I Need A Site That Tells Me A Computer's Value at Launch

[jamail77]

We got an older computer as a gift recently. It crashed on us. Turns out the hard drive and video/graphics card were old and had gone bad for whatever reason.

People in my family are worrying I am spending too much to fix the computer and upgrade those 2 parts. Considering they are replacing both those parts, cloning the hard drive, and all after performing diagnostic tests and checking for other problems, while waiting for shipping and charging for labor I think the price is fair.

I am trying to find a site that can tell me what that computer cost at launch to as a variety of factors to demonstrate I am being relatively cost effective (there are better ways but it's about spending less than a new computer out of immediate lack of money rather than spending a little more for a brand new one without having that much extra money) about this but I am not having any luck. Can anyone help direct me?

 

[Albino Boo]

I don't think there is one. I can give you a rough idea but I suspect that isn't enough for what you want. There is also the question of what its worth now. In some low spec machines a new GPU and hard drive is more than the value of the machine

 

[jamail77]

In some low spec machines a new GPU and hard drive is more than the value of the machine

Of course. At that point a new computer might be a better investment. But like I said, this is about immediate cost effectiveness and somewhat long term cost effectiveness. We live somewhat paycheck to paycheck but not in an impoverished way necessarily. It's difficult to explain. The former is more important right now. By the time we'd have the long term money we'd have already wanted/needed the extra computer.

 

[Nomad]

In some low spec machines a new GPU and hard drive is more than the value of the machine

Of course. At that point a new computer might be a better investment. But like I said, this is about immediate cost effectiveness and somewhat long term cost effectiveness. We live somewhat paycheck to paycheck but not in an impoverished way necessarily. It's difficult to explain. The former is more important right now. By the time we'd have the long term money we'd have already wanted/needed the extra computer.

That sounds to me like you just need a working computer. Then the question should be how much money you need to spend to get a working computer. Will fixing your existing computer cost less than buying any random new one? If yes, then what you're doing is cost effective.

If what you're after is optimal performance for your money, then you'd need to compare the performance of your existing build coupled with the repair cost against the performance of a new machine with the same price.

 

[jamail77]

That sounds to me like you just need a working computer. Then the question should be how much money you need to spend to get a working computer. Will fixing your existing computer cost less than buying any random new one? If yes, then what you're doing is cost effective.

If what you're after is optimal performance for your money, then you'd need to compare the performance of your existing build coupled with the repair cost against the performance of a new machine with the same price.

Exactly.

The point about me needing a site to tell me the value of the computer at launch is part of that reassurance. One of the first things I was asked by my Mom was how long ago the computer was bought and how much it cost her. Telling her all that will reassure her, but knowing what it was purchased for when we got it is extra reassurance and matters to her more frankly whether or not it makes logical sense.

 

[Nomad]

That sounds to me like you just need a working computer. Then the question should be how much money you need to spend to get a working computer. Will fixing your existing computer cost less than buying any random new one? If yes, then what you're doing is cost effective.

If what you're after is optimal performance for your money, then you'd need to compare the performance of your existing build coupled with the repair cost against the performance of a new machine with the same price.

Exactly.

The point about me needing a site to tell me the value of the computer at launch is part of that reassurance. One of the first things I was asked by my Mom was how long ago the computer was bought and how much it cost her. Telling her all that will reassure her, but knowing what it was purchased for when we got it is extra reassurance and matters to her more frankly whether or not it makes logical sense.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not convinced that's a useful way of thinking about it. A top-of-the-line machine that's 5 years old is still going to be mediocre when compared to a current generation entry level machine, even though it originally cost four times as much. Basically, the value of your current computer is zero, because it doesn't work. The repair cost is the equivalent of the purchasing price of buying a functional computer. This means that in order to judge whether or not you're getting optimal performance for your money, you need to compare what you're getting for the repair cost with what you'd get if you bought a new computer for the same price as the repair cost.

If you post your specifications and repair cost here, then I'm sure we could estimate what an equivalent current-gen machine would be.

 

[jamail77]

I get what you're saying, but I'm not convinced that's a useful way of thinking about it.

It's not, but we're not talking about me. We're talking about getting my Mom to understand. This is a person who complains getting her programs and Wi-Fi to work should be simple considering the $1000 she spent on her own two computers. Yet, she doesn't want to hear how she hasn't taken care of them these past few years ESPECIALLY when I was away at a college up north for 2 years and wasn't here to help her. She doesn't want to learn the simple things to do to take care of them because, to quote her, "I'm not interested in this computer stuff" and "Honestly, I hate computers". Of course, she loves her iPad *rolls eyes*. Old as they may be considering the simple things she does with them they should honestly still be good a while longer.

So, for her to hear, that my brother and I got our own computer (this would be the 3rd desktop in our house) as a gift from the next door neighbor and that it quickly crashed on us - I surely must have broken it is where her mind goes first - and that I'm spending money to fix it is frustrating to her.

