Bought Used Gaming PC... a few questions

Lh3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 11:49

Just a bit of background first.. currently use an i7 13" macbook pro for pretty much everything but a couple of days ago i picked up a cheap 2nd hand gaming PC off gumtree, was a bit of a gamble as i don't know as much as i used to about PC's and desktops since i switched to OSX a few years ago. PC will be used for gaming (probably not the latest games though) and some music/DJ programs such as Ableton and Traktor

So this is what i bought.. (here is a link to his ebay ad)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H
Case: Thermaltake Black Versa 11 Mid Tower w/ 500w PS
Processor: Intel i3-3240 CPU @ 3.40GHz
RAM: 24GB (8+8+4+4)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550 Ti
HDD: 2x Seagate Baracuda 500Gb 7200RPM HDD
ODD: LG GH24NS90 SATA DVD
Wireless Card: ASUS PCE=N15 11n Wireless LAN PCI-E Card
Lighting: Bitspower Dual 10cm Cold Cathode Kit (blue)
OS: Windows 8 Pro

Primary Monitor: AOC i2757Fh 27" 5ms IPS Full HD LED
Secondary Monitor: Old BENQ Monitor or 32" Full HD LED TV
Keyboard: Thermaltake KB-KNK008 Knuckler Pro Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Generic Cheap Logitech Mouse

All up it was $400 without any of the monitors (paid $300 for the AOC brand new delivered separately) and at the moment the only thing im looking at upgrading is probably a 128GB SSD, just waiting for a good shopping express sale (looking for a sandisk ultra plus in particular) It is almost brand new and sounds like it was built by his mate early on in the year and he never used it as he didn't know much about it .

if someone could help answer any of these questions it would be greatly appreciated

  1. Did i get a Bargain?
  2. What would value this system at?
  3. What are the bottlenecks of this system?
  4. Anything worth upgrading? (besides SSD)
  5. How close am i to overloading the 500W of my PS?

Thanks in advance

Computing

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 11:59
    +2

    Question 1+2, I'd say this system would have had a historical cost of $700 in parts and OS. I'd say you got a pretty good price.

    The biggest bottleneck is the graphics card, and if you want to make the most of the system I suggest you look at a Radeon 7800 series (or GTX 660 Ti thats currently on special @ MSY, and the offer ends today)

    see http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/105235/17210/imageproxy…

    The TT PSU should be OK. It still looks fairly new.

    RAM: 24GB (8+8+4+4)

    If you sold the extra RAM you don't need and the graphics card, you can get around $150 dollars back. I don't think a gaming system requires 24GB RAM, and you're also running them in single channel mode.

    • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 12:52

      i have a understanding on how shared memory works when it comes to graphics cards, i notice that he has it setup to have the total available memory for graphics at 4GB (1Gb dedicated + 3Gb shared 24GB) but what improvement will this have over just using the dedicated 1GB? also since i have an overkill of 24GB could i share even more RAM with the graphics card (e.g. 7GB) to make up for the not so great GPU?

      Thanks for your reply also

      • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 13:27
        +3

        also since i have an overkill of 24GB could i share even more RAM with the graphics card (e.g. 7GB) to make up for the not so great GPU?

        That won't do anything. That GPU is simply just low end (slow) — it could have 2, 20, 50GB of VRAM and it won't do it any good in terms of performance.

        If you wanted your GPU to perform faster you could overclock it using software such as MSI Afterburner, but my suggestion is to just sell it off and get something better.

        • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 13:33

          ok thanks for the advice, i think im going to stick with it for a couple of weeks to see if il need to upgrade for what im using it for while i wait for a nice deal to come around on ozbargain.

          also you said that wont do anything.. what was shared memory actually do then? is there any point to having it at all?

        • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 13:35
          +1

          what was shared memory actually do then? is there any point to having it at all?

          Shared is just the amount of extra memory the graphics card is allowed to use if it surpasses the amount of dedicated memory(whats on the card), it can come from your R.A.M or your HDD/SDD depending on how much youve allocated your page file.

          Generally this only happens when you are playing at resolutions beyond 1080p or if the game requires a lot of memory for texture data. YOu probably won't be doing that with a budget card like that though.

          As I recommended before, you can sell off the RAM and graphics card for extra cash, and put that towards your SSD upgrade.

        • _Bruce_ on 07/09/2013 - 13:38
          +1

          What do you even mean by 'i notice that he has it setup'?

          That card does not used shared memory. The HD4000 in the CPU will, but if you are using that you aren't using the 550Ti, which is faster. Either way, pretty pointless, and you are (almost) never going to use more than 8G of system RAM.

          Short version: Whoever build this probably had no idea what they were doing.

        • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 13:48

          What do you even mean by 'i notice that he has it setup'?

          if i go to performance information and tool, under graphics its shows:

          adapter type: GTX 550
          total memory: 4GB
          Dedicated: 1GB
          Shared system memory: 3GB

          i may be wrong but this would have been done by the previous owner in the BIOS

        • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 13:51

          i cant see how i could possibly be using the integrated graphics if i have the HDMI plugged into the GPU not the mobo haha

          also theres the possibility that his mate who built it for him had the extra RAM laying around and decided to put it in

        • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 13:51
          +1

          i may be wrong but this would have been done by the previous owner in the BIOS

          It's actually done by Windows / display driver, not by the user.

        • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 13:52

          ok thanks for clearing that up

  • issh on 07/09/2013 - 12:05
    +1

    1) Approx 3 year old system, with those parts, seems like a good price for what you got
    2) As above, good deal, $450 max. I probably wouldn't pay $500 for it
    3) GPU
    4) Depends what you are using it for(software/game-wise)
    5) Minimum for the 550 is 400W, so you should be fine with that

    • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 12:11

      It looks pretty new actually, looking at the photos there's barely any dust on the CPU or case fans.

      The seller also chose a bad time to end the listing. Midnight on Monday —- nobody is going to browse eBAy at that time.

      • issh on 07/09/2013 - 12:16

        Wow, that is clean. Barely any dust on the fans at all

        Pretty neat as well, should be easy to replace parts if needed

      • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 12:36
        +1

        yeah was kept ontop of his desk with plenty of room around it, seems like it had just been built yesterday if you were just looking at the condition its in

    • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 13:07

      thanks for the reply, as i said the PC will be used for gaming (probably not the latest games though) and some music/DJ programs such as Ableton and Traktor

    • A Banana4scale on 07/09/2013 - 14:07
      +5

      wow the ignorance

      • ethereal88 on 08/09/2013 - 06:40
        -7

        What? Its shitty and unbalanced. Are you half spastic or something?

    • johnno07 on 10/09/2013 - 00:55
      +3

      Ethereal88 the techno-derp. It's painful reading your comments and seeing how you honestly believe you're right when you're incredibly wrong.

    • p1 ama on 10/09/2013 - 18:23
      +1

      Hahah! Get your facts straight please, would you point me to a benchmark which shows that games benefit significantly from a quad core processor?

      Look, to put it bluntly, sorry, but not everyone in the world wants to play the latest high end games with max settings. If you're an enthusiast and you like a powerful PC, then good for you, I do too, I have a very expensive performance rig myself.

      Understand that not everyone needs to, wants to or has the capacity to be spending thousands of dollars on their PCs. Also, if it's worth $350 to you, do explain the maths behind this.

      Here's my calculations:

      Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H - ~$60
      Case: Thermaltake Black Versa 11 Mid Tower w/ 500w PS - $~70
      Processor: Intel i3-3240 CPU @ 3.40GHz - ~$130
      RAM: 24GB (8+8+4+4) - ~ $130 + 70
      Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550 Ti - ~$100
      HDD: 2x Seagate Baracuda 500Gb 7200RPM HDD - ~$100
      ODD: LG GH24NS90 SATA DVD - ~$20
      Wireless Card: ASUS PCE=N15 11n Wireless LAN PCI-E Card - ~$20
      Lighting: Bitspower Dual 10cm Cold Cathode Kit (blue) - ~$20
      OS: Windows 8 Pro - ~$150

      Total - $870

      So, I'd say $400 is a fair price for second hand.

  • Peace Maker on 07/09/2013 - 12:17
    +4

    Full stops must be pretty expensive on eBay. He managed to run his whole ad without using one. Does this annoy anyone or is it just me?

    • issh on 07/09/2013 - 12:18
      +1

      Doesn't matter man, it's a MAD computer

    • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 12:34

      His gumtree ad wasn't any better, maybe they've added a fee for fullstops on there too?

  • Briefcase Mong on 07/09/2013 - 14:29

    for 400 bucks defintely a bargain with 24gb RAM I highly recommend you sell the 2 4GB Dimms and buy a used GTX 550Ti off eBay and SLi

    • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 14:37

      didnt think of that.. i dont know much about SLi but would my 500W power supply handle two GTX 550Ti?

      EDIT: looked it up, looks like i need 750W to run two in SLi.. can anyone recommend a decent power supply if i went down this path..

      or would it be more cost effective to just sell off my 550 and buy a better GPU?

      • scrimshaw on 07/09/2013 - 14:58
        +2

        or would it be more cost effective to just sell off my 550 and buy a better GPU?

        This.

        • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 15:01

          yep, definitely better off that way
          thanks

        • A Banana4scale on 07/09/2013 - 15:19

          I'd say wait till the new Radeon Cards release, sell the RAM, use the current GPU. Then when the old Radeon series gets cheap-ish, get something like a 7970/7950. Maybe Nvidia will lower the prices on the 7XX(rebadged 6XX really)/6XX series

  • Weezle on 07/09/2013 - 18:12

    To answer question 4 (cause others have already answered the others), upgrade the GPU as it's a little lite. Also as you mentioned upgrade to an SSD as it makes a huge difference.

    Other than that, it looks like you got a pretty good deal for what it has.

    • h3h3 on 07/09/2013 - 18:16

      thanks

  • Wallyt99 on 08/09/2013 - 16:51
    +3

    Needs more RAM

    • h3h3 on 08/09/2013 - 19:28

      what is RAM?

