Help me with full size cheap used desktop

[hardware_failure]

Im looking to "build" (not really) a cheap full size desktop for my daughter that can do very light gaming. Just enuff to do say minecraft.

She already has a laptop with crappy onboard graphics. I want to set her up with a workdesk for school. (IMHO laptops suck for "real" productivity, thats why everyone at my work has a docking station)

I was looking for something under $100, would need CPU and RAM, I have plenty of old drives and monitors and other accessories.

I like the idea of something like an i3 8100? Those always seemed to be great bang for the buck. (Can anyone suggest an older processor commonly in desktops thats better bang for the buck?)

The reason I want full tower is to throw a video card in there. I was thinking maybe a GTX 950? Can I get a better card for say $40 ish?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[LukeTbk]

Depending of what gpu you can get for $40, maybe consider something like a 5600-5700G ?

A 5600G passmark score is about 3 time a 8100, you would get a bit more up to date hardware codec support.

Or do you already have the motherboard that support the i3 8100 ?

 

[hardware_failure]

Do not have a motherboard, was looking for a whole PC (but dont need drives)

5600-5700G def way better, but I dont see that commonly in used desktops for sale.

Best "commonly available" deals appear to be stuff like optiplexes and prodesks on ebay.

 

[matt167]

For $100. You get an older Dell mini tower in the $40-80 range and then pair that with something like an HD 7750 or a Dell R7 450 ( same thing except all 450s are GDDR5 )

A SFF will work as well but limits future gpu upgrades. A Dell RX 550 is $80 on its own but would run Minecraft well as well as others

My streaming box is an optiplex 3040 with an I5 6500 and an R7 450. It is amazing what it will actually do

 

[hardware_failure]

For $100. You get an older Dell mini tower in the $40-80 range and then pair that with something like an HD 7750 or a Dell R7 450 ( same thing except all 450s are GDDR5 )

A SFF will work as well but limits future gpu upgrades. A Dell RX 550 is $80 on its own but would run Minecraft well as well as others

My streaming box is an optiplex 3040 with an I5 6500 and an R7 450. It is amazing what it will actually do

Thanks for that, I will look into it.

 

[Zepher]

Newegg sells refurbed Lenovo systems for decent prices, just need to find one that can accommodate a GPU.
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=lenovo+refurb&N=100019095

I recently put this small PC together with an Asrock B550 Steel Legend mobo for $128 and an AMD Ryzen 5500 for $98.
I ended up swapping in a Ryzen 5600G and pulling out the GPU since I didn't need it in this build.
The Ryzen 5500 is basically a 5600G with no integrated graphics. And both are limited to PCIe Gen 3.



I saw some vids recently showing the Intel i3 12100F being a really good processor for a budget gaming PC.
That cpu is currently $106 on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX8071512100F-INTEL-I3-12100F-Desktop/dp/B09NPJX7PV

 

[dogDAbone]

Len-oh-no-novo....yUk....

You can grab on of the older Dell Optiplex or HP G3/G4 unitls, slap a gpu in it and do what you want for around $150-200.... but <<$100 is somewhat unrealistic nowadays