$20 Flea Market Gaming PC

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pellui

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I found this PC, it looks nice. Subtance abusers were all over it. One was stoked to get it and was dusting it thoroughly. It was reserved for two people. I was the third one in line to get it, but hey, I guess you can get a lot of other things for 15€ too because I ended up getting it... Come to think of it, one of these substance abusers tried to sell me his JBL earphones for 15€. Maybe he just couldn't come up with 15€? This PC sure looks nice, modern. I have no idea whether or not it is any good or not, but few indicators suggest it could be fine:

-sleek design, custom build:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/977katri8bci3qg/IMG_20180914_121233672.jpg?dl=0

(inside photos at the end of this post)

-1tb hard drive + ssd
-usb3.0
-at least couple HDMI, whole bunch of DVI ports
-cooling system seems sophisticated

The only thing that to me suggest we're not talking about anything too great is that it has some weird taiwanese gpu: powercolor or something like that.

The reason why I can't check the specs easily is that it is missing RAM, thats obvious to me. But I am a total n000b with 3 zeros. I know cpu chip is under everything on the motherboard so you can't really see it without removing all components. My plan is to just stick some RAM in to find out whether or not that's all that's missing...

GPU is there, so is HD, so is power unit... Here's some photos. Could you guys point out to me if there's some other major component missing. Again, I am a total noob.

So anyway, currently it turns on, but doesn't boot because ram is a prerequisite for even bios to start. I'm going to be updating here with progress etc. that is if I get some replies.
Next Im going to look into RAM and whether or not I need to get a specific type of RAM that is supported by this motherboard (yes, complete n000b). With RAM I will find out whether or not this thing works or if something else is missing... If this thing is a working package I will obv. look into getting proper 2x 4gb or even more ram for this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/esseud8n2w9405d/IMG_20180914_121241672.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/amgld9df5u3vucr/IMG_20180914_121247940.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/roawg1ct7pyndgw/IMG_20180914_130010476.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mp2ahh9k6me9w22/IMG_20180914_130040136.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qs2255apfkh3oyf/IMG_20180914_130050338.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/49pagcs4wunange/IMG_20180914_130054600.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4h0ze4xwzda4qa/IMG_20180914_130103250.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tw7ik1w6daq2ddg/IMG_20180914_130110849.jpg?dl=0
 
Solution
D
If you are still wiping the pc clean and installing a clean version of windows i reccomend you do a clean install and wipe all partitions and do a clean install of windows. After that i reccomend you download the following programs. CCleaner, Defraggler, and Avast Free anti virus. These are the only programs you really need to run windows i dont tend to use chrome bc of how much ram it eats up
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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Well it's certainly worth a lot more than 20 dollars.

Seasonic X series power supply which is very good.

AMD AM3 motherboard. The CPU is probably a phenom x6 or x4 of some kind. I doubt it's anything less considering that cooler.

Older crucial SSD. C300 I believe.

Not sure what the GPU is. It's AMD maybe a 7870 or something from that line or older.

It's an older system. The AM3 socket launched in 2009 so it's somewhere around 9 years old. It's not worth a lot but certainly more than 20 dollars.
 
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pellui

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hi,
TY for a quick reply and all the info
I guess I will be sticking with my laptop in that case.
Were you able to see in photos that the cpu is in place? (again, I am total noob)
Or acutally, why would the owner grab a cpu thats worth almost nothing...
Gpu was some weird taiwanese brand called powercolor
Im either selling it as parts or getting some cheap used ram for it and trying to get some kind of a price for it.

 
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pellui

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hi,
(I don't know how to reply to a comment here and I ended up replying to my OP)
TY for a quick reply and all the info
I guess I will be sticking with my laptop in that case.
Were you able to see in photos that the cpu is in place? (again, I am total noob)
Or acutally, why would the owner grab a cpu thats worth almost nothing...
Gpu was some weird taiwanese brand called powercolor
Im either selling it as parts or getting some cheap used ram for it and trying to get some kind of a price for it.
 
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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No I cant see the CPU. Just a guess based on the motherboard it's using.

