Non low-spec cheap computers found anywhere?

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It seems like whenever I see a computer with more than low specs, it costs above $300. I can use my own savings from my adult allowance but it will take at least a year to save up, and I don't want to betray my parents by breaking their bank on something that might end up useless junk to me. Are there any computers with higher specs found at lower than $400 for regular gaming with Sims 3 or 4 or even Masters of the World/Rulers of Nations and maybe a bit of everything at a cheaper price? Am I stuck with what I have outside of eBay or Craigslist or building it myself?

The specs you mentioned in your other thread aren't that bad. My PC has similar specs:

- Asus M5a97 motherboard
- Athlon II CPU (2.8 Ghz)
- DDR3 2GB RAM
- Radeon HD 5450 graphics card
- 160GB hard drive
- Ubuntu 14.04 OS

I'm able to run a decent amount of games on Steam including Football Manager 2014, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Half-Life 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2 plus plenty of others through Wine and open source.

My advice would be to upgrade your CPU to something that runs at in and around 3Ghz and use Mint or Ubuntu for your OS. Fedora is for people who want to experiment with the latest and greatest and is really designed for high end hardware.

The CPU is supposed to be soldered onto the motherboard according to a vague memory of a review I saw about my PC. Can be wrong though. Also, it seems like the heatsink beneath the CPU fan is irremovable. It only had 4 pins on each corner with a spring/foam.

The problem that you have here is that 'Non-Low Spec' and 'Cheap' are contradictory terms, and always have been. Performance costs.

Here's the thing... even lowend, cheap computers can do most things you want these days.

I'm using an Asus netbook/tablet right now. It's lowend, and cheap. I was about $300.00. It plays netfix, runs MS Office and it even plays Fallout: New Vegas pretty well (honest).



If you're big into 3d gaming, but you don't have money for a high-end computer, bite the bullet and get a PS4 or an X-bone.

Or just make the best of the computer you have until you have the opportunity to get a better one. One of the great things about the PC is that both hardware and software is so vast that there is always something you can do no matter what specs you have. Sure, high end gaming is out, but that doesn't mean you can't play Windows 95/98/XP era games or run emulators; certainly I would say your PC would be able to run anything up to 2004/05 without any problems.

A couple of months ago I purchased a refurbished desktop for gaming 8gb RAM (can take up to 16gb), decent sized harddrive (built to hold 2), Intel i series processor (the seller I purchased from sells i3, i5, and i7 in the same price range. Duo and quad). I paid $160 something for mine. I've been buying stuff on Ebay since their early years, and they're one of the best sellers I've dealt with on Ebay (and licensed Microsoft distributors or however you say it)

I got the lower i3 (3.2 gh, dual core) and my games play really smoothly, so I know the i5 and i7 are legit.

Yeah, that's true enough. Heck, one could get a lot of really good older games on Steam for next to nothing...

Actually, I've done okay with my old gaming computer too. It's a Gateway FX6800-01e from 2008!! !

I have upgraded the ram to 6GB and replaced the vidcard to a Nvidia GTX 660 (was the best card I could get without needing to upgrade the PSU). It actually runs Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag really well! However, I think it's finally coming to the end of it's 'high end' gaming life...

Now, I'm saving up for a PS4.

If you want a cheap PC that's not junk, you're going to have to save up, and look at secondhand machines/parts.

For most games, you should be good if you buy an old Core2-based machine, and upgrade the video card to something a bit newer. Upgrading the ram is a good idea too, as you're going to want 4GB minimum for day-to-day tasks nowadays. If you're just going to be watching YouTube and going on Facebook, you could skip the video card upgrade altogether, though I'd at least recommend getting a $50 Newegg special, just to have something.

An AMD-based rig might be OK as well, but make sure it's something newer. Athlon 64 X2 machines are as common as dirt, but they're almost useless for gaming unless you have the patience of a saint, or overclocking skills. I overclocked an Athlon 64 x2 machine and installed a cheap video card from eBay, and it did a not-bad job for running lower-end games, but it was massively unstable too. It was an OEM board and I had to do all the overclocking from Windows, so I didn't have access to things like voltage controls (as far as I remember anyway). Anything with an Athlon II, Phenom II, AMD FX, or AMD A4/A6/A8 chip should be alright

As far as an i3/i5/i7 machine, that's almost out of the question, except if someone gives you one for free. My dad gave me his Core i5 Alienware when he was tired of it overheating, and it ran well for me for a while after I cleaned it, but the GPU eventually succumbed to the effects of having its life shortened by overheating.

Also, don't let someone con you into buying a Pentium 4, an Athlon XP, a Pentium D, or a single-core Athlon 64. These are all really old CPUs, and they won't deliver the performance you want for modern games, even with maxed ram and a good video card. Now, the Pentium D and the single-core Athlon 64 may be a bit debatable, but I'd still avoid them.

With Celerons, I would only buy one if it was Ivy Bridge-generation or newer, as none of the older ones were dual-cored, and you pretty much need a dual-core CPU nowadays. If the seller/store you're buying it from doesn't know if it's an Ivy Bridge or not, don't buy it.

But to sum it up, look for:
- Core 2-generation CPU or newer with at least two cores
- 4GB RAM minimum, 8GB is better but unlikely
- ATI or NVIDIA GPU with at least 1GB of RAM.
- (optional, depends on how courageous you are) a motherboard and CPU cooler capable of overclocking, so you can squeeze more out of your hardware

At this price point, it's not too worth getting worked up over other details. It is good however to get a new, unused hard drive and power supply, since these two components tend to wear out more quickly than other parts of a computer (except maybe the video card, since they aren't properly cooled half the time).

This is well worth getting if you could find an HD and OS. I'm running win7 on mine...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-FX6800- ... 1e95b45a9c

I'm tempted to bid on this for parts.

That is a niiiiice machine for its price. I would probably swap the motherboard for something non-OEM and add a video card, though. Since it's an older i7, you could probably buy the machine, score an old motherboard for cheap, and add a half-decent video card, and have it come out around $300, or more realistically $350. If you're ok with not overclocking though, you could probably just invest the rest of the money into a better GPU.

If you're really serious about getting the most "bang for the buck" on a system. Then I would suggest that you build your own system from scratch, if you know how to. That way, you can "pick and choose" the components you need, and put your money where it's needed the most instead of buying an already made system that has an equal amount of everything.

It depends. When you factor in the cost of an operating system, building a system isn't much cheaper than buying one, in fact, it can actually be more expensive. Of course, since you get to pick and choose your components, as you say, you can go for higher-quality components that will last longer than the bottom-barrel crap you find in most OEM boxes.