Best Refurb PC for ~$60-$85?

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

My kids are spending part of the summer at Grandpa's house, where they had an old XP machine for playing games. That system crapped out on them. I was thinking of putting together lots of parts to build an XP game machine for them when I found a refurb Dell Opteron 780 with 4gb ram, 500 gb hard drive, E8400 cpu, keyboard and mouse for $65 shipped. I installed XP, installed drivers, installed games, and they were up and playing their old favorites again. I realized that with the addition of a cheap to midrange pci express video card, I could actually set up another hard drive to dual boot to Windows 10, and they could also play some more recent games and such.

That being said, grandpa's main computer upstairs is an old P4 based system that is horribly buggy, virus ridden, and the wired mouse stops working now and then. I was thinking of getting another of these, but the guy who had the Opteron 780's is of course sold out. Can any of you guys recommend what you would consider the best current refurbished PC deal? I do have a 2TB sata hard drive I can pop in.

Thanks!

 

[Ken g6]

This feels like a case of "you get what you pay for". And you're not paying for much. D:

Ugh. Here's a $89 Core 2 Dell with 4GB RAM. Not Intel, but it's from an era when AMD was comparable. You can probably do a little better on Ebay.

Edit: Derp, not a Core 2. I found a Core 2 first, but its shipping was $40-some dollars!

 

[VirtualLarry]

So, let's see if I get this straight. At "Grandpa's house", there were/are two PCs. One for Grandpa, and one for the kids. The one for the kids was recently replaced with a refurb (presumably with Win7 included?). Now you want to replace Grandpa's PC (an old P4)?

Have you considered a Chrome(box|book)? Does he prefer a laptop, or a desktop? What kind of work/play/gaming does he do? How much primary storage does he need in the PC?

I was looking at the "Official Acer Store" on ebay, they had some J1900 Atom quad-core basic SFF desktops with 4GB / 500GB for $119.99. Seemed like a decent deal if all you need is an office / browsing / NON-gaming box.

Or I could build you a cheap custom rig and ship it. (I love to build PCs, and I have a surplus right now.) OS would cost extra though, with a custom rig, unless you use Linux.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-Deskto...915689?hash=item3f609e21a9:g:ExkAAOSwzgRW0HFw

 

[VirtualLarry]

This feels like a case of "you get what you pay for". And you're not paying for much. D:

Ugh. Here's a $89 Core 2 Dell with 4GB RAM. Not Intel, but it's from an era when AMD was comparable. You can probably do a little better on Ebay.

Not exactly a "Core2"... but I agree with the sentiment.

If the poor fellow has suffered with a virus-ridden P4 for this long, might want to get him something nice and a decent performer, if he's going to be keeping it for that long again.

My recommendation is a custom rig with a Skylake i3-6100 ($125) and a 240GB MLC SSD ($60). (Or maybe a 480GB TLC.) Would need mobo ($50-60), 16GB RAM ($50-60).

You have to keep in mind too, these off-lease "refurbs" (pretty much just dusted / cleaned, any major bad parts like RAM, PSU, or HDD replaced) have already spent most of their useful life.

Though, I can understand if budget is a real issue. You gotta do what you gotta do.

I can build a custom PC for ~$200 worth of parts + OS (another $100 for Windows), that would be new, last a fairly long time, and perform well in non-gaming tasks. (Add a GPU if you wanted to game.)

 

[PliotronX]

That e8400 box is hard to beat. Perhaps in between 100 and 200 you can find Nehalem or phenom based boxes. Flea Bay can be sketchy or an ally for this. Amazon market sellers tend to be a little higher in price but a safer buy.

If you can land another lga 775 box under 85 bucks, try to buy an e7500 or an e8400 (if 1333fsb is supported) for 6 bucks off flea Bay and upgrade it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That e8400 box is hard to beat.

Yeah, I was thinking OP got a good deal on that. Comparable boxes from Newegg are like $100-140.

Don't forget ArrowDirect.com, either.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

>So, let's see if I get this straight. At "Grandpa's house", there were/are two PCs. One for >Grandpa, and one for the kids. The one for the kids was recently replaced with a refurb >(presumably with Win7 included?). Now you want to replace Grandpa's PC (an old P4)?

Yes, the one for the kids in the basement is basically so that when the kids are visiting, they can watch videos using VLC Media Player, or play games, and get out of his hair for a while. I installed XP on it, because many of their favorite games are around 10-14 years old, and some of them don't run at all on Windows 7 or Windows 10. I used a wifi dongle to connect to the internet temporarily, installed antivirus and update, downloaded Minecraft and update, and then removed wifi dongle.

Grandpa was looking at the PC when it arrived, and afterwards started thinking that it would be nice to have a more functional PC upstairs. As I said, it has gotten some viruses in the past, browser redirectors, and the wired mouse stops working sporadically. He just puts up with it, because all he really does on there is checks stock prices on Yahoo once in a while, and plays an old card game. It is an old Pentium 4.

Anyway, I was thinking of getting another E8400 based system with 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive, keyboard and mouse for around $65 shipped like I did with the one downstairs, but wondered if I could do better by spending about 50% more - up to $100, for example. It sounds like the answer may be no.

 

[vailr]

Your local area Craig's list may be an option for finding a used desktop machine. At least: you'd be able to physically check it out before purchasing, instead of buying something used via eBay, and risk having to pay the return postage fees.
Goodwill stores may have something ultra low cost, as well.

 

[Ken g6]

He just puts up with it, because all he really does on there is checks stock prices on Yahoo once in a while, and plays an old card game.

Oh, well, if that's all he does with it, how about a tablet?

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-7-Inch-Tablet-8GB/dp/B00TSUGXKE

 

[sm625]

For that price range, i3-2120 is probably the best you will find, which really isnt that bad. If you cant find one of those then you will definitely find something with an i3-2100.