Powercolor is pretty well known brand, they usually aren't the best board partner cards in the world but I have heard of them. Power color just does the cooler and maybe the PCB. The GPU core is AMD, not sure which.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Powercolor is an OK GPU brand.
The CPU is almost certainly "in there". But I wonder on the configuration.
That CPU cooler needs to come off and see whats under it.

Assuming most of it works, that's def more than $20 in individual parts to sell.

And for any used system, you personally need to do a full wipe and reinstall of everything.
For your protection as well as theirs.

Especially something from a fleamarket. You have no idea what the previous user(s) had in there.
I've personally poked around in "new owner, used PC's" where the first response ranges from "what a dumbass" to "You need to call the police. Now."
 
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Onus

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Worst case: a previous owner overclocked it to death and the CPU is now dead. In that case, you still have a nice PSU, good air cooler, two usable drives, and a now modest but still decent graphics card; and a case to house the rest of a system you'll build yourself. This may be "worst," but is not "bad" considering the number and quality of usable parts. Similarly, it could have been damaged in some other way, such as having a cracked motherboard from being dropped.
Depending on what you expect from a computer that has very limited upgrade potential, if it were me I'd consider it worth investing in 2x4GB DDR3-1600 RAM sticks to put in it. If the worst case happens, you still make that money back selling parts or not having to buy certain parts when rebuilding (a new build will need DDR4 RAM).
Best case, you add RAM, reset the BIOS to defaults, wipe and re-install, and have a modest but solid system. still able to play many current games. It's possible the CPU is a mere Athlon X3, or even a Phenom X2 that the previous owner had hoped to unlock and/or overclock. In that case it's going to be somewhat weak by modern standards, but still sufficient for non-demanding games, office work, web surfing / email, and many other things.
In any case, you got a LOT more than $20 worth of parts there.
 
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pellui

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UPDATE: OK, I was stupid. I thought the slots on the lower bottom of the motherboard were ram slots... OBV they aren't. I looked under the cooling system to find that ram slots have ram sticks in them... So RAM is not the problem... This PC doesn't boot for some other reason... Any ideas?
 
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pellui

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LOL UPDATE2: PC works perfect. I was just stupid. I tried couple of displays with couple of different video connections. For some reason all those connections i tried failed (vga, dvi-hdmi, etc.) and finally I got it working when i simply used dvi - dvi connection straight from gpu dvi slot to lg monitor... resolution is limited to below fhd for some reason... So, here's more info on this PC as I promised: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hxawyqrpe1kuf32/gaaa.jpg?dl=0
 
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pellui

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I dont feel like wiping it... The hd is clean and the ssd only has windows and program files in it. Has been installed quite recently... I don't have win 10 licence so, I will not do a wipe...

Yes, I was happy to find out how high that CPU benchmarks. However, My laptop has Intel Core i7-3632QM @ 2.20GHz, so I should maybe stick with my laptop. However, if installing the drivers gets video ports working it'd make this a great option since my laptop only has 2 video ports and Im using 4 displays and thereby have to do a lot of hdmi cable switching every day...

I can put up to 16gb of ram into this PC's 4 ram slots... Any thoughts is that going to make a big difference if I'm not a PC gamer (bad gpu:s, so I only use ps4 for that) and mostly just stream fhd and use internet with 66 tabs?

Also, if I end up selling this, do you think that putting 16gb in this is going to increase its value to potential customers? I personally think that no-one tech savvy is gonna buy this, so anything above 8gb is not going to make a difference for a buyer (but I don't really know anything). I can get these ddr3 4gb ram sticks second hand for around 10 euro / 13 dollars.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Sorry, but that is playing with fire.

Are you 100% sure there isn't a keylogger in there? How have you determined this?

If it currently has Win 10 on it, and that is actually activated (linked to whose MS account?)...you do not need another Win 10 license.
A reinstall, wiping the system completely as you do it.
Skip entering the license key when it asks.

There is no possible way I'd trust the software on a fleamarket PC, beyond booting it up once to verify that it works.
 
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coozie7

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Check the activation, it may be linked to a Microsoft account: search for activation and see what it says.

