Buying First Gaming PC -Advice

[el.tora5000]

I'm new to pc gaming and planning to buy a my first gaming PC (and windows machine) soon. Right now I am looking at 2 used PCs on Craigslist. Would appreciate any advice on which one to buy or not buy. What do you guys think? What questions should I ask the seller? What should I upgrade? Any advice on buying a first gaming pc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Btw, I am in Tokyo, so prices here tend to be higher than other parts of the world.

PC #1
Thermaltake Versa H26 System
X79 ATX Motherboard
750W Delta PSU
Thermaltake Versa H26 ATX case ( new case boxed )
CPU: Xeon Core (i7) E5 2689 V2 8 Core Clockspeed: 2.6 GHz Turbo Speed: 3.6 GHz
WaterCooled CPU ( all in one System)
32Gb RAM (4 x 8Gb) Samsung
1 x 256Gb SSD
3Tb HDD SATA
Power Color RX580 8Gb ( Great video card play everything on High 1080p)
New US Keyboard and mouse
Windows 10 Home Premium 64-bit (English Version)
USB O/S Restore Media + Drivers
24" 1080p LCD monitor
New Case build (boxed with fresh O/S install)
73,000 JPY Fixed Price ($665)

PC #2
i5 16 GB RAM - SSD 240GB / HDD 1TB
(Similar list of parts and prices)
i5 4570 - Up to 3.6 Ghz
Memory: 16 GB RAM / 1600 (8x8GB RAM) Dual Channel
GPU: Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX960
Hard Drives:
1. SSD HP 250 GB (Brand new)
2. HDD WD Blue 1TB.
Fresh Windows 10 Pro installation. Activated and updated to the new version 1903. On the SSD for optimal speed.
¥64999 ($590)

 

[JC Denton]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

What questions should I ask the seller?

Ask the seller what power supply and motherboard come with option 2. I am curious to find out if it's a generic power supply, as it might be why they are hidding it.

What should I upgrade?

Option 1 is pretty much complete for the rest of it's life but option 2 has potential. A GTX 960 is now on the low-end side by today's gaming standards.

What do you guys think?

I quite like option 1's CPU. It's got 20 threads which is mindblowing considering it came out when PCIe 3.0 cards started rolling out. Maybe let the people on the forums build you a PC 😀

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Its a tough one. As@ JC Denton says the PSU on the second one could be a deal breaker. Both platforms have up and down sides.

Option 1 has an AIO water cooler and the tech in that machine is around 8 years old. Those AIO's have a limited life span as the coolant does slowly evaporate over time. So if you went with that option I would replace it unless its fairly new.

Delta PSU's are usually used in pre builts and are usually O.K AFAIK, but an O.K PSU thats 8+ years old isnt great either. If the PSU goes, everything else can go with it.

Option two has an older I5 thats below average by todays standards. With the new consoles next year it will proably be very soon close to obsolete IMO.

There are plenty of Youtube basic videos on how to build a PC. Check out PC partpicker for builds for example here is very nice build thats faster then either of the options above. The parts will come with warranty and you will be more confident upgrading it yourself in the future.

I appreciate your local pricing will be different but set a budget and have a look at Partpicker. Its a very good site that will check compatibility automatically for you and you can then look at whats locally available to your within you budget based on what you find there

 

[spvtnik1]

Speaking from experience... The GTX960 was a decent card, but it essentially obsolete. The RX580 is vastly superior to that option.

On the other hand, the Xeon isn't necessarily made for gaming either... but you could replace it depending on what socket the motherboard is.