Used CPU Carries Over Previous Owner's Valorant Ban, German Buyer Finds

A gamer in Germany discovered that purchasing a used processor can carry over an anti-cheat ban tied to the hardware, after being locked out of Valorant on a chip whose previous owner had been flagged for cheating.

According to Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp, Reddit user After-Cartoonist-196 described the situation on the r/PCBaumeister subreddit. The user said they bought an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D through the German classifieds platform Kleinanzeigen on September 21, 2026. The processor worked normally, but Valorant removed them from the game at launch, even though the title had run without issue on their previous CPU.

When the user contacted Riot support, they were reportedly told that the CPU's hardware ID had been added to Vanguard's blacklist on August 12, 2026, because the chip's earlier owner had cheated in the game. Tom's Hardware reported that Riot states the ban duration is four months. The buyer also said other components in their system, including their motherboard and storage drive, had been flagged, and that support would not reverse the ban.