Just been offered a cheap PC - opinions please

[fallenangle]

I have the opportunity to buy a PC from a relative who is upgrading his two year old 2.6GHz Fujitsu Siemens. No monitor but it has keyboard/mouse, 512Mb RAM, 2 x 40GB HDD, DVD/CD reader/CD writer + various software. I guess graphics/sound are whatever came with the machine from new.

Price = £100.

How much do you lot reckon I'd have to spend to get it to decent games' playing spec? Is it worth it because 2.6Ghz seems a bit slow nowadays.

To be quite I honest from a hands on point of view I know next to nothing about about the technical side of PC gaming. All my gaming has been done on consoles. But there are games like the PC only TR levels and things like the Command & Conquer series and other RTS titles I would really love to get my hands on. This is the first time I've had the possible opportunity of making this a reality at a reasonable cost.

Comments/opinions/suggestions welcome.

[Crofty_Tomb]

Wow! Thats great and really cheap! I suggest you get it and then upgrade it to full performance and graphics! This is a great opportunity.

[ace_85]

Hmm...not too sure about this one. Without knowing the full specs of the PC it's difficult to say what definitely needs upgrading, and by how much. From what you've posted though, it looks as if this PC has never really been used for gaming and hence will require a fair bit of work, depending on what you want from it.

Firstly, 512 MB of RAM isn't really enough for most games nowadays, you're going to want to increase it to 1GB. I also expect that the CPU itself and the graphics card will need upgrading, and you'll probably want to upgrade the PSU (Power Supply Unit) to accommodate the demands of a faster graphics card too.

To put it into some perspective, I'm hopefully upgrading my PC to the same sort of level you're talking about (and coincidentally my current specs are fairly similar to your uncle's PC now) and it's going to cost somewhere in the region of £300. Joseph is much more informed than myself on these sort of matters though, I'm sure he'll post a reply later with some more specific advice

:wve:

[Cochrane]

Those specs are not too impressive (but similar to my current). A problem with upgrading older PCs is always that you often remain locked in to obsolete busses. For example, I guess that PC has AGP, so if you want a new graphics card, you'll have to go AGP again, which in turn limits your further motherboard choices - unless, of course, you change your mainboard at the same time as you graphic card.

Given the choice, I personally would rather buy a new computer. That is going to be more expensive than getting this one and upgrading, but not that much, and having full warranty and a state-of-the-art system is likely to be a better choice in the long term.

[Joseph]

The best way to provide us a more accurate view on the hardware and make us give you advise is to Download Everest Home (http://www.jozefdekkers.nl/everesthome200.zip). Copy it onto a CD-RW, bring iot to your uncle's PC. On your uncle's PC, Copy it to the Desktop. Unzip (extract) and install. Start the program, in the left panel select Computer > Summary. In the right panel you'll see the details.

Please rightclick on any textline in this rightpanel and select "Copy All".
Paste the complete text into Notepad. Copy it to a floppydisk. Bring it to your own computer, paste the text into your next reply. :)

[fallenangle]

^ That would probably be good advice if I had a PC already and I had time to make my mind up on this but but I don't have either.

The seller wants a quick decision or he'll put it on e-Bay. I browse on the cheap via my Netgem i-Player which is all I really actually need 99% of the time. So I couldn't download software, burn etc even if I wanted or knew how to :-).

I'm not expecting the PC to be a 3D polygon crunching monster just good enough to play something like the recent C&C compilation or other similar RTS. Myst Uru and Myst V would also be of great interest and older budget titles. Surely a 2.6GHz CPU with a reasonable graphics card is good enough for this and the older TR games in particular?

My only real requirement is that they play without slowdown.

I know that the graphics card upgrade would probably be essential, I'm not up to date about what's available now but I know there were some very well regarded cards available a year ago for well under £100. Or am I trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear?

[Joseph]

Oh, you have no pc at all? You can take the cd-rw with the result to a public PC (library).

Or, just buy the computer, the price is certainly low! But be prepared that for running games on it you might need to spend more cash on it.

[Cochrane]

As far as Tomb Raiders go, I'd say that all except Angel of Darkness and Legend should run well. Legend will probably work better than Angel of Darkness. I don't know about Myst, but C&C Generals should work reasonably well, too. This is all based on my computer, which has roughly similar specs. Notice that I don't know anything about your computer's graphic card, which will have a huge impact.

[Joseph]

Yes. And expect a regular Fujitsu Siemens to have onboard graphics or a very simple basic card.
It probably is an AGP system, and you want to be able to play current games on it.
If it is AGP, you may prepare to change:
-PSU (Power Supply Unit) to a OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX 450W (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=315951&view=detailed)£50.00
-graphic card to a Club3D GeForce 7800GS 256MB GDDR3 AGP (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=317794&view=detailed) £185.00
-RAM memory to Crucial DDR2 PC3200 1024MB CL3 Unbuffered,1.8V,128Meg x 64, 240pin (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=302988&view=detailed)£69.99

TOTAL RECOMMENDED: £305,-

For 60 pounds more, you can have a 512MB version of the 7800GS: Gainward GeForce 7800GS+ 512MB GDDR3, AGP8X (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=319889) £255.00 which will improve the performance in latest games like TR:Legend next generation significantly.

TOTAL OPTIMAL: £365,-

If your budget allows it you should go for ultimate: add an extra 1 GB RAM memory Crucial DDR2 PC3200 1024MB CL3 Unbuffered,1.8V,128Meg x 64, 240pin (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=302988&view=detailed)

TOTAL ULTIMATE: £435,-

[fallenangle]

Thanks for all the advice - a lot to think about in a short time.

^With those suggested (vital?) additions the cost even with cheapness of the core machine is getting into £500+ territory. Serious money and no XB360 for me this Xmas if I go ahead :-(

It's also seems to be not far short of the price of some new more powerful off the shelf basic entry level 'gaming spec' PCs.

What to do? I'm still not sure.

[Joseph]

You're wrong. 'On the shelf PC's' of that price today have:
- a too small PSU as well
-onboard graphics or very basic graphic cards as well
- many times, no more than 512 MB RAM memory as well

They would need the same upgrade cash to make it a true gaming machine.

What sellers dare to call entry level 'gaming spec' PC in their adverts, mostly are not actually.


BTW: if you go for 'RECOMMENDED', you would already have a PC that can play your games very fine.

[fallenangle]

Thanks for all the advice.

After careful consideration I decided not to buy it. It would cost too much to turn it into a moderately useful games playing machine and it's other main uses I've already got covered satisfactorily.

[Lord Icon]

They would need the same upgrade cash to make it a true gaming machine.

What sellers dare to call entry level 'gaming spec' PC in their adverts, mostly are not actually.

I agree.

What some people fail to realise is that games, especially modern games, are one of the most demanding software ever made. And as such they need powerful systems to run on. Such systems are not cheap. You can get a quite cheap computer and be able to run some games but if you planning on running modern, graphics intense games you will need to spend some serious cash.

[Joseph]

Indeed. And for that, £100,- + £305,- = £405,- for a decent one is still a bargain IMO. :whi: