AMD CPUs lines???

[petreza]

Hi,

A good friend of my friend's friend is trying to sell to my friend a computer for $250. My friend, as he does not know much about computers, asked me to come with him so that I can check it out and see if it is worth it.

As of right now we do not know anything about the computer. We might not be able to find anything until we go to see it. The only thing that we know is that it has been purchased in the last 6 months from a regular store. For $250 that sounds too good to be true ( if the machene is working properly ).

The problem is that I am myself an Intel guy. I do not know much about AMD CPUs. Could you please give me a list of the AMD lines of CPUs from the last 2-3 years. Also, what is the quickest way to find what CPU is installed without removing the heatsink in all Windows OSes (as we do not know which is installed)?

Thank you very much for your help!!!!!

[deeppow]

REALLY hard to tell if $200 is a deal or not. Frankly there may be some that I wouldn't take if you gave me to me.

Find out what cpu it has, memory, hard drive(s), and video. You can look up details about the cpu at AMD (http://www.amd.com/us-en/) or post back. :cool:

[Mr B]

Checking the "System Information" right in Windows will tell you a lot af what's "in" the box. Further info can be gleaned by installing a program such as Sisoft Sandra, which will tell you literally everything in detail of what's "in" the box.

[DaveSauce]

yea, its hard to tell you what would be good without knowing anything about it...whether its intel or amd.

For $250 used, you should get a 1 ghz, 128mb ram and 20 gig HD. Video should be at least a TNT.

Heh, the current person I am building a computer for paid $100 for a Cyrix 266 with 48mb ram, 4.3 gig HD, and a broken 24x cdrom. He first came to me to install a burner...heh. I could have, but that would have been mean to install something that wouldn't work well at all. For $500 now, I am building him a 1600+, Asus A7N266-VM, 40 gig 7200 WD, and a lite-on 48x24x48. Heh, I coulda saved $40, but he's on 56k, so I needed a modem.

Ah, I just noticed how I could help you. You want an Athlon chip (may be called a Thunderbird, that is good). The chips you want to be cautious of are Duron and K6-2. Duron is equal to a celery, and K6-2 is equal to a PII. If it is a K6-2 and slower than 450, you should spend no more than $100 on it. If it is a Duron in the 500-800 range, probably about $150-$175. Duron in the 800-1100 range, $200, and if it is an Athlon 1000 or faster, then $250 is a good price.

That is of course if the rest of the system is good....but I'm thinking you know what is good....in the 250 range, as I said, I would expect 128MB of ram (at least PC100) and probably a 15-20 gig hard drive.

[Abra_Volta]

I would say the easiest way to find out the cpu is to take a floppy with a copy of WCPUID. It's pretty decent for quick identification.

Or, burn a copy of SiSoft to a CD (don't know if it'll fit, will have to check when I get home) plus a few other programs if you want.

This way you can test and benchmark the system before making a decision.

[Deathknight]

Sandra will definatly fit on a cd. That would be a HUGE download if it didn't! :)

[walldow]

fastest way to find out the main componants in the pc is to run the directx diagnosyics tool in windows. this tool comes standard on all windows operating systems.


click on the start menu, click on"RUN" type in "DXDIAG" then click "OK".

this will bring up the directx diagnostic tool. the first thing that will be displayed is the "SYSTEM INFORMATION".


system info will contane the following information:


system manufacturer(chipset manufacturer)
system model(chipset name)
bios version
processor name and speed
total memmory in the system


this should give you the info to decide whether the system is what you are looking to buy!

good luck!

[NeoMoses]

If you're not gonna take off the heatsink, I suggest you go into bios and look at everything. Set the multiplier to default and see what it boots at, since AMD chips can be unlocked. Also check what RAM timings and such are being ran. That should give you a decent check of the quality of some of the components.

[TheNamelessOne]

Be sure to come back here and post what the specs ended up being. I for one am curious.

[petreza]

The computer turned out to be Dell Dimension L566cx. It has:

Pentium III 566MHz
128MB RAM
13 GB HD
48x CD-ROM

built in video
sond
modem

15" CRT
cheap Canon printer
mouse, keyboard, average speakers
monitor filter
all the software that came with the computer and the printer

all this for $250 ($125 from my friend $125 from his roommate):
I told him it was a good deal and should take it - considering that he doesn't have any a computer and cannot afford a new one right now. He should use it for a year and save some money and then get a new computer and may be an 17" LCD before that.

Thank you guys anyway!

What do you think? Did I do the right thing - it is not too late as my friend will get it tomorrow.

[animecabbit]

PIII 566mhz? I don't think such a thing exists! I know a 533, 550, and 600 exist. I never heard of anything in between 550-600 before.

I would say the system itself is worth $80-100.
A 15" CRT is not worth much. My company refurbs monitors and would throw them away if it didn't cost so much to trash. $20
The printer is not worth more than $10.
Keyboard, mouse, speaker is about $10-15.
That "filter" is trash.


Truthfully, I would tell the guy to sell it for $150-175 at most. I would not even consider it if it was more.

Remember, that cpu speed is kinda fishy. I'd think it was overclocked but it's in a Dell board, so I dunno... <shrug>

[DaveSauce]

Well, considering there is a monitor and printer involved, its a pretty good deal. An entire 533 system for $250 is not that bad. Especially if hes just going to use it for word processing/email/internet.

[animecabbit]

I'd still say haggle with the guy. I would also suggest ebay, which is cheaper, but shipping for the system and monitor totally kills any benifit from buying online.

[The Coolest]

There is not way you could pull off 566 with a P3 as they had either 100 or 133 and there's no multi that you will be able to use to get 566 but it could easily be a Celeron 566 (8.5*66)

[Mr B]

Originally posted by The Coolest
There is not way you could pull off 566 with a P3 as they had either 100 or 133 and there's no multi that you will be able to use to get 566 but it could easily be a Celeron 566 (8.5*66)

That's what I'm thinking myself. To the best of my knowledge, there's no such animal as a P/// 566. There's no combination of multi and FSB available for them to be one, but the Celeron at 66FSB did (as you point out).

At that point, if that's definitely the case, would think long and hard about $250 for this, even with all the periperials.

In the end, it's all what it's worth to you, but frankly, for not much more money, yoou could get a much better system.

Although it might be possible to upgrade that machine there, depending on if;

It will support a 100 (or 133) bus chip...then a P/// would be an upgrade option down the road.

It has open ram slots.

It has an AGP slot (although if it does, it's likely of the 2x variant).

IMHO, keep looking.

B.