      • Wallyt99 on 08/09/2013 - 19:44

        I was being sarcastic. 24gb is the biggest overkill ever.

      • Macgyver on 08/09/2013 - 20:05

        Means memory. You have 24Gb of it.

        He is joking.

        • h3h3 on 08/09/2013 - 20:46

          just trolling

    • Thaal Sinestro on 09/09/2013 - 13:35
      -1

      Almost all games are still 32bit, so they cannot utilize more than 2 Gb of RAM on Windoze. There is a way of altering execuatables to allow them to use up to 4GB, but I haven't had much success so far. The transition to 64bit would greatly improve stability and moddability of games like Oblivion and Skyrim. 32bit is holding the industry back (along with aging consoles). Also 64-bit programs run faster, up to 25% up.

      • _Bruce_ on 09/09/2013 - 17:00
        +1

        Actually the limit is 4GB on any 64 bit windows. The method of 'altering' is standard on modern games.

      • Thaal Sinestro on 15/10/2013 - 22:58
        -1

        A lot of recent Windows programs become unstable in the 1.5 to 1.9 MB range, games like Fallout 3 and Firefox browser for instance. Just because the theortical limit is 4 GB on Win 32 bit, don't expect to be able to get near it with a 32 bit application.

        • _Bruce_ on 15/10/2013 - 23:21

          Er.. the limit is NOT 4GB on Win32 it is 2GB, which can be modified to 3GB. 4GB is the limit for 64 bit Windows running 32 bit applications.

          As for 'become unstable in the 1.5 to 1.9 MB range' I have no idea what you think you are talking about.

  • umoddbro on 08/09/2013 - 17:49
    +2

    Maybe that guy shouldn't have spent so much on RAM and spent more on the CPU/GPU.. seriously 24gb in that system smh…8GB is more than enough.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/09/2013 - 00:21

      Maybe he did a lot of virtualization or something? Maybe he liked to use RAM drive? Or maybe he used ZFS? All I know is you can't have too much RAM but for general users anything over 4GB is usually unneeded. If you're a lazy user/crazy user with a billion tabs then sure get 8GB.

      • francis.tks on 10/09/2013 - 12:38

        If you shut down your comp once a month too!

        • _Bruce_ on 10/09/2013 - 12:42

          My Linux machines only shutdown when the power is out. Even my Windows 7 machine only reboots on security updates, and that is not very often.

          Most leaks are fixed these days.

  • MrAria on 08/09/2013 - 22:52

    It'll work perfectly fine with Ableton and Traktor. I have an older PC which I use purely for Ableton and Cubase and they work great.

    On the other hand, depending on what games you want to play, you may have to follow the others suggestions. Selling off some RAM and replacing the GFX card would be a good idea.

  • h3h3 on 09/09/2013 - 00:44

    would this 7790 be a good upgrade?

    or would i be looking at a new power supply if i wanted to get that?

    • scrimshaw on 09/09/2013 - 08:00

      It's a step up from your current GPU but the 7790 is not a high end card — it's a middle end one so many new games would have to be run at medium to low settings for best performance.

      Look at benchmarks and see if you're happy with how it performs
      http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_radeon_7790_oc…

      You don't need to upgrade your power supply. As a general rule, 500 watts is plenty for a lot of cards in the mainstream ($250) and budget category.

  • Cheeper on 09/09/2013 - 12:03
    -2

    I would not worry about upgrading the ssd as 120g is plenty for the os and essential accessories. Everything does not need to be on the ssd.

    You got a steal!

    • _Bruce_ on 09/09/2013 - 12:41
      +1

      I think you failed at reading…

  • johnno07 on 10/09/2013 - 01:01
    +1

    I can't believe you actually bought from that buyer with a description like that. Obviously you've got in all in once piece which is great, but I would have expected the thing to turn up sticky-taped into a milk crate or some such. It also appears that this guy thinks gigabytes of RAM are inversely proportional to punctuation marks.

    • h3h3 on 10/09/2013 - 11:09

      I fully inspected and tested it out first. As i said, it was built by his mate (who was experienced at building computers), have a look at the photos yourself.. its been put together very well, has hardly been used and looked after with no sign of wear or dust.

      and for $400 i and many people in this thread still believe it was a good buy

      Sill don't know why his mate would put 24GB of RAM in though. Maybe it was at the owners request or had extra laying around..

      • scrimshaw on 10/09/2013 - 17:39
        +2

        Sill don't know why his mate would put 24GB of RAM in though. Maybe it was at the owners request or had extra laying around..

        Well you're sitting on a gold mine, cos RAM prices have skyrocketed through the roof in the previous few months due to DRAM shortages as well as price inflation.

        I estimate you have around $230 dollars worth of RAM (16GB Kit costs $150 and a 8GB Kit costs $78.

        This RAM costs more than your CPU and motherboard combined…

        When you sell your desktop, sell your memory seperately for maximum returns - It's the ozbargainer way!

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