Is this a good desktop to buy for gaming

[echuprin]

I am currently looking to buy a gaming computer and stumbled upon something interesting on craiglist. I know very little about computers, so I wanted to know if this prebuilt computer was worth his $500 asking price.

Technical specs

Two combined GT 9800 1024MB graphics cards
8 GB Corsair DDR 2 ram

AMD Quad Core Phenom II 940 3.0GHz processor

Asus M3N72-D motherboard

Smilodon Raidmax Gaming Tower
4 fans and blue LEDs

125 GB hard drive running xp with all hardware drivers and updates installed.

Additional 250 GB hard drive upon request.

850 Watt power supply

LG DVDR drive

 

[pacioli]

Not worth it. I'd pay no more than $300 for it.

The graphics are very old. A faster setup can be bought for $150-$200 range that will be Direct X 11 compatible. Those only support Direct X 9.

DDR2 Ram is slower than the modern DDR3

The processor is decent but on the trailing edge of what is acceptable. In a year it won't be.

Hard drives are quite small. A brand new 1 TB drive can be purchased on sale for around $60

The power supply is of good wattage... but the brand of PSU is more important. If it is an off-brand it could be a $25 part that will fry the system.

DVDR is fine

Windows XP is old... Since then we had Vista, Win 7, and now Win 8.

For $500 you can get something like this
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-do-it-yourself-computer,3364.html
Add Win 8 for $40 and you have something that will mop the floor with that old PC.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/buy?ocid=SHOP_O_MSCOM_Prog_FPP_Hero_Apps

 

[echuprin]

So can I build something better for $500

 

[pacioli]

So can I build something better for $500

Yes! Check the link at the bottom of my first post.
Refresh if needed... I edited it

 

[angaddev]

It's $100 over budget but any less and the build really isn't much better than a console.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($67.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H77MA-G43 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: GeIL Pristine 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($169.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($43.45 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $599.11
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-04 12:32 EST-0500)