Should I buy this very cheap 2nd hand system with a view to upgrading?

[Digitalwart]

Can someone tell me if this is worth getting for dirt cheap money £50, then upgrading with max £250, for a cheap gaming pc along the lines of the $400 system built recently on this site?

Windows 7 Home Premium
hard Drive 320GB
Intel Pentium processor E5400
NVidia GeForce 7050 integrated
DVD super multi drive
3GB DDR2

It's a ET1831 e machine. Gateway?

It would be my first build and I'm a little concerned about the ease of replacing and putting in parts. Should I be OK? It seems like a good deal in terms of what I get for the initial set up. Advice much appreciated.

 

[spat55]

No way to upgrade that, weak GPU, CPU (On a dead socket), DDR2 (Expensive I believe now, and slow).

If you have £500 that can build something nice. I'll go at it for you see what you think.

 

[Digitalwart]

No way to upgrade that, weak GPU, CPU (On a dead socket), DDR2 (Expensive I believe now, and slow).

If you have £500 that can build something nice. I'll go at it for you see what you think.

Wow, really? Not upgradeable? You might have just saved me £50. Would it be worth buying for the existing parts, to keep or sell on? The case, the hard drive, the monitor and peripherals too, etc?

I only have £300 to spend really. That's why I was looking at the $400 system built here, also the one the Digital Foundry put together June 2012, link here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc

 

[spat55]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3330 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£137.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B75A-G43 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£61.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (£140.31 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Gigabyte GZ-X7 ATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £500.21
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 17:29 BST+0100)

No OS, but then you never listed it on the one you did, if you want I can make it cheaper, but I think this is perfect, price to performance wise.

 

[spat55]

No way to upgrade that, weak GPU, CPU (On a dead socket), DDR2 (Expensive I believe now, and slow).

If you have £500 that can build something nice. I'll go at it for you see what you think.

Wow, really? Not upgradeable? You might have just saved me £50. Would it be worth buying for the existing parts, to keep or sell on? The case, the hard drive, the monitor and peripherals too, etc?

I only have £300 to spend really. That's why I was looking at the $400 system built here, also the one the Digital Foundry put together June 2012, link here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc

What are you going to be doing with it? If it is just web browsing then I can get it into the £300 mark, without a monitor of course.

 

[Digitalwart]

No way to upgrade that, weak GPU, CPU (On a dead socket), DDR2 (Expensive I believe now, and slow).

If you have £500 that can build something nice. I'll go at it for you see what you think.

Wow, really? Not upgradeable? You might have just saved me £50. Would it be worth buying for the existing parts, to keep or sell on? The case, the hard drive, the monitor and peripherals too, etc?

I only have £300 to spend really. That's why I was looking at the $400 system built here, also the one the Digital Foundry put together June 2012, link here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc

What are you going to be doing with it? If it is just web browsing then I can get it into the £300 mark, without a monitor of course.

Thanx for your input. I am looking for something to tide me over til the new consoles and the mooted steam box arrive within the next 6-12 months. I want to play these games:

Skyrim
Dishonoured
Bioshock series
Assassins creed series
Witcher 2

I haven't got bags of time for games so that's a pretty definitive list of what I want to play til the new hardware arrives. I am keen on a cheap pc because of the modding and other things not so easy to do on a console, otherwise £100 - 150 for a cheap ps3 or 360 would have been fine. I also have most of these games (and others) already bought on Steam so makes no sense to buy on console again.

The Digital Foundry article and the $400 Toms Hardware build have persuaded me this budget will suit my purposes fine. Anyway I have no more than that to spend. There isn't much need to upgrade on what I get now, just a case of having something to use for these titles until everything moves on. Can then use the steam box and look at a new console.

 

[Digitalwart]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

 

[spat55]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

 

[Digitalwart]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

Thanx, yeah i thought at least £500, but the $400 build describes itself as preferable to both consoles. $400 translates to about £260. And the parts in the Digital Foundry £300 model have come down since the review last year on the whole too. Based on my finances, you wouldn't consider one of these with maybe a GPU upgrade?

You wouldn't get the £50 system for the parts to sell or keep?

 

[spat55]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

Thanx, yeah i thought at least £500, but the $400 build describes itself as preferable to both consoles. $400 translates to about £260. And the parts in the Digital Foundry £300 model have come down since the review last year on the whole too. Based on my finances, you wouldn't consider one of these with maybe a GPU upgrade?

You wouldn't get the £50 system for the parts to sell or keep?

No the £50 PC is good to buy if you have no money, and need a PC. Trying to use it to game on is never going to work, unless you want to play GTA Vice City on it. You have to also remember that a i5 3570k is £170 in England in USA $200, so you can't do currency comparisons, as parts cost more/less in different countries.

 

[Digitalwart]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

Thanx, yeah i thought at least £500, but the $400 build describes itself as preferable to both consoles. $400 translates to about £260. And the parts in the Digital Foundry £300 model have come down since the review last year on the whole too. Based on my finances, you wouldn't consider one of these with maybe a GPU upgrade?

You wouldn't get the £50 system for the parts to sell or keep?

No the £50 PC is good to buy if you have no money, and need a PC. Trying to use it to game on is never going to work, unless you want to play GTA Vice City on it. You have to also remember that a i5 3570k is £170 in England in USA $200, so you can't do currency comparisons, as parts cost more/less in different countries.

The cheap pc now is only to tide me over til steam bring their product out. I need something to play these mentioned games on for the next six months plus, however long it takes them to produce it, then ill look to sell it. The new consoles are not backwards compatible as I understand it. The pc is not intended to take on the forthcoming consoles, but to match or better the present ones for the titles I listed, based on my budget.

