It’s like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what generation of cpu you’re going to get (but it’s probably going to be a decade old)
Archelaus_Euryalos
Some of them, the later generation ones, in a full size atxish case, can make great entry level computers. You can add full size GPUs to them. Mostly they’re trash though. Only buy one if you really have very little need for a modern PC and don’t expect an upgrade path, it’s money burned.
bb0110
What do you want to do with it? These are typically office workstations without a dedicated gpu. This specific one is likely a very outdated cpu and igpu too. It won’t really play any games.
randomsonicmodder
up to 32gb ddrwhat?
what generation i5?
wouldn’t trust it
Oldenlame
They’re business returns. Companies buy 10s or hundreds of workstations then in 2 years they return them to Dell for credit on new machines. Considering that this is from eBay and not Dell this unit was probably disposed of as electronic scrap and pieced together from several units. It will be underpowered, outdated, and soon to fail.
Batfish_681
It’s an i5- it doesn’t say *which* i5, which probably means somewhere between 4th and 8th gen.
See the ssd/hdd combo? The OS is probably on a 128 or 256gb SSD, and the rest of it is HDD storage.
You can’t really drop a GPU worth a damn into these things, and even if you could, the PSU won’t handle it. The PSU is probably not even ATX anyway, so upgrading to support whatever GPU you managed to fit in the case is probably also out of the question.
These things are basically old retired workstations and while they’re fine if you want exactly that, a basic workstation, they’re not going to be doing literally anything else.
Is $181 a fair price for a functioning computer? Sure. But it’s that price for a reason.
Do not buy this for anything except to get a cheap PC for workstation related tasks like browsing the internet and doing some office work.
Infamous_Praline7286
Those are likely older computers that were used by a business/corporation for several years before being retired and sold to a reseller. They’re probably fine for email and web browsing, but they were never intended for modern gaming.
Unless the listing directly says otherwise, I would guess that the “i5 processors” are pre-8th gen since they’re running Windows 10 and not 11.
JoeRogansNipple
It’s an old office pc that works best at running Microsoft Office.
So you could try to make a media server out of it, but don’t expect 4k streaming media.
RagingCommunard
Probably because the specs aren’t great and this was likely an office/ school computer that’s been retired
freesquanto
180 is insane. If you can find one for ~100 with an 8th Gen CPU it might be worth it. Usually you’ll be very restricted when it comes to you selection due to the power supply
Fit_Woodpecker_7530
I was once like you. First gaming rig was one of these refurbished shit boxes. Grew up building computers and wasn’t intimidated by the prospect of doing upgrades on my own.
Here are some of the issues. The PSU is some 100w proprietary clusterfuck of wires only meant to work with the components it came with. You might be able to get a marginally better GPU but any full size card will require a real power supply which you will not be able to fit in that case.
Which brings us to the second severe limitation – space. Everything you *want to* add to that case is going to consume precious real estate that’s probably already occupied. Before you go around planning any upgrades, assume nothing will physically fit until you’ve proven that wrong.
The third and probably most obvious problem is there’s no free lunch and all the components you’re probably expecting you’ll be able to live with are bottom barrel trash. Ran a benchmark of the SSD one time for shits and it’s really as bad as it gets. Many times, my download speeds were limited by the abysmal write speed. Plus 256 isn’t enough for more than a couple games in 2024 so you’ll need to add space immediately.
All in all, it’s a bad idea to get if you need any semblance of performance. They’re great little office computers for old ladies though. Perfect for browsing the web and MS office.
fenikz13
I had one with a 4770, added a SSD, RAM, & a 1060 lp and it was everything I could have ever wanted at the time. Perfect for Apex Legends, Hearthstone, Rocket League, etc.
DRKMSTR
i5 != i5
Probably 3rd gen i5
We’re on 13th or 14th gen right now.
foolserrand77
The fact it isn’t updated to windows 11 is a big red flag, this means the internal specs won’t run windows 11 ever, and could also mean the motherboards not very good
ralphlauren1687
Offices are usually getting rid of these to upgrade you can maybe put an SSD in but it really depends on what you are using it for
I-LOVE-TURTLES666
Cuz it’s shit
ew435890
I picked up an Optiplex 7050 MT with an i7-6700 a while back for $150. I used it as my Plex server for about a year. I’ve since upgraded the server to a mini PC with an i5-12450H.
