Good Deal?

[trogdor796]

My brother is in the market for a new desktop computer. He was planning to build his own, but I came across this on craigslist today:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/sys/2702636893.html

Specs of it:
i7 920@2.67Ghz
8GB Ram
1TB HDD
GTX 480
750W PSU
24" LCD
Bose Speakers

The guy only wants $600 for all of it. If I went and looked at it, and everything looked good, should my brother get this? There's nothing about it being a pre-built and likely using the stock motherboard that would prevent me from throwing on a Hyper 212+ and OCing the 920 right? It seems like a really good deal to me. Just wondering what others thought.

 

[blade061188]

If you went and checked it out that would be a good deal.

Couldn't be a prebuilt system, no OEM would put a 480 in one of their machines (except a very expensive hobbyist pc vendor like origin or something)

One thing to check before you pull the trigger though, ask him if you can run GPUz and realtemp (or something similar) to check his temps to make sure it temps stay good under load.

And yes, you would certainly be able to throw an aftermarket cooler on and OC the 920

 

[davcon]

Appears to be an ok buy.
I'd check out the make of the psu = lots of 750W psu's are junk and no better then a 550W unit.
8gb of ram concerns me a bit since an x58 mobo uses tri-channel ram.
Usually 6gb or 12 gb configuration = not 8gb which makes me suspicious
could be dual channel ram(swapped out cuz it's cheap) which works but not what you want ideally.
i wouldn't buy it if it is a prebuilt like a Dell or HP,etc.
I wouldn't buy it if you have to buy a new case either.
Meaning it has a top mount psu and no airflow(fan mount options)
For $600 you can build a decent gaming rig these days.
I'd have the person run CPU-Z to check out the mobo/ram

 

[trogdor796]

I will probably go and check it out. It's just a bit of a drive so I figured I would post some basic questions on here first before I went to look at it.

So I will for sure check the temps.

And yes, I was thinking the same for the power supply. I'll look at the 12v rails while I'm there, and check out the case airflow as well.

I just thought that if everything works correctly, it would be a good deal since it comes with a 920, 480, and a 24" LCD.

 

[trogdor796]

Okay, so the ad was gone for a day, and now it's reposted at only $500 for the exact same stuff...so I think I'm gonna go check it out. Good deal if everything works?

EDIT - I emailed the person with some questions and have learned the following:
-The systems never been overclocked, never had any problems, and the 750w power supply is Corsair.

So this seems like a really good deal.

 

[davcon]

Okay, so the ad was gone for a day, and now it's reposted at only $500 for the exact same stuff...so I think I'm gonna go check it out. Good deal if everything works?

EDIT - I emailed the person with some questions and have learned the following:
-The systems never been overclocked, never had any problems, and the 750w power supply is Corsair.

So this seems like a really good deal.

Yes i agree!
Just check out the ram.
Like i said before ram for a 1366 mobo comes in 3 stick kits.
I have no idea what 8GB is doing in it.
If he has 3x2GB triple channel ram in it that's great.
The extra stick would throw the ram right off of triple channel mode.
8gb would run in single channel btw.
Maybe he has no clue or is using dual channel 2x4gb =idk

 

[trogdor796]

So eventually all I would want to do is make sure its running 6GB? Besides that I think everything looks good.

 

[popatim]

yeah, 6 or 12
While you're in there putting the H212 on, take out the video card and remove the fan/heatsink and give it a good cleaning & new paste. I bet he's got some buildup by now which may be causing him some heat related issues. Either that or he really needs to make next months rent. $500 is a pretty sweet deal imo.

 

[trogdor796]

So my brother is debating keeping this as his main pc. I would of course clean it out and make sure on the RAM. Few questions though:

-How viable is an i7 920 today? I mean, I don't want him to end up having to replace it in a year.

-How well do the first gen i7's OC? My 2500k runs a 4.4Ghz no problem, but I was wondering what I could expect to get it to with a 212+. How hard is it to OC them? With Sandy bridge you just change the multiplier

-How long do you think the 480 will hold it's ground? He will only be playing at 1920x1080, no 3D or anything. He plays BF3 and skyrim, maybe some Crysis 2. He would like to run them on high or come close to maxing them...

-I've heard 480's are load and have problems(well, some say the whole 400 series was a failure...) this true?

 

[Raiddinn]

Dont skip it because of the ram.

Ram is super cheap. Regardless what the ram situation is you can fix it for south of $100.

If you were considering it at $600 for the non ram stuff there is no reason not to get it for $500 and spend the $100 on ram out of pocket if you have to.

If those specs just dont suit you for the money otherwise, then go ahead and pass.

If you will only take it for $400 then just tell the guy that and he can take it or leave it.

I never heard the whole 400 series was a failure, myself.

The benchmarks I have seen put the 480 at about 10% less than the 580 which is hardly a failure in any respect. It is still twice as good in FPS as what I play games on.

New you can't get a 480 itself for only $600 (although 580s are cheaper, surprisingly).

I honestly think the deal is good enough to be done at $500 NP. You won't get close to those specs spending $500 any other way that I know of.

 

[trogdor796]

Thanks, I'm gonna go look at it tomorrow and buy it if all looks good. What is a good little program for stressing the gpu and cpu? I simply wish to see what the temps get up to.

Btw, that corsair 750w can handle the 480 no problem right?

 

[Raiddinn]

A Corsair 750w should have no problems with a single 480 unless it is very old. You will want to ask about the PSU usage statistics, though.

For every year of average use, a PSU (any kind) can lose as much as 10% of its ability to power things, so that could mean 75w gone in year 1, another 75w gone in year 2, and so on.

Most of the time PSU needs are overestimated and people often buy PSUs too big for their needs. This doesn't hurt, though, because PSUs work best and longest at about 50% load. Ideally, operation would vary between about 40% and 60% load. When people buy more than they need, however, it does help to delay PSU problems. It takes many years of a 10% loss each year for a 750 not to be able to put out 400w anymore, for instance.

The PSU sounds new'ish, like someone else said before maybe someone can't pay their rent or something. I doubt the PSU is that old so there should be nothing to worry about.

I use furmark to test my GPU, and I use 3dMark as well. There are tons of different things people do to benchmark things, though. Some people even zip directories of like 1 gig and time how long it takes and compare that with other computers. Others play the same game on both PCs and see the difference in FPS.

Really the best benchmarking you can do is just to do whatever it is you want to do on the PC and see how it works out. If you want to play BF3 or Skyrim after you buy it then take it with you and load it up and see how it plays before you buy it.

I highly doubt the owner of the PC would forbid you from doing this if he think he will get his $500. Call him up on the phone before you go over there and bring it up before you go if you are worried about it.

HW Monitor is good for testing temperatures if that is your thing.

In any event, temperature problems are usually blown out of proportion especially with no overclocking. They also tend not to be the most expensive things to fix too.

Not buying it because of something you can fix cheaply would be a mistake, as I mentioned before.

In this world, people usually overvalue looks and undervalue performance. Read "Moneyball" if you don't believe me (or even if you do, it is a great book). The best deals are always on things that look bad. If a box is open at a store even if the stuff in it was never touched you can often get 30 - 70% off for that thing. I love buying stuff like that. Haven't got burned yet.