Are these good, upgradable PC's?

secondnightmare

secondnightmare

CAG Veteran
My laptop has about had it memory-wise and I want to play more games on my PC since they seem to last longer online (unlike consoles which come out every 5 years). I don't have enough of a budget to build a sick computer from the ground up, so I thought I'd buy a used(?) desktop and upgrade it to play modern games.

Today I went to a Cash America Pawn store and found a few nice computers for sale. They all seemed to be in nice condition and they have guarantees on them. I'm just wondering if they are good to upgrade with graphics cards and memory and all that I'll need to play a game like LEFT 4 DEAD on.

Here are the nicer ones I saw:
-CompaQ Sr1500nx for $299 (Comes w monitor, keyboard and mouse)
-CompaQ Sr2150nx for $399 (Comes w monitor, keyboard and mouse)
-and I also have someone willing to trade me their Dell Inspiron (not sure of the exact model, but it has Win XP and would run nicely if I wiped everything from it.)

I am also willing to buy new, but I would like to find something cheap so I can put a nice graphics card in it, etc...

So are these computers upgradable and if so, what would I need to put in them if I wanted to play Left 4 Dead (or games of the sort) on it? If these aren't good, what are some cheap desktops that would work and what would I need to upgrade those?

Thanks for your time! :)
 
Do you have any specs on the computers? If they can be upgraded or not depends on the mother board, does it have pci express(needed for the newer video cards) and does it support 64 bit dual processors(what most of the newer processors are). You should be able to get a decent mobo,pcu,video card combination for under $300.
 
After going to Compaqs site I saw that the Sr2150nx is much better than the Sr1500nx. The 1500nx comes with a free AGP slot, can only use 1 gig of pc2700 ram and has an 80 gig HDD. The 2150nx comes with an open PCIe x16 slot, can use up to 2 gig of pc4200 ram and has a 120 gig SATA HDD. I didn't see what the ps was, but there are some older ATI cards that have lower power requirements. One drawback with the 2150nx is that it comes standard with Vista and that 2 gig of ram might not be enough to game on.

But the biggest problem with these two is the processor. The 1500nx comes with a Sempron and the 2150nx comes with a Celeron. Both are very poor for gaming. If you can't afford a new PC, I would look for a used P4 or Pentium D rig.

EDIT: Going to different sites and stores, I've seen various Dell i530 models out there. They have dual core pentium cpu's (not C2D), a free PCIe x 16 slot and are $399.99 without a monitor.
 
you can build a system for a similar price that will crush those
what were the monitors? On craigslist you should be to find a 19 or 21 crt in great condition for under $50
5 minutes of searching newegg shows:

e7300 $120
antec soprano $75 case/psu
copy of xp sp3 $90
3-4gb mem $40
500gb drive $60
gigabyte mobo $80
$465 + whatever graphics card you want

with those pawn systems, you'd probably have to replace the psu if you are dropping in a decent graphics card
 
So many responses! Thanks! :)

From the sound of those computers I saw, I'll probably build. So to the above post, would a Radeon HD 4850 go well with that build and play a high quality game like Crysis at a high-ish setting? Or is there a better card for that build? Once I find the exact parts I want to buy, I'll post them here so you can tell me what you think.

Again, thanks!

EDIT:
Also, my budget for the PC excluding the graphics card is 300-350. I'd like to get a really nice graphics card, so I'd like keep everything else under 350. Links would be nice when mentioning specific products.
 
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Yeah secondnightmare...with a budget like that you can't be expecting to play the latest games :/

A 4850 will need a good quality PSU

You can't just skim on parts but the GPU and RAM because if you have a crappy motherboard and CPU your'e going to bottleneck the card and the ram won't operate at the best frequency

Word of advice man save up more because if you do build now you will greatly regret it

Let me know when you want a better build you'll need about 500-600 to start pushing the up to date games
 
300-350 ok...tough but not impossible, some serious compromises

case FAR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811105004

psu $21 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

cpu/mobo $166 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.143041

2gb $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134636

250gb harddrive $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136010
(you can knock $10-$5 off going down to a smaller harddrive)

win xp sp3 oem $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=xp+sp3&x=0&y=0

that puts you at $345 without a graphics card and with rebates

what monitor are you going to game on? the screen size/resolution makes a big difference

now, dropping $150 on a gpu when your system costs under $400 isn't crazy, but an awesome gpu doesn't make up a mediocre system. You might be better off getting a radeon 3850 for half the price.
If you plan on gaming at 1280x1024, the 3850 will run crysis ok.
 
1280x800 is my laptop's resolution, but my monitor will probably be an average square one like most desktops come with. I'm not really gonna get into HD gaming yet, so I'll settle for the 3850. If I ever get my dirtbike sold, I'll be able to upgrade some stuff, but this will work for now. As long as it plays my games :). Once I get everything in line, I'll run what I'm getting by you one more time before I order! Thanks so much!
 
If you can find an older computer to salvage that has a copy of windows xp you can save yourself some money. There may be a local business selling off their old ones or giving them away(maybe you can find one on craig's list). If you can't find an old computer to salvage, you should be able to find monitor,mouse&keyboard at salvation army for about $10.
 
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