I ended up putting a GTX 1650 in the Optiplex and use it for couch gaming. It doesn’t require a power connection, so it was perfect since the Optiplex has a proprietary power supply. I was pretty surprised at how well it worked, even with games like RDR2. Of course it’s not as good as my main rig, and the TV I have it on is a 1080p. But for a $250 gaming rig that can also handle some PCVR, I’m happy with it. I’ve got it to play RDR2, GRA V, Elden Ring, Dead Space, RE7, and even Half Life Alyx on both my Quest 1 & 3.
That one is a SFF though. So you probably wouldn’t even be able to fit a GPU in it.
EDIT: And I’m just seeing that it’s an Optiplex 3420. That sounds old as shit.
Jazzlike-River3629
Great for lower end builds if you find the right cpu ram combo throw a gpu in🤷♂️ that’s what my first gaming pc was
Unusual-East4126
That’s not cheap at all. I buy them off of marketplace for $10-20 a pop. They’re going to be legacy hardware soon so companies are getting out of them for machines that can do windows 11.
DefaultWhiteDude
Got one of those $30 on eBay. Wiped it and use it as a terraria and valheim server. Works great for that
balbinator
Can be good for a home server, not so much for a gaming machine.
SqBlkRndHole
Keep in mind that in October 2025 Windows 10 will no longer be supported*. Windows 11 is currently only listed to applicable to Intel 8th Generation or newer. This stuff is going to be dumped in mass over the next year, and next summer we may see inflated new PC prices do to a rise in demand.
Because it says “up to…”. What you’re likely to get is like 8GB of RAM and a tiny SSD and the i5 is likely 5+ years old.
BotaniFolf
This is the garbage that they dump in high school computer labs. They can barely run their own OS
st0l1
I decomm and scrap workstations better than this…
Logical_Brain28
There’s usually no GPU in them, making them useless for gaming. However 32GB ram and 2TB SSD might be nice. The i5 processor in them are usually 10+ years out of date, as long as you don’t mind, it’s not a bad deal.
Dynablade_Savior
It doesn’t tell you which i5 you’re getting, which means you’re getting an i5-750 from 2010. Stay away unless specifics are given.
Also the cases that those get built in are too small to support any kind of meaningful upgrade. These computers are the kind of thing you get for your grandma who only needs to browse her email and maybe watch netflix.
Grouchy-Fill1675
Just do your research because Dell and HP and Lenovo all build these differently. So just Google the model and then put gaming after it and see if anyone’s tackled one of these types of projects before.
I bought a tiny little small form factor Lenovo workstation a few years ago and I did a CPU upgrade and I upgraded the SSD and I use it as my emulation station. It works great for that but I did a bunch of research beforehand to see what sort of upgrade path I might have.
EpicInki
I use one for a Jellyfin server 🙂
yumri
For why it is a **bad idea** you can get that in a smaller form factor of the BOSGAME Mini PC E1 brand new in box for 200 USD + tax + shipping & handling but before any and all discounts you might have from Amazon. Just the BOSGAME Mini PC E1 will have a 512GB SSD and still be upgradeable with off the shelf parts.
For why it is so **cheap**
1. It is Dell really the brand brings down the price
2. it is a business computer so it is assumed it had been running 16 to 24 hours a day for it’s entire service life. We can assume it is at least 5 years but more likely around 8.
3. Everything Dell Business tends to be propriety so no upgrades with OEM parts unless you go through Dell
4. it is already on the EoL list otherwise who is listing it would have kept it in service
5. it has windows 10 as each image disagrees either Home or Pro. Windows 10 on 2025 October 14 it will go EoL so forcing an OS upgrade but most likely it doesn’t have a TMP chip so cannot upgrade to windows 11. Lots of security holes will be found and not patched in windows 10 but patched in windows 11. so 181 USD for a computer that at most its life will be 1 year and 4 months.
6. 256GB isn’t enough anymore. Unless you are already with an external drive or have a NAS on the network you are on 256GB is going to run out quick.
