Is this USED system a good deal?

M

me

I am an engineering student at engineering school in
Missouri

Fellow classmate has the following system for sale used
for $275

Is this a good deal or not?
======================================

AMD Athlon 3200+ (socket 939, single core)
Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu heatsink
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
2GB DDR800 RAM (I think)
Gigabyte 8800GTS - ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/320M GeForce
8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
SLI Support HDCP Video Card
Lian-Li case (Black, utilitarian) - LIAN LI PC-7B plus
II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
2x 80GB Sata HDD
1x 250GB Sata HDD
Creative Labs sound blaster sound card (not sure which
one)
Card Reader (haven't used in a LONG time) - Rosewill
RCR-103 USB 2.0 Card Reader
PSU - SILVERSTONE ST60F 600W ATX 12V 2.01 / EPS 12V SLI
Ready Active PFC Power Supply
 
J

John Doe

me said:
I am an engineering student at engineering school in
Missouri

Fellow classmate has the following system for sale used
for $275

Is this a good deal or not?
======================================

AMD Athlon 3200+ (socket 939, single core)
Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu heatsink
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
2GB DDR800 RAM (I think)
Gigabyte 8800GTS - ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/320M GeForce
8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
SLI Support HDCP Video Card
Lian-Li case (Black, utilitarian) - LIAN LI PC-7B plus
II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
2x 80GB Sata HDD
1x 250GB Sata HDD
Creative Labs sound blaster sound card (not sure which
one)
Card Reader (haven't used in a LONG time) - Rosewill
RCR-103 USB 2.0 Card Reader
PSU - SILVERSTONE ST60F 600W ATX 12V 2.01 / EPS 12V SLI
Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Power supply wattage is oftentimes misleading, make sure it is a
namebrand power supply.

Used hardware is dirt cheap. Try offering him $200.

Good luck and have fun.
 
P

Paul

I am an engineering student at engineering school in
Missouri

Fellow classmate has the following system for sale used
for $275

Is this a good deal or not?
======================================

AMD Athlon 3200+ (socket 939, single core)
Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu heatsink
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
2GB DDR800 RAM (I think)
Gigabyte 8800GTS - ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/320M GeForce
8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
SLI Support HDCP Video Card
Lian-Li case (Black, utilitarian) - LIAN LI PC-7B plus
II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
2x 80GB Sata HDD
1x 250GB Sata HDD
Creative Labs sound blaster sound card (not sure which
one)
Card Reader (haven't used in a LONG time) - Rosewill
RCR-103 USB 2.0 Card Reader
PSU - SILVERSTONE ST60F 600W ATX 12V 2.01 / EPS 12V SLI
Ready Active PFC Power Supply

You can check the feedback on the Silverstone PSU here. Newegg keep their
old product reviews around, even when the product is discontinued.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817163109

One weakness of computers, is the health of mechanical components.
Fan failures, for example.

Some fans are easy to replace, and some are harder to replace.

For example, if you have an older video card, when the card was
new, there would likely have been several after-market cooling
solutions with better fans. So if you got in a bind, and the
fan died, you could find a cooler to slap into place. As cards
get older, coolers that fit may be harder to find. And the
fan itself may not be directly replaceable.

That being said, I think you're getting some value there.

Another thing to watch on Nvidia video cards, is failing GPU chips.
Nvidia had problems with solder balls or interconnect underneath
the GPU. Some GPUs fail early, because of a bad connection underneath.
Some people have solved this, by stripping down the card, removing
heat sensitive stuff as much as possible, and then "baking" the GPU
to restore the electrical connections. This has even been tried on
laptops with defective GPU chips. If I was buying the system in question,
I'd want to research whether 8800GTS is on that list or not.

You can look up video cards here.

http://www.gpureview.com/videocards.php

It might be based on G80.

http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-8800-GTS-card-475.html

So you'd be checking whether G80 fails from solder problems or not.

You can see here, there was recent activity on the Nvidia front.
You'd probably need to do a bit more searching, to get a GPU list
for video cards that are affected.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/gpu-failure-g84-g86-settlement,11400.html

Chances are, if that computer has lasted this long, it can't be on the list.

