Those are questions that many people have asked me, it really pains me as every one is asking me the same questions over and over again. Some of them thinks that building an 2nd hand high performance PC is as easy as it gets, but it's not. There are multiple factors. It requires experience in dealing with old hardware. Many hardware came from unknown place such as Bitcoin mining stations and some are from PC bangs. Older hardware have no warranty and they can fails within months after getting them. You need to have basic equipment E.G bios reader, soldering table, hot air guns. You never know what might go wrong when buying a 2nd hand Graphic card and your screen suddenly go boom. snow flakes Is usually some really simple problems E.G changing out the Vram on graphic card, re-balling the GPU. But you need to trouble shot and determine what is wrong before investing to fix the issues, and that's the hard part. Worst of all, luck is one of the factors too. If you are unlucky the GPU core or the chip-set in the mobo it self can go wrong. Builds recommendations (Shut up, I just want the builds) Choosing the correct CPU have being an issues for like every CPU build. One thing is the take note is that core i3 for Intel always have missing instructions set from i5 or i7. But that should not be an issues for 99% of use, unless you are that one percent that need that hardware accelerations, example Intel Quick Sync. every one have different needs so I'll just list some of builds I scrap up together. My recommendations: Motherboard: H110 chips sets (2nd hands) it's highly not recommended to buy first hand H110 boards, they generally cost about 80 USD and with that amount you can buy an H310 motherboard from Maxsun at the same amount. If you have extra DDR3 rams go for a DDR3 boards, you can save the money for rams, if not go for DDR4 rams, it's more future Proof and the ram price difference is not that big now days. example: colorful H110 M-atx board only cost 20usd (1 usd = 7.08 yuan). CPU: 9100F (tray cpu) or 9400F (tray cpu) You might ask, hey isn't 8th and 9th gen only compatible for 300 series chips sets? True, but H110, B150, Z170, H210, B250, Z270.... all can supports 8th and 9th generation CPU without performance compensations. Watch this videos. The asrock board is relatively simple, you don't have to do anything other than flashing bios. From my experience, most MSI boards are also relative easy, just flashing bios (caution needed). as for Gigabyte and Asus board you have to block the red parts on the CPU, and connect the green parts together. If you do not block out the red part with a scotch tape it might damage the motherboard, and make sure you connect the green box with a conductor (warring they litterally burns out if you don't). Why F CPU with no integrated graphic cards, F series are usually 4 or 5 dollars cheaper than it's counter parts, with graphic cards. Tray cpu come with no box, warranty and stock cooler. cpu have no moving parts, it's not going to break unless you drop it, you can't even overclock it. As for stock cooler, no one's going to use it. Graphic card: you don't really need some high end graphic cards at over 10 teraflops unless you game, but come on! you don't game? for graphic cards, it gets sophisticated. I have a mine card AMD HD7770, it lasted me about 4 years till today. while some mine-card broke about weeks from arrival. It highly dependent on luck, cards may looks new on the outside, but the PCB on the inside may turn old, the copper tube for the GPU cooling may oxidation. The cards looks old on the outside may turnout quite new once cleaned and washed. It's generally not recommended to buy mine card as the fail rate is higher and the cards stability may be an issue. Resulting in game crashing. I'll make a list of chance for mine card on the Markets. Low risk: (not no risk) GTX 900 series cards. (due to the high electric cost to run them to mine, profit is little) RX 580 2304sp. (do not mistaken with RX 570, that's a high risk) GTX 1050 and Ti version (make by Samsung don't recommend it, it suck even miner don't use it. lets hope Nvidia never let Samsung make cards again.) GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 ( between cost efficient 1060 is just better, but there are still mine cards just lesser) High risk: (avoid