If you post your specifications and repair cost here, then I'm sure we could estimate what an equivalent current-gen machine would be.

Unfortunately, I don't remember all the specs of the machine and I need to get to work so I can't find my receipt and see if they put the specs on that. I'll have to get back to you on that.

What I can tell you is that it's going to cost $350 to fix a machine that came out long ago enough but new enough that the specific machine was shipped with XP but has a sticker saying it's fully upgradeable to Vista. I said most of this in my OP but since it's relevant I guess I'll repeat it here:

The cost adds up from labor, diagnostics, replacing the bad hard drive and cloning it onto the new hard drive as well as making it an external, replacing the graphics/video card with one of the cheapest cards they could get that should still be good and last a decent while; GTX I think; shipping for those parts, and installing/updating to the latest version of Windows and other related basic software.

 

[Nomad]

Unfortunately, I don't remember all the specs of the machine and I need to get to work so I can't find my receipt and see if they put the specs on that. I'll have to get back to you on that.

What I can tell you is that it's going to cost $350 to fix a machine that came out long ago enough but new enough that the specific machine was shipped with XP but has a sticker saying it's fully upgradeable to Vista. I said most of this in my OP but since it's relevant I guess I'll repeat it here:

The cost adds up from labor, diagnostics, replacing the bad hard drive and cloning it onto the new hard drive as well as making it an external, replacing the graphics/video card with one of the cheapest cards they could get that should still be good and last a decent while; GTX I think; shipping for those parts, and installing/updating to the latest version of Windows and other related basic software.

Well, if the OS they're installing (presumably windows 10, if it's the "latest version") isn't one you already own, that's a little over $100 right there. So that'd leave $250 for picking components if you'd spend the money on a new machine - not a whole lot to work with. You can make it work, but it isn't going to be pretty. For one thing, if you even managed to work a dedicated graphics card into that budget, it wouldn't be much better than an integrated chip anyway.

So I'd say it comes down to your current specifications, then, and to what they're planning on putting into it. "GTX" unfortunately doesn't say much else than it being a nvidia card, and that it's part of the enthusiast line. It still leaves out information about the generation and the specific model, though. For the price they're asking, I'm guessing you're looking at a GTX 750, which is last generation's entry model in the line. If so, it'll absolutely keep you floating, but you can't expect much in terms of bells and whistles.

 

[jamail77]

Well, if the OS they're installing (presumably windows 10, if it's the "latest version") isn't one you already own, that's a little over $100 right there.

Oh, sorry. I said that out of force of habit. I've been going to this repair place a long time and there was a time when what they install was the newest OS. They'd be installing Windows 7 Ultimate.

For the price they're asking, I'm guessing you're looking at a GTX 750, which is last generation's entry model in the line. If so, it'll absolutely keep you floating, but you can't expect much in terms of bells and whistles.

I'm not expecting too much. It'll mostly be used by my brother rather than me and that work will mostly be school or Facebook like stuff related. So, word processing and internet browsing. It'll be used for gaming, but most of the games will be 2005 or before, older games.

 

[Nomad]

Well, if the OS they're installing (presumably windows 10, if it's the "latest version") isn't one you already own, that's a little over $100 right there.

Oh, sorry. I said that out of force of habit. I've been going to this repair place a long time and there was a time when what they install was the newest OS. They'd be installing Windows 7 Ultimate.

If you don't already own the copy of the OS they're installing, that'll work out well for you in the end anyway. For the next year, the upgrade from windows 7 to windows 10 is free - so given that it's the ultimate edition, that'd net you a copy of windows 10 professional, which costs closer to $200 than the $100 of windows 10 home.

I'm not expecting too much. It'll mostly be used by my brother rather than me and that work will mostly be school or Facebook like stuff related. So, word processing and internet browsing. It'll be used for gaming, but most of the games will be 2005 or before, older games.

That'll be just fine on any random current or last generation GTX-card, then. And I can't imagine they'd go back further than a generation, since they're not likely to have anything older still in stock.

 

[jamail77]

For the next year, the upgrade from windows 7 to windows 10 is free - so given that it's the ultimate edition, that'd net you a copy of windows 10 professional, which costs closer to $200 than the $100 of windows 10 home.

Yeah, I knew about the upgrade, but I'm not sure on doing it right away. I've heard it's actually a pretty good OS, but I'm going to wait for the major problems to be patched out. However long that will take. I don't know if waiting is worth it or if there are major problems, but, unless given solid advice from multiple people otherwise, that's what I'm going to do.

That'll be just fine on any random current or last generation GTX-card, then. And I can't imagine they'd go back further than a generation, since they're not likely to have anything older still in stock.