7. It is an older i5 and didn’t say which one but as it is not a system with a TPM chip we can assume it is in the 8000 series or before. They can be good more so if you just want a office computer but going by the price either it didn’t cost much or it was cheap to begin with which means a lower end chip. The lower end chips of the 8000 series do not hold up well in 2024. Even worse if it is the 5000 series which lots of the business computers having them are being retired right now.
31 Comments
Not cheap. They’re outdated junk.
It’s like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what generation of cpu you’re going to get (but it’s probably going to be a decade old)
Some of them, the later generation ones, in a full size atxish case, can make great entry level computers. You can add full size GPUs to them. Mostly they’re trash though. Only buy one if you really have very little need for a modern PC and don’t expect an upgrade path, it’s money burned.
What do you want to do with it? These are typically office workstations without a dedicated gpu. This specific one is likely a very outdated cpu and igpu too. It won’t really play any games.
up to 32gb ddrwhat?
what generation i5?
wouldn’t trust it
They’re business returns. Companies buy 10s or hundreds of workstations then in 2 years they return them to Dell for credit on new machines. Considering that this is from eBay and not Dell this unit was probably disposed of as electronic scrap and pieced together from several units. It will be underpowered, outdated, and soon to fail.
It’s an i5- it doesn’t say *which* i5, which probably means somewhere between 4th and 8th gen.
See the ssd/hdd combo? The OS is probably on a 128 or 256gb SSD, and the rest of it is HDD storage.
You can’t really drop a GPU worth a damn into these things, and even if you could, the PSU won’t handle it. The PSU is probably not even ATX anyway, so upgrading to support whatever GPU you managed to fit in the case is probably also out of the question.
These things are basically old retired workstations and while they’re fine if you want exactly that, a basic workstation, they’re not going to be doing literally anything else.
Is $181 a fair price for a functioning computer? Sure. But it’s that price for a reason.
Do not buy this for anything except to get a cheap PC for workstation related tasks like browsing the internet and doing some office work.
Those are likely older computers that were used by a business/corporation for several years before being retired and sold to a reseller. They’re probably fine for email and web browsing, but they were never intended for modern gaming.
Unless the listing directly says otherwise, I would guess that the “i5 processors” are pre-8th gen since they’re running Windows 10 and not 11.
It’s an old office pc that works best at running Microsoft Office.
So you could try to make a media server out of it, but don’t expect 4k streaming media.
Probably because the specs aren’t great and this was likely an office/ school computer that’s been retired
180 is insane. If you can find one for ~100 with an 8th Gen CPU it might be worth it. Usually you’ll be very restricted when it comes to you selection due to the power supply
I was once like you. First gaming rig was one of these refurbished shit boxes. Grew up building computers and wasn’t intimidated by the prospect of doing upgrades on my own.
Here are some of the issues. The PSU is some 100w proprietary clusterfuck of wires only meant to work with the components it came with. You might be able to get a marginally better GPU but any full size card will require a real power supply which you will not be able to fit in that case.
Which brings us to the second severe limitation – space. Everything you *want to* add to that case is going to consume precious real estate that’s probably already occupied. Before you go around planning any upgrades, assume nothing will physically fit until you’ve proven that wrong.
The third and probably most obvious problem is there’s no free lunch and all the components you’re probably expecting you’ll be able to live with are bottom barrel trash. Ran a benchmark of the SSD one time for shits and it’s really as bad as it gets. Many times, my download speeds were limited by the abysmal write speed. Plus 256 isn’t enough for more than a couple games in 2024 so you’ll need to add space immediately.
All in all, it’s a bad idea to get if you need any semblance of performance. They’re great little office computers for old ladies though. Perfect for browsing the web and MS office.
I had one with a 4770, added a SSD, RAM, & a 1060 lp and it was everything I could have ever wanted at the time. Perfect for Apex Legends, Hearthstone, Rocket League, etc.
i5 != i5
Probably 3rd gen i5
We’re on 13th or 14th gen right now.
The fact it isn’t updated to windows 11 is a big red flag, this means the internal specs won’t run windows 11 ever, and could also mean the motherboards not very good
Offices are usually getting rid of these to upgrade you can maybe put an SSD in but it really depends on what you are using it for
Cuz it’s shit
I picked up an Optiplex 7050 MT with an i7-6700 a while back for $150. I used it as my Plex server for about a year. I’ve since upgraded the server to a mini PC with an i5-12450H.
