Buying a computer off Ebay?

[LennardF1989]

Any reason you're buying it off Ebay and not newegg.com or some local shop?

Warranty on Ebay means nothing. If any part breaks, you're going to have to find the dealer and get him to replace the part (factory won't do shit about it until the dealer-warranty is off), 99,9% of the time, Ebay people simply won't respond and you're stuck with a broken part - I've experienced this myself -.

I really really really recommend you to get the whole PC or the parts from some trusted source with a good warranty handling, it only makes your live easier for only a few bucks more.

[HeyBlinkin.]

Thanks a bunch for the heads up. You've convinced me to build it myself.

This is my tentative build:

Cooler Master Elite 371 Mid Tower ATX Case
www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Elite-Tower-RC-371-KKN1/dp/B004RJJJW0/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

AMD Athlony II X3 450

ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595

(2) LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner iHAS124-04
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 512MK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131339&cm_re=radeon_5450-_-14-131-339-_-Product

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

PNY XLR8 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model MD4096KD3-1600-X8
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178265


Questions:
Should I buy more case fans or hard drive fans? I have no idea how much I need?

What other accessories do I need to buy? I think I would need just 3 SATA cables for the the 2 optical drives and the hard drive.

Is there a better case? I like this case because it has all the inputs and power button on the top, but can you think of a better alternative?

[LennardF1989]

Watch out for not making this way to overpowered for a computer simply used for some desktop work and YouTube. You do not have to worry about airflow that much, as the PC will most likely never reach it's max temps as it would when you heavily game on it.

Think of a build like you would be in a store, it has 2 vents, one of the CPU and one on the back. A small PSU (450W max) with a vent on the outside (not inside). A simple seperate GPU, even an old ATI HD2000/NVidia 9600GT would do just fine.

If it were to be a gaming system, you would want way better parts, for a simple desktop PC, think KISS.

My recommendation:
- Dual Core
- Simple ATI/nVidia
- 2-3GB RAM - More than 3GB requires a 64-bit system
- Windows XP, unless your grandfather is prepared to learn Windows 7

These are close to the specs of my laptop I use for school and I even game on it, it would be more than enough for your grandfather, let alone a PC is much more powerfull than a laptop.

Also don't go brand-horny, a PC you buy in a store most of the time also doesn't have an Antec RAM/Cooler/PSU, but rather some odd never-heard-off Chinese brand. You have to imagine your grandparents don't have that much money, so even 400 euro for a PC is already too much, everywhere where you can reasonably spare money, do so. The only thing I recommend taking a proper brand is your hard-drive (Western Digital FTW - Do NOT go with Seagate/Maxtor, same factory, same sucky quality) and a silent but cheap PSU.

[Wh1tE_Dw4rF]

Hopfully your grandfather outlives the 5 year warrenty.

[HeyBlinkin.]

Alright, thanks for your input. I've changed some components to reflect what you've said. We'll see how building this thing actually works out.

[LennardF1989]

I would love to see your final build ;D

[HeyBlinkin.]

Final Build

FSP Group AURUM GOLD 400 (AU-400) 400W ATX12V v2.3 /EPS 12V 80PLUS GOLD Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104096

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

HEC 6K28BB8F Black 0.8mm SECC Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121003

ASRock 880GM-LE AM3 AMD 880G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157199

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103886

$400

I might have made some 'mistakes' in terms of quality/power (i.e. too powerful or too much money) of the components I bought for my grandfather, but after deliberating with a friend who I trust when it comes to these things I came up with the following final list.  I will give you my rationale for certain parts I chose and I would appreciate your opinion to help me in choosing parts for any future computer builds.


The PSU was about $75 bucks for a 400W which seems like a lot of money for that power, but he told me that its gold plus certification maintains the best efficiency and should eventually pay for itself in terms of electric bills. How true do you think this is? 

Although I had originally chosen a 500GB WD, This 1TB Samsung was highly recommended to me and went for the same price as the 500GB, so I chose it instead. 

The motherboard I had trouble picking mostly because I still don't understand what features each one has over another and which of these features are actually of importance to me.  I just picked this one because it seemed to have everything I needed and few specific problems as opposed to the Biostart I was looking at before.

I probably could have gotten cheaper and equally powerful RAM.  I think I should have looked more at those offered with rebates.

The CPU I was the one Knooger had chosen originally for me.

So Lennard, where do you think I went wrong/right and thanks again for the heads-up on buying a computer from eBay :)