I Bought an Untested Alienware PC from eBay for $300. Did I Get Ripped Off?

TLDRI recently purchased a pre-built Alienware PC from eBay for $300, but it was untested and the specs were unknown. I opened it up and found an RTX 2060 graphics card. After some troubleshooting, I managed to get it working and ran game benchmarks. The system performed surprisingly well, but the CPU was the bottleneck. Overall, it was a good deal considering the price.

Key insights

🔍The eBay listing for the Alienware PC was vague, with no specs or information about its condition.

💸The PC was priced at $300, which seemed like a good deal considering it was an Alienware system.

🔧I opened up the PC and discovered it had an RTX 2060 graphics card and a 9th gen Core i5 processor.

🎮I ran game benchmarks on the system and it performed surprisingly well, averaging around 60-70 FPS in most games.

The CPU was the bottleneck, with all cores maxed out during gaming, but the GPU performed well.

Q&A

Was it a risk buying an untested PC from eBay?

Yes, it was a risk, but the price was low enough to justify taking the chance.

What graphics card did the PC have?

The PC had an RTX 2060 graphics card, which was a pleasant surprise.

How did the PC perform in game benchmarks?

The PC performed well, averaging around 60-70 FPS in most games, but the CPU was the bottleneck.

Did you encounter any issues with the PC?

Yes, there were some initial issues with the PC not booting properly, but they were resolved after troubleshooting.

Would you recommend buying an untested PC from eBay?

I would only recommend it if the price is low enough to justify the risk and you're willing to do some troubleshooting.

Timestamped Summary

00:00I purchased an untested Alienware PC from eBay for $300.

03:50I opened up the PC and discovered it had an RTX 2060 graphics card and a 9th gen Core i5 processor.

09:20I ran game benchmarks and the PC performed well, averaging around 60-70 FPS in most games.

10:50The CPU was the bottleneck, with all cores maxed out during gaming.

12:30Despite some initial issues, the PC turned out to be a good deal considering the price.