Need help buying second hand PC

[Melusine]

I need a new PC on short notice and I cannot really spare the money for it right now. But I'd rather buy something moderately OK so I can enjoy it for some years, rather than spend a little on a cheap PC for word-processing only and regret the fact that I can't play my favourite games anymore. I've found a few Pentium IVs that were reasonably priced but maybe I should go for a Pentium III, I don't know. I do know that I want a decent videocard in it and that I know next to nothing about videocards (brand-wise). I want to be able to at least play older games like BG-TOB and Arcanum, maybe NWN as well... depends. Anyway, I should probably look for a 32 or 64 mb card, right? I also recall DDR being better (faster) than SDRam, correct? It's a bit of a dilemma, I don't know enough about PCs to feel comfortable deciding on my own, but I'm not sure anyone can advice me based on MY requirements rather than their own ideas of what constitutes a good PC... I mean, I want a decent videocard, a moderately fast PC that I can use for some years, but I don't need anything state-of-the-art. I'm not looking for comments on how this brand of vc has slightly better graphics at this or that resolution, I'm just looking for a card that is supported by most games and doesn't give me too much trouble.
I think I'd need 40 gigs of HD space max, since I don't download illegal stuff [img]tongue.gif[/img] and probably, like I said, a videocard of 32 or 64 mb, internal memory of 256 mb and I guess a Pentium III or IV system (if III, how many MHz??)
I'm almost certain I'm going to buy second hand, but even if not, remember I don't live in the USA so US-based cheap online stores are no help. Oh and I do need to find someone with a system for sale that meets my requirements, so it may be that I end up with a less-than-ideal combo. I *could* buy separate components and build it myself but I really don't feel like it.
I know it's a lot of demands but could someone give some short advice on what motherboards/processors/etc to avoid, and what system you think I should go for as a minimum?? Thanks guys and gals. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Maelakin]

RAM - 256+M DDR (DDR is Double Data Rate compared to Single Date Rate (SDR))
Video - GeForce 2 64M should be able to allow you to play all those games you want to play, and its cheap.
Processor - Just pick up a Athelon Thunderbird (.8-1.2G). They work well and are fairly inexpensive.

Everything else is just what you want. I put one of these together a few weeks ago from scratch and it only ran me 350$.

[Zuvio]

www.norrod.nl

Check out this site and build your own comp, 1st hand (which is more desirable) or select individual components. Do you have a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.? Then you save money. This is one of the cheapest in holland, I go there myself all the time, it's just not very close to you I think, but its a start. Oh, and you'll want a Pentium, III or IV, whatever, prices are low these days. Now someone will probably say that you'll want an AMD because this and that. NO! Pentium is the way to go. I can't play UT2003 because I have an AMD CPU, VIA MOBO and a Nvidia card. Change the CPU to Pentium and it runs fine, so: get yourself a Pentium. Now memory is ver very cheap, get at least 256MB DDRAM (-pretty standard) whith a busspeed that is compatible with your MOBO (which is ver likely). Get a geforce 3 or a ati radeon (-don't know which one, I always buy Nvidia) for a very low price (geforce 4/FX is hot now, not the 3,so....). 40Gigs of HDD is CHEAP!! You're good off with 40GB.Now, for sound: €12,50 or so, there's your sound. The rest of the PC you either havem know someone who has it for you or buy it cheapo. This machine will run everything up to UT2003, splinter cell in 1280, UrU, you name it, it will rock. I think that for 400-600 euro's, you get a great system. If this is way too much money, come back and we'll talk some more

[WOLFGIR]

Hiya Mel.
Not really having the time right now, but catch me online or mail me and I can give you some opinions and help.

You definately want a fairly good, but STABLE puter, and if price is an issue perhaps you should check up AMD Athlons as well. Same prestanda as Pentiums but a bit cheaper.

Graphics cards are a boggle right now since they are recoding the Direct X 9 drivers and NVidia are trying to fix up there cards to mathch the competition, but still, a fairly card like a GeForce TI4200 with a 128 MB should have dropped considerably in price, and that card will hold unless you are trying to play Doom 3 in an awful high resolution

Harddrives, if I can give you a good advice, Harddrives are cheap today, soa nice harddrive and a good mainboard are the most important parts on a good build. Finding new 40 Mb's worth isn't easy.

And if you want a cool stable and nice puter, you should check out the Shuttle system. Might raise the price alittle but with one of thoose you would need like a new hd, ram, processor and a graphics card. So you could go out and check for the lowest priced ones there.

Oki, I am rambling and hehe.. outta time moi??

Catch me online if you like to have a geek chat

*HUGS*

[WOLFGIR]

"I can't play UT2003 because I have an AMD CPU, VIA MOBO and a Nvidia card. Change the CPU to Pentium and it runs fine, so: get yourself a Pentium"

Oki, Zuvio.. I said AMD and have for several years and I play way TOO much UT2k online with it

Can't understand why that would be a problem really. What kind of mainboard do you run? (brand)

[Melusine]

Thanks so much guys, you're the best. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Zuvio, 400-600 is about what I had in mind, but that's the absolute maximum I'm willing to spend since it'd mean I'll be hitting the red side of my bank account quite hard.
But I'll check the site you mentioned - I've been looking at some online stores I knew to be cheap but they were still too pricey.
Sadly, I do need a full package including monitor, mouse and keyboard. Maybe I should try and find a second hand monitor separately? Anyone have any experience with 2ndhand monitors? What could go wrong?

