Second hand Gaming PC

[number2301]

I have here a question for the PC gamers of the Escapist, why when talking about the cost of gaming PCs are second hand machines not mentioned? The question comes from my recent experience where I was trading in some phones at the local Computer Exchange when I noticed a couple of second hand machines in the Window. For £175 I've bought an Athlon 64 X2 5000 with 2Gb RAM and an ATI HD4850 graphics card.

It would appear to me that this will run pretty much any game out there at the moment and for £235 I could have had more powerful Intel quad core processor although this one didn't have a dedicated graphics card which is why I went for the cheaper option.

Even including the cost of Windows 7 (I thought it was about time I used properly licensed Windows) you're talking less than £300 for a decent gaming PC. So my point is to ask why is this option never mentioned when talking about gaming PCs? Has anyone else bought a second hand machine in the past?

Also on a more selfish note, do people think I got a good deal? And am I right in saying that this will run most games?

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I bought a refurbished machine wich came with a 12 month full warranty and it cost me short of £400 with an Intel Quad core, 4Gb RAM, and dedicated GPU.

The trouble is you may not get a warantee on the parts, or the system as a whole, you don't know the condition, and you're not free to make one to your specifications.

 

[razer17]

Also on a more selfish note, do people think I got a good deal? And am I right in saying that this will run most games?

It's not a great PC. It probably wouldn't properly play a lot of recent games. It would run Crysis, but with quite small resolution.

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card, but you can't really upgrade that too much without making the CPU the bottleneck. I would really suggest building your own PC. It's not that hard, my friend taught me on an old PC in about half an hour, and there are loads of good guides on the net. It is also much cheaper. Considering that the machine you're on about is a refurbished machine, so basically second hand, buying components is a much better deal, since they will probably last longer, and will come with minimum 1 year waranty.

Looking at ebuyer, for about £50 more you could get a vastly superior system. Also, that system has a better prospect for upgrades in the future.

 

[Delusibeta]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

 

[razer17]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

Yws, it's not a terrible card, but it's also not great. Like I said, it will handle Crysis on high settings, with a low resolution. The CPU is also not great by any means.

The swith to AM3 is one of the things I was reffering to when I mentioned scope for future upgrade. I personally don't think that this PC is worth it. I think you would be better off holding on for a little while, saving some money, and then getting a much better system for around a £100 more. In fact, I'm soon getting a system for £330, which is a respectable spec (except theres no video card, which I will get later) including a Core i3, 4gb RAM and a GB Spinpoint F3 HD.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

Yws, it's not a terrible card, but it's also not great. Like I said, it will handle Crysis on high settings, with a low resolution. The CPU is also not great by any means.

The swith to AM3 is one of the things I was reffering to when I mentioned scope for future upgrade. I personally don't think that this PC is worth it. I think you would be better off holding on for a little while, saving some money, and then getting a much better system for around a £100 more. In fact, I'm soon getting a system for £330, which is a respectable spec (except theres no video card, which I will get later) including a Core i3, 4gb RAM and a GB Spinpoint F3 HD.

You can get decent PCs for not too much money. And then you have the scope for upgrades.

<url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-259-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat>This PC is pretty damn good for £340, and has great potential for upgrades too. In fact that website is where I go for all my PC stuff since they have great prices and good service.

Specs:
- Case: Xigmatek Asgard - Black
- Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W
- CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1024MB GDDR3
- Sound: ALC888B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter

 

[number2301]

Damn, spoilt my new PC high . I'd love to see this full system for £50 which is better. The best I got on pricing a system up by components was at least £400. Remember this machine was £175, you can't even get a PS3 for that! Hell if i'll play Crysis on high at low res I'm happy enough. I've got 10 years of PC games to catch up on first!

 

[number2301]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

Yws, it's not a terrible card, but it's also not great. Like I said, it will handle Crysis on high settings, with a low resolution. The CPU is also not great by any means.

The swith to AM3 is one of the things I was reffering to when I mentioned scope for future upgrade. I personally don't think that this PC is worth it. I think you would be better off holding on for a little while, saving some money, and then getting a much better system for around a £100 more. In fact, I'm soon getting a system for £330, which is a respectable spec (except theres no video card, which I will get later) including a Core i3, 4gb RAM and a GB Spinpoint F3 HD.

You can get decent PCs for not too much money. And then you have the scope for upgrades.

<url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-259-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat>This PC is pretty damn good for £340, and has great potential for upgrades too. In fact that website is where I go for all my PC stuff since they have great prices and good service.

Specs:
- Case: Xigmatek Asgard - Black
- Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W
- CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1024MB GDDR3
- Sound: ALC888B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter

Correct me if I'm wrong, but £150 could easily see me replace the current processor and motherboard couldn't it? Which lets me spread the cost out a bit.

I know it isn't new, but it's got a 12 month warranty

 

[MrGiGs]

This may be coincidence, or it might not (I randomly read these forums a lot, but never have anything to contribute or say) but, you didn't happen to see that PC in the Leeds branch of CEX by any chance ? I happened to notice that PC (or from what I remember a very similarly spec'd one) in the window a few weeks ago, and while I was in the city centre just the other day noticed it had sold. I had been thinking of picking it up, because for the price its a pretty decent PC (sure its upgrade path is a little expensive but for the initial cost it was a bargain imo). I would simply have used it as a tertiary PC, or perhaps something to keep my sister occupied whenever she's back from Uni. But I'm glad it ended up with someone who really wanted it.

