PC - Best bang for buck CPU & Mobo (2nd hand)

[3sixty]

I'm heading back to UK to visit family in July and doing a bit of shopping while I am there (Thanks exchange rates!)

Over here there isn't much of a market in second hand PC parts, so I'm having a search on UK ebay to pick up a used/second hand best bang for buck CPU and motherboard (and perhaps RAM if mobo needs DDR4).


I currently have a FX8320 but being in a hot country, and the FX chip notorious for running hot (I bought it when in UK where this didn't matter as much!) its starting to fail and random reboots etc creeping in, USB not being recognise etc..... and who doesn't like an excuse to upgrade

My PC spec is below. To be honest it plays most of what I want with ease, its more to solve the associated problems with the heat and random reboots. I'm inclined to go for Intel & Nvidia as they seem more stable (see above issues with AMD) but can be convinced if there is a better AMD alternative - budget is around 200-400 quid

FX8320
Asus AM3+ mobo
12GB DDR3
R9 270x
64GB SSD (OS), 250GB HD (downloads), 256GB SSD (Games)
Corsair CX750 PSU

I mostly play League of Legends, CS:GO and the odd game of Battlefield. Monitor isn't the latest so no need for gaming at 144hz / 4K /etc

[chris285]

New ryzen is good but not sure what second hand market is like given it's fairly new tech

You will find that you will need new RAM on anything after 4/5th gen intel chips, i forget when this changes over

I'd say your budget you may struggle to get a new cpu/mobo/ram/gpu at the same time to make it a worthwhile upgrade myself, but not sure how some parts compare to your current setup

I'd say i5 cpu is what you want, doesn't need to be a k series just a good solid chip and mobo depends on your needs but sure most will be fine. I'd say it's worth getting a good cooler too, probably a new good quality air cooler if you are in a hot country to make sure you don't run into issues

GPU i'd look at the specs for the game you play, but a 1050ti may be ok but best to check on your game list and also find out framerates too

[3sixty]

Thanks for the advice

My GPU is sufficiently capable for what I need to date so not looking to change that, just the CPU and motherboard plus likely DDR4 RAM. I'll look into how far my budget can stretch on the gen of the i5

[chris285]

May be worth looking at the i7 as well to see if that falls in, just future proof but i5 is fine for gaming as well and cheaper of course