Possibly scammed but by how much

[michaeld_83]

Hi everyone.




I bought a PC on ebay and the specs of the desktop i received is not the same as what it said on the listing. I am in the process of finding out why but can you tell me how much you think what i actually got is worth and whether and by how much i was scammed.

This is what i got, what i was supposed to get (or a description of it) is in brackets



CPU: Intel Quad core 6600 (quad core 8200)

Mother board: ASUS PSN-E SLI (ASUS SKT-775 P5N-D)

Graphics Card: Nvidia 8500gt (Nvidia 9800GT)

PSU: Colorsit 550W (Quality 550W Gold silent power supply with 6 Pin PCI E)

RAM: Corsair 4GB ( correct)

HDD: Maxtor 500gb (500GB SATA II Hard Drive Quality item with 16MB Cache)

Case: Soprano Thermaltake (correct)

Drive: A sony drive, can't tell much else (Sony 20X DVD+-RW Dual layer Drive)


It also came with Vista home edition premium, Office 2007 and Norton 360



It also came with a Yuraku 22"widescreen monitor.




I ended up paying £410 for that. He claims it is only 5 months old (which is why the graphics card discrepancy shocked me) and he said it was on 3 years warranty from an ebay shop he bought it on but received no warranty forms and no original purchase receipt.




So i was scammed by description but was i scammed by price?



Also if things don't go well and i end up with this system how upgradable is it? If i go and and by an NVIDIA 9800GT or an ATI 4870 will it work fine with the current PSU and CPU?




I also can only pray nothing is wrong with it as i put rfactor in, set it to 1366x788, put it on directx 9 and anti aliasing to 3 and it stuttered briefly every 5 seconds on the intro movie and then froze when it got onto the main screen which doesn't bode well.


All help appreciated

 

[Devastator_uk]

Well the Q6600 is a bit better than a Q8200 so you gained a little bit there.

But the 9800GT is a fair bit better than the 8500GT.

As for the PSU, ColorsIT is about the cheapest you can get, but they never said what the brand was so difficult to argue there.

It's possible the Maxtor hard drive may have 16MB of cache, can't say without model number.

Same goes for DVD drive, would need model number to check.


If you do upgrade that system I would get the HD4870 over a 9800GT.

 

[michaeld_83]

Thanks devastator

The maxtor hard drive is a diamondmax22 which seem quite good looking on google so benefit of the doubt
there.

I read about the 6600 being a bit better which is a touch but still not the point. The graphics card difference is ridiculous, especially since he claimed it was brand new 5 months ago.


What about the motherboard difference?

How much do you think what i bought is worth?


Ok i take it from that i can upgrade the graphics card just fine.

 

[Devastator_uk]

If i'm not mistaked the 500GB DiamondMax22 actually has 32MB of cache.

What you paid is less it would cost new system but then again you have no warranty.

 

[photonboy]

Basically you have to follow EBay's return policy, though for me that involved going through Paypal.

If you didn't get what you payed for, try to return it. Otherwise, nobody can really help you except to troubleshoot your system if you have problems or recommend upgrades like the Graphics.

Anyway, there will be some sort of Return policy in which you contact somebody, they contact the other person with your grievence etc. I'm not sure how shipping will work either (I had to ship at my own expense to return a fake SD card. I was reimbursed for the origianl but Paypal had no interest. After checking the user History I found many complaints about fake goods. Since the worst case scenario is they reimburse the money why wouldn't they continue to do this? There's no police action.)

People are constantly getting scammed at E-Bay. It's horrendous.

Your transaction link should provide information about the product you were supposed to receive. It's sort of your word against his, but then if you wanted to press it you could demand proof he purchased the items he sent you.

I doubt it was a mistake, in which case the Sender may very well not try to help you at all. If you insist you may be able to send it back which I'd be inclined to do, or possibly demand a reimbursement of the difference. Google the parts and tally up the cost discrepencies.

Did he send you an Operating System with no backup CD? If so, how will you reinstall Windows?

Hope this helps.

 

[michaeld_83]

Cheers Photonboy, i am waiting for him to reply to my email and see what he says.


I was just wondering how good the PC i got actually was.

It seems that the CPU and HDD might be better than expected but i am pissed i now have to spend over £100 for a new graphics card and that i have a substandard PSU and motherboard compared to what i was going to get.

That is assuming nothing else is wrong as my system didn't seem to like rfactor which is a very easy game on your system apparently.



From what DeVastator has said and the parts i have googled it would seem that despite clearly not getting what i paid for what i did get is an "OK" (borderline alright) deal for what i did pay.

Would you agree?



My only other problem other than buying a new card is that i have no warranty and also how old the system really is.

Would a 5 month old PC really have an Nvidia 8500gt card in it?

