Computer shop ripp off!

[rob4001]

Hello

I friend of mine on the course bought a PC from a local computer shop in Durham last year rather than going to PC world. She thought she might get a better deal. She'd been having problems I think with the motherboard integrated graphics or maybe hard drive so I asked her for the specs and I was shocked what the charged her.

branded AMD motherboard
AMD 3500+
160gb IDE hard drive
Integrated graphics
1GB ddr
case + psu
19" flat screen monitor
£679

Is it worth stripping sell components?
Could you suggest a cheap PC components to buy she only really needs it for MS office and net surfing. So much for supporting local shops!

So any suggestions for a new build I will probably print this off and show her what anyone thinks.
How much would the old kit be worth on ebay?

[TooNice]

It's worth finding out where the problem is. That PC is fine for Office and net surfing. Swapping a motherboard or swapping a HD will still end up being cheaper than a rebuild. Of course a rebuild will be faster, but you'll pay a lot more for it.

Have you tried an re-install?

That PC is.. not worth a lot IMO. The HD, assuming it works may be worth £20 for someone who needs it.

I've seen enthusiast motherboard + CPU go for under £50 on Ebay, so I wouldn't expect much more than £35 for what you have.

1GB DDR RAM, unbranded may go for £10-15 top.

Case + PSU is probably not worth anyone's while (heavy to pack/send - I don't really see people pay £15-20 on top of whatever you may ask for shipping. Selling it for penuts is probably not worth your while. Might as well Freecycle it.

The whole thing is not likely to be worth more than £100 inc. (I've seen more attractive 3500+ based system go for that much on Ebay).

I assume the monitor is at least re-usable.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hello

I friend of mine on the course bought a PC from a local computer shop in Durham last year rather than going to PC world. She thought she might get a better deal. She'd been having problems I think with the motherboard integrated graphics or maybe hard drive so I asked her for the specs and I was shocked what the charged her.

branded AMD motherboard
AMD 3500+
160gb IDE hard drive
Integrated graphics
1GB ddr
case + psu
19" flat screen monitor
£679

Is it worth stripping sell components?
Could you suggest a cheap PC components to buy she only really needs it for MS office and net surfing. So much for supporting local shops!

So any suggestions for a new build I will probably print this off and show her what anyone thinks.
How much would the old kit be worth on ebay?

All she needed was to get a computer mag and it would have told her what was the going rate for a reasonable computer for office work and internet browsing. Why are people incapable of doing some basic research anymore?? Sounds like an impulse buy to me.

I assume the price included MS Office and XP.

The computer is more than powerful enough for her work.I would get the computer shop to repair it as it should have a warranty especially at the price they charged her.

[rob4001]

All she needed was to get a computer mag and it would have told her what was the going rate for a reasonable computer for office work and internet browsing. Why are people incapable of doing some basic research anymore??

Well maybe by going to a computer shop she was hoping not to blatantly ripped off.

[999tigger]

For a cheap computer like that and if she doesnt have a geeky friend then she should have just bought a Dell. You might not like Dell but they make good cheap boxes.
Magazines are for people with common sense and who do a bit of research.Hopefully it will show her to do some before parting with her money in future.

[cougarslam]

Local pc shops are normally rip off merchants by off the same e-tailers as us then whack a charge on top. Stock is normally old due to low sales yet comes at the price it was 2 yrs ago lol.

[Hicks12]

Wow thats EXPENSIVE, i paid £550 for top of the line (just bought last week)

E8400, 8800GTS OC 512mb BFG, 2gb dual channel ddr2 pc6400 corsair, asus p5n-d and new 700w Xclio psu, 250gb Sata 2 WD hard drive 16mb cache.
BUT ddr is much more expensive then ddr2, no idea why they put that junk in there (well its good but for the price at they are stupid)

a budget pc would set you back £200 roughly (pre built) my dad just got a dual core amd, 4000 i think 2gb ddr2, random mobo and intergrated graphics, £190 for it he paid and still has to get £50 cash back( so £140) and its a HP.

a 19" monitor will only set you back £100-£150, more u pay more you get though.

