Does an ex-corporate PC make sense for gaming?
Discussion
A couple of years ago I got hold of a decent spec HP small form factor PC, stuck a compact GPU in it, and for my limited PC gaming needs it worked very well.
But... because it uses HP custom parts it's an absolutely dead end from an upgrade perspective. The power supply in particular was a problem as it was an odd size, not powerful, and used connectors that were specifically designed for the custom HP motherboard. But at the time, a cheap quad core 4th gen i7 with 16GB of RAM, an SSD, a large HDD with a GTX 1050 did exactly what I needed, even if it would never be upgradable.
Jump forward to today and a friend who doesn't know much about PCs is looking for a gaming PCs for his 10 year old. He wants to start off with something cheaper to see how his kid takes to PC gaming, and I wondered about doing something similar to my cheap ex-corporate PC and stick a GPU in it.
After some research it's clear that the custom parts issue with ex-corporate PCs isn't limited to small form factor PCs, some of the tower PCs I'm looking at have the same issue with non-standard parts that will limit upgrades, or prevent the use of more power hungry GPUs.
So, to the questions.
1. Are there any readily available corporate PCs out there that use standard PC components (doesn't need to be everything, but something with an ATX power supply would be helpful)?
2. Looking at other options, if you want to spend less than £500 on a PC to introduce a kid to PC gaming (and don't need a monitor) where would you start?
But... because it uses HP custom parts it's an absolutely dead end from an upgrade perspective. The power supply in particular was a problem as it was an odd size, not powerful, and used connectors that were specifically designed for the custom HP motherboard. But at the time, a cheap quad core 4th gen i7 with 16GB of RAM, an SSD, a large HDD with a GTX 1050 did exactly what I needed, even if it would never be upgradable.
Jump forward to today and a friend who doesn't know much about PCs is looking for a gaming PCs for his 10 year old. He wants to start off with something cheaper to see how his kid takes to PC gaming, and I wondered about doing something similar to my cheap ex-corporate PC and stick a GPU in it.
After some research it's clear that the custom parts issue with ex-corporate PCs isn't limited to small form factor PCs, some of the tower PCs I'm looking at have the same issue with non-standard parts that will limit upgrades, or prevent the use of more power hungry GPUs.
So, to the questions.
1. Are there any readily available corporate PCs out there that use standard PC components (doesn't need to be everything, but something with an ATX power supply would be helpful)?
2. Looking at other options, if you want to spend less than £500 on a PC to introduce a kid to PC gaming (and don't need a monitor) where would you start?
Gumtree always have gaming machines available from people that have upgraded recently. £500 will get you something more than good enough for starting out.
Sometimes you can pay less for a machine than its graphics card will sell for on eBay with the way things have gone, so if you want an office PC, the value for money is there at the moment and if you want a gaming PC, just keep the graphics card.
Sometimes you can pay less for a machine than its graphics card will sell for on eBay with the way things have gone, so if you want an office PC, the value for money is there at the moment and if you want a gaming PC, just keep the graphics card.
Get on amazon and buy one, I've built many, couldn't be bothered to mess around any longer.
If you do some searches on google for budget (or whatever) gaming pc builds and get on of those.
However, yes anything will game to some extent, it'll be down to graphics card over raw power and enough ram.
An SSD is well worth having too.
I paid £500-600 for the tower, £100 for a lovely dell monitor and then keyboard etc.
This was his: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074DZLF3Z/ref... excellent quality*
Depends on budget really.
If you do some searches on google for budget (or whatever) gaming pc builds and get on of those.
However, yes anything will game to some extent, it'll be down to graphics card over raw power and enough ram.
An SSD is well worth having too.
I paid £500-600 for the tower, £100 for a lovely dell monitor and then keyboard etc.
This was his: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074DZLF3Z/ref... excellent quality*
Depends on budget really.
- others will be here soon to tell everyone it's crap no doubt
Edited by dundarach on Tuesday 15th February 09:49
If you want new then something with a Ryzen chip with integrated graphics might be a good starting point. Small, cool, and a little room for exapnsion.
Add 8Gb of RAM and a small SSD and you'd be paying less than £400 for one based on this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-5M-005BEU-Barebone-Di...
Second hand you'll get more graphics grunt I suspect, and while this can upgrade processor a little and memory and disks, you can't add an extra graphics card if he takes to PC gaming. Fine for minecraft and 720p gaming on medium settings but not much more. The PC mentioned in the post above this offers far more potential for just £100ish more for example. I'd steer clear of ex-corporates if gaming is the desire.
Add 8Gb of RAM and a small SSD and you'd be paying less than £400 for one based on this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-5M-005BEU-Barebone-Di...
