Need Fast Advice - Buying a Used Computer - Is it a good deal?

[Sepheron]

Okay so my Dell Inspiron 9200 finally burned out, and after all these years, I've finally gotten the incentive to upgrade. I can't afford an overkill gaming rig, so I've been looking around the web for a used, custom built Gaming Computer. I've found one deal that I really like, but to my very limited tech knowledge, it seems too good to be true (maybe it isn't), so I'm gonna ask you guys for some help and advice.

So I'm going to give you the specs of the computer first.

It's a used computer with the following stuff:

Hardware:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Gaming Case
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Heatsink

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 790i Ultra 3Way-SLI
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz
RAM: OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz Platinum Edition Low Voltage 8GB(4GBx2)

Graphic Card: 2 x BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE 896MB

Power Supply: Corsair HX Series 850W

Additional Accessories:

Acer G24 Widescreen 24" Gaming Monitor
Logitech 2.1 Speaker Set
Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard

*He didn't list the sound card or the hard drive, but when I called him he said its a 500 Gig Hard Drive. I'm not sure about the sound.

So judging by the parts in the computer, I'm guessing its roughly two years old. He's asking for 800$ for it, and I think that's an awesome deal, because the accessories alone come for about more than half of that. The thing is though, that if he's selling it for that cheap I'm wondering if there's something wrong with it. I've asked him if I can test the system out at his house before I buy it, and he said that he's okay with that. So now this is where I need your help.

These are the questions I have for you today.

1 - Are these parts good to run DX10 games coming out nowadays
2 - I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but if there is, what kinda faults or problems should I expect that would make him sell it away?
3 - Now for the big question, what kind of things should I look for when I go to his house to test it out? Should I open up the case and look for stuff, should I try to run games or other programs and check their performance, what kind of things do I need to know?

Thanks a lot for reading, and I appreciate any feedback at all.

 

[fastdude]

1)yeah, should be OK, it's DX11 you've got worry about. Won't run crysis maxed though. The CPU is outdated. It's decent, but a newer low-end LGA 1156 one would be better. The DDR3 isn't that fast, 1600Mhz will be better, PSU is good.
2)Seems to be OK, what OS is on it, or does it come without one?
3)I would just load up a few games, see how they play, maybe do a few benchmarks, or CPU-Z. That would tell you if he was making up his specs or not, as I am under the impression you have only spoken to him on the phone

If you have the money, it might be worth getting another 260 in there with the SLi

 

[Sepheron]

Im fine with the DX10/11 thing, I figure when DX11 is an absolute must to have, I'll just manually upgrade that.

Im guessing it would be a Vista or a Windows 7, but either way, I'm gonna put Windows 7 Ultimate on it.

I know this next question is totally amateur, but if he's saying its got something that it doesn't really have, if I open up the case how can I identify the parts. I know what the graphic cards look like, and of course the MOBO, but I don't know how to point out the CPU, the DDR and the HDD's. And how would I know if the fans are in good condition?

Edit: Oh and for $800 CAD how would you rate this machine/equipment on a 1-10 scale, assuming that it's working top-notch and has Windows 7 ish with a decent sound card.

 

[fastdude]

The processor looks like a little square box, inside its casing, the DDR ( I assume you mean RAM) looks like,well, thin sticks, the HDD looks like this: ^^^

Check out http://www.computerforum.com/104641-how-build-computer-step-step-photos.html for more advice on all this

Google images will also help you alot

 

[Sepheron]

I have another question.

He listed his DDR like this:

OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz Platinum Edition Low Voltage 8GB(4GBx2)

Now I'm having a little trouble understanding the bolded part. It says 8 GB - 4GBx2, but I searched the sticks up on the internet and found that they come in 4GB(2GBx2), and when I called him he confirmed it was 8GB RAM. So does this mean he made a typo saying 8GB (4GBx2) meaning two sticks, instead of saying 8GB (2GBx2+2GBx2) meaning 4 sticks, or does this product actually come in 4GB per stick?

 

[fastdude]

I have another question.

He listed his DDR like this:

OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz Platinum Edition Low Voltage 8GB(4GBx2)

Now I'm having a little trouble understanding the bolded part. It says 8 GB - 4GBx2, but I searched the sticks up on the internet and found that they come in 4GB(2GBx2), and when I called him he confirmed it was 8GB RAM. So does this mean he made a typo saying 8GB (4GBx2) meaning two sticks, instead of saying 8GB (2GBx2+2GBx2) meaning 4 sticks, or does this product actually come in 4GB per stick?

both. He's probably talking about 4 x 2GB sticks, seeing as the Mobo has 4xDimm slots That will run faster than 2x 4GB sticks anyway. If not, I wouldn't worry too much. You can check all this out when your trying out his PC

 

[Sepheron]

So is it a good deal for $800 CAD? Rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?

 

[mihir]

Hardware:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Gaming Case
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Heatsink

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 790i Ultra 3Way-SLI
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz
RAM: OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 1333MHz Platinum Edition Low Voltage 8GB(4GBx2)

Graphic Card: 2 x BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE 896MB

Power Supply: Corsair HX Series 850W

Additional Accessories:

Acer G24 Widescreen 24" Gaming Monitor
Logitech 2.1 Speaker Set
Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard

*He didn't list the sound card or the hard drive, but when I called him he said its a 500 Gig Hard Drive. I'm not sure about the sound.

The core 2 duo will not be able to play games like GTA IV and Microsoft Flight Simulator at full settings.
You can overclock the core 2 duo since the hyper 212 is also bundled with it.
Those core 2 duos clock really well.

The RAM wont be a bottleneck since 8gig is more than enough
The GTX 260 sli can just about play any game in at full settings.
The monitor is also pretty good.

The Deal is really good.
PROS
GTX 260 SLI
Monitor
All the gaming stuff
8 gig RAM
CM HAF 932 case
Awesome PSU

CONS
2 Year old
The processor.



Everything else looks good and will be able to play most games for the next 2 years.

at 800CAD you wont get a new PC performing close to this deal.

I would give this Deal a 10

 

[Aastii]

both. He's probably talking about 4 x 2GB sticks, seeing as the Mobo has 4xDimm slots That will run faster than 2x 4GB sticks anyway. If not, I wouldn't worry too much. You can check all this out when your trying out his PC

The motherboard supports up to 8GB of memory, so it will be 4x2GB, no 2x4GB

If you get the computer, download CPUz from here and check it all adds up. It will give you a breakdown of the parts. You will be able to see your CPU, memory, motherboard and graphics.

To see if your HDD is 500Gb, go to computer and C:\ is your main drive. It will be 465GB (provided it isn't partitioned) beacuse hard drive manufacturers don't use the true size of a gigabyte, they use 1000bytes to a kb, 1000 kb to mb etc, rather than 1024, so you lose a bit.

To see if your power supply is what he ssays, pop the side off your case, and the big box with all the wires coming out is your power supply. It will say pretty clearly on it Corsair HX850W in blue (as it is HX). like this: