A person on my course is selling their computer, and i’ve been meaning to get one for a while. I’d want to use it for games (new shiny stuff, so graphics intensive) as well as just word processing and all. Would it be ok for me, and is it good for the price?
Too good to be true. Look for a hook. Wish it was on this side of the pond.
Does the OS come with it?
Eh, not really. About a year ago I built a machine with similar specs for less money than that. Probably someone just looking to recoup an initial investment on a computer he/she doesn’t want or need anymore.
I would ask why they’re selling it, though.
They got a new system, apperently.
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- It could certainly play some games, but overall it is somewhat dated.
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- It could certainly play some games, but overall it is somewhat dated.
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- As for “how much is it worth”, I tried shopping at mWave for equivalent parts:
Cpu: Amd Athlon 64™ 3400+ 2.2ghz (3.4ghz intel equalivant) —[$180 for 3200, the fastest they carry in socket 754]
MotherBoard: Asrock K8Upgrade NF3 Socket 754 AGP8x,SATA —[$60]
Memory: 1 gig of ddr400 —[$80]
Graphics Card: XfX nvidia 6600 —[~$120 for closest thing I could find]
Sound: Realtek ALC850 8channel AC’97 7.1 audio codec —[$0, built-into mobo]
Lan: (Local Area Network) Realtek RTL8201CL 10/100 Ethernet LAN PHY —[$0, built-into mobo]
Hard Drive: 80Gb UDMA 7200RPM IDE Hard Disk Drive —[$60, old and small]
Cd Rom: Ivory 52x Record 24x ReWrite 52xCD Rom IDE CD Writer —[DVD-RW drives are down to about $40 now]
Cooling: Akasa EVO 33 Athlon 64 & Athlon FX CPU Cooler —[$0, stock cooling would do fine]
…you would need a case too,** cheap ones are $30**.
…a copy of WinXP Home OEM is about $80 now.
“It will also include power dvd, Norton 2005,”… PowerDVD is frequently bundled with videocards anyway (at least in the US). Norton 2005 was a frequent givaway also. I wouldn’t pay anything for either of these really. If you get a OEM CD-RW or DVD-RW drive, it usually includes a limited copy of Nero with it: not all features are there, but it will burn simple disks.
So, total cost to build it yourself would be about $650 US, or £371. Or a bit more than that really–for the keyboard, speakers, ect. You could get better/quieter cooling if you wanted it.
Assuming that you could get parts for anywhere near the same prices US peoples can mail=order them at.
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A currency-conversion site translates the price to about $1,000 U.S. If that holds up, the price of parts parses out to about $700-800 depending on the model of monitor and speakers and whatnot. Add in the price of software (O.S. and whatever else), and it’s a decent deal. It will definitely play pretty much any game currently out, so you’re good on that front. (That said, I’d ask for the wattage and brand of the power supply before buying.)
It does smell a lot like a box cobbled together from hand-me-down parts, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this (I’ve sold a bunch of Frankensteins myself), but it bears mentioning. You may also want to see how much another hard drive and an upgrade to a DVD burner will cost you. (It shouldn’t be that much more, FWIW.)
Personally, I think you should see if you can get something comparable from a traditional retailer as this would give you the benefit of knowing that everything is new as well as coming with a warranty (and, as likely as not, a DVD burner and maybe even a flat-panel monitor). (Alternatively, you could probably negotiate 10-15% off the price of this box if you were so inclined.)
(On preview, DougC more or less beat me to the punch. Heh, oh well.)
I just did a build-your-own at www.micom.co.uk for a similar spec machine (actually, slightly better) and it came out at around £550 inc VAT; adding a monitor did bump the price up a bit, but the listed spec doesn’t say what kind comes with this one; a 15 inch flat panel can be had on ebuyer for less than a ton.
Norton 2005 is a minus selling point, IMO, unless you need something to put your coffee cup on. Optical mice cost about a pound fifty. PowerDVD probably came free with the drive.
It’s not exactly daylight robbery, but you can get a better system new for the same or less.