Worst New Computer Purchase Ever ( back in 2002 ) shows up today!

[DaveLembke]

Found it kind of funny that the evil wimpy beast of a system ( HP Pavilion 742C)  http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bph07569&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=71006  would show its head once again, 11 years later!

This computer was handed down within a family in which a grandparent passed on and they were cleaning out the home and one of the family members decided to grab the computer as their own. They brought it home and hooked it up and all I was told originally was that they got a computer that is running Windows XP Home and their kids want to play games on it and they ran a bunch of microsoft updates and it is at SP3. They even went as far as buying $150 in games that the kids want to play at Gamestop that are XP OS compatible according to the Gamestop sales clerk of the limited PC Game selection, and two of the games were, World of Warcraft and Crysis 2 that the older child wanted to play.

For the fact that so many computers can run Windows XP Home SP3 from Pentium II 233Mhz all the way up to modern CPU systems, I told them to drop by with the computer so I could take a look at it.

They dropped by today and to my surprise it was the EXACT SAME MODEL BEAST THAT BIT ME back in 2002. I popped the side cover off to confirm the biggest problem with this build. Sure enough.... NO AGP SLOT!!!

I had to tell them that this system would be lucky to play World of Warcraft at best at minimum video settings which are set to POOR and that that is with throwing money into a videocard that would stuff into the available PCI slot. I pointed out that this model I also got bit by in 2002, where I bought it misreading the specs which stated "AGP - Integrated" ... when I didnt realize at the time that "AGP - Integrated" = NO AGP SLOT. I then explained to them that the better motherboards/systems of this period had AGP slots which allowed for better video cards to be installed and turn a normal computer into a gaming rig for the cost of a video card and power supply upgrade.

I told them that I would not invest any money into this computer as for it is about 11 years old and the single-core Pentium 4 2Ghz CPU is not compatible with so many modern games. World of Warcraft would run on that CPU at low settings if you were able to install a higher end AGP type videocard, but Crysis 2 is definately out of the picture for the fact that it needs a Core 2 Duo CPU minimum.

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I said I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I got bit by this same model computer in 2002 spending $519 on an open box purchase at Staples for a normally $699 computer thinking that I got a good deal until getting home and going to install my AGP videocard and there was no AGP Slot to install the videocard into. I told her that I ended up having to take a $220 loss to get rid of it by selling it to a co-worker for $299 and stating that it is lacking an AGP SLOT!

I told her to check out a local computer refurb company called Wincycle  http://www.wincycle.org/ which gets computers donated to it as well as companys pay per lb of electronic waste for proper disposal of old computer hardware. The local colleges and hospitals regularly update their 2 or 3 year old systems and donate them to wincycle to pick through them and sell the good ones and properly recycle the rest.

If anyone is looking for obsolete hardware btw, sometimes they are able to come through for you on your needs. They get everything through there from regular home computers to high end servers that either died or as good complete working hardware from upgrades. I have gone there for a few specific needs and they have an ebay identity as well.

She then left with the computer not very impressed, but she knows that I am a specialist and so she finally got over the $150 rant about the games that the sales clerk at gamestop assisted her with and came back to the reality of the situation that the computer isnt powerful enough and was never really designed to be a gaming computer even when it was sold new in 2002.

I am sure there are lots of techs like us out there who have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes you feel like the doctor who comes out to the waiting room to tell the computer owner that their computer has passed on unless it gets a brain transplant that costs more than teh computer is worth.     Just figured I'd share this since I found it kind of funny that that HP Computer would show up 11 years later and I havent seen another of this same model in the last 11 years.

[BC_Programmer]

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I've never understood this. Do they think if you lie it will somehow change reality? If you say "yep, it will definitely run them" will their belief that it will work magically make it work? Seriously this infuriates me. The true story might not always be the best story but at least it's relevant to reality!

The clerk at GameStop probably just wasn't very knowledgable, or was more concerned with selling the games. my PC is a lot better than that one and I doubt I'd be able to get Crysis2 working amicably.

On a side note: I actually tried to apply at a Game Store. (EB Games I think it was) a year or so ago, because it would have been better than the Job I had at the time. It was funny because I'm not much of a gamer and I assume that everybody that tries to work there is all up in the games with Call of Duty. If I had started there and somebody asked about "Call of Duty" I would have probably directed them to the bathroom...

I said I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I got bit by this same model computer in 2002 spending $519 on an open box purchase at Staples for a normally $699 computer thinking that I got a good deal until getting home and going to install my AGP videocard and there was no AGP Slot to install the videocard into. I told her that I ended up having to take a $220 loss to get rid of it by selling it to a co-worker and stating that it is lacking an AGP SLOT!

As I noted above, in that situation, I would probably say "look, that's the truth. I can tell you something else. It might make you feel better, but it will not be consistent with reality. Do you want information consistent with reality, or information that makes you feel good temporarily until reality smashes it into a fine powder of disappointment?"

She then left with the computer not very impressed, but she knows that I am a specialist and so she finally got over the $150 rant about the games that the sales clerk at gamestop assisted her with and came back to the reality of the situation that the computer isnt powerful enough and was never really designed to be a gaming computer even when it was sold new in 2002.

