Need Help Buying Gaming PC

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

Hey I am trying to get a gaming PC and was looking at computers on eBay. I have a budget of $900 and I was wondering what I could get and or be looking for at the price. I would prefer a GeForce gpu.

Also what are the best places to be looking, and is eBay a good place?
Thanks

 

[Lutfij]

Read through this thread and pass on the necessary information here as a follow up.

Are you sure you'd like to stick to Ebay? Why not just build a brand new system?

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

Read through this thread and pass on the necessary information here as a follow up.

Are you sure you'd like to stick to Ebay? Why not just build a brand new system?

I am not sure if i want to stick to eBay, thats just the place I am looking right now and I was wondering if there are any better places to look. And I do not know much about computers and really don't want to buy all the parts and learn to assemble one myself.

 

[drinkingcola86]

My issue with ebay is this, some people will offer and say that their pc is a kick butt gaming pc and will run everything under the sun. Then you get it and while yes it can run everything, not nearly at the FPS that it should for the price you paid.

Doing a quick search for the price range, it is only showing i5's from 2014 and FX chips from earlier. money would be better spent building a pc and looking up how to put it together, if you don't know.

Just a quick build option for you.

[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GP7Nbj) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GP7Nbj/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mV98TW/amd-ryzen-5-1600-32ghz-6-core-processor-yd1600bbaebox) | $197.99 @ SuperBiiz
**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hmtCmG/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $19.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yBtWGX/asrock-ab350-pro4-atx-am4-motherboard-ab350-pro4) | $81.98 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/BYH48d/corsair-memory-cmk8gx4m2b3000c15) | $82.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8jH48d/sandisk-ssd-plus-240gb-25-solid-state-drive-sdssda-240g-g26) | $83.88 @ OutletPC
**Storage** | [Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CbL7YJ/seagate-barracuda-2tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm006) | $66.89 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Ft7CmG/zotac-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-mini-video-card-zt-p10600a-10l) | $269.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Case** | [Raidmax - ATX-502WBG ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jrNp99/raidmax-case-atx502wbg) | $29.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [EVGA - 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XCjG3C/evga-power-supply-100w10500kr) | $39.89 @ OutletPC
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $913.59
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| **Total** | **$873.59**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2017-08-07 17:29 EDT-0400 |

 

[boosted1g]

Buying from ebay is not a good idea for a novice, whether it is computers or anything really.
You can make a low end FM2 cpu sound like a super amazing gaming computer with the right wording and your lack of knowledge is not grounds for a refund as long as you got the parts in the description.
That is not even considering all of the scams like putting a fancy cooler on top of a $10 used graphics card and selling it as a top of the line $800 card but "insert sob story here" selling it for $600.

Bottom line if you dont fully understand exactly what you are looking it then there is a strong chance of being taken advantage of.

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

Buying from ebay is not a good idea for a novice, whether it is computers or anything really.
You can make a low end FM2 cpu sound like a super amazing gaming computer with the right wording and your lack of knowledge is not grounds for a refund as long as you got the parts in the description.
That is not even considering all of the scams like putting a fancy cooler on top of a $10 used graphics card and selling it as a top of the line $800 card but "insert sob story here" selling it for $600.

Bottom line if you dont fully understand exactly what you are looking it then there is a strong chance of being taken advantage of.

I am not seeing this, all the comouters im looking at clearly have whats in them in the description, no $10 graphics cards or anything, no fancy wording or anything like that. Just straight up parts in the titles.

 

[boosted1g]

Buying from ebay is not a good idea for a novice, whether it is computers or anything really.
You can make a low end FM2 cpu sound like a super amazing gaming computer with the right wording and your lack of knowledge is not grounds for a refund as long as you got the parts in the description.
That is not even considering all of the scams like putting a fancy cooler on top of a $10 used graphics card and selling it as a top of the line $800 card but "insert sob story here" selling it for $600.

Bottom line if you dont fully understand exactly what you are looking it then there is a strong chance of being taken advantage of.

I am not seeing this, all the comouters im looking at clearly have whats in them in the description, no $10 graphics cards or anything, no fancy wording or anything like that. Just straight up parts in the titles.

