Pricing On Older System

I wouldn't normally be posting this sort of thing here, but I'm having a terrible time finding a reasonably comparable system for sale to make a price comparison. I want to offer my brother something for his old system since he doesn't use it and I have some old DOS games that I'd like to play on it. It's in working condition, but it's not in the greatest of shape visually and whatnot (read: it's filthy inside and out). Here's the specs, I'm hoping someone here who's a little more intimate with the hardware side of things might have an idea of what it's worth:

Brand: Compaq
CPU: AMD K6-2 366Mhz on SS7 mobo
4GB 5400 RPM HDD
192MB Cheap RAM: CL3, 70ns (very generic junk...)
40x CD-ROM (generic)
56K winmodem
Integrated 3D Graphics
Integrated 16-bit sound (SB-compatible)
Generic 15" Monitor w/ Side-mounted speakers / built in Microphone
Floppy Drive

I think it also has a totally gummed up copy of Win98 2/e on it, but no disc for it, and, even if it's there, it's pretty much hosed and useless assuming it even boots. I also have no drivers for any of the hardware, so they'll need to be tracked down after I blow away the OS. I think all the cords are there (power, etc.). I'm thinking of offering $150 tops for it. Fair?

Thanks,
Chris

Sounds pretty fair. I'd probably drop the price by like $25, for all the probs you're going to have trying to get all the proprietary stuff to work without the drivers and a copy of the OS you're going to need to reinstall/clean out.

Then again, I'm used to swapping hardware with my brothers for free

-b

That would actually make for a descent file server on a small network. My mom has the exact same comp (by your specs) at her house - I am buying her a new machine and taking hers and making it into the phone handling system.

Hehe - hers has the little push door on the front, with a big red sticker that says 'Power for todays blah blah blah and expandibility for the future'.

With the monitor, I don't think $100-150 is off the mark at all. It sounds like the current owner doesn't use it at all, so any money he put into it has long been written off.

Actually... my parents dumped the computer off on him when it stopped booting into Windoze. Most of the memory in it came from me to begin with, and, I'm pretty sure I supplied a new modem as well. Possibly even the CD-ROM. I actually just finished fixing it up and he sold it to my gf for $125. She's going to give it to her little sisters as their first PC.

Step 1: Got a warning about no floppy drive and it stalled out on the self-test - no beep codes. Popped the case, floppy power cable wasn't hooked up and neither was the hard drive ribbon.

Step 2: Computer booted, but hung at the windoze spash screen after about 5 minutes of churning. Rebooted and went to step-by-step to bypass the startup files. Popped into DOS and checked config.sys. All was well, so checked autoexec.bat. First two lines involved loading Norton and McAffee respectively. Added @REM to the beginning of each and rebooted. After about 10 grueling minutes, Windoze lurched sluggishly to life.

Step 3: After 2 defrags and a lot of deletions, I managed to reclaim over 1 GB of disk space and had it running like brand new. That sucker launched the heavy IE6 in less than 3 seconds. It actually runs faster than my XP laptop now....

Feels nice to bring things back from the dead and give them a second chance at life

Joe - we have that silly door too.. I hate that thing... it always swings open when I'm trying to move the computer. It actually broke off once, but, fortunately, I found a shop looking to get rid of a similar case so I just snagged the face off it before they trashed it.

yeah that's common with antivirus programs, especially when they have been installed for awhile. I would strip out the antivirus, it can eventually prevent Windoze from starting altogether.

If you are going to game with it I would wipe the drive, and reinstall Windows. It will run a lot better. Old windoze installations get pretty hosed up over time. You can get the drivers online by searching on google. I do it all the time, piece of cake. driverguide.com is also pretty good.

Actually, I was just going to use it for some old DOS games and apps that are broken under WinME and up. Nothin' heavy - most of them "recommended" 8 MB of RAM, a pentium, and a "3d video card".

I bought an old machine to use as a FreeBSD server not long ago. Got it for AU$50 with 15" screen. Was 200MMX with 32Mb RAM, old IBM machine. My mate picked up 2 IBM machines for 100 bucks. The one he kept was a Pentium Pro with dual CPU motherboard, picked up another CPU from eBay and he is laughing now. Sweet system for Linux/BSD.

$150 for your bro's system (incl. monitor) is good. I buy/sell stuff to my brother as well and it's better that way becasue (a) he's a poor bum and (b) he can't say I need that, can I have it back?...

On the other hand, if it weren't my brother, I'd knock $25 off the $150.

Is DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM among the DOS games you want to play? God, I've to play that game again...

Ah, memories of High School.

Nao

I once tried to make a compilation of all the classic "3D" games. My stipulation was that it couldn't require win9x. The list contained:
[ol][li]Wolfenstein 3D[/li]
[li]Doom (The Ultimate Edition)[/li]
[li]Doom 2[/li]
[li]Descent 1[/li]
[li]Hexen[/li]
[li]Heretic[/li]
[li]Quake 1[/li]
[li]Duke Nukem 3D[/li][/ol]

And I think that's as far as the list got. I don't know what happened to that, I spent a lot of time in the $5 racks in game shops a few years ago attempting to finish the collection, but alas...

What else would you guys add to the list?

edit: bah! How does one make an ordered list here?

[list=1]
[*]option 1
[*]option 2
[/list=1]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!RISE OF THE TRIAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'nuf said.