unless you want to gamble) (danger keep away) RX 470 (well known mine cards that avoid) RX 570 (Previous version of RX 580 2048 avoid) (RX 580 2048 is the same as RX570, just that they change the name of it to differentiate the Mine card and the non-mine cards in the market, think about the huge amount of mine-cards of RX 570) RX 480 (avoid, well known mine cards) GTX 1060 (avoid, but can be good deal if not mine card) No risk: (those cards tends to cost more even if they are 2nd hand) RTX 20s series. GTX 16s series. RX 580 2048sp. (make sure it's RX 580 and not RX 570, some sellers like to lie) Recommendations: GTX 970, 980, 980ti, depends on the game and budgets you have. RX 580 2048sp is a good deal if you can make sure you can see the GPU core numbers and PCB IDs. Power supply units: SAMA 500w or SAMA 500w gold. Second hand PSU can be as old as like 7 yeas old or even older. Some of them already failing, for budgets go for SAMA, Segotep, Delta (they usually make 300w to 400w but they are really good). If you feel that SAMA is not safe you can get Segotep which is a level better. I really like their PSU, even I my self use their PSU for my main desktop that I'm using. Spoiler: The one I'm using for my current system 9700k. {} Segotep GP700P How to buy PSU (I don't think your recommendation of PSU is safe, so what are the other brand of PSU can I get if I have lots of $$$) There are many brands and factories. The well known brands are: Seasonic (world No.1 PSU and also No.1 in my heart) Super Flower (really good, can be called first class) Delta (they mostly make server PSU and budget PSU go for it if your PC is less than 400w) FSP (man, you will never be able to sleep soundly if you open up and see the contents, they are well known in using the lest resource and still pass the tests. Indeed environment friendly, but they cost same as other from Super Flower. they make PSU for Antec, SPI, OCZ, SilverStone, Thermaltake, NexusZalman) Thermal Take (known as tt, they currently have an 30 dollars PSU for 500w. I don't recommend but if you want a budget psu, go for it. But most of other PSU are not cheap, reason being expansive? RGB. Don't recommend unless you want the lighting as most of their PSU are make by FSP) IN-WIN (they make the best case Z-tower, If you never heard of them before because they mostly making 1u power supply units.) Silver Stone (make by FSP) Cooler Master (their AIO radiator is really good but MF120R is just horrible as a radiator fans, leaks air. SF120R solve the issues. Their PSU is famous for the GX series example: cooler master GX 550) Gigabyte (one of 3 major company in pc industries. rank 2 in word PC maker) Corsair (Important: reds one in the text below are make by Seasonic which is best PSU maker in the world, others are all overpriced trash that will boom) EVGA (The best PSU in EVGA is make by Seasonic which have 12 years warranty, The best PSU sold by Seasonic are 10 years warranty. Why do Seasonic give EVGA additional 2 years warranty? anyway Seasonic = best.) Antec (Don't recommend, most of their PSU are make by FSP, and I hate FSP. I can never sleep peacefully when I look at the component of their PSU.) Great Wall (If you want a PSU for bitcoin mining, this brand will be your best friend. It's fine and quite stable if you go for budgets. 9100F + 1060, and please 9900k + 2080ti is not budgets build) Huntkey (Quite good at least they don't kill your hard disk like some other poorly make no brands, should avoid if you build an expansive computer.)Spoiler GOLDEN FIELD (it use to be a really big brand 10 years or more ago, I never know they still exist if not for taobao. Guess they don't use ads, they are on the expansive side compare to huntkey and greatwall, but more stable and better) BUBALUS (oh, please go for GOLDEN FIELD instead.) Segotep (China's Hope for PSU, It's the best in China. Please Support it and buy more PSU from them and one day they will catch up with Seasonic. Spoiler: Highly recommended if you look for a high end PSU If not I know if before hand, when I see the PCB I almost thought it was make by Seasonic. i {} it's still a bit lacking compare to Seasonic. SAMA (It's known for one of the best choice for buying a budget PSU. Their gold PSU are your next choice if look for one that is value for money and stability. COUGAR ( IDK, don't look at me. I'm not a god or some thing. I only know their brands though PC case Spoiler: cougar conquer : other brands: Spoiler: I don't recommend all of them AcBel, 1STPLAYER, XFX, ENERMAX, CEMO, Deepcool, R-Senda, Topower, Seventeam, MAXIN, ZALMAN, MEIJI, AeroCool, High Power, XIGMATEK, be quiet!, 半岛铁盒, aigo, MS-TECH, Enhance, HEC /Compucase, Nexus, Sharkoon, タオエンタープライズ 株式会TAOENTERPRISE CO., LTD., Coolmax, Fractal Design HIGH POWER iStarUSA PC Power & Cooling Rosewill Solid Gear Akasa Apevia Lian Li Xilence 游戏悍将(GAME DEMON) kintar, STW, PCCOOLER, GAMEMAX, OCINGTEK MEANWELL, 游戏伙伴 Onda SEED 三阳盘古 星宇泉 HKC 品盛 (顺远, 盈捷) 极冻酷凌 (GT) SOEYI SOHOO Bestec 雅的 欣东林 VENUZ 百荣 IN POWER 久盟 winser ROCKIRM delux VATYN——伽酷 百硕 酷腾 万景华(ID-COOLING) 酷冷之星(CoolerStar) NZXT LEPA Replace Power Dynex Trust why not NZXT, Fractal Design, be quiet, ID-cooling, Deepcool, PCCOOLER? One simple reasons, I never have them used, non-of my friends do testing with them with a multi-meter and oscillators. Some of them are just not worth if for the price. And for be quiet, Fractal Design and NZXT, they don't make PSU, their PSU are all make by 3rd party. and their price is just ridiculous. I was shock by the amount of paid reviews by the English community. Why not just buy a Seasonic PSU!? they are the best. There are other PSU, but for the safety of your hard disk please avoid. pro-tips: you see any brand in side I don't recommend list, don't buy. If you see any brand of PSU not inside this post don't even think about it. there are a lot of other Things to look out for example, DC-DC, TDP, GCP, TBP, SDP, ACP. 80Plus should be your least consents CPU Coolers: deepcool gammaxx 400. the exchange rate should be 7.08 : 1usd you should not get them for more than 15USD. if not bargain. Written by xiazixin, OP on novel updates forums.
With H110 motherboard and 9400F (tray), 3500x don't seems budget at all lol. intel U can have higher value for money too.
My method: 1. Go to http://www.logicalincrements.com/ and choose a row as a starting point based on your budget. 2. Adjust up and down within the rows per component based on your needs. For example, gaming will generally benefit from a better GPU vs CPU. For subjective things like cases, find some reviews online. 3. Feed the parts into https://pcpartpicker.com/ to do a quick compatibility and price check, then post the parts list to a forum to get some community feedback. 4. Order and wait. Build. Enjoy.
It would be a really useful list if they add solutions for sealing and connecting CPU Lands. like H110 running 9100f or 9400f which making the motherboard at 20USD. AS for PSU in that list, I don't like Corsair psu that are not make by seasonic, there are quite a few PSU that got their wires burned here,
Yeah in the ultra-budget arena like your first post, you start getting into used/past-generation stuff that isn't sold new and that is harder to get reliable pricing on (because it's resold). Like an 8-generation Intel or 1st generation Ryzen CPU. Spending more on a PSU does make some sense but not if the difference becomes a significant part of the budget. A low-tier Corsair or EVGA PSU will power a budget system fine. Spending $70 on a Seasonic vs $35 is probably not worth the extra money on a $3-400 system.
Wow ... u kids are so techie these days. I still have difficulty deciding what options I want on Dell/online retailers' websites.
Well, there are better solutions than Corsair for lower budget the first for me is Delta. Usually PSU can use really Long, it's a good chose to get a better ones. Delta check their own PSU, while Corsair's PSU is make by 3rd party's. so for Corair's PSU the quality controls is just not there yet for PSU that's not make by seasonic. Corair have 2 other company other than seasonic, that make PSU for them. They are not quite there yet. If not for high tier PSU like AX1600i I would label them as not recommended lol. Spoiler: which can be cheaper and better quality controls at 37 usd {} {}
Yeah I am aware of the mixed manufacturers for Corsair. I guess I mentioned Corsair/EVGA because I've seen them go on sale a lot. For a budget build I just look for a cheap 400W 80 plus or better. For more expensive $1000+ builds I'm much more willing to spend the extra $40 or so for really clean reliable power, 80 plus gold or better.