Second hand you'll get more graphics grunt I suspect, and while this can upgrade processor a little and memory and disks, you can't add an extra graphics card if he takes to PC gaming. Fine for minecraft and 720p gaming on medium settings but not much more. The PC mentioned in the post above this offers far more potential for just £100ish more for example. I'd steer clear of ex-corporates if gaming is the desire.
Edited by BigTZ4M on Tuesday 15th February 09:53
Most 'corporate' PCs won't have a great graphics card unless it's been used for CAD/CAE work, and as you have found are almost custom made to a price without great upgrade options. Yes they'll work but won't be great graphically.
Best bet is to buy someone's discarded system as above.
Best bet is to buy someone's discarded system as above.
Dashnine said:
Most 'corporate' PCs won't have a great graphics card unless it's been used for CAD/CAE work, and as you have found are almost custom made to a price without great upgrade options. Yes they'll work but won't be great graphically.
Best bet is to buy someone's discarded system as above.
Most of them will use onboard graphics in my experience - but he did suggest buying a graphics card for it.Best bet is to buy someone's discarded system as above.
I don't really see the value in this, though, unless the PC is basically free.
Most corporate PC's have some scope for GPU upgrades as they can be bought for Autocad or graphics editing but you will need to do your homework first.
In my experience, small form factor (not the super tiny ones) can take a GPU card if it doesn't require an additional power supply connector. It should then be able to handle some lighter 3d games.
Best bet would be to buy a 4-5 year old CAD station, sell off the included GPU (they are no good for gaming but have decent resale value) and replace with a proper gaming card. That will get you something closer to the higher end but may blow your budget.
In my experience, small form factor (not the super tiny ones) can take a GPU card if it doesn't require an additional power supply connector. It should then be able to handle some lighter 3d games.
Best bet would be to buy a 4-5 year old CAD station, sell off the included GPU (they are no good for gaming but have decent resale value) and replace with a proper gaming card. That will get you something closer to the higher end but may blow your budget.
I kind of did that with a Dell Precision workstation, came with a low end Quadro which I replaced with a gaming GPU. Even then it didn't have the right connector and I needed to sort out adaptors.
Vast majority of corporate stuff these days doesn't even have full size PCI slots. Just buy a used "gaming" PC although most I see advertised have had a budget GPU put in, as anything decent still sells for silly money.
Vast majority of corporate stuff these days doesn't even have full size PCI slots. Just buy a used "gaming" PC although most I see advertised have had a budget GPU put in, as anything decent still sells for silly money.
sjg said:
IMost t I see advertised have had a budget GPU put in, as anything decent still sells for silly money.
That isn't necessarily the end of the world either though, you're getting a PC you can game on without having to absorb the cost of the current crazy GPU market. But if you're patient something is likely to come up.I've just done a quick check on Gumtree and found PCs around the £500 mark with various 1050Ti, 1060 and 1660 Cards in them.
Lack of any info about corporate PCs with standard components kind of confirms what I suspected. These PCs are built down to a price, and apparently custom specific parts allowed for increased margins.
However the Gumtree suggestions were very good. A quick look there throws up some very good options locally. So thank you, that looks like the best option now.
However the Gumtree suggestions were very good. A quick look there throws up some very good options locally. So thank you, that looks like the best option now.
I took an old Vostro Desktop and replaced the power supply, and added some more memory, SSD and a big graphics card. Needed a hammer/dremmel to fit mind, but I got it in. It worked fine for the kid gaming on Roblox, Minecraft and the like.
So can be done, albeit might be more work/fun than intended. I had the bits lying around so no real extra cost.
So can be done, albeit might be more work/fun than intended. I had the bits lying around so no real extra cost.
The graphics card is going to be by far the biggest cost in a gaming PC depending on what games you wish to play. As others have said, a corporate PC will have an onboard GPU that will be useless for games, the power supply will be underpowered for an additional graphics card (and might have non standard connectors) and it might not even take full size cards.
It's seems crazy to buy one as the basis for a gaming PC to save a few quid and be stuck with all the issues and compromises it will cause.
It's seems crazy to buy one as the basis for a gaming PC to save a few quid and be stuck with all the issues and compromises it will cause.
I once inherited an old work PC and agree with many of the points - it was a Dell so almost everything inside was non-standard, the expansion slots were low profile and there was only one free.
Plus the PSU really was only good enough for the shipped spec of the machine - no overhead for powerful GPUs even if I could find one to fit the low profile case. It never really worked for gaming though it was a decent enough desktop for browsing and general purpose tasks. For free, I wasn't complaining but never gamed on it.
Plus the PSU really was only good enough for the shipped spec of the machine - no overhead for powerful GPUs even if I could find one to fit the low profile case. It never really worked for gaming though it was a decent enough desktop for browsing and general purpose tasks. For free, I wasn't complaining but never gamed on it.
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