buying pc

clarkdevlin · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:15

A friend is trying to sell me a pc with the specs below for £200 is it worth it?

3200 xp (2.17 ghz) :cpu
coolmaster airflow cpu cooler :cpu cooler
512mb ddr ram (pc3200) :memory
nivda 6600 le 256mb :video card
abit an7
40 gb hdd :hard drive
cd drive :cd rom
airflow power flow case :case

he said it will come "with a 17" crt monitor keyboard and mouse and if some one buys it this week il put in a 5.1 creative audigy platinum sound card"

vincent1989 · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:19

sounds ok, and with the 5.1 card and 17" CRT sounds like a reasonable deal, small RAM upgrade to 1GB, and an overclock on the CPU and it should last for a year or so if you dont intend on doing any heavy 'labour' on it, eg games at max everything etc

certainly a lot more for your money than if you tried to build something for a similar price!

mk17 · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:19

To be honest, depends on your requirements. If you're browsing, then well and good. Seems pretty reasonable, compared to buying/building your own for two blips.

clarkdevlin · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:29

is it good for gaming if you dont set it to high resolution?

vincent1989 · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:44

clarkdevlin said:
is it good for gaming if you dont set it to high resolution?

should be able to play games at low-medium settings, so around 1024x960(?) res, i imagine.

but as i sad, to get more out of it you will definitely need more RAM, especially for todays RAM hungry games, get another 512mb stick, make sure its compatable with the mobo, and then overclock the CPU a bit, and it should be ok.
for example the minimum for a decent battlefield 2/2142 is 1gb, and thats stretching it a bit

clarkdevlin · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:46

what did you mean that it will last for a year or so on your previous post?

vincent1989 · 3 Dec 2006 at 00:52

clarkdevlin said:
what did you mean that it will last for a year or so on your previous post?

buy a bit of RAM, and overclock and you'll get about a years usage before you really need to upgrade again, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more, all depends on how you plan to use it really, as an internet machine its more than adequate, at gaming, well, its not upto much as it stands, barring a small RAM upgrade, and its all out dated technology, but for £200 you cant beat it