Just out of curiosity, what are the newest games such a card could handle assuming comparable other hardware installed along with it? I mostly use my laptop for games that came out 3-5 years ago (any newer and it can't handle it; many of the games I play now I have to run on all minimum settings, low resolution, the works), so if I can put some newer games on the desktop that would free up some space on my laptop's SDD.

 

[Nomad]

Just out of curiosity, what are the newest games such a card could handle assuming comparable other hardware installed along with it? I mostly use my laptop for games that came out 3-5 years ago (any newer and it can't handle it; many of the games I play now I have to run on all minimum settings, low resolution, the works), so if I can put some newer games on the desktop that would free up some space on my laptop's SDD.

That would depend on which card we're talking about. Any GTX-line card from the current or last generation should be able to run pretty much anything, though - but not always comfortably. Assuming it's a 750, it would be pretty much bang on target for the minimum system requirements for The Witcher 3, for instance. That would mean low graphics settings, but you could probably just use your native resolution without issue. You would also be able to run (for example) Far cry 4, Bioshock Infinite, Battlefield 4, Dragon Age 3 and pretty much all the rest of the recent demanding high-profile games. You'd just need to scale down the graphics settings most of the time, and be prepared for some choppiness here and there. I personally held out until last year with a GTX 460, which is roughly half as capable as a 750.

Even with a 750, your desktop computer would be several leagues ahead of any laptop with an integrated circuit. Laptops are generally terrible for gaming, because you can't fit decent hardware into a profile that small - especially when you also consider the heating issues.

 

[jamail77]

That would depend on which card we're talking about.

Yeah, that's why I said,

such a card

to indicate I was referring to what you think it is (and I am pretty sure that is what it is or something like it because it sounds more or less familiar to what I remember hearing but memory can be deceiving).

Even with a 750, your desktop computer would be several leagues ahead of any laptop with an integrated circuit. Laptops are generally terrible for gaming, because you can't fit decent hardware into a profile that small - especially when you also consider the heating issues.

On a personal experience level, oh god. *Shudders at the idea of his laptop heating the way it used to. Sobs at loss of cooling board. Wishes he could afford a proper gaming desktop. Wants to undo that time he spilled tomato soup on his laptop*

 

[jamail77]

If you post your specifications and repair cost here, then I'm sure we could estimate what an equivalent current-gen machine would be.

Early if this TL;DR: Just read the specs only. 2nd (starting at "It's an HP"), 3rd, and 4th paragraphs assuming you ignore the bullet point and paragraphs walled off by a set of two lines. I'll bold them to make it easier

Well, I got it back a few days ago and I have just been trying to improve performance with programs, updates, scaled down desktop resolution (only when I play games newer than the 2005 or older I specified). Updating the drivers was a huge mistake though; made the computer blue screen crash. I called the shop and it turns out the reason it took so long besides upgrading it to Windows 7 Ultimate and updating it, putting the new hard drive in, all while waiting for the graphics card to ship in was that they tried to put the newest drivers too and crashed it themselves, haha. Not doing that again. Anyway...

It's an HP Pavillion m7690n with an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU E6400 @ 2.13 GHz with 2 GB Ram and a 32-bit OS.
The graphics card is a bit worse than you guessed, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 TI.
[li]

I'm not sure if that is why The Force Unleashed crashed on me, but yeah. It's weird too because I ran it on minimum settings, lowest resolution, even changed the screen resolution of the computer/desktop itself. Ran a game booster too. It was running at a fine, mostly consistent, 30 FPS but it always crashes at weird times. So far it's done it twice, once during a jump and the other during a display of force power that caused an explosion against a group of enemies.​

[/li]

Sorry, bit sidetracked. I don't know if this is important but it says "DAC Type: Integradted RAMDAC" and that the BIOS is Version 63.95.3c0.91 (I include that because I'm not sure if it's an older BIOS I can upgrade safely without causing crashes like updating certain drivers did). They also replaced the bad hard drive with a newer but small sized 232 GB one.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here's some stuff I know isn't all that important to know compared to the above, but I'm gonna include it for the heck of it and because I'm curious to learn more about it though I do know a fair amount:

"Total Available Graphics Memory: 2815 MB, Dedicated Video Memory: 2048 MB, System Video Memory: 0 MB, and Shared System Memory: 767 MB"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Before the fixes and upgrades it had a 500 GB hard drive and a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT that failed diagnostic tests and caused the initial crash that made me send it in for repairs in the first place. Because of all the trouble and time it took they took of the tax and it ended up costing me $335. It also turned out I forgot to ask them to clone the hard drive, so they never did that.

So, did I get a decent deal compared to just getting a new computer with similar specs? I don't plan on upgrading it to Windows 10 right away. I had another person come in to work on a different computer of ours. I think he does service by himself rather than as part of a shop or company and he told me Windows 10 screwed up all his settings - I imagine to the default Windows 10 ones - and caused weird black screens and things like that. I don't quite remember all the details, but he also thinks that my waiting for the major bugs to be worked out is a good idea.