How much do you think my computer is worth?

[rex000]

Hello all,

I've just recently bought the last piece to "complete" my build, and was wondering what the value of my system is.

The reason I am asking for your opinions is that I've been collecting parts over the past few months (scouting for sales, kind of) and I am not sure if the prices have fluctuated from when I purchased the parts. My "friend" was interested in buying this computer off me, and was wondering what would be a fair price to sell it at.

I know the computer is somewhat low-end, but it is relatively brand new. I have used it for less than 24 hours in total.
How much would you pay for a computer like this?

Specifications:

ASUS M4A78LT-M LE MOTHERBOARD
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A78LTM_LE/

AMD PHENOM II X4 840 @ 3.2GHz QUAD-CORE CPU
http://www.amd.com/us/products/pricing/Pages/desktop-phenom.aspx

XFX RADEON HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 GPU
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Products/Graphics-Cards/AMD/ATI-Radeon-HD-5000-Series/ATI-Radeon-HD-5770.aspx

CORSAIR XMS3 1600MHz DDR3 8GB RAM
http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/xms-classic/cmx8gx3m2a1600c9.html

WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR GREEN 750GB SATA 6 Gb/s HDD
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=120

CORSAIR CX430W V2 80PLUS POWER SUPPLY
http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-units/builder-series/builder-series-cx430-v2-80plus-certified-power-supply.html

NZXT CLASSIC GAMMA CASE
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/classic_series/gamma

BELKIN N150 MICRO WIRELESS USB ADAPTER
http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=543959

THERMALTAKE 120mm TurboFan
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1164&ID=1792

THERMALTAKE Thunderblade 120mm LED Basic Fan
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1164&ID=1921

THERMALTAKE 200mm Blue LED Silent Fan
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1442&ID=1964


I have experience with building computers, and I'm sure this one is built well. The cable management is similar to or even tidier than the image below

Thanks in advance,

 

[omega21xx]

I'd say $500, if it included keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the windows CD/DVD, you might be able to sell for $700 in that case.
If items are brand new not used or assembled you might be able to get more but for an assembled build that's used the price decreases. My guess on sale price i think is actually pretty high in my opinon since it's close to the value on individual parts.

 

[AidanJC]

I'd try and sell it for at least $800. Say it's a "Gaming" PC and you should be able to get $800 no worries. How much have you spent on it total by the way?

 

[xtremegamer2da-max]

well if you were good at selling might be able to squeeze 800 off it but i personally would buy it 4 650-700

 

[rex000]

Thanks for the reply guys, very helpful.

I don't think I'll be selling mouse/keyboard/speakers/monitor. My "friend" doesn't mind using his existing set, and I still have use for mine...

I was thinking about stating how much I actually spent on it, but I'm SURE it will affect the replies that come after.

I know you're curious, so I'll let you know in a little bit okay?
I have to find all my receipts and calculate anyway.. 8D

 

[omega21xx]

If sale hunting i'm sure you could have built that for under 500 which is kind of why i suggested that lol

Without sales, rebates, and including shipping cost i could see it costing around 600 or a little more but i don't see being able to sell it higher than 650, and 500 being what I consider a fair price.

 

[Guest]

You could also try overclocking. Although it may yield no benefits, higher numbers can make the pc more 'appetizing.'

 

[CaedenV]

generally if building a PC for someone you take the total of the parts (list price, not including sales, rebates, etc), and then add 10-25% to cover your expertise of picking the parts, and your time for assembling it. For 'budget' systems you would never be able to keep up with the likes of dell and other manufacturers, but the better the PC, and the more specialized the use, then the more profit you can make while still beating out the mainstream manufacturers.

 

[rex000]

generally if building a PC for someone you take the total of the parts (list price, not including sales, rebates, etc), and then add 10-25% to cover your expertise of picking the parts, and your time for assembling it. For 'budget' systems you would never be able to keep up with the likes of dell and other manufacturers, but the better the PC, and the more specialized the use, then the more profit you can make while still beating out the mainstream manufacturers.

