budget optiplex + gtx 1050 combo

[xzantian]

Hello everybody, I've posted a few questions on here, and have all ways had great luck, so thank you in advance for reading.

 

My friend is new to pc gaming, and is willing to buy a 200 dollar pc, and I would pick him up a 1050, but that being said, I have about 0 experience with prebuilts. I know dell optiplex with i5 2400 is usually in this range and very good value, but im not sure what I need to look for to make sure it will work. I will also be needing it to either have wifi, or enough room for a wifi card. My question is what desktop would be good for this?

[Technomancer__]

BTW if you do this get a 1050ti instead

The extra vram is worth it and its about 25 more expensive

[Crunchy Dragon]

Wifi isn't a problem, you can pick up a USB dongle for ~$10 (USD)

[KenjiUmino]

Just now, Ethocreeper said:

BTW if you do this get a 1050ti instead

The extra vram is worth it and its about 25 more expensive

totally worth it.

 

even a lowly i3 3220 can benefit from a 1050ti

[TheGlenlivet]

Make sure the prebuilt has an pci connector to power the card or get a card that doesn't require external power.  Then you will need to verify the PSU can handle a modern GPU.

[xzantian]

7 minutes ago, Ethocreeper said:

BTW if you do this get a 1050ti instead

The extra vram is worth it and its about 25 more expensive

If it is only 25 more I may, but I was seeing closer to 50. I may have just been shopping poorly.

 

5 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Wifi isn't a problem, you can pick up a USB dongle for ~$10 (USD)

Don't know why I forgot those existed.

 

3 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Make sure the prebuilt has an pci connector to power the card or get a card that doesn't require external power.  Then you will need to verify the PSU can handle a modern GPU.

I know that you can check psu wattage, but my concern is that the motherboard may not be able to deliver enough power to the 1050 or 1050ti. I haven't been able to find one I'm comfortable suggesting except 1, but it was a slim tower. I wouldn't want to buy it only to not be able to fit the 1050 in it.

[TheGlenlivet]

It's the PSU that delivers the power.  As long as it has a x16 slot for the card, and a PSU that will power it you'll be fine, but I'd get a 400W PSU.  Inexpensive and enough power to run everything.

For a 1050ti, I mean.

[dizmo]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($52.39 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Patriot - Viper Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H21 Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $286.24

 

Another route to consider. You'll know that everything works, is new, has full warranties.

Has a PSU that can be carried to other builds, or when upgrades are performed.

Case isn't going to restrict any kind of future upgrade.

 

You can usually find the CPUs used for ~$30 less.

[Crunchy Dragon]

12 minutes ago, dizmo said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($52.39 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Patriot - Viper Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H21 Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $286.24

 

Another route to consider. You'll know that everything works, is new, has full warranties.

Has a PSU that can be carried to other builds, or when upgrades are performed.

Case isn't going to restrict any kind of future upgrade.

 

You can usually find the CPUs used for ~$30 less.

I've heard the dust filter on the front of the H20-series can impact airflow quite a bit

[dizmo]

4 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I've heard the dust filter on the front of the H20-series can impact airflow quite a bit

It was just the cheapest case. There were a few others that were $5ish dollars more that are good options as well.

I doubt it'd affect his build much.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, dizmo said:

It was just the cheapest case. There were a few others that were $5ish dollars more that are good options as well.

I doubt it'd affect his build much.

Fair point.

[xzantian]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($52.39 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Patriot - Viper Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H21 Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $286.24

 

Another route to consider. You'll know that everything works, is new, has full warranties.

Has a PSU that can be carried to other builds, or when upgrades are performed.

Case isn't going to restrict any kind of future upgrade.

 

You can usually find the CPUs used for ~$30 less.

this build is for a friend, and he does not really like computers much, so he won't want to do anything over 200 for the computer, and I will be shelling out the money for the graphics card. Its a bit of a christmas gift, but he wouldn't want to go above 200 by much, otherwise, that is a very solid build, and would be prefered if he ever planned to upgrade. as it stands, I was thinking something like this

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Performance-Processor-Professional-Refurbished/dp/B076CVLLNG/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1510013237&sr=8-14&keywords=dell+optiplex+i5+full+tower

 

 

I'm confident I can find something similar for less, but I don't know what i'm looking for. my friend is mostly a console gamer, so trying to upsell for performance isn't going to be an option, i'm trying to beat console graphics for console price, 300 to 350 for the entire computer. from my understanding, prebuilts with a decent gpu have such a high price to performance value at that level that they are hard to beat. sorry for the late reply, I just got off work.

 

[xzantian]

https://www.amazon.com/Optiplex-7010-Processor-Professional-Refurbished/dp/B01LZLPO1H/ref=sr_1_15?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1510013899&sr=1-15&keywords=dell+optiplex

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Performance-Processor-Professional-Certified/dp/B01M4MX7QA/ref=sr_1_13?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1510013899&sr=1-13&keywords=dell+optiplex

 

 these two look better for the project, but my question would be which should I get, and would they fit a 1050 or 1050 ti in the case?

 

[xzantian]

after quite a bit of research, some help from a channel called Tech Deals on youtube  (  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCss3QxegBkF8BAetIo0qXA  ) and some realization that I am, infact, kind of dumb, I have found a decent optiplex for 100$ and I will be able to put in a hard drive and power supply, and fly in under 200$ for a very solid computer. from there I'm not sure if I will get the 1050 or the 1050 ti. the computer is here   https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-990-Intel-Core-i5-2400-3-10GHz-8GB-Ram-No-HDD/172964644853?hash=item28457f07f5:g:FR8AAOSwoR9Z~keu

 

thank you all for helping out, this is what I think I will go with. I may look for one of the newer i5's though

[Staas]

Lenovo Thinkstations are also pretty good. I picked up a Thinkstation with a Sandy Bridge 4c/8t xeon and 8gb of ram for $120 about a year ago.