The weakest link in your new system, is this:

AMD Athlon 3200+ (socket 939, single core)

If it was my new computer, I'd probably look for a dual core to stuff in there.

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8N-SLI Deluxe

It all depends on what kind of price it's bid up to.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon-64-4...ORE-/200527605016?pt=CPUs&hash=item2eb0606d18

You can translate the part number, using CPU-World and get details like stepping.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 4400+ - ADV4400DAA6CD (ADA4400CDBOX).html

The Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu should be OK. I've owned two from that series,
and the fans lasted until the computers were retired.

The RAM in your computer, could be configured two ways. It could
be 2x1GB or 4x512MB. Personally, I'd prefer the 2x1GB config, as
the RAM bus may be able to run with more aggressive settings.
But with 1GB modules, you want low density sticks with x8 chips.
(They sell high density sticks on Ebay, using x4 width chips,
for less money, but you don't want those.) Again, if the system
has been running this long, chances are the current owner got it
all sorted out. If he just built the system from parts on hand,
ten minutes ago, then anything is possible.

It's kinda like buying a car. Some neighborhoods, have punks who
run a used car dealership out of their driveway. They sell one
car after another, and have no idea of the history of the car.
If you know the owner actually owned the product, and used it
for a couple years, then chances are the bugs were worked out.
But if the guy just buys garbage of Ebay and slaps together
systems, then it's hard to say whether you're getting a deal or
not. It's a deal if it is in good working order, and has a
valid OS license.

Paul
 
M

me

John Doe said:
Power supply wattage is oftentimes misleading, make sure it is a
namebrand power supply.

Used hardware is dirt cheap. Try offering him $200.

Good luck and have fun.

OK will do

But is it a fairly modern and "powerful" unit given the
asking price?
 
M

me

Paul said:
The weakest link in your new system, is this:

AMD Athlon 3200+ (socket 939, single core)

My thought as well.....but needed someone with more
knowledge to confirm! Thanks

What abt that case? Is it a decent one for the asking
price?
 
P

Paul

My thought as well.....but needed someone with more
knowledge to confirm! Thanks

What abt that case? Is it a decent one for the asking
price?

This is the Lian-Li PC-7B Plus. It has a window on the
side. Blue lights and rheobus controller on the front,
might be added extras.

http://tweakers.net/ext/i/productsurvey/3080/1972.jpg

*******

This is a Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II at Newegg. It has
a solid side panel.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-099-S01?$S640W$

You can see the details on this perspective view a bit better.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-099-S13?$S640W$

Looking at the interior view, the case is open at mid-level,
at the level where a 10" video card might be installed.
My current case has a feature like that, and I can install
a single, very long video card if I want. That is a plus.
There are a couple 3.5" trays across from the card, leaving
room for a video card. A lot of people struggle to fit a
video card, because of 5.25" disk bays in the way.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-099-S07?$S640W$

What I don't like, is the "filled in" area running across at the
PSU level. That was probably done to add some rigidity to the case,
which with Lian Li is a good thing. I think all my cases here,
are open in the top middle, making it easier to dress PSU cabling,
and get at the back of the CD/DVD drive at the top of the machine.
(I always stick them at the top.) If the power supply has modular
cabling, cable dress is less of an issue.

*******

To put my opinion in perspective, I'm a believer in heavy steel cases,
for the purposes of vibration damping. I also believe there is room
for everyone to have their own case, with features they want. So I
don't want to be too critical. The thing is, your new system will
be fully assembled, and you might never have to do anything with the
case. And at least the Plus II has a good external appearance. So
if the case mattered to you, you might want to seek clarification
from the seller, as to whether it is the Plus or the Plus II.

Paul
 
M

me

Bob M said:
Will it run the latest and greatest games with ease. Probably not.
But you didn't say what you wanted to use the computer for. I would
offer him $250. It's a good system if you don't want to play the newest
games.

Basically use it for normal engineering type class
stuff.... Excel, AutoCAD, etc

Or...maybe use it as a home theater PC hooked to small
HDTV for watching video and listening to mp3 music?

Will it do this with ease?

BTW... BIG thanks to everyone for advice!!!
 

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