Player Buys a Used CPU and Gets Banned in Valorant

A Valorant player ended up in an unfortunate situation because of a used processor. He bought a second-hand Ryzen 7 5800X3D and, the first time he launched the game, discovered that the processor had been blocked by the Vanguard anti-cheat. The reason: its previous owner had used cheats.

The player shared his problem in the German r/PCBaumeister community on Reddit. According to him, he bought the processor through a classifieds site, and it worked without any issues. But the very first time he launched Valorant, the game immediately shut down, even though there had been no problems with his old processor. Riot support explained that the processor's serial number had been blacklisted in Vanguard:

When I contacted Riot, they informed me that my CPU ID/serial number is blacklisted in the Vanguard system because it's on the 12th. August was locked due to a hardware ban because the previous owner apparently cheated with it in Valo. I've only owned the CPU since September 21st

Worst of all, because of the blocked processor, other components in his computer were also added to the blacklist, including the motherboard and storage drive. Riot support refused to lift the ban, so the player decided to leave his post up as a warning to others.

Riot hasn't disclosed exactly how Vanguard ties a ban to a specific processor. A standard processor ID only identifies the model, so the company likely uses additional hardware "fingerprints."

However, this story seems to have a happy ending. Vanguard anti-cheat developer Phillip Koskinas commented on the thread. He explained that hardware bans aren't permanent:

Hardware bans last a maximum of 4 months, and they're only applied to games where cheats were detected

This means the processor, which was banned on August 12, should be "cleared" around mid-December. At the same time, Koskinas didn't hide that he would personally take a much harsher approach to cheaters:

If it were up to me, we'd have lifetime bans that would follow them even into hell

This story is a good reminder for anyone buying used hardware. The chance of running into blocked hardware is small, but when buying a processor second-hand, it's worth being careful, especially if you plan to play games with aggressive anti-cheat.