This is the second of my Budget RGB Experiment Build Series. The idea around these experiments is to cut costs where I normally wouldn't, and still flip the build using RGB and good quality pictures. The reasoning behind this is that most people that buy my budget builds aren't enthusiasts, overclockers, heavy users, or even gamers. They probably will never touch the bios or even stress the build anywhere close to what I've tested myself. This allows me to cut corners that would normally make PC builders cringe. Here's the breakdown of how I got the build so cheap.

CPU / Motherboard

This combo came from a Craigslist deal where a a guy was selling his 4th gen i5 build for just $180. The PC came fully loaded with the cpu, motherboard, GTX 960, 16GB ram, SSD, Noctua air cooler, Corsair CX430 PSU, Fractal R5, and a wifi card. The catch was that the build had NEVER been dusted since it's been built, so there was about 5 years worth of dust buildup I had to clean (see pictures). It was worth it since the system packed in so much value in my opinion, and each of the components were working just fine after testing them. I pro-rated the cpu/mobo at $100 for both and think that's pretty good value for everything I got in the build.

CPU Cooler

The first cost-saving part of the experiment. I replaced the old Noctua cooler and added an Intel stock cooler I had lying around. Even though the CPU is a 4690k and can be overclocked, I've never sold a PC where the buyer was interested in it. This finally gave me the opportunity to use these stock coolers that I would never put in my personal builds.

Memory

Not sure which brand these are to be honest, they came with the dusty build. Nothing special but gets the job done.

SSD

I ended up using the original 240GB that came with the dusty build in different build, so I used this cheap SSD. These are good in a pinch when I've already gone through all of my used stock.

HDD

A very old HDD that will probably fail soon but I like pairing old HDD's with 128GB SSD's in my super budget builds if I can.

Video Card

The card that came with the dusty build. I pro-rated this at $30 which is a steal IMO, would buy these all day if I could.

Power Supply

So considering how dusty the old Craigslist PC was when I bought, I was super skeptical of the condition of the old power supply that came with it. I actually opened up the power supply and cleaned it up a bit, and it was working fine all through stress tests and gaming. It was a bit risky throwing it into this build, but with the relatively low TDP of the CPU/GPU in this build, I think it will be fine for another year at least (crossing fingers).

Wireless Card

This came with the dusty PC, so I threw it into the build. If you're flipping PC's, I actually think adding a WiFi card can help your listing stand out from the rest. If someone's buying a used PC, they're most likely going to be using WiFi anyway, so this is a huge plus and an actual feature when listing your build for sale.

Case Fans

The third part of the experiement, cheap chinese RGB fans. Uphere fans are a really cheap way to add flair to your build without breaking the bank. I wouldn't expect great performance from these, but they look great and are cheap. I think the dual loop fans look much better than the ones I used for this build, so I'll probably keep buying those in the future.

Conclusion

This PC was originally listed at $420 and I dropped it back down to $400. It sold within a day of me dropping it to $400. The buyer was actually a 50-year old gentleman who's not even a gamer. He had told me he just came from Fry's and didn't like the selection they had there for desktops. I'm almost certain he will just use the build for Facebook and Youtube, which I think is perfect, the PC will probably never blow up :P

Although I definitely think I could have been patient and waited for $420, it's MUCH easier to sell your builds if it meets certain price points. It's not always worth getting top dollar in my experience, and the cost saving moves definitely help with this. Thanks for reading!