Equipment Swap - Is it worth building?

Hey Everyone,

Some people expressed an interest in sharing their unused computer parts with others that dont have the finances to buy upgrades. If I was to build a system tied to the marketplace that would pair people up with people who have parts they no longer use would anyone actually use it?

Pretty much you'd list what you got and people could request it using Family Vault Credits and you would gain contribution for it. Just an idea let me know what you think.

Foghladha

While I love the idea of unused stuff going to a good home, and the credit/contribution system is a good way to encourage participation, linking it to that system may open things up to some unwanted drama and heartbreak. For instance I have an 8800 GTX collecting dust in my parts drawer, an older card but it could still fill the gap if someone was in a bind. I can test that it's still working here at home, but I cant guarantee it'll survive shipping, or how long it will last once it's installed in someone elses machine. I wouldn't want someone raging at me if it conks out month later (Not that I expect most folks in the family would) You would need some hefty disclaimers I think.

i like the idea but there would still be the issue how much a hardware part is worth in the contribution system also who pays the shipping fee etc

Could allow the traders to grade their parts: Brand new, Excellent, Good, Average, Poor as well as tested/untested.

If there were some way to have the buyer pay shipping, I think it would be a nice addition. It would probably also be good for some repairs. For example, my wife's computer died a few months back. I think it just needs a new power supply, but it's been such a low priority I haven't gotten around to buying another one to check (plus it's such a bother moving parts around!) I could definitely see myself contributing old hardware as well - better than getting a couple dollars from the classified ads. I can see the possibility for drama like Bognar mentioned. I would hope that access to the system would be restricted in some way to those who have enough experience with the Family to know what is and isn't acceptable behavior to at least limit the issue.

Pretty much what I planned on doing is setting the price for equipment to their dollar amount without the decimal. For each item submitted I would lookup the value of the item on Amazon.com, TigerDirect, or NewEgg and find the lowest price for the item. Then I would take a 30% off due to it being used equipment. So lets say for example. I have an spare: PNY GeForce GT 430 1024MB DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 DVI+VGA+HDMI Low Profile Graphics Card VCGGT4301XPB http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-PCI-Express-Graphics-VCGGT4301XPB/dp/B00466IP5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339964606&sr=8-1&keywords=GeForce+420+GT Current Low Price is: $44.99 Take 30% off: $31.49 Family Vault Credit Cost: 3,149 Contribution Reward: 3,936 (+25% for shipping costs) So as you can see this wont be something brand new players would be able to claim. You'd need quite a bit of points to get your hands on this stuff. To get points they would need to participate in a lot of activities. We'd have to make the shipping costs covered by the donor to avoid the necessity of money changing hands (the IRS is a pain on this). The process would go as such: 1. User A enters item into the available for donation list 2. Elder takes item finds & sets price 3. Item is approved and listed on the Marketplace 4. User B claims the item and provides their mailing address for delivery (Points are taken from their account) 5. User A mails item and clicks Sent (User A rewarded for donation) I know there are a lot of hangups people might have. I just wanted people to have a way to help other family members continue to game with the family.

Is a 8800 GTX a better card than an ATI Radeon 4350? And would it work in an AMD/Dell Studio 540 pc?

I would say its more powerful, a little older then the 4350 though. It's also a massive card though, in power demand, slot requirements, and physical size, I don't know if it would fit in a studio's case. :(

» Edited on: 2012-06-18 00:19:17

I like this idea because we do have plenty of computer geeks who can upgrade a lot and others who can only dream up of upgrading. I'd be willing to try to help make this work - after all, I don't work and most of my time is spent on this website and in the games we play and other things. Would be something I can do when I need a game break and my husband is busy doing his own thing. ;) Of course, I'm at the point now with my system that any other upgrades mean.... OVERHAUL. More power for one and probably a processor update to go along with graphics. At least, I was able to get a video card that worked with my setup and was even an upgrade to what I had. Thankfully I had a three slot area free, this needed only two leaving plenty of room for the cooling system to work. Anyway, it would be nice to see some used computer parts find a home rather than end up junked somewhere. At least, here you will know what you are getting. We got some pretty useless junk donated to our church school that I could not even make a typing program work on due to very lowgrade onboard graphics (620x480 only), let alone only four of ten worked and only two were of processor strength to handle more modern program setups. The typing program is a great one for kids, too, so I'm rather upset we couldn't get it going this school year.