I ended up putting a GTX 1650 in the Optiplex and use it for couch gaming. It doesn’t require a power connection, so it was perfect since the Optiplex has a proprietary power supply. I was pretty surprised at how well it worked, even with games like RDR2. Of course it’s not as good as my main rig, and the TV I have it on is a 1080p. But for a $250 gaming rig that can also handle some PCVR, I’m happy with it. I’ve got it to play RDR2, GRA V, Elden Ring, Dead Space, RE7, and even Half Life Alyx on both my Quest 1 & 3.
That one is a SFF though. So you probably wouldn’t even be able to fit a GPU in it.
EDIT: And I’m just seeing that it’s an Optiplex 3420. That sounds old as shit.
Great for lower end builds if you find the right cpu ram combo throw a gpu in🤷♂️ that’s what my first gaming pc was
That’s not cheap at all. I buy them off of marketplace for $10-20 a pop. They’re going to be legacy hardware soon so companies are getting out of them for machines that can do windows 11.
Got one of those $30 on eBay. Wiped it and use it as a terraria and valheim server. Works great for that
Can be good for a home server, not so much for a gaming machine.
Keep in mind that in October 2025 Windows 10 will no longer be supported*. Windows 11 is currently only listed to applicable to Intel 8th Generation or newer. This stuff is going to be dumped in mass over the next year, and next summer we may see inflated new PC prices do to a rise in demand.
[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors)
* without a subscription fee
Because it says “up to…”. What you’re likely to get is like 8GB of RAM and a tiny SSD and the i5 is likely 5+ years old.
This is the garbage that they dump in high school computer labs. They can barely run their own OS
I decomm and scrap workstations better than this…
There’s usually no GPU in them, making them useless for gaming. However 32GB ram and 2TB SSD might be nice. The i5 processor in them are usually 10+ years out of date, as long as you don’t mind, it’s not a bad deal.
It doesn’t tell you which i5 you’re getting, which means you’re getting an i5-750 from 2010. Stay away unless specifics are given.
Also the cases that those get built in are too small to support any kind of meaningful upgrade. These computers are the kind of thing you get for your grandma who only needs to browse her email and maybe watch netflix.
Just do your research because Dell and HP and Lenovo all build these differently. So just Google the model and then put gaming after it and see if anyone’s tackled one of these types of projects before.
I bought a tiny little small form factor Lenovo workstation a few years ago and I did a CPU upgrade and I upgraded the SSD and I use it as my emulation station. It works great for that but I did a bunch of research beforehand to see what sort of upgrade path I might have.
I use one for a Jellyfin server 🙂
For why it is a **bad idea** you can get that in a smaller form factor of the BOSGAME Mini PC E1 brand new in box for 200 USD + tax + shipping & handling but before any and all discounts you might have from Amazon. Just the BOSGAME Mini PC E1 will have a 512GB SSD and still be upgradeable with off the shelf parts.
For why it is so **cheap**
1. It is Dell really the brand brings down the price
2. it is a business computer so it is assumed it had been running 16 to 24 hours a day for it’s entire service life. We can assume it is at least 5 years but more likely around 8.
3. Everything Dell Business tends to be propriety so no upgrades with OEM parts unless you go through Dell
4. it is already on the EoL list otherwise who is listing it would have kept it in service
5. it has windows 10 as each image disagrees either Home or Pro. Windows 10 on 2025 October 14 it will go EoL so forcing an OS upgrade but most likely it doesn’t have a TMP chip so cannot upgrade to windows 11. Lots of security holes will be found and not patched in windows 10 but patched in windows 11. so 181 USD for a computer that at most its life will be 1 year and 4 months.
6. 256GB isn’t enough anymore. Unless you are already with an external drive or have a NAS on the network you are on 256GB is going to run out quick.
7. It is an older i5 and didn’t say which one but as it is not a system with a TPM chip we can assume it is in the 8000 series or before. They can be good more so if you just want a office computer but going by the price either it didn’t cost much or it was cheap to begin with which means a lower end chip. The lower end chips of the 8000 series do not hold up well in 2024. Even worse if it is the 5000 series which lots of the business computers having them are being retired right now.