Budget gaming PCs?

[Rerednaw]

Hey folks I've been out of the tech loop for a few years and getting caught up back up.

My friend is having trouble running some old games and was looking for a fair upgrade (10+ year old emachine) but wanted to keep it in the sub 1000 range. Ideally ~$500.

Now she plays games like Civ V, WoW and does not play FPS so she doesn't need bells to the wall power rawr but since I have been out of it for a while was wondering if anyone had some fair recommendations. I was checking out a few on newegg like these:
CyberpowerPC Desktop Computer Gamer Ultra 2227 AMD FX-Series FX-4300 (3.80GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 720 1GB Windows 10 Home 64-bit and then buying another 4GB RAM.

Now I was also considering dusting off my workbench and putting one together again, are these workable specs for a budget gamer? Any barebones recommendations? Just looking for a starting point.

Thanks folks!

 

[Torn Mind]

The GPU is the heart of any gaming computer, and for computing power level, the number in the "middle", like "950" for Nvidia cards, denote the relative level of power compared to other cards with the same first number. A 720 is not a gaming GPU and might even struggle with some legacy games.

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-system-builders.2389797/page-9#post-38522716
Post 206 has a sample DIY build for $500. A GTX 950 is in there.

For used prebuilts, you are better off finding the finest non gaming system in a normal tower body you can for $300 and getting a GPU that does not need a 6-pin connector in there. Like a GTX 950 with only 75W TDP.
http://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/GTX950-2G/overview/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10150/msi-geforce-gtx-950-gpu-75w-tdp-2gd5-ocv2-2gd5t-ocv3

 

[whm1974]

Since the AMD Rx 460 and the Nvidia GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti are now out I wouldn't bother getting a GTX 950.

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/g3258-gtx950-16gb-ssd-gaming-build.2484708/

Consider my build? Or making me an offer?

 

[XavierMace]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883285492
$400, i3-6100, 4Gb RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA22F4TW8811
$420, i7-4790, 12Gb RAM. If you're willing to take a gamble on used, that's a killer system for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487291
1050Ti for $150.

Still under $600 but either gets you a solid system.

 

[you2]

You need a mininum of 8GB these days; 120GB ssd is not enough disk space; $72 for a pentinum is too much (though I personally prefer i5 - i5 tends to be the sweet spot; but if your going to go with a pentinum go for something in the $40 range). I have a used 390 for less than $150 that I want to dump if you can pick it up - i don't want to use paypal which is why i didn't post it in forsale - though one thing to keep in mind a a 390 won't fit in many itx cases - it will fit in a elite 130 - and it requires more power than rx 480 or 1050ti but it is a bit faster. If you pick it up i'll toss in a z97 mb for less than $50 - too much hassle to ship