Wolfie, you're a darling - I might want to chat and hear your expert opinion after I've oriented myself a bit more. [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks.

[WOLFGIR]

Monitors usually only have one year guarantee on the cheap ones.. You want guaranteeeeeeee.. grr.. sorry. I have had some snafu with bad old monitors. They are also going down in price.

Now, darling Melusine, I have a spare soundcard, a spare mouse and well, almost a spare puter, problem would be that shipping it all would probably cost all that you could save anyway. But ahhh! I remember [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have a graphics card due from france that could be send to you as well to begin with if you want to save money!


So.. I can fix you up with : A mouse, a sound card and a(probably graphics card) with no trouble

[Zuvio]

Originally posted by WOLFGIR: "I can't play UT2003 because I have an AMD CPU, VIA MOBO and a Nvidia card. Change the CPU to Pentium and it runs fine, so: get yourself a Pentium" Oki, Zuvio.. I said AMD and have for several years and I play way TOO much UT2k online with it Can't understand why that would be a problem really. What kind of mainboard do you run? (brand)

ASUS V8200 Deluxe = Geforce ti200
ASUS A7V333 = Via chipset
AMDXP2000+ = amd
512MD DDRAM PC2700 (perfect match with MOBO)

I can't play the game longer then 10 minutes or so before the inevitable lockup. System does not get above 60 degrees, star wars academy runs great, wolfenstein 3d great, splinter cell, rebel trucker etc.etc.
Change some parts and it runs fine.

Melusine: a 2nd monitor is tricky. It might be rather old or slightly damaged and it won't burnout till some time after you bought it. Put the monitor thing on hold, till you got your PC and then start thinking about a monitor. Don't you know someon who has an old one for you to borrow?

[Melusine]

I'm still looking at second hand stuff too, though - any way I can save money will help, since I need to buy more than just a PC and this is a bad time financially for this problem to pop up.

Anyway, maybe I could run a couple of systems I found by you guys?? If yuo could just say what, if anything, could be wrong with these:

HP Pavilion 7965
P4 1.7Ghz
256MB memory
DVD - Rom
CD-RW
FDD
64MB Geforce 2 videocard with TV OUT
60GB HD.
Sound on board
Modem
Networkingcard
Windows XP Home
Office XP pro
4 X USB
2 X serial
1 X parallel
Including mouse and keyboard.
Including 17"CRT monitor, with loudspeakers.

I'm guessing the memory is SDRAM or he would have said otherwise... oh and he's asking 400 euros for this.

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AMD Athlon 2600+ xp, 80 Gb, 7200 rpm, 256 Mb ddr, 64 Mb gforce, 440 tv out, 10/100 network, 5.1 sound, 16x48 dvd, 6x usb, 350 watt miditower, floppy drive, keyboard, mouse, speakers

No monitor though.. and asking 470.

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And then there's these ads that give very little info but have low prices.
Pentium 4, 2.4 ghz, 256 ddram memory, 64 mb videocard, 5.1 soundcard, 16 bits cd-burner, dvd /cd player for 350 euros.
or
P4*, with monitor for sale, dell dimension (usa) p4, 1,5 ghz 512 mb sd-ram, 133mhz memory asus fx 5200 128 mb videocard 40gb en 12gb hds sb live! 1024 soundcard 48x max variable cd-rom drive 3, 5 in floppy drive 17'' nec fe700 and flat color monitor - 500 euros
or
amd duron 1, 3 Ghz, 768 Mb ram memory, 30 Gb HD, 12 x dvdplayer aopen, 40x12x48 cd rewriter aopen, radeon 9000 64mb videocard microsoft keyboard, mouse, networkcard, with monitor - 350 euros
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It's just a bit of an information overload, I'm finding it hard to differentiate between all of the ads. Some lack a monitor, others a CD-burner, some are slightly cheaper, others quite expensive and I'm finding it hard to decide the best value for money.

[ 11-14-2003, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[Melusine]

Thanks for the info on monitors... I was afraid you were going to say that
Second hand = bad idea, in short. Damn. Well, luckily I'm not looking for flatscreen/LCD/TFT monitors, a normal one would be just fine.

I gave my old system to my mother because I could use my boyfriends laptop and she really needed one. But she might want to give me back my old monitor temporarily, she already offered it. So if she's sure she won't need it herself, I can use my old 15' monitor and buy a new one in a couple of months.
A mouse won't be a problem, I'll just take the cheapest logitech one. Don't need optical or wireless, really. Same for keyboard. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Edit: Oh yeah - I still have Win98, haven't had problems with it so far. Should I find a cheap new PC instead of second hand, I'd probably do best to keep my old Windows 98 instead of having them install XP, right? A new license is just so expensive, and Win98 is not too bad.

Oh and I am thinking about finding a 2nd hander that has something like a PCTV card - or else I would have to buy a new TV as well and I really would find it easier to just watch TV on my computer, saves space too. Would that change anything required specs-wise? I don't think so...
But then I have to think about loudspeakers too - the ones that come with PCs would probably be inadequate, right?

Sigh... problems, problems.

[ 11-14-2003, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]