Building a PC primarily using second hand parts

sigma

sigma

sigma

Caporegime
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Is this a wise idea? Is it realistically possible?

I think I need (well, I don't really need to but I think it's getting to the stage that it makes sense to) to upgrade and use a PC made in non-prehistoric times.

The issue is, I don't see the point in spending a great deal of money on it.

What could I build for ~£300? I have an old MTX (I think) case that I could hopefully reuse and that's it. HDD is also covered.

Is that too low a budget? I'd like to play the occasional game but none of the new games really.

I think BeamNG is the most resource intesive game I have.

I am prepared to build it slowly if I need to wait for parts... I could spend more but I don't see the point.

Could anyone spec me something based on the above info please? Or even just a good mobo/CPU/GPU to start off with?
 
The main problems from my perspective are testing (if it's all used and there's an issue, this can get tricky to handle) and getting a good deal from someone reliable / genuine.

You could get something decent from the Sandy Bridge era for that money, which will play anything from the quad core stagnation period.
 
Presumably you have access to the members market, post up a wanted thread and see what offers people come back with.
 
sigma said:
Is this a wise idea? Is it realistically possible?

I think I need (well, I don't really need to but I think it's getting to the stage that it makes sense to) to upgrade and use a PC made in non-prehistoric times.

The issue is, I don't see the point in spending a great deal of money on it.

What could I build for ~£300? I have an old MTX (I think) case that I could hopefully reuse and that's it. HDD is also covered.

Is that too low a budget? I'd like to play the occasional game but none of the new games really.

I think BeamNG is the most resource intesive game I have.

I am prepared to build it slowly if I need to wait for parts... I could spend more but I don't see the point.

Could anyone spec me something based on the above info please? Or even just a good mobo/CPU/GPU to start off with?
Click to expand...

My wifes machine is almost entirely second hand. Started as 2700x, b450, rx570. Built it including water cooling case etc for sub 400 Some.parts were even new from china.
 
Vince said:
My wifes machine is almost entirely second hand. Started as 2700x, b450, rx570. Built it including water cooling case etc for sub 400 Some.parts were even new from china.
Click to expand...

Pls send wife in post :p

More seriously, I guess I don’t really have the knowledge to decide how to build something like that.

A friend is offering the following system:

CPU: Intel(R) Core™️ Quad Core i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Cache LGA1155 + HD Graphics ***Overclockable XXX***

CS_FAN: Default Case Fan

FAN: CoolerMaster Hyper 412S CPU Fan with 4 x Direct Contact heat-pipes, Extreme performance and Ultra quiet ***Overclockable XXX*** [-2]


HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive) [-13]

MEMORY: 8GB (2x4GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory (Kingston HyperX Blu w/Heat Spreader)

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 Chipset, CrossFire / SLI supported, ATX Mainboard w/ 4 RAM slot, IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, Ultra Durable4 Classic, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 3x Gen3 PCIe x16, 3x PCIe x1 & 1 PCI ***Overclockable XXX*** [+3]

POWERSUPPLY: 500 Watts Power Supplies (CoolerMaster Elite 500watt Gaming Power Supply)

VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

£300? Does that seem reasonable?
 
I'd say that's expensive. If you could raise your budget a bit you should be able to squeeze something a lot newer into the mix (longevity) . I guess it really depends on what games you play, that'll be the deciding factor for spec imo.
 
Doug2507 said:
I'd say that's expensive. If you could raise your budget a bit you should be able to squeeze something a lot newer into the mix (longevity) . I guess it really depends on what games you play, that'll be the deciding factor for spec imo.
Click to expand...

£400? Mainly car racing games or sims. Assetto Corsa, BeamNG and Mud Runner.

Any idea on spec please?
 
Well, used prices, roughly....

6700k and mobo 200 quid
7700k and mobo 250 quid
8700k and mobo 300 quid.

Say 100-120 for psu, mem, cooler.

20 quid for a 7200 500gb HDD. (new)

GPU up to 200. (1660ti, 980 ti, 1070 etc etc).

Something like that will serve a lot better in the long run imo. I'm assuming your playing at 1080p.

So something around 5-600 quid that'll be respectable for playing a good chunk of games and last a wee while as well. Could probably shave a few quid off of that if you keep an eye out for good deals, I just priced that up in 5 minutes on the flea market looking at gear with BIN price only.
 
The friend's offered system is a bit dated, 8 years old tech, i think you'd do better fishing out some deals on newer hardware on the members market. Given the age of the system i'd not expect the PSU and GPU to have a great deal of life left in them.

You could relistically get new for similar or better performance, i3 9100f (£80), H310/B360 (inside £80), 16gb DDR4 ram (£60), that's what i'd be aiming to beat for the same or less money, the more you save the more you'll have to put into a PSU/GPU/Cooler.
 
I've bought enough parts off the MM (less the case & GPU) to build a PC this year. My mobo/CPU/Ram 'upgrade' from i5 broadwell/8GB DDR3/Z97 to R5 1600/16GB DDR4/B450 & selling some of the parts on there, the auction site & a work colleague cost me the princely sum of £110. I did buy some new bits too (case fan replacements, NVME SSD) which was almost the same cost as the upgrade. I bought a PSU from the MM separately for my Nephews rig back in June.

Only downside is Patience, you do have to wait a bit for parts you want to appear. Sometimes you can get bargains on the MM, though not always when there's a new CPU or GPU range released, especially this year.
 
I got i5 2500 sandy +mobo (no post) for 20 pounds.
Got me 1060 gtx broken for 25 pounds.
16gb ram 15 pounds.
Psu 35pounds.

So yes u can buy low and put stuff together .
It comes with a risk, but can work.
 
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