Question Is this $250 desktop worth the price for used PC?

[theflyingjapman]

Just got an approval from my wife to buy anything PC related worth $250. Yes you read it right. My current 10 years old PC specs is below:

i3 3245
Gigabyte LGA1155
SATA SSD 1TB
2x8GB DDR3 1333
GTX 1050Ti
FSP 600w 80+ bronze
23-inch 60Hz 1080p monitor

I was planning to buy a 3770k and GTX 1660Ti which will cost me $250 used; also I found a rig below that is priced at $230 and was wondering if this is a better upgrade.

R7 1700
MSI B350M Mortar
SATA SSD 128GB
2x8GB DDR4 (speed to check with seller, I assume max speed of mobo w/o OC)
GTX650
Silverstone 750W

I play average 2-4 hours few times a week mostly Dota2, CS:GO, sometimes Fortnite and Flight Simulator. I don't plan to game in 1440p or 4K nor buy monitor with such resolutions in the near future, and my upgrade budget is not clear so I want to get something that has improved performance "now". I will replace my GPU and SSD with my current one, re-sell to thrift shop the remaining parts. I believe this will give me a starting ground for AM4. While I am aware that 3000series or 5000 series is better, I have done all combinations to squeeze into the current $250 without success. Will this suffice my light 1080p gaming?

Upgrade Paths that I can see IF my wife approves again in the next months or years:
max 2000 series R9 for the motherboard
64gb RAM
M.2 NVME SSD
RTX 2070S? 5600XT? - please suggest

Watched several YT videos of gaming benchmarks and forums and so overwhelmed. I can only be jealous of those new rigs. 😀

 

[IDProG]

I highly discourage used parts. I think it's better to just save more money that you earn from your job to buy a new PC.

Both used parts are terrible, even at that price.
The former is definitely worse. 3770K is 4-Core. Good luck playing Flight Simulator with that.
If you insist on buying now, the latter is better.

Side note: Why do you ask your wife for approval to buy something with your own earned money?

 

[dark_globe]

i advice you to buy CPU+MOTHERBOARD+RAM as brand new parts
and add it to your current GPU+PSU+SSD+CASE which you will upgrade later on .
b350m mortar is an old motherboard and 1700 although having lots of cores and threads has awful single core performance and boost clocks by todays standards ,
also B350 is way too old of a chipset to build your future pc around .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($96.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($102.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $259.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-22 12:07 EDT-0400

if 259 (9 bucks over the budget is too much) you can also do it like this:

https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3500x-ryzen-5-3rd-gen/p/274-000M-001T3?Item=9SIASGMJTW0867

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-pg-riptide/p/N82E16813162065?Item=N82E16813162065

https://www.newegg.com/kingston-32gb/p/N82E16820242755?Item=N82E16820242755

which is 232 bucks
(but if you don´t have a cooler you will have to order one , since this is a tray version of cpu -
amd cooler can be purchased for 10-15 dollars so you will still remain within your budget)
(yes 3500x is just a six core with no HT but it has much faster single core performance than 1700
which matters more especially in games like cs:go for example ,
not to mention you get the motherboard with much better chipset with it
along with much faster memory as well)

 

[theflyingjapman]

I highly discourage used parts. I think it's better to just save more money that you earn from your job to buy a new PC.

Both used parts are terrible, even at that price.
The former is definitely worse. 3770K is 4-Core. Good luck playing Flight Simulator with that.
If you insist on buying now, the latter is better.

Side note: Why do you ask your wife for approval to buy something with your own earned money?

That is what I have been doing for a year now which circumstances did not allow me to purchase new setup no matter how I want. The budget thing, it's just our arrangement. Thank you for your advise.

 

[theflyingjapman]

i advice you to buy CPU+MOTHERBOARD+RAM as brand new parts
and add it to your current GPU+PSU+SSD+CASE which you will upgrade later on .
b350m mortar is an old motherboard and 1700 although having lots of cores and threads has awful single core performance and boost clocks by todays standards ,
also B350 is way too old of a chipset to build your future pc around .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($96.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($102.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $259.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-22 12:07 EDT-0400

if 259 (9 bucks over the budget is too much) you can also do it like this:

https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3500x-ryzen-5-3rd-gen/p/274-000M-001T3?Item=9SIASGMJTW0867

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-pg-riptide/p/N82E16813162065?Item=N82E16813162065

https://www.newegg.com/kingston-32gb/p/N82E16820242755?Item=N82E16820242755

which is 232 bucks
(yes 3500x is just a six core with no HT but it has much faster single core performance than 1700
which matters more especially in games like cs:go for example ,
not to mention you get the motherboard with much better chipset with it
along with much faster memory as well)

This is what I was looking for! The reason for my question is I am confused to whether go to that 1000 series headstart, partially buy parts and replace etc. I wanted to go something that I can still use some of my current parts to fit the budget.

I will take this suggestion and hopefully can see in the market. Unfortunately brand new for these parts are still hard to find (in Japan, prices in USD are for reference only) so I resorted to second hand market. Personally, I am wanting to go 5000 series as a start but the budget do not permit. Thank you very much.