Love the "Shoot the messenger" approach. You never said it would work, and you telling them it wouldn't didn't magically change it so it couldn't, because it never could to begin with. Even somebody not knowledgable about hardware has the capacity to understand at least the basics, if they make the effort.

I am sure there are lots of techs like us out there who have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes you feel like the doctor who comes out to the waiting room to tell the computer owner that their computer has passed on unless it gets a brain transplant that costs more than teh computer is worth.     Just figured I'd share this since I found it kind of funny that that HP Computer would show up 11 years later and I havent seen another of this same model in the last 11 years.

I'll say it again: I find it infuriating. Your telling them what REALITY is, and they are acting like that answer has somehow changed it, as if their false belief that Crysis  2 would ever run on such an underpowered machine was EVER the case. Then, in this case, they act like spending money on something somehow makes it true. Maybe if you did a little more research before spending money on these things you might have discovered how stupid your beliefs about it are, and that believing salespeople that often work on commission is sort of like believing a person that uses child labour about how they actually run a daycare and the kids making shoes for 12 hours a day is arts and crafts.

[DaveLembke]

It was funny because I'm not much of a gamer and I assume that everybody that tries to work there is all up in the games with Call of Duty. If I had started there and somebody asked about "Call of Duty" I would have probably directed them to the bathroom...[/quote]

OMG BC ...LOL Just had a loud laugh at that statement!

And laughed even harder at this statement:

Maybe if you did a little more research before spending money on these things you might have discovered how stupid your beliefs about it are, and that believing salespeople that often work on commission is sort of like believing a person that uses child labour about how they actually run a daycare and the kids making shoes for 12 hours a day is arts and crafts.

Personally I deal with people like this a lot outside of CH. This one struck me as forum post worthy. But I have to keep professional and cant state to them such great statements as you shared even if I really wanted to 

[BC_Programmer]

Yes, I'm sure if I depended on it for my livelihood I would be equally abhorrent to be so brash.


Thankfully, since it's usually done as a "favour" I don't have to worry about it. If they get offended and never consult me again, mission accomplished. And if they learn something and defer to me in the future- still mission accomplished.

[Cityscape]

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I would have taken ALL those games back to store and gotten my money back, and yes they'd give me every penny back. It's as simple as going in upset and talking to the manager "Manager, your clerk lied to me..." (and yes, strong words like "lied" work very well)

I think it was bad for the clerk telling her that the games would run. But if she went in and complained to the manager and the store made it right to her then it wouldn't be so bad. It's like that electronics store that sold me a monitor a few months ago... they told me it had HDMI when it didn't (it was just a mistake on their part), but they made it right... a full refund and a discount/deal on next purchase.

[camerongray]

It drives me mad with what is often sold as a "gaming" PC nowadays.  I see them all the time "Gaming PC, 16gb RAM, 6 core CPU" and they throw in a low end graphics card like a GeForce 610.  Like do they expect people to buy them, find their games run really badly and just put up with it?

I even remember passing by a PC in a store, some sort of HP Pavilion Machine with an AMD APU, HP had fitted an NVIDIA video card that was actually worse performing than the APU!  I bet the only reason they did that was so they could put a little sticker on the front saying that it had "NVIDIA Graphics".

[DaveLembke]

I even remember passing by a PC in a store, some sort of HP Pavilion Machine with an AMD APU, HP had fitted an NVIDIA video card that was actually worse performing than the APU!  I bet the only reason they did that was so they could put a little sticker on the front saying that it had "NVIDIA Graphics".

LOL thats too funny. But yes I have seen before brands use the nVidia name in large print on computers before such as in which motherboards with the integrated nVidia 6150SE/LE for desktop computers were advertised with the intent that they were designed for gaming. And the 6150 SE/LE is an extremely weak integrated GPU as part of the nForce 430 chipset.

Back in 2009 when I bought my current motherboard it had the nVidia integrated chipset and I figured I'd give it a try with World of Warcraft, since I had a system with the GeForce 6200 8x AGP video card and that ran WoW with no problems on normal settings at the time. The 6150 was completely crippled compared to the 6200, I could swear that a GeForce FX5200 probably was a better GPU, and that this 6150 was the equivilent to that of maybe a GeForce 4 MX 440 in comparison and a GeForce 4 MX 440 was no match for games released in 2008 when this motherboard was manufactured as well as WoW would only run on the 6150 integrated GPU on the lowest settings even when allocating more shared memory to it with a frame rate of 8 to 14 frames per second, which pointed to the GPU as just being extremely weak.

[BC_Programmer]

It drives me mad with what is often sold as a "gaming" PC nowadays.  I see them all the time "Gaming PC, 16gb RAM, 6 core CPU" and they throw in a low end graphics card like a GeForce 610.  Like do they expect people to buy them, find their games run really badly and just put up with it?

I even remember passing by a PC in a store, some sort of HP Pavilion Machine with an AMD APU, HP had fitted an NVIDIA video card that was actually worse performing than the APU!  I bet the only reason they did that was so they could put a little sticker on the front saying that it had "NVIDIA Graphics".

Totally agree with this. My build is from 2009, which is now 4 years old. I've seen people on forums that bought completely new PCs having performance issues with games that I can run no problem. The companies either install some super-fast processor and crappy GPU, or vice-versa. I recall a salesman trying to tell me 2GB DDR3 is 'equivalent' to 4GB of DDR2.