Best refurb PC under $160 for productivity and casual games?

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

What would you say is the best 'bang for buck' refurb PC for 2025, $160 or less? It would mostly be for productivity, but also might want to add a
video card with under 80 watts power draw.


Thanks!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Old Xeon v5 v6 workstations is the best you are going to do for that money.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Old Xeon v5 v6 workstations is the best you are going to do for that money.

I'm currently running an Intel I5 desktop PC (Lenovo) that I got for about $100, around 8 years ago. It was already 2 or 3 years old at the point when we bought it. I was hoping I could spend about 60% more, and get about double the performance.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

With that as a target, 8th gen is the answer. Easily more than double the performance of Haswell i5 for everything - Ebay $170 shipped i7 8700 Optiplex

If the coupon works that's another 15% off.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Prime did a build, it came out great for under $300

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I ended up getting an I5 9400 Inspiron 3670 with 16GB Ram and 1 TB hard drive for $118 shipped. Not bad, but I'm going to add an SSD for bootup.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I ended up getting an I5 9400 Inspiron 3670 with 16GB Ram and 1 TB hard drive for $118 shipped. Not bad, but I'm going to add an SSD for bootup.

You should be able to drop in a 8700 when they are dirt cheap e.g. $20. 6/6 is aging like milk.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

You should be able to drop in a 8700 when they are dirt cheap e.g. $20. 6/6 is aging like milk.

Yep, that would be a nice ~ 33% increase for 20 bucks. Right now they are around $80. Are there any other processors to look for that would be a decent upgrade eventually, under $50?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yep, that would be a nice ~ 33% increase for 20 bucks. Right now they are around $80. Are there any other processors to look for that would be a decent upgrade eventually, under $50?

No. And I am presuming it takes 8 series as I have not searched the CPU support list for that system. 9 series i7 was only 8/8, the 8700 6/12 if it works, is a better pick with how bloated windows and games have gotten. Even if it'll take the i9, the board's VRMs would probably overheat.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Even if it'll take the i9, the board's VRMs would probably overheat.

9900K could work, with HT off and if used strictly in power saving mode.

 

[Steltek]

9900K could work, with HT off and if used strictly in power saving mode.

I've seen them with an i7-9700 in them, but I don't think they'd support anything beyond that at the BIOS level. CPU will be limited to 65 watts or less TDP.

And, the PSUs on those things are pretty gimpy so adding any kind of video card beyond maybe an RX-6600XT would probably require a PSU upgrade.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I've seen them with an i7-9700 in them, but I don't think they'd support anything beyond that at the BIOS level.

Dell BIOS is only second worse after the absolute worse HP and maybe Lenovo is third as far as office PCs are concerned.