These reconditioned PCs good enough?

[Noxxy]

Hey,

Still trolling the auctions and I noticed 5x cheap PCs which look like they will do as drones. I matched the minimum requirements of both WoW and EQ2 and these boxes seem to meet most of them. What do you think? (drone boxes only)

PC specs:

HP PRESARIO SR5120AN PC, BLACK, TOWER,

AMD SEMPRON PROCESSOR 3600+ WITH HT TECHNOLOGY (2.0GHZ),

512MB DDR2 SDRAM, (bit short on ram but good enough for a drone with turned down graphics)

80GB (tiny HDrive but not like I will be filling it with mp3s...or pr0n!)

7200RPM SATA HDD,

DVD+/-RW DL LIGHTSCRIBE DRIVE,

INTEGRATED NVIDIA GEFORCE 6150SE 3D GRAPHICS, (bugger...but I can grab some crap cheapy graphics cards for around $40AUD)

KEYBOARD, MOUSE, POWER CABLE, WINDOWS VISTA HOME BASIC PRE-INSTALLED. (REFURBISHED-12 MONTHS MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY)



They are currently listed at $174AUD - If I assume they sell for $200AUD??, throw in a cheapy graphics card +$40AUD, pay the commission +12.5% and the freight, $20AUD????? a piece - I might be able to score all 5 drone boxes for a total of $1425AUD ($285AUD ea).



What do you think?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

1) Make sure it has the ability to upgrade your RAM and graphics. If not, not worth it.

2) Make sure it has a decent warranty on it. I'd pay another $19 for an extended one to cover another year if available.

[Noxxy]

1) Make sure it has the ability to upgrade your RAM and graphics. If not, not worth it.

Very good point re upgrade ability! Honestly just assumed.../doh

I did think I'd need to get a cheapy graphics card ($40 bargain bin special!) but I will have to research to see if the motherboard has the required slots, etc. Same goes for the ram. Thankyou for the reminder!



2) Make sure it has a decent warranty on it. I'd pay another $19 for an extended one to cover another year if available.

I honestly haven't even thought of this - but I have a feeling there is no option to extend the warranty as it will be bought 'as is' from the auction house - will check though



...I'm not sure what the current exchange rate is.. but the price sounds high too. ..

$285AUD is about $268USD - I think what is pumping up the price is the 12.5% commission and the freight - the $285AUD does include an extra $40AUD for the cheapy graphics card.

I have gone through quite a few sites to try and build a cheapy 'new' pc and this price is pretty low.

A quick guide I have been using is:
- Case w/PS = $69AUD
- Mobo = $59AUD
- E2200 CPU = $90AUD
- 2g - 800 Ram = $53AUD
- DVD - $34AUD
- 512m 8400GS - $44AUD
- H/D 80g - $48AUD
- OS (oem) - $102AUD

So even using all the cheapy bits it comes to around $499AUD ($469USD) if I bought it new