My nephew has asked me to build him a new computer for this 18th birthday which I'm happy to do but told him he needs to sell his current machine so we can put that money towards the new one.

Now question is whether to sell as a working machine or better off to split it up?

He tells me the specs are:-

Asus P5B motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6300 processor
2Gb DDR2 ram
Samsung 500Gb hard drive
XFX GeForce 7900GS graphics card
Antec 420w modular PSU - he's not sure on this
Thermaltake Tsunami Dream black case
Keyboard & mouse
Win XP Home

Case is quite a nice one so might be worth keeping that for his new build?

Thoughts/comments?

I'd sell as a working PC, unless you can get someone who doesn't know much about parts and their prices , maybe too much hassle for little extra profit otherwise

Alternatively, could you keep, say, the RAM, case, HDD and PSU for the new build? Maybe not the PSU depending on a new graphics card...

Well gonna build new PC around i5 750 so ram has to go.

He's probably going to have my GTX 285 when I get the GTX 480 so I got him a new PSU today - a 1Kw job.

He likes the case but, as you say, probably best to sell as a complete unit.

Not wanting to start any Mac v PC flame war here, but I would be interested to know how PC users normally do this.

Do they normally sell your the machine on or just parts of it? As a Mac user I am pretty well forced to upgrade by selling the whole machine (they hold their value pretty well). I just assumed that PC users usually didn't do the same. I am I wrong?

CC

Depends on the system.

My current PC would be worth more selling in parts as most people wouldn't want to spend out £1500 or more on a 2nd hand PC

Wow. That is a lot of money for a PC.

I guess what I am asking is what usually happens. I don't know many people who spend multiple thousands on a PC. As I understand it most people who want a high end (or maybe that should be higher priced) computer usually go for a Mac. Where I got that snippet from

Do you have a feel for what most people do when selling on?

My guess is that most people probably run their computers into the ground, certainly that's what my family and friends have done...

Really?

So normally people either…

a) Upgrade a part of PC or (and scrap the old part)
b) Give the whole thing away. (and buy a new one)

and normally the don't…

c) Sell the old one and use the money to part purchase the new one.

In my experience with Macs the norm is c) though I did give a working Mac to a friend once. (though it was a long time ago)

I do find such trivia interesting.

+1

My girlfriend's family are still running machines from the late 90s or turn of the century!

I replaced a Windows 98 machine with a Windows Vista machine last year for one sister. They complained that the new quad core machine was so slow, compared to their old 133Mhz Pentium! Well, it was, to boot up, Windows 95 was loaded in about 10 seconds, Vista in around 1 minute... Try explaining that the new machine is actually much faster and doing a lot more in the background!

Just been over to our logistics office in the factory, the "Azubi" (Auszubildener = Apprentice) PC is a 733 Mhz Pentium II, with 128MB RAM, running Windows 98! They wanted to know if I could upgrade it to Windows XP for them!

All depends on the type of PC user.

Your average home user (PCWorld buyer) will buy a PC, run it into the ground then scrap it.
A gamer will upgrade it over time, sell the parts they've replaced then when a major change is needed (new cpu socket etc) sell the parts individually to fund the new kit.

My family used the same PC for eight years. In 2006, with five constant users wanting it for work and play, the 200MHz PC with a whole 64MB RAM really didn't cut the mustard...So, Dad bought a new C2D 2.2GHz Dell PC with 1GB RAM. It's still doing them well now, and will do until it either dies or just isn't much use to anyone anymore.

My family are consumers of PC's and the technology world, it is easier to buy new, and most people they know wouldn't want to buy a broken PC (as they wouldn't see it as something that mainly worked, but with a faulty PSU or HDD or whatever)...

Anyway, back on topic, I'd probably sell that as a whole thing to a 'regular' person, or try for bits at school/collage/uni if your nephew goes to one.

I'd say most people go for option d)

d) Run the computer into the ground, take it to the recycling point and buy a new one.

Most wouldn't even know you could upgrade. By the time they are ready to get rid of it, it really isn't worth anything (although the Win 98) machine found a new home, she had a friend who still had a Windows 95 machine!

Luxury! This one had 16MB RAM!

I always stop and get amazed when I think about this - how many still-working PCs are outperformed by smartphones that use a tiny fraction of the power the old desktop beasts need

Spoke to my nephew tonight and he wants to keep the case - Tsunami Dream - so looks like I will be breaking it up and selling the parts off bit by bit - so if anyone is interested in any of the bits just PM me.