[PC] DIY Budget Gaming Computer Under $200 - Dell Inspiron Office PC Upgrade

I took a Dell Inspiron I got for free and refurbished it, added a cheap graphics card, exhaust fan, and cooler upgrade all for under $200. Maybe not as good as a PS5 for Xbox but a lot cheaper and also it's a computer. This was a lot more fun to build than I had anticipated and my son is very happy to have his own computer. Check with local businesses to see if they have any computers they are looking to offload and make sure it's at least an 8th gen Intel i5 or newer, or an AMD Ryzen 2000 series or newer.
$100 Intel Arc A380 Graphics Card: amzn.to/3ygRiXO
$10 92mm Exhaust Fan: amzn.to/3y7S7T1
$20 92mm CPU Cooler: amzn.to/4a5uLur
$20 120mm CPU Cooler: amzn.to/4doFBP9
PWM Fan Splitter Cable: amzn.to/4a5uFmz
SATA to PCIE Cable: amzn.to/4a94aga

[@Spiritjod]

Nice 👍

[@arthurhazboun2992]

Got an Intel i5-3470 to run Win 11 Pro that had TPM built into motherboard

[@BelLavoroAutoSpa]

Well that's pretty cool

[@DetailsNMe]

What is a good starter gaming PC system for a 9 year old…my son wants one for his birthday in July-I don’t even know where to start!!

[@BelLavoroAutoSpa]

If you are looking for new, I am partial to NZXT's systems. Even their lowest end gaming computer is still pretty good for a kid. Otherwise, on Amazon, the only brands I would trust on there are Skytech Thermaltake, as they aren't selling things that they lie about. Generally you want the computer to have either a Ryzen 5 or intel i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a graphics card. Unfortunately it's not as simple as buying a game console.

[@DetailsNMe]

@@BelLavoroAutoSpadefinitely not as simple as an Xbox lol thank you for your input-

[@thachad098]

​@@DetailsNMelook for an old office pc with an i7 6700 or newer (7xxx and up). These can play minecraft just fine. Then give them the motivation to upgrade it piece by piece (adding a video card) by hitting milestones either in school (getting certain grades) or at home (consistently doing chores).

[@184silver]

who cares about getting win 11, its garbage and bad, everybody uses win 10 for reasons. I use win 10 because my mic doesnt work properly with win 11 and win 11 is a ram hog. like i said win 11 is doo doo. so why would you put win 11 with a system that only has 16 gb?

[@BelLavoroAutoSpa]

Because Win10 is at end of life and people say this same stuff every time a new windows version comes out. 16GB can handle it just fine. 8 is bare minimum bit won't handle gaming.

[@184silver]

@@BelLavoroAutoSpa it might be at the end of life. but its still better. no gamer uses win 11

[@184silver]

@@BelLavoroAutoSpa thanks for response u got my sub bro

[@184silver]

@@BelLavoroAutoSpa i dont agree with you though :)

[@BelLavoroAutoSpa]

@184silver that's okay you are entitled to your opinion. I am a computer technician in my professional life.