 

[MrTeal]

How would you say the off-lease refurbs have most of their useful life used? Most three or four year old leased computers could probably run for decades more before they need more than a cleaning and occasional HDD replacement?

Really, for the grandpa a Dell SFF is just about perfect. I just picked up a 4GB Win7-64 Dell 790 with a G630 from the Dell Refurbished Canada website with shipping and Canadian taxes, and it was the equivalent of US$123. It won't perform like an i3-6100, but coming from a P4 I don't think he'd notice the difference between them anyway. Given how good those little Dell cases are, it's tough to beat the value.

 

[PliotronX]

How would you say the off-lease refurbs have most of their useful life used? Most three or four year old leased computers could probably run for decades more before they need more than a cleaning and occasional HDD replacement?

Really, for the grandpa a Dell SFF is just about perfect. I just picked up a 4GB Win7-64 Dell 790 with a G630 from the Dell Refurbished Canada website with shipping and Canadian taxes, and it was the equivalent of US$123. It won't perform like an i3-6100, but coming from a P4 I don't think he'd notice the difference between them anyway. Given how good those little Dell cases are, it's tough to beat the value.

Agreed, those things keep going. The hard drives seem to crap out but a $23 Hectron X1 60GB SSD would be perfect for the fam and make for a rockin little box. Powersupplies crap out almost as much as hard drives and those will be more expensive to replace because they tend not to be standard ATX. Also watch out for the Optiplex 740s from the Core 2 Duo era, they create hotspots right where the hard drive is and roast them. The case actually runs cooler with the front fan as exhaust. I am able to run a Q6600 in one that way 😀

 

[VirtualLarry]

How would you say the off-lease refurbs have most of their useful life used? Most three or four year old leased computers could probably run for decades more before they need more than a cleaning and occasional HDD replacement?

In my defense, a Core2 or Athlon X2 rig is a BIT more than "three or four years old". More like 8 or 9. Four years old would be an i5-2400 refurb, which will run you $200+.

Really, for the grandpa a Dell SFF is just about perfect. I just picked up a 4GB Win7-64 Dell 790 with a G630 from the Dell Refurbished Canada website with shipping and Canadian taxes, and it was the equivalent of US$123. It won't perform like an i3-6100, but coming from a P4 I don't think he'd notice the difference between them anyway. Given how good those little Dell cases are, it's tough to beat the value.

That's not bad. I sold a like-new used Gateway SFF machine with 8GB RAM and a G630 Pentium to a friend's relative, for $150, delivered and set up. (Factory Win7.)

Edit: I think I'll change my reccomendation for the OP's Grandpa, and suggest getting an off-lease Sandy i5 CPU, like a i5-2300 or 2400 (or even an i5-2500, if not much more). Get a SFF business desktop, with Win7 COA, or Win 8/8.1 license embedded in BIOS, and replace the refurb HDD with one of those smaller, cheap SSDs, like PliotronX mentioned. (Though I would probably get a 120GB SSD from Newegg, rather than a Chinese vendor on ebay, just for peace of mind.)

 

[cbn]

Don't forget ArrowDirect.com, either.

Four years old would be an i5-2400 refurb, which will run you $200+.

Edit: I think I'll change my reccomendation for the OP's Grandpa, and suggest getting an off-lease Sandy i5 CPU, like a i5-2300 or 2400 (or even an i5-2500, if not much more). Get a SFF business desktop, with Win7 COA, or Win 8/8.1 license embedded in BIOS, and replace the refurb HDD with one of those smaller, cheap SSDs, like PliotronX mentioned. (Though I would probably get a 120GB SSD from Newegg, rather than a Chinese vendor on ebay, just for peace of mind.)

I am on the Arrow Direct mailing list for coupon codes, and they do have the following 15% off coupon "Arrow".

And based on the current inventory a Windows 10 Sandy Bridge Core i5 SFF desktop starts at $133 shipped (after "Arrow" coupon code is applied).

So yeah, these SB Core i5s are getting kinda cheap now. (Too bad they didn't have any SB Core i5 Windows 7 machines though)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am on the Arrow Direct mailing list for coupon codes, and they do have the following 15% off coupon "Arrow".

And based on the current inventory a Windows 10 Sandy Bridge Core i5 SFF desktop starts at $133 shipped (after "Arrow" coupon code is applied).

So yeah, these SB Core i5s are getting kinda cheap now. (Too bad they didn't have any SB Core i5 Windows 7 machines though)

Thanks for doing the research and footwork that I so often neglect to do, when I have a thought about something.

That's fairly cheap. (OK, it's twice what the OP's original budget was, but over it's lifetime, it should save enough in power costs over a 775 rig, that it should pay for the difference itself.)

See post here talking about Sandy Bridge versus C2D and power consumption:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=38315012&postcount=132

I also saved at least $80 in overall bill on idle power alone within the same 3 year period (8 hrs per day @ $0.15 per kWh) after I upgraded from an overclocked E6300 to a 2500K (130W->70W).

 

[cbn]

That's fairly cheap. (OK, it's twice what the OP's original budget was, but over it's lifetime, it should save enough in power costs over a 775 rig, that it should pay for the difference itself.)

Another strategy (although it adds work) might be to buy a SB Core i5 2400 SFF desktop and then sell the quad core on ebay for $75+. That would effectively make the remainder of the machine $58 ($133-$75= $58). Then buy a SB Pentium for $25 or less and install into the machine making the new total price $83* ($58 + $25 = $83*)

*plus whatever ebay fees and shipping selling the Core i5-2400 adds.

(That or if possibly find a SB Pentium SFF desktop for around $85 shipped.)