Question Cobbling together a low-end gaming machine out of a prebuilt

[Tekguy0]

I have a spare Dell Inspiron 3847 with an i5-4460 and not much else in it.
I recently got some parts for free: a 250 GB SATA SSD, 16 GB of DDR3-1866 memory, a Blu-Ray drive, and a GeForce 960 2 GB. I realize that I would need a new PSU with an 8-pin connector for the GPU. Other than that, it is ready to go. However, I already have a gaming/media PC and have no need for another. How much would this machine sell for/what is a fair price for it? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dj0gany]

Keep in mind these are the prices for ur parts in my countries used market:
i5 - 4460 around €20 , I assume you will sell it with the motherboard and ram, so it will be around €50-€60.
GeForce 960 2GB, you didn't state the exact make/model of it, but they go for €50
250GB SSD - €15
I would spend €30 for a 500W PSU at your local shops, but I wouldn't spend much on it since this build doesn't pull much W anyway, and most of these upgraded office PCs don't have a super reliable PSU anyway.
^ These are the prices if you want to sell it part by part.
Combined with a new PSU, this PC as a whole would sell for around €200.
Or you can go to your countries second hand market, and type in i5 4460 PC, and I am sure something like this would pop up, so you can base your price on the other similar PC prices.

 

[Tekguy0]

Keep in mind these are the prices for ur parts in my countries used market:
i5 - 4460 around €20 , I assume you will sell it with the motherboard and ram, so it will be around €50-€60.
GeForce 960 2GB, you didn't state the exact make/model of it, but they go for €50
250GB SSD - €15
I would spend €30 for a 500W PSU at your local shops, but I wouldn't spend much on it since this build doesn't pull much W anyway, and most of these upgraded office PCs don't have a super reliable PSU anyway.
^ These are the prices if you want to sell it part by part.
Combined with a new PSU, this PC as a whole would sell for around €200.
Or you can go to your countries second hand market, and type in i5 4460 PC, and I am sure something like this would pop up, so you can base your price on the other similar PC prices.

Thanks for your reply.

A good 500W-ish PSU is necessary because this PC has a 250W unit with no PCIe connectors. I was thinking somewhere in the $200 USD range. The SSD is a Crucial MX500 (so nice, but small), and the GTX 960 is an EVGA FTW model, so fine except for the 2 GB RAM constraint.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a spare Dell Inspiron 3847 with an i5-4460 and not much else in it.
I recently got some parts for free: a 250 GB SATA SSD, 16 GB of DDR3-1866 memory, a Blu-Ray drive, and a GeForce 960 2 GB. I realize that I would need a new PSU with an 8-pin connector for the GPU. Other than that, it is ready to go. However, I already have a gaming/media PC and have no need for another. How much would this machine sell for/what is a fair price for it? Thanks in advance.

If it runs, leave it as is and sell it.

You can't turn that into any sort of 'gaming' system.

 

[Dj0gany]

Thanks for your reply.

A good 500W-ish PSU is necessary because this PC has a 250W unit with no PCIe connectors. I was thinking somewhere in the $200 USD range. The SSD is a Crucial MX500 (so nice, but small), and the GTX 960 is an EVGA FTW model, so fine except for the 2 GB RAM constraint.

Its a solid budget build, will run most of the popular games currently, fps shooters like csgo/valorant, moba's like league of legends or dota, but it will struggle on AAA titles, mainly beacuse of that 2GB of Vram. I would put this up for $200.

 

[Misgar]

I think you'd be very lucky indeed to sell a Dell Inspiron 3847 with an i5-4460 for €200/$200, especially if you don't include all the extra parts you got for free in the sale, i.e. sell the the 250 GB SATA SSD, 16 GB of DDR3-1866 memory, Blu-Ray drive and a GeForce 960 2 GB with the computer.

Without these additional parts which you might be considering for a new build, all you've got is a basic old office computer with a Socket 1150 processor released back in 2014

Companies specialising in office clearance have similar i5-4460 computers from Lenovo for sale on eBay with 'Buy it now' prices starting at £50/€58/$63 plus shipping charges.

With so many professional on-line sellers, the market is saturated with inexpensive second hand office computers like yours dating back to circa 2015.

Dell use proprietary (non standard) motherboards and power supplies in many of their small form factor office computers, making upgrades with "standard" components difficult or impossible.

A small office computer with poor ventilation is not a good choice for a gaming machine with a powerful GPU.

 

[Tekguy0]

I think you'd be very lucky indeed to sell a Dell Inspiron 3847 with an i5-4460 for €200/$200, especially if you don't include all the extra parts you got for free in the sale, i.e. sell the the 250 GB SATA SSD, 16 GB of DDR3-1866 memory, Blu-Ray drive and a GeForce 960 2 GB with the computer.

Without these additional parts which you might be considering for a new build, all you've got is a basic old office computer with a Socket 1150 processor released back in 2014

Companies specialising in office clearance have similar i5-4460 computers from Lenovo for sale on eBay with 'Buy it now' prices starting at £50/€58/$63 plus shipping charges.

With so many professional on-line sellers, the market is saturated with inexpensive second hand office computers like yours dating back to circa 2015.

Dell use proprietary (non standard) motherboards and power supplies in many of their small form factor office computers, making upgrades with "standard" components difficult or impossible.

A small office computer with poor ventilation is not a good choice for a gaming machine with a powerful GPU.

I am very familiar with the Optiplex office series. I had no idea these old i5 quad core machines were so cheap. Luckily this dell has decent ventilation (side, front, and PCI slot vents, dedicated fans) and a standard uATX motherboard. Its not an SFF.

 

[Misgar]

I picked up an ancient Dell Optiplex with VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse for $25 in 2022. The seller wasn't prepared to post it and local collection was the only option, reducing the number of bidders.

That's good news about your case size. If you're going to fit a new microATX mobo, check the position of the standoffs under the existing mobo. There's a very slight chance they might be non-standard and could cause a short circuit on a new mobo.

If you decide to improve system performance and add a GPU card that requires more than 75W, check to see if the case will accept a standard ATX power supply.

 

[punkncat]

It is not uncommon for Dell to use a power supply with proprietary connector for the "24 pin". There are adapters, if this is the situation.

If your only motivation is to sell, I would recommend keeping the Dell as is, and also sell the other parts individually. You are more likely to find buyers looking for one of those specific parts than to get involved in a Dell gaming conversion of this type.

I did a side hustle selling OptiPlex systems in the 2nd-4th gen. The last set of these I got were 4th gen i5 and that happened right alongside W11 (and its requirements) hitting. Where I had been selling these for ~$100 the day before, afterward I could hardly give them away and ultimately what I ended up having to do.

 

[Tekguy0]

It is not uncommon for Dell to use a power supply with proprietary connector for the "24 pin". There are adapters, if this is the situation.

If your only motivation is to sell, I would recommend keeping the Dell as is, and also sell the other parts individually. You are more likely to find buyers looking for one of those specific parts than to get involved in a Dell gaming conversion of this type.

I did a side hustle selling OptiPlex systems in the 2nd-4th gen. The last set of these I got were 4th gen i5 and that happened right alongside W11 (and its requirements) hitting. Where I had been selling these for ~$100 the day before, afterward I could hardly give them away and ultimately what I ended up having to do.

I don't think the Inspiron 3847 has a proprietary connector. Thanks for the info about W11 requirements- I had not thought about that.