Hi friends,
Could you please provide some guidance as to a good budget desktop (refurbished) that I can run engineering programs on and edit photos? I have been looking at the Optiplex but they do not have a dedicated graphics card (is this necessary?) I'm not concerned about being able to run computer games - just HD movies etc.
My budget is only around $300 being on a student budget.
Quite expensive even for my budget, thank you for the response though.
Definitely check out the Optiplex. You can even buy a low profile graphics card for them and chuck that in but to answer your question a graphics card isn't really necessary and if you get a decent generation intel processor the onboard graphics will perform great.
The Optiplex do look appealing but there's so many configurations - I'm not entirely sure what the most value for money performance configuration would be.
There's not that many configurations for the Dell Optiplexes.
Most of them are SFF (small form factor) sizes, so you can't really max them out with anything more than low profile GPU's and they hold a limited number of drives. There may be a few MT (Mini towers) lying around but those are kinda rare and they cost more.
There's 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen Intel CPU's to pick from, if you're picking a 2nd Generation one it is possible to upgrade the machines to Ivy Bridge CPU's but it's usually not very economical to do so (because the market prices of the pulled out CPU's hover at $50 apiece for Core i5), and 4th gen Haswell desktops generally go for beyond $300, but less if you have coupon codes to use.
The "best" (subjectively speaking) second hand model is probably the Optiplex 9020 as it's relatively 'new' and you can also find them equipped with Core i7-4770 or i5-3570.
Another option is the Optiplex 9010 and the Optiplex 990, which are older and run on 3rd Gen CPU's.
Thanks Scrimshaw! Sorry, as you can tell, I don't know much.
I've found a 9020 within budget. It's $150 and it's got a i5-4570, 8GB ram and I can add an SSD for $40 bucks.
I think this could potentially work.
Most integrated graphics would have no problem with editing photo & running engineering programs, so a dedicated GFX might not be needed. Otherwise you might be able to get an older Optiplex i3/i5 + GT 1030 low profile for under $300.
Thanks Scotty!
I remade my original parts list for you: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/KYKzP3
As listed $303.91.
What I don't like: the power supply. I would add another $15 to get a proper one.
If you have money later on, beef up the ram and add a videcard (even a cheap one) and this computer should last you for few years at least. I have swapped the mini case with micro case which will give you more options for upgrade, but if you want a small computer just swap the case with a mini one and the motherboard with a mini one. Price should be the same.
What you need to do: ask the vendor to update the bios so you can use that processor. This should be done for free.
Other options to consider: jump on gumtree/ebay/freecycle/etc and get a free computer case and a power supply. If you do that, you can spare around $60 which you can use to buy another 4GB RAM or upgrade de motherboard or similar.
Have a look, plenty of options.
Upgrades I would do:
$20 - Processor: Intel Pentium G4600
$4 - Motherboard: ASRock H110M-DGS
$66 - RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series
$25 - Power Supply: Corsair VS550 (or similar in the range, probably few $ cheaper, like the CoolerMaster ones)
Can I suggest something like this? https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/HHrkfH
It is for a NAS I'm building but should be able to handle photo editing, Rhino6, Autocad, Sketchup with no problems.