I'm new to tek syndicate, been watching the show for a while and now am thinking about building my own gaming rig. I'm looking to stay around $1k, +/- $1-200. Recently someone at work posted that they were trying to sell their system for $500. I don't know enough about hardware yet to know if this is a good deal or not so I thought I'd ask you guys.
Power Supply: 500-650W Corsair (he couldn't remember the actual wattage) >>> could be one of the good ones or the not so good ones. As long as it is one of the types that have a strong single 12v rail then it should be fine for an upgraded new gpu.
Ram: 8GB DDR3 Patriot Gaming ram (again, couldn't recall the actual model) >>> x58 boards run support memory in triple channel, i assume that this kit is either single or dual channel, therefore not taking advantage of the x58 platform
1. No, that socket is obsolete and I believe that is the best CPU for that socket. Even the succesor of that socket has been replaced (1155), now Intel cpu's run on socket 1150 and extreme-edition's run on 2011.
2. You can put a much better graphics card on it, but you will not be able to change the CPU for something newer.
3. Pretty decent performance for a 500$ rig, mid-high on most demanding titles and the rest of the games maxed at 1080p.
So if I'm looking for a system that will last (with periodic upgrades) this system won't cut it. From what you guys said, it sounds like this is a decent rig now, but faces some large upgrade costs in the future if I want to keep it up-to-date.
I would ask him if he'd be willing to part out his computer. If he'd be willing to let go of the RAM for $30-40, that'd be awesome because of the recent increase in RAM prices. This could help save you some money. I'd also recommend that you try to find out the specific model and wattage of that PSU. If it's decent, you could buy it off of him for a reduced price. The CPU, mobo, and GPU are rather old. For $1200, you can get much better parts.