Buying a 2nd hand PC

k3lvc

Current home PC is approaching 10yrs old - an HP Pavilion that's done sterling service but won't run anything above Vista in it's current format.


Given we have laptops/tablets in the house I do still want to replace the base unit (22" monitor, keyboard etc are all still more than adequate)


Usage is mainly MS Office stuff, Minecraft (for kids), occasional racing game usage by me and occasional video editing for Mrs K3 (from Panasonic compact HD or Canon Ixus cameras)


Prices seem all over the place with branded (HP/Lenovo/Acer/Asus) stuff generating a £100 premium over Medion/Mesh etc


On the other hand I could risk Ebay and cash in on someone elses depreciation - branded i3/i5 based boxes with dedicated graphics for sub £200.


So a couple of questions


1) is a dedicated graphics card necessary or an shared intel graphics capable of the above nowadays


2) What risks (other than the usual Ebay caveats) are there in buying in this way


3) are there any alternatives anyone can come up with - I'm assuming changing processor, memory etc on current one will cost more than buying 'new'

bengalknights

You could always go new and get one of these which does the job for most things and is £99 after cashback

http://www.ebuyer.com/714845-dell-poweredge-t20-pentium-g3220-3-ghz-4gb-ram-500gb-hdd-tower-t20-9186?utm_source=2016-01-15&utm_medium=campaign_email&utm_campaign=B2C_%28Friday%29_Openers

Mirno

As you're keeping the old monitor, check what connection type it has. Over the last 10 years the connectors have been through a few iterations.

As long as it's not VGA (possible but unlikely) you should be able to buy an appropriate adapter or cable for a fiver or less. (Never buy for more than a couple of pounds, it's digital anything more is a rip off!)

stator

I'd say Intel Graphics 3000 and onwards is capable for every day needs. I'm not sure which racing games you play, so check some benchmarks.
If it's not good enough you can upgrade with a dedicated GFX card later.

You can get upgrades relatively cheap, but you do have to look around. Some platforms are in higher demand than others. You can get some good second hand CPU+Motherboard+RAM bundles on eBay. Socket AM3 / AM3+ might be good value for money.

Download CPUID/CPU-Z and post your specs so we can see what sort of PC you've got ATM

Cisco001

It depends what game you are playing.

It is likely you need to change a better quality PSU if you upgrade your video card.

When you buy a PC, make sure you get a tower instead of SFF.

k3lvc

Nothing too recent - Grid2/Dirt3 etc and need to add that kids are likely to want Sims 4 installed too

Cisco001

k3lvc wrote: »

Nothing too recent - Grid2/Dirt3 etc and need to add that kids are likely to want Sims 4 installed too

googled SIM 4 recommended requirement

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 or AMD Athlon X4
CPU Speed: Info
RAM: 4 GB
OS: 64 Bit Windows 7,8, or 8.1
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 or better
Sound Card: Yes
Free Disk Space: 10 GB


I assume you will need a GT730 or similar

k3lvc

In case back to the original question - what do I need to look out for if buying off Ebay ? Is a screenshot of the spec (which obviously needs to match when I receive it) safe or can that be manipulated ?

k3lvc

stator wrote: »

Download CPUID/CPU-Z and post your specs so we can see what sort of PC you've got ATM

Which bit needs posting - whole report is 84k characters and I'm only allowed 25k

stator

k3lvc wrote: »

Which bit needs posting - whole report is 84k characters and I'm only allowed 25k

Post a screenshot of the tabs:
CPU, Mainboard, Memory, Graphics