Extreme budget build for secondary gaming PC.

So this is an upgrade for a secondary system and as such I don't want it to cost a lot. It can either replace the whole system or just be a new system if the price is cheap enough.

OLD SYSTEM:
CPU: Athlon 2 x3 450
MOBO: (some cheap AM3 mobo, not and AM3+ sadly)
RAM: 4GB DDR2
PSU: A random 500w thermaltake PSU
GPU: 6670

The PC runs newish games decently well, just nothing newer than say skyrim and that is a shame for when friends come over for lan games (quite frequently)

So, here is what I was thinking, ideally I'd love to keep it under 200 to 300 total. Ebay for certain things are fine.

NEW SYSTEM:
CPU: i5 2400 (80 USD ebay)
MOBO: H61 board ($40 Newegg)
Ram: 8GB to start ($30 Newegg)

Thats really all I have picked out right now. I have an extra case it can go into, I could pick up a cheap PSU for $40 or something. What would you guys suggest for a GPU upgrade though? I know the gtx 750 TI or a 950 is the current budget GPU option but I only see those for 120 bucks. My current rig does need a GPU upgrade then I can just pass this GPU along but...

Any older GPUs on ebay/amazon/newegg that are worth buying? I know a 6950 can be found for maybe 50-70 bucks and ought to be decent enough for this build.

If you were in my situation what would you do? My current rig is in my signature.
 
Solution
I've only ever bought 2 cards on ebay and overall it wasn't worth it. In terms of price/performance it is not bad but you lose out in terms of warranty, efficiency and newer technologies. It just isn't worth it in my opinion. For example in my case I picked up a GTX 680 for £100, for £150 I could have just gotten a GTX 960 which gives better performance, is much more efficient and would include a decent warranty.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($27.99 @...
So I had a poke around ebay and I see

7750: $70
6870: $50
R7 260x: $100
750 TI: $100
560 TI: $60

The 560 TI is about equal to the 750 TI, R7 260x and a bit better than the 6870 so its probably what I will go with unless you guys have any other suggestions.

Its not the newest card and certainly not the fastest but it is a huge upgrade from the 6670 for pretty cheap and should allow the pc to run newer games like GTA V, Shadow of morder, etc.
 
I've only ever bought 2 cards on ebay and overall it wasn't worth it. In terms of price/performance it is not bad but you lose out in terms of warranty, efficiency and newer technologies. It just isn't worth it in my opinion. For example in my case I picked up a GTX 680 for £100, for £150 I could have just gotten a GTX 960 which gives better performance, is much more efficient and would include a decent warranty.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital AV-GP 320GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($23.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 250X 1GB Video Card ($81.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec VSK-3000 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $302.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-08 13:18 EDT-0400

The R7 250x has performance better than the HD 7750 but isn't as good as the 6870 or GTX 560TI.
 
Solution
G

Guest

Guest
Over-budget, but the performance is worth it. If you can reuse your old hard drive and case, how about this:

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K Kaveri Quad-Core 3.7 GHz Socket FM2+ 95W ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock A88M-G/3.1 FM2+ / FM2 A88X (Bolton D4) Micro ATX Motherboard ($60.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 370 DirectX 12 R7-370P-2SF5 2GB ($119.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: EVGA 100-B1-0500-KR 80 PLUS Bronze 500W ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Sub-Total: $330.95

Prices do not include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
Is there a risk to buying used non overclockable cpus from ebay/amazon? I mean they could still be damaged but isn't the risk factor pretty low on the unoverclockable ones? I'd really like to stick with the i5 if I could as it runs circles around the athlon x4 for nearly the same price.

GPUs I get the worry about them since they are pretty easy to damage even when buying new and getting them shipped so I think I might avoid ebay GPUs, but what about CPUs?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Of course there's always a risk involved. What if they got conductive thermal paste on the bottom of the CPU or the heat-spreader is chipped? They do have buyer protection on ebay though, so you should be good.