Buying new custom computer. Few questions

[sx4dude2013]

Hey everyone. This is my first post and I know NOTHING about PCs.
My current device is a Sony Ultrabook T.
Its an i5 with 8GB of RAM.
Its been a decent PC. Used for class and browsing.

Ive always wanted a desktop and to use dual or 3 screens.
A buddy is selling a PC for $450. These are the specs....
- Antec 900 MidATX Case w/ 4 fans
- OCZ ModXtreme 500W PSU
- ASUS M4A77TD-Pro Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 3.2Ghz
- G. Skill 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
- SEGATE 500GB HDD
- OCZ Vertex III Sata3 120GB SSD
- SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 5850 1GB
- Sony Optirc DVD Drive

1) Is this a decent PC for $450?

2) It does not have an OS Product key. Where is the BEST place to get this? I am a student if that helps.

3) How do I setup 3 monitors. Ill be using 1 but plan to get 2 more after christmas.

4) Ideas on how to make this a great experience? I pick it up on Wednesday. Thanks!!!!

 

[FuturDreamz]

I can't speak on the hardware as I know very little about AMD, but if you are a technical student your school may be part of a dreamspark program where you can get 7 pro for free.

And as for setting up three monitors, should be a matter of connecting them, then right-clicking desktop and selecting "screen resolution" to configure them

 

[bobkn]

I'm not up on the value of used PCs, but it would cost a lot more than $450 to build using new components.

If you wish to connect 3 monitors to the single graphics card, I suggest that you web search for "eyefinity". Recent AMD cards support as many as 6 monitors off a single card, but monitors 3 through 6 have to use Display Port outputs. You'd either have to use a 3rd monitor that either had a DP input, or use an adapter. (Depending on which interface you wish to convert to, those adapters may not be cheap.)

Windows license? As a non-student, the cheapest for me would be a System Builder (generic OEM) license. The license for that doesn't permit the OS to be installed on a PC for your personal use, but somehow I believe that more than a few people violate that. (No enforcement.) You can probably do better through you college, but some of the student licenses sold in the past were upgrade licenses. That may not serve your needs.

 

[bigmck]

The PC, an i5 with a SSD would cost a lot more if you bought one new. I would think $450 would be in the right neighborhood.

 

[edwar]

Save your money. That system is old and you can get a decent new system for a few, Hundred, dollar more which would be much better overall.

Used computers are like Used Socks. They aren't worth anywhere near what they were when new and will get holes in them quickly.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

This system is worth $450 all day and twice at night as long as it's in good condition which I assume it is. Blow out the dust if any load your OS and all drivers, software and have fun. Get one monitor but get all three the same and make sure the connection options on the monitors agree with the GPU ports and you'll be golden ! Only concerns are the OCZ stuff but that's really just a preference from what I've heard but funny as I just scored a OCZ Vetrex III 120gb SSD for dirt cheap and figured what the hell. Can you shop for a better rig for less likely these days for sure ! But it's worth the money and it sounds like it's already a done deal so grab all the driver disks and any other free stuff that your friend will include. Get any extra cables like sata's and monitor cables as they add up in costs if you want to add a optical drive or hard drive.

 

[LittleJay]

Been running an OCZ Vertex III in my PC for a couple of years now and haven't had any problems what so ever with it. Very fast read/write rates.

 

[cytherian]

I also concur that it's a good price. The video card may be discontinued but it is highly rated (5 stars on NewEgg) and worth about $90 used. The SSD drive is about $75 new. When looking at the rest it adds up well, assuming that the system hasn't been abused. What's great about that video card is that it has 3 outputs--1 HDMI and 2xDVI. I don't know if it can support 3 monitors simultaneously but it should definitely be capable of 2.

 

[sx4dude2013]

Great news. I'm excited for the new setup