Is cannibalizing an old computer worth it when building a new gaming computer?

[KevinSevenSeven]

I have an older windows 7 computer (eMachine ET1331G-03w) and was thinking about using some of its parts in a new gaming build (current price with all-new parts is $800). My main reason to do this is to spend less money, but I don't want to compromise quality.

The main things i was going to salvage were Hard Drive, Motherboard, and CPU.

The CPU is a AMD Athlon II X2 235e Dual Core, with a clock speed of 2.7 GHz. I was thinking about overclocking this CPU (not even sure if this is possible with this CPU) and then buying another cooler so it wouldn't overheat.

My other problem is RAM. The motherboard in this computer uses DDR2 RAM, will this really make a big difference in performance?

The HDD is 750GB. I was going to use the money saved from using this to buy a SSD drive.

Everything else (PSU, RAM, GPU, etc) will be store bought.

Thoughts? Anything wrong with this plan? Would the money saved be worth the drop in performance?

Please try and remember that this will be my first ever PC build, will this lead to any unforeseen problems?

 

[ps3hacker12]

Unfortunately with an OEM board like that, its not worth it, the HDD is what could be salvaged, the rest of the parts i would reccommend selling off on eBay to get a bit of extra cash.

 

[Onus]

Being a low-power "e" version, and a dual-core, that CPU is not suitable for modern games. The Hard Drive may be salvageable as a data drive. Is it 5400RPM or 7200RPM? If your budget is $800, you should have no trouble building a decent system for games.

 

[InvalidError]

Personally, I have no problem with salvaging/reusing.

I upgrade my computers on an as-needed basis in four general component groups:
1- CPU + MoBo + RAM since none of what I have is usually compatible with current hardware by the time I need to upgrade
2- GPU
3- Case and PSU
4- HDDs, DVD/BD drive, fans and other miscellaneous components

I upgraded my PC last year. I bought the case + CPU/MoBo/RAM and reused everything else (GPU, HDDs, DVD, etc.) from my previous PC.

 

[geofelt]

The most important part of a gaming pc is the graphics card.
Assuming your motherboard has a pcie-X16 graphics slot, you could see what happens if you just upgrade the graphics card.
You might end up being cpu limited, but perhaps not. You can always move the graphics card to a new build later.
If the graphics card is to be stronger than a 7750, then you will be looking at a power supply upgrade too.

You motherboard likely takes only the DDR2 ram you currently have installed. If you have 4gb or more, you are ok there.

I have no clue as to how much you might be able to overclock your cpu.
If you buy a cooler for it, make certain that it will fit a variety of sockets so you can transfer it to a new build later.
If you have 160mm height available, a $30 cm hyper212 would be good.

The x2 is not exactly a strong performer. Once you upgrade the cpu, you are likely looking at a new motherboard, ram, and possibly os.

 

[Onus]

The 235e is not even on the CPU hierarchy chart, but would be considerably below even the Athlon II X2 240, which also doesn't seem to be quite capable anymore of handling the latest games, at least not on enjoyable settings (it still manages 4+ year-old games ok).
If the PSU in your eMachines PC is a 250W Bestec, make sure it isn't a -12E; those are system killers (per Jonnyguru review). Even if it's something better, it won't be enough to run any graphics card worth moving into a new PC. Besides, your CPU probably bottlenecks even a HD7750.
I agree that you'll probably get more for it if you sell the old PC in its entirety, but even that might not be much ($125-$150, maybe?), so you might want to keep it around for email, surfing, and potentially critical tasks like sending out resumes.

 

[InvalidError]

I agree that you'll probably get more for it if you sell the old PC in its entirety, but even that might not be much ($125-$150, maybe?)

Something this old is near the point where even charities start turning them down. Likely worth more for parts than as a whole for people who can be bothered to find buyers for every component.

Personally, I'd say trying to sell it is more trouble than it is worth and the system is likely worth more to you as a spare than it might be worth to anyone else.