Do you know which is better between an i5 4600 and a quad core 860k?
Well the guy running the auction is going to tell you how super awesome their FM2 computer is and tell you all the specs (that while accurate) are quite misleading to make you think it is equal.
Not to mention 700w PSU is generic and not what we would call detailed information; one brands 700w PSU will output 700w for 6-10 years no problem; another 700w PSU will fry your parts in 4-6 months if you expect 400w from it.

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

Buying from ebay is not a good idea for a novice, whether it is computers or anything really.
You can make a low end FM2 cpu sound like a super amazing gaming computer with the right wording and your lack of knowledge is not grounds for a refund as long as you got the parts in the description.
That is not even considering all of the scams like putting a fancy cooler on top of a $10 used graphics card and selling it as a top of the line $800 card but "insert sob story here" selling it for $600.

Bottom line if you dont fully understand exactly what you are looking it then there is a strong chance of being taken advantage of.

I am not seeing this, all the comouters im looking at clearly have whats in them in the description, no $10 graphics cards or anything, no fancy wording or anything like that. Just straight up parts in the titles.

Do you know which is better between an i5 4600 and a quad core 860k?
Well the guy running the auction is going to tell you how super awesome their FM2 computer is and tell you all the specs (that while accurate) are quite misleading to make you think it is equal.
Not to mention 700w PSU is generic and not what we would call detailed information; one brands 700w PSU will output 700w for 6-10 years no problem; another 700w PSU will fry your parts in 4-6 months if you expect 400w from it.

Most of the computers I was looking at were built identically in bulk so people had posted reviews on that computer already, plus a lot of these have a year warranty. And if i dont know the difference between the xj50 and the supersoacker9000 how would i have anyplace making my on computer?

 

[boosted1g]

The point is that when you don't know what is good and what is lousy then you cant just take a random unknown seller's word for it (which is what you would be doing on ebay).

Reviews are only as intelligent as the people writing them.

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

These are some examples of what I'm talking about
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-8-Core-Gaming-Computer-Desktop-PC-Tower-3-6GHz-Turbo-16GB-RAM-GTX-1060-/322317739856?hash=item4b0ba26750:g:nI4AAOSwcUBYHTb5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-Quad-Core-Gaming-Computer-Desktop-PC-Tower-3-8GHz-Turbo-16GB-RAM-GTX-1050-/322317760161?hash=item4b0ba2b6a1:ghIAAOSw4CFYuKRh
Are there any red flags with these?

 

[boosted1g]

Yes, those are exactly what we are warning you NOT to buy.

FX-8300 is 2013 technology, certainly not worth no $750 today in 2017. To give you reference, I am going to be selling my better version of this platform used for $400.

Athlon x4 845 is even worse, this CPU can not beat intel's middle of the road CPU back in 2014. Again you are paying 2017 hardware prices for parts that where blah in 2013/2014.

Even worse you have no idea if the windows license is legit, no idea how cheap quality of PSU is put in there (which can fry all the rest of the parts) and no idea how cheap of motherboard they used either.

This is not a detailed list of parts, this is a generic list of parts. A detailed list gives you exact model numbers, they dont give you exact model numbers because they dont want you to see how cheap it really is.

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

Yes, those are exactly what we are warning you NOT to buy.

FX-8300 is 2013 technology, certainly not worth no $750 today in 2017. To give you reference, I am going to be selling my better version of this platform used for $400.

Athlon x4 845 is even worse, this CPU can not beat intel's middle of the road CPU back in 2014. Again you are paying 2017 hardware prices for parts that where blah in 2013/2014.

Even worse you have no idea if the windows license is legit, no idea how cheap quality of PSU is put in there (which can fry all the rest of the parts) and no idea how cheap of motherboard they used either.

This is not a detailed list of parts, this is a generic list of parts. A detailed list gives you exact model numbers, they dont give you exact model numbers because they dont want you to see how cheap it really is.

Ok gotcha, so are there any places at all to buy a well built pc? Or are they all like mechanics and just rip you off?

 

[GordonTheOneFreeman]

And just one more example as this is from Best Buy which i know already has overpriced merchandise but is this carrying the same issues as the eBay listing? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-by-hp-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-1tb-hard-drive-brushed-aluminum/5759916.p?skuId=5759916

 

[drinkingcola86]

Since you didn't want to go about the building of one, here is from an actual gaming company for a prebuilt.

https://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=2746

or

https://www.ibuypower.com/Store/AMD-Ryzen-5-Starter