Hmm... I didn't think of ADDING % to sell my computer, only thought about lowering the cost since I did use it first...
But I like your point about looking at the list price for all components and then calculating it..

I'll start looking : O

 

[rex000]

I could not find the MSRPs for the all the parts I listed above, instead I went to pcpartpicker.com and just tried to list out everything there.
Still, I could not find every part (CPU and MOBO are discontinued), I just added the closest thing (downgraded) I could find...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4Yu3
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4Yu3/by_merchant/

Says that the cheapest you would be able to do is $565 before tax.

This excludes the 2 fans + wireless network adapter...

 

[rex000]

OKAY, so I've found all the receipts and finally did all the calculations. You ready ? : O

The raw cost for all the components cost me ~$425 CAD (Yes, I'm canadian)
Tax is 13%... so total becomes ~ $480 CAD
Shipping cost was ~$50 CAD (This is what I get for not buying all my parts at once...)

Grand total = ~$530 CAD

Surprise surprise?

 

[omega21xx]

OKAY, so I've found all the receipts and finally did all the calculations. You ready ? : O

The raw cost for all the components cost me ~$425 CAD (Yes, I'm canadian)
Tax is 13%... so total becomes ~ $480 CAD
Shipping cost was ~$50 CAD (This is what I get for not buying all my parts at once...)

Grand total = ~$530 CAD

Surprise surprise?

Sounds like you gotta sell for $550 if you want to make some sort of profit. Hope your "friend" enjoys the new system!
(still not sure why you kept putting qoutes around the word friend)

 

[rex000]

Sounds like you gotta sell for $550 if you want to make some sort of profit. Hope your "friend" enjoys the new system!
(still not sure why you kept putting qoutes around the word friend)

To be honest, I actually did spend a lot of time looking around for parts and doing lots of research. I will probably sell it for $600-650. Or else, it would've been a complete waste of my time. =="

Anyway, thanks for all the input. It's much appreciated.



I don't know if anyone cares, but the Radeon 5770 (Got it for $75 ;D) is actually a realllllllllly good graphics card. Much better than I had expected for a budget card. I'm gaming @ 1080p on a 22" HDTV and it's sliicckkk. I can't imagine what people with 7970s are getting :O




** And what I meant by "friend" is actually just an acquaintance so I'd sell it for $530+.
If it was a real friend, I would sell it for $530 or less... y'know?

 

[ccbad]

Tell him about how much shipping was, that how I got my friend to pay an extra 5 bucks on a ZOTAC GeForce 210, he got it from me for 20, I got it for 15 with rebate. :3

 

[scout_03]

selling at 450$ is a good price in canadiens dollars,since your the first buyer wil you give him the full warranty on parts for the price you ask

 

[WyomingKnott]

I'm curious - do any of you have concrete examples of selling a computer that you built? I have always assumed that it's like trying to sell the car you bought new last week - no-one would pay what it cost me to build it.

 

[omega21xx]

I'm curious - do any of you have concrete examples of selling a computer that you built? I have always assumed that it's like trying to sell the car you bought new last week - no-one would pay what it cost me to build it.

I always found you get more selling parts closer to what you paid for them, than you get for a used assembled computer. I can see someones point of marking up the price for building for someone, but unless its custom fitted and part for part what someone wants I don't see being able to do that.

 

[rex000]

I don't know why I'm taking the time to revive this thread, and I'm not sure if anyone even cares, but I thought I would share some news with everyone who is bored, and reading the forums!

Basically, I was finally able to sell this computer for a whooping $575.00! The computer was sold via a local classifieds website on July 22, 2012, approximately 1 year from the date of purchase of the internal components.

After doing calculations of the revised components list (edited in OP), my building cost was $475.00. I was able to actually make almost a 20% profit of $100.00 from this PC.

Hope this can be some inspiration for potential custom PC builders out there. Goodluck!

 

[rex000]

Best answer selected by rex000.