No money + Computer Gamer = BAD

wowfan121 · 12-18-2006, 02:03 PM

Ok heres the deal. I have a really crappy computer...heres the specs

P4 1.50 GHz
768 MB PC133 SDRAM (3 256mb)
Intel Havre D845HV motherboard (no longer manufactured or suppored by intel)
Geforce 2 MX 200 32mb AGP

I was thinking to about getting a $75 256MB agp card to boost performance in games a bit. But i recently checked out ebay and saw some of the desktop pcs that are being bidded on. Some of them are almost too good to be true. I saw a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz with 1gb ram, agp and pci-E slots for $300 bucks. No power cables, video card, hard drive or RAM come with it but isn't this a good deal? I could buy my vid card for $75 bucks and put my current harddrive in it and BOOM. Super fast gaming system for $375.

I checked out all the rep and out of about 250 comments all were positive but one. I've never been to e bay before so what do you guys think? Are there alot of scams like this on e-bay?

yustr · 12-18-2006, 10:36 PM

I'm leary of buying much off of ebay. The particular vendor you saw probably is legit but there's no way to tell other than the feedback. Plus you have no recourse if something does go wrong. (Sure ebay says they'll investigate but how much time are they going to spend to get back your $300 when there's $3000 rip off goiong on???

Besides, there are well respected retail outlets like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com that will sell you barebones kits for less. See "My System" below left to see what I built from a tigerdirect kit and some spare parts off an old machine. Total cost for new parts: <$200 (but I didn't need a OS - be sure to figure that in if you don't have a legal copy of XP lying around.)

**gamerman0203** · 12-19-2006, 06:37 AM

Unfortunatly, as you know, your system isn't up to snuff for most games these days. The idea you have is a possibility, but you need to take into consideration the following: your power supply may not (probably isn't) be powerful enough to run the new system efficiently; you'll need to buy new memory along with a new video card because the memory you're running now is out of date technology and the motherboard won't run it; windows and drivers can get finicky when switched to a new hardware setup. You'll need to update XP to the latest (everything "Windows Update" says it should have) and then when installed in the new system, you'll need to do a repair install of XP to get things back in order.

I don't mean to be a downer about anything, I just wanted you to be aware.

12-18-2006, 02:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
wowfan121 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 2 OS: WinXP	No money + Computer Gamer = BAD Ok heres the deal. I have a really crappy computer...heres the specs P4 1.50 GHz 768 MB PC133 SDRAM (3 256mb) Intel Havre D845HV motherboard (no longer manufactured or suppored by intel) Geforce 2 MX 200 32mb AGP I was thinking to about getting a $75 256MB agp card to boost performance in games a bit. But i recently checked out ebay and saw some of the desktop pcs that are being bidded on. Some of them are almost too good to be true. I saw a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz with 1gb ram, agp and pci-E slots for $300 bucks. No power cables, video card, hard drive or RAM come with it but isn't this a good deal? I could buy my vid card for $75 bucks and put my current harddrive in it and BOOM. Super fast gaming system for $375. I checked out all the rep and out of about 250 comments all were positive but one. I've never been to e bay before so what do you guys think? Are there alot of scams like this on e-bay? Last edited by wowfan121; 12-18-2006 at 02:12 PM.

12-18-2006, 10:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
yustr Asst. Manager, The Conversation Pit Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Connecticut shore Posts: 6,050 OS: XP Pro My System	I'm leary of buying much off of ebay. The particular vendor you saw probably is legit but there's no way to tell other than the feedback. Plus you have no recourse if something does go wrong. (Sure ebay says they'll investigate but how much time are they going to spend to get back your $300 when there's $3000 rip off goiong on??? Besides, there are well respected retail outlets like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com that will sell you barebones kits for less. See "My System" below left to see what I built from a tigerdirect kit and some spare parts off an old machine. Total cost for new parts: <$200 (but I didn't need a OS - be sure to figure that in if you don't have a legal copy of XP lying around.) __________________ If there are lawyers or politicians involved, logic may be a very poor tool for reaching a conclusion.

12-19-2006, 06:37 AM	#3 (permalink)
gamerman0203 Retired Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 2,144 OS: XP MCE, Ubuntu Gutsy My System	Unfortunatly, as you know, your system isn't up to snuff for most games these days. The idea you have is a possibility, but you need to take into consideration the following: your power supply may not (probably isn't) be powerful enough to run the new system efficiently; you'll need to buy new memory along with a new video card because the memory you're running now is out of date technology and the motherboard won't run it; windows and drivers can get finicky when switched to a new hardware setup. You'll need to update XP to the latest (everything "Windows Update" says it should have) and then when installed in the new system, you'll need to do a repair install of XP to get things back in order. I don't mean to be a downer about anything, I just wanted you to be aware. __________________ Follow These Steps First! CPU-Z \| SensorView \| WinXP Clean Boot \| Latest DirectX \| ATI Catalyst \| Nvidia ForceWare Posting System Specifications