Agree totally with USAFRet, don't trust what's on the drives, it's not what you can see that could be the problem, but hidden files or just old ones that have not been deleted/scrubbed, you don't know who was using that system, nor what they were using it for, odds are it's fine, but a little time and effort will clear those drives of anything possibly nasty-or just downright illegal.

That's definitely an older Radeon graphics card, take a look underneath, it'll probably tell you the maker and card type, failing that, pop the card out, there should be plenty of information on the PCB stickers.

Depending on how Windows is activated you can reinstall, even if you don't have a disc or bootable USB drive by creating a install disc/USB drive with the Windows Media Creation tool, I'm not sure about how the license will work if it's already tied to a Microsoft account and the original user is also using it, though.
 
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USAFRet

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Some years ago, a neighbor of mine asked me to look at her new PC she bought from a coworker.
Nice lady...schoolteacher.

After about 5 minutes of poking around, I pushed back from the desk and said "Mary, you need to call the police. Right now. If you don't, I will."

I sometimes wonder if her coworker is out of prison yet.
 
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pellui

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You got a point. Its not activated. I'll look into how to re-install it.

I searched the main online market place for used goods in my country (tori.fi), using the search term AMD Phenom II X6 1090T and few search results in already deleted (supposedly sold) items came up: 250-380 € is what people had been paying for the gaming PCs with AMD Phenom II X6 1090T in the product descriptions on this site within couple of weeks. As those announcements had already been deleted, I couldn't see more info on these PCs. I think I'm getting 16gb of ram and trying to get a decent price for this selling it as a Gaming PC... GPU is raedon hd6800 series in case anyone was wondering. Do you guys have knowledge on what people pay for a setup like this?
 
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coozie7

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Yep, if it's not activated you should follow the instructions linked by USAFRet, read through first so you know what is going to happen, and prepare the install media ( disc or USB drive ).

Actually, the current system isn't that bad for a general purpose computer, that old Phenom was quite a strong performer in its day although the HD 68XX graphics is probably too weak for any current games it'll do very nicely for less demanding titles while the SSD is a real boon and it's all wrapped up in what looks like a good quality case.

I suggest you reinstall Windows and all the system drivers then see how it runs, if you don't have driver discs, download these drivers from the makers websites and save them out to a USB or burn them to a disc before starting the Windows install, Win 10 is generally pretty good at updating these drivers, but it CAN make mistakes, especially with older hardware.
 
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pellui

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Ssd is nice but it is only something like like 70-160 gb, don't remember what it was right now and the PC is turned off.
Thx for the advice, I will be following the instructions when reinstalling.
GPU drivers install made all 3 digital video ports on GPU work, which is great news esp. if I switch to this PC. When I userbenchmarked my Acer Aspire E1-571G i7qm laptop, it gave a bluescreen VIDEO SCHEDULER INTERNAL ERROR, which may indicate issues with hardware... So I am currently thinking about keeping this PC as a back up. Not selling it.
I also tested the PC on userbenchmark. Things were performing fine, some above expectations e.g. cpu was in 75th percentile.
 
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pellui

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I ordered used compatible memory, volts timing etc. all match up: 4gb
The ram stick I got had around 1/2 of the width of the other ram stick that were in the PC
I inserted it:
So, slots 1 3 and 4 all had a ram stick in them instead of just 1 and 3.
however, computer wouldnt boot and there was a red light blinking on the motherboard
the only way to make it boot again was to only leave in one ram stick, the one I hadn't taken out and put back.
was this ram defective? did I damage it?
PC had been turned off for days and I was grounded.
for some reason only bottom ram brackets can be pushed open, could there be an issue that the sticks arent properly inserted?
is it normal that a ram slot can have only one bracket that can be opened?
 
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pellui

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okay... it is dram led that is blinking.
i noticed an issue with the ram stick... one of the parts in it was covered in foam or powder like substance when it came,
heres a photo what it looks after the substance has been removed
the issue persists with two of the ram sticks
i dont hear any clicks when i push the ram sticks to the upper side of the slots where there isn't a bracket that can be opened...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6rl65doyhb80jad/foam.png?dl=0
 
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