 

[spat55]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

Thanx, yeah i thought at least £500, but the $400 build describes itself as preferable to both consoles. $400 translates to about £260. And the parts in the Digital Foundry £300 model have come down since the review last year on the whole too. Based on my finances, you wouldn't consider one of these with maybe a GPU upgrade?

You wouldn't get the £50 system for the parts to sell or keep?

No the £50 PC is good to buy if you have no money, and need a PC. Trying to use it to game on is never going to work, unless you want to play GTA Vice City on it. You have to also remember that a i5 3570k is £170 in England in USA $200, so you can't do currency comparisons, as parts cost more/less in different countries.

The cheap pc now is only to tide me over til steam bring their product out. I need something to play these mentioned games on for the next six months plus, however long it takes them to produce it, then ill look to sell it. The new consoles are not backwards compatible as I understand it. The pc is not intended to take on the forthcoming consoles, but to match or better the present ones for the titles I listed, based on my budget.

Like I said, the £50 second hand one will not be good enough for any of them, you're better off with a console.

 

[Digitalwart]

Oh yes I have a 50" HD TV to use as monitor.

Would you recommend a console controller for gaming use instead of a mouse and keyboard?

Controller is fine for most games, First Person Shooters online you will get beaten though, by the fact they can be much better with the mouse.

If you want a Gaming PC, to get a mediocre one, which will still out do the PS4, Xbox One then £500 is needed at least.

Thanx, yeah i thought at least £500, but the $400 build describes itself as preferable to both consoles. $400 translates to about £260. And the parts in the Digital Foundry £300 model have come down since the review last year on the whole too. Based on my finances, you wouldn't consider one of these with maybe a GPU upgrade?

You wouldn't get the £50 system for the parts to sell or keep?

No the £50 PC is good to buy if you have no money, and need a PC. Trying to use it to game on is never going to work, unless you want to play GTA Vice City on it. You have to also remember that a i5 3570k is £170 in England in USA $200, so you can't do currency comparisons, as parts cost more/less in different countries.

The cheap pc now is only to tide me over til steam bring their product out. I need something to play these mentioned games on for the next six months plus, however long it takes them to produce it, then ill look to sell it. The new consoles are not backwards compatible as I understand it. The pc is not intended to take on the forthcoming consoles, but to match or better the present ones for the titles I listed, based on my budget.

Like I said, the £50 second hand one will not be good enough for any of them, you're better off with a console.

No, you've persuaded me to leave that alone!

But please feel free to expand further on the 2 budget ones i listed. Your £500 model is good but I mean I don't really need 8GB RAM or 500GB HDD? If you can make an alternate £300 build that would be much appreciated.

 

[spat55]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£71.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£30.68 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card (£95.97 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master RC-361-KKN1 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£23.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £318.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:50 BST+0100)

No OS or DVD Drive, so that will cost another £100 on top of this.

 

[Digitalwart]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£71.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£30.68 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card (£95.97 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master RC-361-KKN1 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£23.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £318.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:50 BST+0100)

No OS or DVD Drive, so that will cost another £100 on top of this.

Thanks! Looking into that...

I need an OS for steam? Would this be an easy configuration to put together for someone who has not built a pc before?

Thanx for your efforts!

 

[spat55]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£71.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£30.68 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card (£95.97 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master RC-361-KKN1 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£23.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £318.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:50 BST+0100)

No OS or DVD Drive, so that will cost another £100 on top of this.

Thanks! Looking into that...

I need an OS for steam? Would this be an easy configuration to put together for someone who has not built a pc before?

Thanx for your efforts!

comes with the instructions

You need windows 7 64bit OEM to go with it, so you can use steam really, although there is a linux version in the works, not many games will run on Linux anyway. So yes windows will certainly be needed.

 

[Digitalwart]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£71.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£30.68 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card (£95.97 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master RC-361-KKN1 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£23.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £318.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:50 BST+0100)

No OS or DVD Drive, so that will cost another £100 on top of this.

Thanks! Looking into that...

I need an OS for steam? Would this be an easy configuration to put together for someone who has not built a pc before?

Thanx for your efforts!

comes with the instructions

You need windows 7 64bit OEM to go with it, so you can use steam really, although there is a linux version in the works, not many games will run on Linux anyway. So yes windows will certainly be needed.

.....several hours later....

I'm gonna assume you mean instructions are with the hardware purchased! Couldn't find any others. Thanx for your help, it looks like a decent build for my budget.

I just found that template for asking for help with builds. Might use it if I need further opinions....

 

[spat55]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£71.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£30.68 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card (£95.97 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master RC-361-KKN1 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£23.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£34.99 @ Maplin Electronics)
Total: £318.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:50 BST+0100)

No OS or DVD Drive, so that will cost another £100 on top of this.

Thanks! Looking into that...

I need an OS for steam? Would this be an easy configuration to put together for someone who has not built a pc before?

Thanx for your efforts!

comes with the instructions

You need windows 7 64bit OEM to go with it, so you can use steam really, although there is a linux version in the works, not many games will run on Linux anyway. So yes windows will certainly be needed.

.....several hours later....

I'm gonna assume you mean instructions are with the hardware purchased! Couldn't find any others. Thanx for your help, it looks like a decent build for my budget.

I just found that template for asking for help with builds. Might use it if I need further opinions....

Yh the instructions come with it :lol: Also you have us hear if you need more, without being put on hold to much!