BTW, CEX is very good about its warranties, they'll warranty the whole thing, should anything inside stop working they'll also try and replace it with something of equiv value or spec.

 

[GiantRedButton]

The HD 4850 plays crisis on high at 1920*1200. Tried it.
Its a generaL rule that ppl talk down pcs on forums

 

[thenumberthirteen]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

Yws, it's not a terrible card, but it's also not great. Like I said, it will handle Crysis on high settings, with a low resolution. The CPU is also not great by any means.

The swith to AM3 is one of the things I was reffering to when I mentioned scope for future upgrade. I personally don't think that this PC is worth it. I think you would be better off holding on for a little while, saving some money, and then getting a much better system for around a £100 more. In fact, I'm soon getting a system for £330, which is a respectable spec (except theres no video card, which I will get later) including a Core i3, 4gb RAM and a GB Spinpoint F3 HD.

You can get decent PCs for not too much money. And then you have the scope for upgrades.

<url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-259-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat>This PC is pretty damn good for £340, and has great potential for upgrades too. In fact that website is where I go for all my PC stuff since they have great prices and good service.

Specs:
- Case: Xigmatek Asgard - Black
- Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W
- CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1024MB GDDR3
- Sound: ALC888B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter

Correct me if I'm wrong, but £150 could easily see me replace the current processor and motherboard couldn't it? Which lets me spread the cost out a bit.

I know it isn't new, but it's got a 12 month warranty

It depends on what you get. Though if you were to get a new MoBo you'd probably need DDR3 RAM as well. Which would add a bit to the cost. Though if you were to spend £175 for a PC and £150 on basically everything but the case, power supply, and GPU (which may need upgrading) you may as well save your money and buy a better PC.

 

[Skorpyo]

Mine is made up with a mash-up of second-hand parts.

An ASUS P4B mainboard, 3 512 Mb SDRAM sticks, a couple of scavenged HDD's, a couple of scavenged Optical drives, a load of scavenged cabling, an Apevia X-telstar jr. I bought at a swap meet, and a 2.4 Ghz P4 that I rescued from a Dell.

The only new parts are my PSU and cooling system.

 

[number2301]

This may be coincidence, or it might not (I randomly read these forums a lot, but never have anything to contribute or say) but, you didn't happen to see that PC in the Leeds branch of CEX by any chance ? I happened to notice that PC (or from what I remember a very similarly spec'd one) in the window a few weeks ago, and while I was in the city centre just the other day noticed it had sold. I had been thinking of picking it up, because for the price its a pretty decent PC (sure its upgrade path is a little expensive but for the initial cost it was a bargain imo). I would simply have used it as a tertiary PC, or perhaps something to keep my sister occupied whenever she's back from Uni. But I'm glad it ended up with someone who really wanted it.

BTW, CEX is very good about its warranties, they'll warranty the whole thing, should anything inside stop working they'll also try and replace it with something of equiv value or spec.

Well that is bizarre, yes it was the Leeds city centre branch! I'm glad if nothing else my post prompted you to sign up and revealed a really cool coincidence!

 

[number2301]

The major bottle neck is probably the vidoe card,

Tom's Hardware disagrees. [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850,2782-7.html] The HD 4850 still holds its own. The bottleneck will probably be that CPU, which is of low Core 2 Duo standard. That said, CPU has become fairly unimportant recently, although it is the weakest component in the build. The bad news is that the socket the CPU uses, AM2, has been pretty much abandoned in favour of the AM3.

Ultimately, give it a shot. For the money, it's not at all bad, and for sub-£300 pre-built, it's decent value. That said, be prepared to replace the motherboard if you want to upgrade the CPU. Rest of the stats look good, it's just that CPU might bring the whole thing down.

Yws, it's not a terrible card, but it's also not great. Like I said, it will handle Crysis on high settings, with a low resolution. The CPU is also not great by any means.

The swith to AM3 is one of the things I was reffering to when I mentioned scope for future upgrade. I personally don't think that this PC is worth it. I think you would be better off holding on for a little while, saving some money, and then getting a much better system for around a £100 more. In fact, I'm soon getting a system for £330, which is a respectable spec (except theres no video card, which I will get later) including a Core i3, 4gb RAM and a GB Spinpoint F3 HD.

You can get decent PCs for not too much money. And then you have the scope for upgrades.

<url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-259-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat>This PC is pretty damn good for £340, and has great potential for upgrades too. In fact that website is where I go for all my PC stuff since they have great prices and good service.

Specs:
- Case: Xigmatek Asgard - Black
- Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W
- CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1024MB GDDR3
- Sound: ALC888B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter

Correct me if I'm wrong, but £150 could easily see me replace the current processor and motherboard couldn't it? Which lets me spread the cost out a bit.

I know it isn't new, but it's got a 12 month warranty

It depends on what you get. Though if you were to get a new MoBo you'd probably need DDR3 RAM as well. Which would add a bit to the cost. Though if you were to spend £175 for a PC and £150 on basically everything but the case, power supply, and GPU (which may need upgrading) you may as well save your money and buy a better PC.

Pretty much, except one way round gives me a gaming PC I can use now, the other way doesn't. It had really started to get to me that my PC was so old.