Buying Under $300

[genthug]

I've got a friend who is looking for a machine that will be able to run fairly low spec'd games for under $300, off of Amazon gift cards. I know with the way the market is right now, that virtually immediately eliminates a build if we're assuming 100% Amazon. If it wasn't, eBay and Craigslist would be on my radar, but that isn't the case. If ram prices weren't so awful right now this wouldn't be as much an issue--but when an 8GB stick costs $80, that pushes the budget up to $300 for parts alone, not to mention the fact that they aren't tech savvy and aren't close enough for myself to just build it for them.

As such, I was curious what you guys would think about pairing an old Optiplex 390 (here) with a GT 1030 (here). It's far under budget, for low spec'd games it will still do very well (I'm talking things like League, Minecraft, etc.). Is there anything I'm missing out there? Would there be a better option?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

How about this card instead.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06X9GLGSC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520175551&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=gtx+1050&dpPl=1&dpID=51AffmuWMwL&ref=plSrch

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Just looking, you may research to see if that card requires a power connection. You'd think it would not, but I think one person who reviewed it said it did need one.

 

[genthug]

At this point... (because someone snatched up that unit I originally posted at $130, which I don't blame them), I'm currently looking at this, which rules out the 1050. While the 1050 would end up being much better in performance it's now out of budget range. I also need to take into consideration that it'll need wi-fi at this point, so I need to budget ~$20 for this, which leaves the total budget around $280 for a base and a GPU. Which means... if taxes aren't a thing, under $300 is attainable. But, with taxes this will put it slightly over... so I'm now looking at this, but my only concern now is whether or not the GPU will fit in the case, as one of the reviewers said it was a tight squeeze... but that it still fit.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

You might see what's available in an i3 as well.