First gaming rig

[_se7en]

I am planning to build my first gaming rig with < $150. I have looked at used hardware on ebay but there are too many options.

I came across below motherboard and cpu. Is this a good option?

Motherboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-9KPNV-Precision-T3500-LGA-1366-Socket-B-DDR3-SDRAM-Desktop-Motherboard/362387220021?hash=item545ff62635%3Ag%3AL78AAOSw4HFbTK7S&amp;LH_BIN=1&amp;frcectupt=true#viTabs_0

CPU: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-X5650-2-66-GHz-LGA-1366-Six-Core-AT80614004320AD-Processor-Tested/372613615115?_trkparms=aid%3D777001%26algo%3DDISCO.FEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D56397%26meid%3D5ae846de615a45e7842f749d0088bb3b%26pid%3D101002%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26%26itm%3D372613615115&amp;_trksid=p2481888.c101002.m4497&amp;_trkparms=pageci%3A9f07c0a5-4c54-11e9-b17a-74dbd180e49a|parentrq%3Aa37edc5e1690ab1d0a145eaafff3ce2e|iid%3A1

RAM: I have 4 sticks of 2GB DD3 

Which power supply and graphics cards should I choose?

[Janeck]

You are on interesting quest to buy used parts and i love it  ... But that CPU is very far from ideal for gaming bro.

I think ideal for this CPU will be 1050ti from newer stock or 960 from older generation. From this generation of nVidia GPUs I think you have to wait for 1650 and still I think there will be some bottleneck.

From AMD i think RX570 or RX470 will be quite ok  and it's better than 1050ti i think.

For PSU that's only one part that i never will buy used. So look at PSU tier list and choose something around 450-550W (it's calculated with that RX570) from tier A or B.
 

Hey i might be wrong just wait for more opinions .


 

[Jurrunio]

When I see prebuilt boards, I click dislike. Their compatibility is just a pain in the ass and they do not support overclocking, something the X5650 relies on to not be worthless.

Even proper X58 boards I still dont recommend them, they are so old that there's no say on how much life they still have.

The X5650 is not a good gaming CPU itself either, architecture is old so IPC and hence single core performance is lacking.

 

With your budget I'd probably go find a locked 2nd/3rd i5 (no S or L or T in the name behind the 4 digit numbers) and B75 motherboard. With a budget this low bidding is your friend, I've seen some of these CPUs starting at $30 but I think it's more like $40, worth trying though. A cheap B75 board costs around $50.

 

Then the PSU. Safety is important imo (also in not killing parts), I'd buy new here no matter what. decent 550w unit costs $40 anyway, not that much

 

So that leaves $20 for the GPU. The Nvidia GTS 450 is the best I can find within this price bracket. Good thing about buying this GPU specifically is that many GTS 450 are modded into fake 550ti, 750ti, 1050ti etc, which means GTS 450 you can buy are most likely genuine. Do make sure it's the 1GB GDDR5 version though.

 

Calling GDDR5 as DDR5 is a common thing for sellers selling fake cards, avoid them. Not saying those that calls the memory type correctly dont sell fake cards.

 

@Janeck $150 is for the mobo, CPU, GPU and PSU combined, not just the GPU

[Janeck]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

When I see prebuilt boards, I click dislike. Their compatibility is just a pain in the ass and they do not support overclocking, something the X5650 relies on to not be worthless.

Even proper X58 boards I still dont recommend them, they are so old that there's no say on how much life they still have.

The X5650 is not a good gaming CPU itself either, architecture is old so IPC and hence single core performance is lacking.

 

With your budget I'd probably go find a locked 2nd/3rd i5 (no S or L or T in the name behind the 4 digit numbers) and B75 motherboard. With a budget this low bidding is your friend, I've seen some of these CPUs starting at $30 but I think it's more like $40, worth trying though. A cheap B75 board costs around $50.

 

Then the PSU. Safety is important imo (also in not killing parts), I'd buy new here no matter what. decent 550w unit costs $40 anyway, not that much

 

So that leaves $20 for the GPU. The Nvidia GTS 450 is the best I can find within this price bracket. Good thing about buying this GPU specifically is that many GTS 450 are modded into fake 550ti, 750ti, 1050ti etc, which means GTS 450 you can buy are most likely genuine. Do make sure it's the 1GB GDDR5 (or DDR5, as dumb sellers call it) version though

 

@Janeck $150 is for the mobo, CPU, GPU and PSU combined, not just the GPU

My bad i just click on the first link and then i was in it   i'm sorry ... this budget is thight AF and you' re right ...
 

[_se7en]

Thanks @Janeck @Jurrunio. Based on your suggestions and long research, I came across this.

Do you think this is a good deal?

https://www.pcliquidations.com/p23371-lenovo-thinkcentre-m81-7518#

[LienusLateTips]

8 minutes ago, _se7en said:

Thanks @Janeck @Jurrunio. Based on your suggestions and long research, I came across this.

Do you think this is a good deal?

https://www.pcliquidations.com/p23371-lenovo-thinkcentre-m81-7518#

What country do you live in? USA?

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, _se7en said:

Thanks @Janeck @Jurrunio. Based on your suggestions and long research, I came across this.

Do you think this is a good deal?

https://www.pcliquidations.com/p23371-lenovo-thinkcentre-m81-7518#

good deal, just no good for gaming

[_se7en]

3 hours ago, LienusLateTips said:

What country do you live in? USA?

Yes. 

 

@Jurrunio because of the motherboard? 

[Jurrunio]

7 hours ago, _se7en said:

Yes. 

 

@Jurrunio because of the motherboard? 

more like everything but the CPU, the i5-2400 is respectable for gaming as an 8 year old CPU. The board (being a prebuilt) can have compatibility problems with added graphics card (if it even has as PCIe slot), the PSU might not have enough wattage, the HDD is small though old games dont use much space, there's too little memory (4gb), the case might not have enough room to let you add a graphics card...

[Jay Deah]

i also agree that picking up a cheap old prebuilt ex-company PC would be a great move. LTT even did a video on this a while back.

 

with the budget you have you're not going to get a super experience and probably run games on low settings, but so what, theyre still just as fun on LOW!

 

that prebuilt is the bottom end of what i'd consider buying... but if you can find yourself something with a better CPU then great... anything i5/i7 should be fine and you want at least 8GB ram. luckily DDR3 Ram is quite cheap so you can always just buy something like the system above and add more RAM. for GPU just go with the best you can afford. you can always swap the parts out of the prebuilt case into another chassis but this sometimes takes some experience in adapting some cables (the thinkcenter being a prime example) so if possible stick with non-Small Form Factor PCs, or if you get an SFF, try and aim for a low profile graphics card like a GTX1050 or GT1030 that will fit inside an SFF PC (SFF PCs have half HEIGHT pci slots)