Buying a Used CPU Can Get You Ban from This Game

Buying pre-owned computer components can carry a surprising risk: the ban imposed on a previous owner for cheating may follow the hardware to its new user. Reddit user u/After-Cartoonist-196 reported that after installing a second-hand AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, they were immediately banned from playing Valorant upon launching the game.

Riot Support confirmed the processor had previously been linked to a cheater. Riot's anti-cheat system, Vanguard, can impose hardware bans in severe cheating cases, which can last up to four months and only affect the game where the cheating happened. This means a ban in Valorant does not automatically prevent access to other Riot games like League of Legends or Teamfight Tactics.

The exact method Riot uses to identify individual processors remains unclear. CPUs normally provide model information to the operating system, but multiple identical chips are difficult to distinguish without additional factors. One possibility is that Vanguard uses a broader hardware fingerprint based on several system components or identifiers. Another theory is that it accesses the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for security checks. However, Riot has not confirmed these methods.

Vanguard operates at the Windows kernel level, which allows it deep access to the system to detect cheating software. Riot has justified this level of access as necessary to catch cheats that also operate deep within Windows. In June 2026, Riot relaxed Vanguard's traditional autostart requirement for some systems, allowing it to run alongside a game session if certain features such as TPM, Secure Boot, and memory protection are enabled.

This situation highlights an additional risk when purchasing used gaming hardware: even if the component functions properly, it may still be associated with a previous owner's anti-cheat punishment. The post "Buying a Used CPU Can Get You Ban from This Game" was initially published on ProPakistani.