Combining computers for first build

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PresidentCamacho

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I'm looking to build my first gaming PC without breaking the bank. I have two computers (specs listed below) from a business I shut down. I'm hoping to be able to combine the parts I have, and buy whatever else is necessary to build a mid-range gaming rig. I've been doing a lot of research, but I want to get some outside opinion so I don't waste money buying unnecessary parts. I'm willing to buy good condition used parts, what do you guys think will be the best value GPU and power supply? What else do you think is necessary?
(Percentages listed are from userbenchmark)

MBD: Lenovo 90BG004TUS

CPU: AMD FX-870K Quad Core – 29.2%

GPU: AMD Radeon R7 350 – 9%

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB – 70.7%

RAM: Samsung M378B1G73EB0-YK0 2x8GB – 31.9%



MBD: Dell Inspiron 3847

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 - 67.5%

GPU: Intel HD 4400 (Desktop 1.15 GHz) - 2.6%

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB - 24.1%

RAM: Micron 8JTF51264AZ-1G6E1 2x4GB - 53.6%
 
What are your power supplies? For any serious gaming you are well below the curve. I usually hate the answer that says N.G. forget it, but I suggest you sell those units, maybe keeping the R7 350 if you have the 4 gig version, and use it for seed money to buy a used system on the H.
If none of that works, max out the memory, buy a cheap 500 gig SSD and maybe a 1070 or a 5700. You should be able to game at bearable settings but you don't have any expansion or future proofing.
Best of luck.
 
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You can get a head start selling them. You should get some more answers and there are a lot of true experts on the H. Here is hoping someone has a better idea.
 
I'm in the minority here, but I think you can work with what you've got depending on what you want to play. Due to health issues I'm on an extreme budget these days, and the rig in my signature is still enough for 30FPS at 1366x768 (I game on a 24" Samsung TV/monitor) in most new games I have played on it. In other words very low end, but good enough for my enjoyment. I have played Far Cry New Dawn, Metro Exodus, Doom 2016, Wolfenstein II New Colossus, Dishonored 2, and a few other newer games so far with no major issues. Granted I have had to tweak the game 'ini' files for Wolfenstein and Doom to get better performance, but for me part of the challenge is seeing how demanding a game I can get to run acceptably well on below minimum spec hardware.

As narsbars asked, which R7 350 do you have? I believe Lenovo offered one that has 2GB GDDR5.......
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My R5 430 is lower end then that R7 350. I have modded the BIOS and overclocked it from 780MHz to 1050MHz on GPU with 1.1volts, and 1200MHz on memory and it really woke it up. I find these old AMD GCN 1.0 cards are underclocked and over-volted in their stock form.

So really what are your expectations here as far as frame rate and games you want to play? What resolution is your display? As that R7 350 is gonna work best at 720p/768p for anything newer.....
 
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If it was me with my extreme budget minded perspective I'd throw a small 120GB SSD like the PNY CS900 in the Lenovo as your Windows drive, use the 2TB Seagate as storage/games, and install something lighter weight on it like Win 10 LTSB/LTSC and see how it works for you.

Sell the Dell since Haswell based Dells (especially the mini-tower models) still have some used value on craigslist / facebook market-place. You could probably get $100 or so out of Dell to use towards a better video card in the Lenovo.

I recently sold an older but similar Dell with slightly better specs for $150 on craigslist.
 
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Keep the Dell, throw in a used i5-4570, and buy a used RX570. Will probably have to buy some of these adapters to power the video card. If you want to spend a little more money I'd grab a 512mb sata SSD as well.

You would probably have to turn down the voltage a bit on the 570 and not overclock it. Otherwise that 300w PSU might be overloaded.

$150 for the VC and CPU plus the adapters if needed.
 
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I would second the dell with the i5, these are still pretty good value and performance. There are brand new 570 rx 8gb in newegg right now for $120 shipped. If worried about power the gtx 1650 super cards are lower power but more $.
If you have no $, throw the card you do have in and fire up the games you want to play, see if they work.
 
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