Used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Triggers Valorant Ban for German Buyer
A German gamer was banned from Valorant after installing a used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU that Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat had blacklisted due to the previous owner cheating.
A gamer in Germany bought a used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D on September 21, 2026, only to find themselves banned from Valorant when they launched the game. The CPU had been blacklisted by Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat on August 12, 2026, because its previous owner had cheated in Valorant.
Riot customer service told the buyer the ban cannot be reversed. The incident was shared on Reddit and gained traction on X, highlighting a risk for second-hand hardware buyers.
Riot Games anti-cheat specialist Phillip Koskinas stated that hardware bans last a maximum of four months and are game-specific. He also said the anti-cheat system matches only one component on the denylist, not all parts of the offending player's PC.
Other anti-cheat systems take different approaches. Easy Anti-Cheat bans cheaters and users with affected hardware across all games that use it, while BattlEye enforces permanent global bans. Vanguard requires Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, and Ricochet contacts Microsoft's servers to confirm the system remains untampered.
In a separate incident, one Valorant anti-cheat update soft-bricked purpose-built cheating hardware, alarming some who thought the company was killing hardware.
Quick answers
Why was the used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D banned?
Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat blacklisted the CPU on August 12, 2026, because its previous owner cheated in Valorant.
How long do Riot's hardware bans last?
Riot Games anti-cheat specialist Phillip Koskinas said hardware bans last a maximum of four months and are game-specific.
Can the ban be reversed?
Riot customer service told the buyer the ban cannot be reversed.