Cheap gaming PC on eBay - is it legit?

[Hobie-wan]

Just to add in a different direction, I would want to know the brand names of the parts going into it. They don't mention a power supply rating, so it is surely a cheap piece of junk that came with that cheapie tower. They say they'll customize it, but I don't see how you can really do that with ebay pricing setup.

[Niode]

Just to add in a different direction, I would want to know the brand names of the parts going into it. They don't mention a power supply rating, so it is surely a cheap piece of junk that came with that cheapie tower. They say they'll customize it, but I don't see how you can really do that with ebay pricing setup.

Exactly. It's just not worth bothering with, it screams 'cheap parts' to me. The fact that they've put an Athlon X2 in there combined with the cheapest ATI card you can buy just makes me very wary of the overall quality of the build. Plus, what's your recourse if any of these parts break within 12 months? You can't RMA them because you're not the OEM. Considering it's an ebay seller you're going to have very little after sales support short of "it didn't turn up" or "it didn't work on arrival" after that point there's very little that ebay will do.

Trust me, buying a PC from ebay is a very risky thing, you're not covered for anything basically. At least if you go the OEM route you can RMA any parts that break within 12 months for a direct replacement. I very much doubt that this ebay seller is going to go through the trouble doing an RMA for anything should it break.

[KillemallCFH]

The first thing I did when I decided I wanted to buy a computer was to look for parts on newegg, but it seemed a lot more expensive than this, even for a low- or mid-range computer. I would actually prefer to build my own computer as opposed to buying it, if only for the learning experience. If someone wants to help me pick out some parts from newegg that would be cheaper, I'd certainly appreciate it. (If you couldn't tell, I don't have much experience with this stuff.)

As far as only being able to play on low/medium, I really don't care. I just want to be able to play SC2 for as cheap as possible. Any low- to mid-range computer I would buy nowadays would (hopefully) also be able to play most of the PC games I've missed for the past 6 or so years due to me not having an adequate gaming PC. I really don't care about being able to play every new game that comes out. If a game does come out that catches my eye (i.e. Diablo 3) that my computer can't run, I can just upgrade it then.

[Niode]

The first thing I did when I decided I wanted to buy a computer was to look for parts on newegg, but it seemed a lot more expensive than this, even for a low- or mid-range computer. I would actually prefer to build my own computer as opposed to buying it, if only for the learning experience. If someone wants to help me pick out some parts from newegg that would be cheaper, I'd certainly appreciate it. (If you couldn't tell, I don't have much experience with this stuff.)

As far as only being able to play on low/medium, I really don't care. I just want to be able to play SC2 for as cheap as possible. Any low- to mid-range computer I would buy nowadays would (hopefully) also be able to play most of the PC games I've missed for the past 6 or so years due to me not having an adequate gaming PC. I really don't care about being able to play every new game that comes out. If a game does come out that catches my eye (i.e. Diablo 3) that my computer can't run, I can just upgrade it then.

In that case you'd be better off just settling for whatever bottom range Dell you can get. Something like that, at least if something goes wrong you're covered by warranty.

Regarding building to a budget, just follow a guide such as the one on Tom's Hardware. It will tell you the best parts to buy for your budget. Such as this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu ... ,2659.html I'm sure if you look around you'd be able to find more. Personally, I direct people to this when people are interested in BYO PCs. It's more directed to UK buyers, but it does have US alternatives and prices.

[JordanPlayer]

Ah! I forgot about the Tom's Hardware SBMs. If you are genuinely looking to build a PC that link is a great guide to follow parts wise; it has all the components and prices listed right there for you. One benefit is that the guide is pretty new, but since it's about 2 months old some of the prices could have dropped even more for those parts.

[Niode]

One thing to bear in mind when buying is to look around for the cheapest shop for the most expensive parts, even if some parts are cheaper elsewhere, as long as the vast majority of expensive parts are the cheapest from one place you'll save on shipping. Also look for discounts. often places will have 10% discounts every now and then if you spend a certain amount of money with them. Currently Dabs.com have £10/20/50 if you spend £100/250/750. Definitely worth hunting them down, especially on a relatively big purchase as a gaming PC.

[KillemallCFH]

I'm still on the hunt for a PC, and someone at my school is selling one. Here's the message:

Monitor is a 24" Acer 1080p LCD screen.

The PC specs:
-600watt power supply
-Intel 2.83 GHz Core 2 Quad (never been overclocked, but has the ability to do so up past 3.4GHz)
-Ram: 4GB(2x2GB) (G.SKILL: DDR2 1066, Cas Latency- 5, Timing- 5-5-5-15, Dual Channel w/ heatsink)
-NVIDIA GeForce 260GTX Overclocked Special Edition (1GB DDR3 graphics RAM)
-GIGABYTE motherboard
-NZXT Black Midtower with Window panel and blue LED Fans.
-Cables are kept hidden from view of window panel
-250GB HDD with Card Reader and DVD/CD drive for writing and playing
^ There are 3 other slots for more hard drives if needed.

Running Windows Ultimate 64-bit (Windows XP Pro also available)

All together priced at over 1k.

Asking 600 or best offer.

This looks good to me at $600, but I figured I'd ask you (more knowledgeable) guys first before I commit to anything. I'm obviously going to check it out in person before buying it, but how do these specs look?

Thanks.

[Hobie-wan]

I'm still on the hunt for a PC, and someone at my school is selling one. Here's the message:

-600watt power supply

Running Windows Ultimate 64-bit (Windows XP Pro also available)

These 2 things jump out at me. What brand power supply is it? If it isn't a decent brand (and most aren't) then it's probably a piece of crap $40 power supply that should be replaced. The fact it is surely a home built system that comes with the 'super ultra mega deluxe' version of windows, but fails to say if that's Vista or W7 and also says that XP Pro is 'also available' raises a flag that it might not be a legit copy of Windows.

[Hatta]

You can build a better PC than that for $600. I built a comparable PC for $600 2 years ago, and the single most expensive component was the case. But then that didn't include a monitor.

[Niode]

You can build a better PC than that for $600. I built a comparable PC for $600 2 years ago, and the single most expensive component was the case. But then that didn't include a monitor.

Considering that dollars pretty much translate to pounds these days I built this including a Dell Sp2309w for £600 back in September 2008. Gives you an idea of how much you're getting ripped off by.