Now certain modern pre built PCs have taken a rather verbal beating lately, and rightly so, considering some of the components big businesses try and get away with sticking inside there often overpriced machines.

However, I'd hate for the opinion of all previous pieces to be tarnished.

And since my acquisition of this older system, I wanted to focus my attention on this concept, buying an ex office machine for the purpose of upgrading and gaming.

No, I've done this before, probably a few times, and I certainly didn't start the trained, but I've never really spoken too much about the risks and rewards of doing so.

Therefore, in this video, I'd like to discuss the positives and negatives of buying an older pre bill office machine with the intention of turning it into a fully fledged gaming system.

What should you look out for and what should you avoid?

Hopefully, this will help you out.

Of course, every system is different, but these are just some of my general and common observations.

This is the good, the bad and the ugly of old business pre built.

So first things first.

Let's talk about the good or the positives.

The initial thing that comes to mind is the price.

I paid just £130 for this HP Elite Desk 800 which inside features that has well, court 7 47 78 gigs of 1600 megahertz, DDR three and, well, not my trails.

A cracking deal.

Regardless, I think, considering the CPU alone sells for more than this, in most cases, while it sounds like a lucky find, it wasn't a one off deal.

See Office Pre belts, often self of reasonable prices because they are sold in mass by businesses or individuals who have upgraded their entire workplace environment on aren't looking for a huge markup on the older hardware.

Even individuals who buy from these businesses for resale purposes can offer decent deal was because they themselves didn't pay too much for them and the prophet is still there.

There also seems to be less general interest here compared to new systems, especially now a Christmas time.

A good way to tell if you're getting a good deal is to look up how much it would cost you to build a similar SPECT PC compared to the pre built one you're looking at moving on to the inside, and this segment combines a bit of good, bad and ugly, depending on the system in question.

Of course.

No, I always recommend going for a tower PC like this one, as opposed to a small form factor or slim desktop machine.

Because with a four height system, you're guaranteed to get the most space inside, though a lot of the time sellers will include a picture of the inside of the case in their listings.

I'm talking mostly eBay specific here.

This allows you to see what kind of expansion options you're working with and how many extra hard drives are SS days, you could add.

I'd also recommend researching the model number before purchase on ensuring the motherboard is of standard A T X or micro 80 ex form factor, just in case you need or want to replace it or move into a nicer after market case.

We'll get onto that later.

It's not so common with newer machines, but some older and smaller PCs can have custom sized motherboards that will only fit inside their factory case.

I've also encountered Tracy Obstructions with smaller cases to whereby the design alone physically hindered my ability to add a graphics card even though they had the appropriate slot for it.

Speaking of which small enclosures may mean your limited toe, half height graphics cards.

Not a problem if that's your sort of thing you're after.

But your choice in GPU will be more restricted.

This is where some of the dam are.

Ugly points arise.

Firstly, that's expand on my point about motherboards themselves.

Office PC is never have the most attractive looking boards inside them.

Put it that way, and sometimes they can be pretty basic in terms of features.

This ties into my previous point about research.

The board inside my system here has a USB three support.

Plenty of Satur connectors to PC.

I express lots and support for up to 32 gigs of RAM.

These are all things you should look into and consider.

Companies like HP, in particular are quite good with their spec sheets, and you can even find info as to what processes your system can support.

Graphics cards, though, can be a bigger problem.

While you likely have no trouble fitting most graphics cards inside a tower system like this, especially after removing the lower drive bays.

Those smaller cases can be problematic not just size wise, but power wise to.

I'm talking, of course, about the P S U.

This big, ugly gray box if you're new here.

In most cases with pre built I've purchased in the last few years, the power supplies usually offer around 3 to 400 watts of power output.

This is enough to power the base components.

No problem, and it's even enough to power.

Such graphics cards is the genetic 7 57 50 T I.

R X 5 50 GT 10 30 Duty 10 50 Sam GTX 10 50 T eyes providing There's no power limit on the PC I express slot again.

These are fine if you're happy with the performance they offer, and I'll be turning this rig into a so called lazy man's PC build soon.

If you want to up for something more powerful, though, that will better compliment a higher end process.

Er, then you'll certainly have to upgrade again.

This is where buying a full sized tower PC proves best as the P S U can be swapped out with any branded and standard size one.

I like this course air.

For example.

On a final note, I'd like to address the cases themselves.

These office systems tend to be of a pretty solid build quality, so they don't look all that good.

There's no see through side panel or RGB, and thankfully, that's what I prefer.

But if you are someone who prefers the more flamboyant features of modern cases, then the outer aesthetics of most ex office Riggs will seem a little bit dull.

Thankfully, if you get a system with a standard micro 80 ex motherboard, this can be swapped out into a different enclosure.

At this point.

No, you'd have to ask yourself a few questions.

Toe workout.

If a system like this is right for you one.

Is it worth saving the extra cash for less customization options, too?

Will you actually save any money if you plan on buying one of these and they're making a few upgrades as opposed to building your own system from start to finish and three, is it actually cheaper where you live to go down this route to conclude there certainly something very satisfying about turning a boring work PC into a gaming capable one, but it's important to do your research into the cost, upgrade, ability and features of any specific computer.

You're looking at buying because in some cases it may be more trouble than it's worth.

It's certainly an ideal practice for beginners, though, to get to grips with the art of putting together your very own system.

As for me, when I love the idea of improving an old office system, but it's totally down to you and your preferences, of course, I just hope that some of the things I've mentioned in today's video will help you make up your mind as to whether this is the route you want to go down.

That's for this video.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed it.

I hope it helps you out.

As I say, let me know if you're running an old office machine with an additional graphics card.

What?

Your specs Hours well down below in the comments, liver like on this video.

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