Some people are building desktop computers as a hobby and side-hustle, just like we build stompboxes.
Buying second-hand seems like the best approach, in my experience.
As long as you know a little bit about computers, it's quite safe and easy to check if everything is ok, as described in the offer. I went to the seller's appartment, and didn't give him any money until i was sure it was real.
In order to play some video games made in the last 10 years, i spent 600 euros last month to change my pc.
It was a significant upgrade, with lots of Ram memory, some CPU and GPU designed recently, an Nvidia rtx 3050 (made in 2022 !) that looks almost as big as the computer. These kind of "gaming computers" with similar specs, costs around 1500 euros brand new. I made sure it was built recently (august 2023) to avoid any troubles from old parts. There are so many offers on the used market that we can easily find something interesting. Some negociation skills can even allow a buyer to lower the price, but you have to be smooth and convincing...
Some sellers are ruthless and very sharp :
- "can you lower the price down, even just a tiny little bit, please ? 550 instead of 600 ? that's all the money i have available right now. Besides, this graphic card has lots of bad reviews, not calibrated for ultra HD 8k, etc... and your hard-disk is only a mere 200 gB, what can we do these days, in 2023, with 200 gB ? Despite all these issues, i am still very excited. Let's say 550, and i'll quickly take it off your hands ?"
- "sorry, no. And you'd better hurry because i already have three or four other buyers very interested in this offer. i am talking to them right now, as we speak. Are you sure you can't find 50 euros somewhere ?"
I couldn't lower the price, but it's quite a change from the old computer with some Geforce 650 i used for years...
I installed lots of beautiful games, cyberpunk 2077, metro exodus, elden ring, the last of us, far cry 5, etc. but i mostly play tekken 7 online via Steam... I like the possibility to play just for a little while and still achieve something in the game, winning against spanish, deutch, italian, russian, english players, all for the glory of our good old Republic. It also reminds me of my youth, and all these hours spent on tekken 2 and 3. Feels like this time investment is finally paying off, some characters and many nice moves are still there.
Glory to Ling Xiao Yu and her art of the phoenix ! Nothing can stop Ling !