I need a lot of guidance.

[FOSS]

Budget (including currency): $100 to start

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming, shooters typically

Other details Already have an okay monitor, mouse and keyboard. 
 

Hello, my laptop died and I’d like to get a new PC. I think building a cheap one is best for me because of my very low budget but I have no idea where to start. I can begin slowly buying parts and I figure over time as I sell things or save up I can acquire more. I’m most worried about buying used parts and not understanding what I’m getting or buying things with a high likelihood of them not working right or outright getting scammed. Any advice on where to start or look and goals I should keep in mind would be greatly appreciated so I can finally get back to my weekend escape. 

[bmx6454]

ebay, fb marketplace, reddit hardware swap are a few. i would recommend waiting until you have saved up more $ to buy anything though. imo, your best bet may be to save like 250-300$, buy maybe a used dell optiplex full tower(or something similar), and add a gpu and ssd to it.

edit: also, one reason i recommend waiting is if you buy a used part(with a return policy of some kind), and it sits for months untested, you won't be able to return it by the time you get to see if it works correctly.

[DANK_AS_gay]

2 minutes ago, FOSS said:

Budget (including currency): $100 to start

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming, shooters typically

Other details Already have an okay monitor, mouse and keyboard. 
 

Hello, my laptop died and I’d like to get a new PC. I think building a cheap one is best for me because of my very low budget but I have no idea where to start. I can begin slowly buying parts and I figure over time as I sell things or save up I can acquire more. I’m most worried about buying used parts and not understanding what I’m getting or buying things with a high likelihood of them not working right or outright getting scammed. Any advice on where to start or look and goals I should keep in mind would be greatly appreciated so I can finally get back to my weekend escape. 

i5 10400f (used) $100

Noctua NH-12S $45

z460 motherboard (with wifi)  $60

16GB ddr4 3200mhz Corsair LPX $60

WD Black 1TB NVME SSD $100

RX 5700XT (from old mining rigs, will be dusty, just needs new thermal paste/pads, and a good dusting)  $180

ThermalTake 700W PSU $54

 

[NF-A12x25]

1 minute ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

i5 10400f (used) $100

bruh, why r u recommending 10th gen hardware

 

the 12100f, used especially, will be a better buy for gaming

[DANK_AS_gay]

8 minutes ago, NF-A12x25 said:

bruh, why r u recommending 10th gen hardware

 

the 12100f, used especially, will be a better buy for gaming

4 cores won't last long for gaming (games are being optimized for the 8 core 16 thread Xboxs and Playstations), it'll cost more in the long run, and used, the 10400f costs the same as the 12100f. You don't need the latest hardware to get an acceptable gaming experience.

He wants to save money, and this is the way to do it. Used mining GPU saves $40 (from the cheapest 6600XT I can find on ebay, and they perform almost the same, if not, the 6600XT is 2% faster) CPU is a few generations old, allowing him to get a 6 core processor for cheap, while not compromising performance. RAM is the cheapest available while not causing potential issues, doesn't have any lights or anything like that. 

 

The only places he can save money would be the CPU cooler, the storage, and if he doesn't think the performance is worth the money, the GPU. 

you could cut roughly $40-$60 from the storage and CPU cooler combined if he wanted to go cheaper.

[emosun]

21 minutes ago, FOSS said:

I’m most worried about buying used parts and not understanding what I’m getting or buying things with a high likelihood of them not working right or outright getting scammed.

buy a used prebuilt from a seller with a lot of good feedback and a good return policy.

then keep your modifications to a minimum like a simple gpu upgrade.

[MrHaydenJr]

if wer going cheap this is what ive built a few times for some friends who arnt heavy gamers and a few that are, but needed a solid daily pc, my suggestion is go used SFF optiplex, or an precision SFF unit, with atleast 16gb ram and prolly a 6700k or newer they go for 100-150 on ebay with no hard drive.... 

then id grab a WD blue SSD from walmart for $50, windows images can be downloaded offline, and most dell towers have a license locked to the motherboard so itll be activated... 

and as it sits itll play games as it is but not super high FPS and you might have low FPS problems in games like DIRT... 

 

then as time goes  id look for a GTX1650 LP (GDDR6), mine was $150 before the price hikes of covid past, but this one upgrade made it seem like a whole new system... 

i like ram so i spent $100 on 64gb (but this is optional and can be done cheaper)

and i bought a noctua cooler to go on it ~$35

and lastly i repasted everything when i did the cooler, since i had to rip apart everything anyway to get the mobo out of the case... 

 

 

so 
PC- $100-150

SSD $50

 

then later GPU $150, could be had cheaper used... 

cooler $35, reused the OEM fan to prevent the F1 error... 

 

for peripherals.. 

i also bought a nice 1440p display off marketplace for $100 

keyboard i bought a nice G710 off ebay for $40

and a G305 for $35 around christmas... 

 

 

 

[SansVarnic]

-= Cleaned =-

Lets keep it on topic and constructive to the OP's request.

[dizmo]

Welcome to the forum!
 

My advice: don't buy anything now. You have no way to test it if you buy things over time, and there is absolutely a chance you'll get screwed over.

There are a few things you can prebuy without any issue. Case, for instance. The rest of it? Save up and buy it when you can. There's no real difference between doing that and buying piece by piece; it's not like you can use the stuff you have just sitting there, and depending on how long it'll take you to finish your build, you'll have paid too much for the initial items and have a worse rig than you might have otherwise.

 

You can get pretty killer deals on eBay if you wait for them. Just save up and buy a full PC.