The whole thing will most likely sell for £100, depending on case ofc. Just sell as a unit, dont strip it at first, advertise as a unit then sell as parts if that fails.

TBH id say just stick with it, perfect for office use and she already bought it so might aswell use it still.

[this_is_gav]

Wow thats EXPENSIVE, i paid £550 for top of the line (just bought last week)

E8400, 8800GTS OC 512mb BFG, 2gb dual channel ddr2 pc6400 corsair, asus p5n-d and new 700w Xclio psu, 250gb Sata 2 WD hard drive 16mb cache.

None of that is top of the line. Most of it is pretty middle of the road.

BUT ddr is much more expensive then ddr2, no idea why they put that junk in there (well its good but for the price at they are stupid)

It's good business sense. They want to sell as much as they can for the price it was worth when they bought it. They've not just received a load of DDR1 modules. It's stuff they're trying to get rid of and have been for some time. They see sense a gullible customer coming along and spy the ideal time to get rid of it at it's original street value.

Unfortunately this means she got completely ripped off, but that doesn't mean they did anything wrong.

From her point of view, it's a shame the most valuable thing, the Windows license (assuming it's legal... I wouldn't put it past some shops for it not to be) will die when the motherboard does. 'spose you could get a bit on Ebay for the monitor from someone equally gullible.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

None of that is top of the line. Most of it is pretty middle of the road.

Maybe for you it is but for 99.99% of people it is a good enough spec and will play all games reasonably well. He said it to prove a point for what you can get for the price nowadays. No need to be rude!

This is not a who has got the "best" hardware competition!

[MadduckUK]

your a terrible friend rob

[this_is_gav]

Maybe for you it is but for 99.99% of people it is a good enough spec and will play all games reasonably well. He said it to prove a point for what you can get for the price nowadays. No need to be rude!

This is not a who has got the "best" hardware competition!

Top of the line is top of the line, it doesn't make any difference if what you had before was a Celery powered by moss. The best is still the same. And for the most part it's better than my set up anyway.

[Hicks12]

it is top of the line though, and when i say that i dont mean the highest of highest but it is high end, second best graphics card, beats the GTX and the ultra is close, not including the 3870X2 though.

And i was just trying to say that it was expensive xD, but anyways, ill leave this topic too answer the OP questions....

[Blitzen]

Top of the line is top of the line, it doesn't make any difference if what you had before was a Celery powered by moss. The best is still the same. And for the most part it's better than my set up anyway.

TBH i think that there is hardly anyone here with 'top of the line'.
In fact, i dont think i have seen a single spec avatar that does have top of the line equipment on ANY forum ever.

[dodgybob]

I think it all depends on how much your time is worth. I'm sure you cold trouble shoot the pc, work out what has been causing the problems and replace it with a component bought cheaply in the for sale forums. Or you could tell her to buy a new basic office pc base unit for about £200 but then when you sell the components you need to make sure you know which are faulty and which aren't. Indeed does it even have a hardware fault? People quite often mess up their windows installs over time and a format usually fixes many perceived hardware issues.

[moogle]

TBH i think that there is hardly anyone here with 'top of the line'.
In fact, i dont think i have seen a single spec avatar that does have top of the line equipment on ANY forum ever.

top of the line isn't worth it imo. after the best performance for money parts the prices go up exponentially for a linear increase in performance. and the increase is usually a small but significant one.

[wombar]

Yup, I usually buy components that are just before you get into "silly money" territory. e.g. I just bought a Q6600 which is about £200 less than the Q6700. Considering that you can clock the Q6600 to ~3Ghz fairly easily, I just didn't see the point.

VERY few people have top of the line machines because a) you need to be LOADED to get a fully spec'd system and b) you have to upgrade every 3-6 months to keep up. I have a fairly decent machine, but it is no way top of the line.