Buying Used PC for Gaming

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chrineal

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Jun 3, 2015
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Say I want to buy an Used PC.
Can anyone give me some expert advice as to all the things I should check before I make an used purchase? I would like to know what to check, and how to check, in order to do a comprehensive inspection of the system before I buy it. Thanks!
 
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That's not my question. Thanks though.
 
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Are you sure you can't do it? If you at least give us a budget then we can consider which option would be better for you.

Woody
 
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You could stress test the CPU and GPU with programs such as Prime 95 and Furmark. For the ram use memtest86.

You could also use Speccy to help verify the system listed.

Be careful with buying used systems... many tend to be overpriced and have junk parts. If you insist going that route post the build here before you take a look at it.
 
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This is the build.
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X79 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage 1: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage 2: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define XL Titanium Grey ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer
Fan: Cougar Vortex 120 X 2 (replacing H80 stock fans)
Fan: Cougar Vortex 140 X 3 (case fans)
 
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I'll ask him to download and run hwmonitor for 3 hours. but he may have already packed it up, not sure. When he delivers the system we are probably going to run it on the spot to make sure everything working. Would that be a good time to run prime95?
 
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Well, Prime 95 has been shown to look fine for hours on end, but fail after 12 or more hours. Unless the chip is completely stable, I wouldn't recommend buying it. That power supply is a really high quality model, I wouldn't worry about it.

Woody
 
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Get him to leave the PC with you, run a Prime95 test for at least 12 hours, and record the highest temperatures you reach with HWMonitor. Ask him exactly what the computer was used for before, as there are some tasks (Bitcoin mining for example) which can absolutely wreck a CPU.

Woody
 
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For prime95, do I run small ffts, in place large ffts, or blend? and if custom, what are the settings?

also when I use hwmonitor, what temperature should my cpu gpu etc be at? I'm not sure what a healthy temperature is. Say before I run prime95 and after I run prime95 for half an hour(don't think I can keep seller for too long).
 
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Prime95 won't stress the GPU. I suggest running a small FFT test for a short while, just to see how high the temps go. After that you want to run a blend test for a long time.

Woody
 
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He's coming today. I'm going to run prime95 for 15-20 minutes while he's here, then run valley and check the specs. I'll run prime95 for longer after he leaves and ask him for refund if there's a problem but there shouldn't be. He's not really a random seller so I think everything should be fine. He did say he just played some games, and didn't use the system much in this last year.
 
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