Advice on low cost used PC buy, light gaming

[techwanabe]

Currently have two old Dell PC's that are about 8 or 9 years old. One is a Dell Dimension 8400 and the other is a Dell Dimension 9100, both with Win XP, 1 Gb ram ea and older 3D gaming cards. We're looking to replace the 8400 with something newer, Win 7 and more memory, like 4 gb. I've seen Dell 745's, 755's and 760's like we have at work for sale on the secondary market for modest prices between 100 and 200 dollars. Need the ability to do a little bit of 3D gaming. The 745's at work seem slow but the 755's and 760's seem alright in terms of general response but no idea how they handle light 3D gaming.

What would y'all recommend as a decent used inexpensive replacement for one of our old Dells? Would like to keep it under $200. If the PC doesn't have a graphics card, at least it should have the slot so we could pick one up and install it, and also have dual monitor ability. Recommendations? Am interested in something I can pick up on the secondary market used, but decent... nothing exotic.

 

[nsafreak]

I don't think you're going to get anything for under $200 outside of craigslist or eBay. The least expensive Inspiron currently on the Dell Outlet is the 570 and it's currently running $369. It'd work for light gaming but it's close to double what you've alloted for your budget.

 

[Torn Mind]

Some Optiplex 745 units might be unstable due to bad caps. What happens is that it will freeze and you will have to hold the power button and shutoff. Of course, not every unit has this, but there is a significant number that do, and I used one such unit.

But for that budget, you're on the right track. You have to get a used computer.

 

[Torn Mind]

Also, some of the E8xxx series has become rather inexpensive these days. The E8400 is going for about $40 on some Buy it Now listings on Ebay.

 

[mfenn]

Ebay is a good option for finding off-lease corporate desktops. Geeks.com will also have good stuff from time to time. You'll need to stick a cheap GPU into pretty much anything you pick up though.

 

[Arkaign]

Ebay is a good option for finding off-lease corporate desktops. Geeks.com will also have good stuff from time to time. You'll need to stick a cheap GPU into pretty much anything you pick up though.

Yep, definitely.

I personally typically sell something like this for $100-$200 :

C2D, C2Q / Phenom II X2, X3, X4
2GB-4GB Ram
250-500GB HDD
DVDRW
No Monitor
Usually onboard video or some low-end GPU such as 8400GS, 6450, etc.

The forums here are a good place if you go ahead and buy a case locally (cheaper to ship small things), and can build it yourself.

Skimming FS/FT in our very own forums, I see :

AMD Athlon II X2 240 CPU $25
4GB DDR3 Memory (2x2GB OCZ Gold) $30
160GB Sata 7200RPM HDD $15
Biostar AM3 mATX Motherboard $35
DVDRW $12
Nvidia GT630 (dual-display capable, decent for 1280x720/1440x900 gaming with medium details $45
500W PSU $15

that leaves about $25 to pick up a crappy local case. Probably the best bet is to recycle some old Emachine/HP/Gateway case (can get free or next to free on CL, just put an ad saying you'll pay $5 for a dead PC with or without internals).

It's a bit of a pain, but that's a solid low-end gaming box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCk-waOblrU

 

[techwanabe]

Thanks for the feed back so far. I actually have an ATX style case with power supply in storage I could use to install mother board and components etc. So thats an option.

Someone commented on Dell 745's - those seem to be ok at work, but boot to Win7 a good deal slower than the 755's and 760's. Seems they all have PCIe slots for a better video card too. I'm working on a dual screen 745 right now. Anything would be better than my old Dell Dimension 8400 that has XP and only 1 GB ram.