the new part. I don't believe that buying reserve parts would be a wise idea because there is the possibility of you haveing the part, it becomes outdated and you are unable to resell it.
When I know the exact problem of my computer, I myself buy the part and have it replaced. But when I bring my computer to the shop for diagnosis, I have no choice but to let the technician replace the broken part from his store. And that is usually the case. My trick with that is to haggle with the price. Like the power supply which bogged down, the tech quoted me a price (from their store) and I haggled 50% until he offered a discount of 80%. That’s fine with me. At least the spare part is not that expensive.