 

[michaeld_83]

It already had Vista installed on it and he sent the disk too

 

[bigpoppastuke]

If it came with a genuine copy of windows/office/norton. Then its probly worth the price. Seems like you got scammed on the video card the worst though. Correct me if im wrong but i believe the p5n-e is the stripped down version of a p5n-d. CPU is like the other guy said maybe just a bit better. Hard-drive should be fine reguardless. Id say go for a nvidia 250, or the ati 4870.

 

[geofelt]

It is possible that the seller did not truly know what the part details were.

The cpu is probably a winner compared to a Q8200, no problems there.
The 8500GT sells for $25-$50, and the 9800GT sells for $100-$125, a serious difference.

I would go to the device manager, and display the detailed info for the vga card. Contact the seller, sending him the documentation showing the vga card discrepancy, and ask for a refund of $100 or so. If he is honest, and values his reputation, he will refund it to you. If you do not get satisfaction, then you need to pursue it via the paypal buyer protection system.

Is the system otherwise functional?

 

[cjl]

Overall, although there are differences, the performance of most of the parts listed is similar to the ones described, so there isn't much of a problem there.

The glaring exception however is the video card. The 8500 and 9800 are nowhere even remotely similar, and it would be quite difficult for someone with even the slightest bit of technical knowledge to mistake one for the other. It is no exaggeration to say there is an incredible difference in performance between the two. I would definitely try to contact the seller about that portion, if nothing else.

 

[michaeld_83]

The system is functional as far as i can tell. I haven't seen anything really wrong yet. The idle cpu usage is around 27%, i don't know if that is normal or not, maybe that is just norton or something.

He said he would refund me once he gets it back but it must be back by friday as he is leaving for the army. A part of me does not want to send it back as i fear he may get it back and then not refund me. I just can't see how this apparently 5 month old pc could have an 8500gt in it, he must have changed it, he surely must have.

He claims he had no idea and that he just copied the spec from the ebay shop he bought it from. That maybe so but i can't find that pc deal in the ebay shop and he didn't sound too annoyed that he paid for that initially and only got an 8500gt for his money. I just don't know.



I may just keep it and upgrade the video card, i haven't fully decided. I don't think asking for a partial refund will get me anywhere.




Can anyone tell me, if i buy an ati 4870, will my 550w psu be enough to run it with the other components and will the 2 12cm silent fans be enough to keep the temperature at a reasonable level?

 

[Shadow703793]

^Replace PSU ASAP. DO NOT get a new GPU with out new PSU.

Also, did you get the Office/Vista,etc CD/DVDs with the system?

 

[michaeld_83]

I got the vista dvd with it, not the office.

What psu would you recommend, something quiet if poss?

 

[cjl]

Corsair PSUs are excellent, probably something in the 500-600W range should cover almost any single GPU that you might want to put in.

 

[AKM880]

And the Vista DVDs/CDs are geniune right? Did you get the Norton disk?

 

[michaeld_83]

I got the vista disc and it is genuine. I didn't get the norton disc but it is installed and seems genuine by everything i have seen.

 

[megamanx00]

Since you have an SLI board I'd say go with a GTS 250 or a GTX 260. You kinda got scammed on the board too, since, among other things, the ASUS SKT-775 P5N-D is a better overclocker as it's based on the 750i chipset. The 650i I'm not too fond of .

 

[daship]

Well just cause you got a genuine disc dont mean you didnt get scammed. The disk can be bought direct from MS for $10, its the COA "Certificate of Authenticity" that you need to make sure you have. AKA Product key on a genuine label.

Paypal will get your money back no problem since it isnt as described. File a dispute right away. If you didnt pay paypal you might be screwed.

 

[AKM880]

+ 1, It has to have the COA on the Vista package, this can be checked on the Microsoft site for authenticy. You got the disk but what about the box?

 

[michaeld_83]

The authenticity sticker is stuck to the PC case so it is definately 100% genuine vista

 

[B-Unit]

Yea, you got raped on the GPU, beyond that Id say your OK.

 

[michaeld_83]

Ok i have decided to keep it as despite being ripped off for a graphics card and slightly for the motherboard i got a better processor and better HDD.

Add that in to the fact i have a genuine vista, microsoft office, norton, an excellent 22"widescreen monitor and a wireless mouse and keyboard i don't think that is too bad for £410.

I have no warranty but i checked the installation dates of all the key programs and they date back no further than august 2008 so i can rest assured that the pc is just over 7 months old and hopefully not close to being worn out.


I also have to get it back to him by friday and i will not be in any full day for delivery collection and i have a massive essay deadline for thursday and don't need the stress. That kind of forces my hand.


Thanks for all the help everyone has given me, i feel aggrieved but i am comforted by the fact i wasn't completely scammed. £410 for all that is not too bad.

 

[AKM880]

^ Hope to here back! Good luck with the seller.