New or Used on Limited Budget

[Cycloid Torus]

I just finished assembling and upgrading a Xeon 3GHz quad core (equivalent of i7-920) which handles 8 threads. I'm pleased with the result which so far has cost slightly more than $110 USD. Much faster than my old Athlon X2.

I'm still using a GTS 250 and I need much more GPU to balance the system. One thought is a new GTX 950 when coupons at NewEgg bring it below $100 (total max, or the spouse stops cooking dinner). Another is to haunt eBay like I did for the system, but I am a bit concerned that the real condition of a used card is unknown. It was 'ok' for the system, since nobody ever bought a new Dell Precision T3500 to overclock it. It lived under a desk for 4 years and then was outplaced in a gentle manner.

So what is your experience? Is a used video card a feasible purchase or not?

 

[lukart]

GTX 950 is a alright card, but all comes down to what you plan to play and which detail settings

 

[Cycloid Torus]

GTX 950 is a alright card, but all comes down to what you plan to play and which detail settings

I use a smaller screen - just 1600 x 900 - so I'm not pushing as many pixels. It seems I will get very good responsiveness from any game I want to play - including Fallout 4.

 

[xLegendary]

Yeap, with that resolution you should be fine. Just keep the AA settings low and it's all good.