Edit: added CPU coolers. deepcool gammaxx 400. the exchange rate should be 7.08 : 1usd you should not get them for more than 15USD. if not bargain.
Anyone who doesn't know how to use a multimeter and how to solder should probably stay away from second-hand parts. Electronics break down over time, especially solder joints and capacitors. If something goes wrong, you need to know how to diagnose and fix the issue, which can require testing connections with a multimeter, scraping off solder mask and/or applying solder mask, soldering jumper wires, and desoldering and resoldering components. If you don't have all the necessary tools, you may end up spending more to fix a problem with a second-hand part than you would have if you'd just bought a new component. For those who do want to build a PC from used parts, it might be good to note the power usage by each part and the performance they might expect from the part. There's a big difference in performance and price between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1080. As for telling people not to buy mining cards, I'm kind of on the fence about it. If the card was properly undervolted and cooled, it probably won't be any worse than any other used, non-mining card you might buy. If it wasn't properly undervolted or cooled, then the person who mined with it is an idiot and wasted a lot of money on unnecessary power. More importantly, the card could die on you in a short time. Thankfully, the era of mining on GPUs is quickly coming to an end. ASICs are taking over for crypto mining. As such, the danger of buying an old mining card will decrease as the stock of used mining cards diminishes.
For US market, things are a lot easier than other markets. You do not even have to go into used market, US has some crazy deals and rebate discounts on stuff. Even more so as you close to blackfriday -> january. I can even pick up many components free after rebate or ridiculously cheap, like a $100 Platinum rated PSU for $30. Or a RX480 when it was the best AMD GPU for $125. Then when the bitcoin market went off, I saw even used ones going for crazy $400. (no I didn't resell mine) I built a pretty decent PC for under $500, all brand new parts
Its similar price, just that people in US have higher spending powers. I got mine DC-DC 5P platinum 600ws for $55usd. You can get a lower watts at a lesser brand for around $30 too. Currently market price for a new RX 580 2048sp is about $120usd. And the use one is less than $70usd. Its not that much to buy a new one for people in higher economy states too. And the PUBG hype in China is crazy. Some times $300usd is all they have. 20 for mobo 80 for 9100f 40 for a 600w psu 80plus 15 for a cooler 39 for a adata ddr4 8g 90 for a 970 4G 15 for a cheap 120gb ssd. (for some reasons PUBG benefits form Ssd.) Edit: actually rx580 2048sp is newer and cheaper in second hand, and you can get a 240gb ssd from the amount saved.
Yes, and that spending power means there are a ton of promos that can be stacked. Like retailer giving you coupons, rebates and etc all stacking together to get crazy discounts. It was a seasonic made 750W platinum PSU for $30. Current yes, but that RX580 is already 2 generations old? I'm talking about when RX 480 was their best GPU. cooler you can get free after rebate for sure, definitely under $10 if anything here. Spending $40 on psu seems a bit much though, you don't even need 600W for a single gpu that wasn't top end. 500-550W would be plenty. And 8gb of ram for 40$ is on the expensive side when you can get 16gb for $50.
Wow I want a deal like that too. But I have never visited a retailer stores. Locally they are more scams in physical shop than online. Jackma is really our hero. Yeah, well most game can be run with similar level with gtx 1060 on steam and also the most popular steam cards. 580 is onpar with it and just about every steam game in 1080p. As for ram, I think here 16gb cost more in Chinese markets. Usually around 70usd. Not recommend. But ddr3 16gb ram that recently got popular at 50usd is quite cheap.
I ask one of my friends who is a MSI engineer, and I ask if it's possible to get a PX 750 for like 210yuan. And he said that is impossible even if I were to solder it my selfs. Well, I don't have much friends in PSU areas.
This is a tip I got in the society of robots page. Never be ashamed of diving into a trash can for hardware. I've found an acer mechanical keyb, several PC which HDDs, CDs and PSU that were in very good condition, reusable RAM, etc. Also if tou're into that, you can salvage printers for sensors, motors and 12V PSUs. Obviously a game station is out of the window, but an arcade machine, a test server, a home media server and a backup server are very useful pieces of hardware that can be made from salvaged PCs.