Build Advice Noob thinking of building a budget gaming PC ?

Jan 13, 2025
5
0
10
Hello after losing out on a few auctions on the bay I am considering building a budget sleeper gaming pc. been watching a lot of youtube vids and apparently a good starting point is a Dell Optiplex 5040
Windows 10
PC i5-6500 3.2Ghz
8GB RAM
256GB SSD and pair it with a
MSI Cmp30hx 6GB Gpu or a GRX 1060, though judging by pics I cant see any monitor ports 🤔 I will upgrade ram to 16gb at some point. Would this play games like GTA5, RDR2 etc. Thanks
 
Hello after losing out on a few auctions on the bay I am considering building a budget sleeper gaming pc. been watching a lot of youtube vids and apparently a good starting point is a Dell Optiplex 5040
Windows 10
PC i5-6500 3.2Ghz
8GB RAM
256GB SSD and pair it with a
MSI Cmp30hx 6GB Gpu or a GRX 1060, though judging by pics I cant see any monitor ports 🤔 I will upgrade ram to 16gb at some point. Would this play games like GTA5, RDR2 etc. Thanks


What resolution you playing?

I would suggest 32gb ddr4 out the gate.

No point of skimping on ram
 
  • Like
Reactions: StewartLSD
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

a good starting point is a Dell Optiplex 5040
Which form factor are you looking at? How much money do you have to spend towards the entire build? Dell's prebuilts are notorious for having proprietary connectors and their PSU's are limitations for drooping in higher end GPU's, not to mention the internal layout being bad in terms of thermals.

You can perform a sleeper build but you're better off building from the ground up with room for improvements/upgrades as you get comfortable with PC hardware, as you learn more about it.

Might want to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;
and the community will chime in with constructive feedback/suggestions.
 
Thanks for the quick replies 🙂 I noticed in the videos I watched about the Dell connectors lol Also watching this one…
HP EliteDesk 800 G3 - Intel Core i7 7700 / 16GB DDR4 / 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD again I will be adding more ram and a half decent budget gpu. I was going to start from the ground up but quire fancied the sleeper route, End result is hopefully a rusting dystopian case with some red led for effect while inside is capable of playing gta, rdr2 etc. being almost blind in one eye Id be quite happy with 720, 🤓
 
If you’re going the prebuilt route, you want at least Intel 8000 series or AMD ryzen 2000 series or above either of those.

I say this because windows 10 will stop getting security updates in October, while there are workarounds, you’d be better off with a pc that can actually run windows 11 without hacking stuff together. I’d use something like an i7 8700 pc as your starting point. Avoid slim cases though.

As someone said as well, Dell and others tend to use proprietary connections on their newer systems so if you’re looking at a specific system, look up a video on how to swap the power supply for example go see if there’s an adapter you’d need and if it’s available or not.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: StewartLSD
If you’re going the prebuilt route, you want at least Intel 8000 series or AMD ryzen 2000 series or above either of those.

I say this because windows 10 will stop getting security updates in October, while there are workarounds, you’d be better off with a pc that can actually run windows 11 without hacking stuff together. I’d use something like an i7 8700 pc as your starting point. Avoid slim cases though.

As someone said as well, drill and others tend to use proprietary connections on their newer systems so if you’re looking at a specific system, look up a video on how to swap the power supply for example go see if there’s an adapter you’d need and if it’s available or not.
 
Officially the i7 7700 won’t support windows 11. You may get it to work but there’s no guarantee you’ll keep getting updates or that if you get it working that Microsoft won’t break something for you in an update later on.
But the 7700 will run rdr2 and gta5 when teamed with a decent mid priced gpu, tbh Im still running on win10 as long as my programs work lol
 
That’s fine but do understand they will cut support at some point. And it may be later that games etc don’t run properly anymore, it’s your money so totally up to you, but if you’re laying down the cash you might as well get something compatible.

For example in this situation…..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3357658111...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Looks like a relatively standard psu. You’d want to look that model up to see what the inside looks like.

For a budget you could get something like this but the small power supply would be a challenge and the proprietary connector, though there are videos of some guys moving those type of PCs to another case.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2265397619...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 
  • Like
Reactions: StewartLSD