Buying a used PC on eBay • Non-Gaming • PC Hardware • Eurogamer.net

Deleted user 3 November 2017 23:22:09

I need a replacement for my disintegrating, half-broken PC, and it must be cheap because I'm poor. The most obvious place to look for bargains is private sellers on eBay, yet I'm not sure about the risks.

So for example, right now I'm looking at this one: https://www.ebay.de/itm/142563824267

An i5-3470 PC for possibly under €100, that's certainly tempting. I just don't know if it's a good idea to buy a used PC from private on eBay. On the other hand, he's got 100% positive feedback, shouldn't that be a good sign? Or is there something else I may be overlooking?

Have you maybe made your own experiences?

Thanks for your thoughts.

BigOrkWaaagh 4 Nov 2017 07:04:25 10,554 posts
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I think someone in the swapsies thread has 3rd gen gubbins for sale.

THFourteen 4 Nov 2017 07:55:18 54,987 posts
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I can’t understand any of the German but on the face of it looks ok?

The listing I mean, the PC itself isn’t going to fare very well in games of course :-)

Edited by THFourteen at 07:55:39 04-11-2017

Deleted user 4 November 2017 11:50:34

Well the graphics card will be the GTX 970 from my current PC, and the CPU is an i5-3470 which is way above mine (i5-750), so it should be a significant boost actually.

Fake_Blood 4 Nov 2017 11:59:57 11,093 posts
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How much watts is the power supply and will it have the power cables for the gpu?
Hp have their own power supplies, if you want to put in your own you will need a converter cable.

TheBlackDog 4 Nov 2017 12:00:57 1,114 posts
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@DrStrangelove I've bought lots of new and used PC parts (memory, CPU and graphics cards) on eBay and the Hardware Swaps/Sale thread on Reddit. Luckily, I've never had any problems and I'm still using parts for a few years (PSU, CPU). If you are dealing with someone with decent feedback over a good number of transactions, my feeling is that you are likely to be OK.

You must have had a half decent GPU when you were playing Dirt Rally - maybe you just need a board and CPU. I think an 1150/Z97 mobo and i5 4670k is a good cheap option to get well above minimum specs and towards recommended specs in most games still. I had that, did à light overclock to 4.3 with a cheap fan, overclocked and tightened the timings of the memory a little, and it was fine.

Edit: oh, I just noticed that you have an i5 750. When the ethernet port on my mobo (which was used with the same CPU), I looked for a replacement but they sold for such a lot, I decided to get a new Z97 Asus Gamer Pro in a sale and bought the CPU on eBay. I sold my mobo as working but without ethernet port, and I even got a few quid for the CPU.

If you do decide to try and upgrade the mobo and CPU, I'd do you a cut price EG special deal on an i5 4670k as you are poor.

Edited by TheBlackDog at 12:05:35 04-11-2017

Edited by TheBlackDog at 12:07:25 04-11-2017

BigOrkWaaagh 4 Nov 2017 12:01:04 10,554 posts
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BigOrkWaaagh wrote:
I think someone in the swapsies thread has 3rd gen gubbins for sale.

It was y2rich. Someone was interested but doesn't look like it went anywhere.

Fake_Blood 4 Nov 2017 12:11:47 11,093 posts
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srsly check the psu first, HPs are weird.

y2rich 4 Nov 2017 12:18:55 3,501 posts
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@BigOrkWaaagh sold it elsewhere in the end. Probably should’ve updated that post. My bad

Deleted user 4 November 2017 12:35:13

Fake_Blood wrote:
How much watts is the power supply and will it have the power cables for the gpu?
Hp have their own power supplies, if you want to put in your own you will need a converter cable.

Good call, forgot to think of that. My GPU doesn't need external power supply, but that range of PCs apparently comes with 320W PSU's which is obviously not good. I was looking into this as a cheap temporary solution to just install my existing GPU into, but having to replace more parts makes that kinda moot. I'll not buy this one then.

Maybe I'll stick to my original plan, save some more money, sell some stuff and get money gifts from my family for Christmas and invest ~€500 in a new i5-8400, although there are other things that I could really use the money for. In the meantime, I'll consider BlackDog's offer.

mal 4 Nov 2017 15:22:10 29,326 posts
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Fake_Blood wrote:
srsly check the psu first, HPs are weird.

I'm currently rocking a Compaq desktop as one of my machines that comes from after the ComHPaq merger, so the motherboard is OEMed for HP for example and the PSU is LiteOn. It's got molex and SATA power, so not that weird. Maybe slightly too many molex bits and bobs in this day and age, but to be honest the main limitation in upgrading it like I want is a lack of PCI slots - it's got 1 x16, 2 x1 and one legacy PCI.

Deleted user 4 November 2017 15:41:28

@DrStrangelove Bear in mind an 8400 based system will also mean new DDR4 RAM and prices on that are crazy at the moment.

Deleted user 4 November 2017 16:25:19

So that PC was sold for €147, way more than I was willing to pay anyway.

Spectral wrote:
@DrStrangelove Bear in mind an 8400 based system will also mean new DDR4 RAM and prices on that are crazy at the moment.

I know, I've checked prices on different sources. Currently I'd get a new i5-8400 system with 8GB RAM (2666) starting at around €500 (without GPU/OS). The upside of that is it should be really fast and last a while.