3 i3 8100 paired with a GTX 1080 graphics card
3 i3 8100 paired with a GTX 1080 graphics card
Hey everyone, I'm searching for a used gaming PC in the Republic of Moldova. The listings here seem limited, so I found one with a solid setup: Intel Core i3-8100, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, 32 GB DDR4 RAM at 3200 MHz, and a 600W PSU. The seller is asking about the model number. I'm wondering if the i3 will be a bottleneck for the 1080 graphics and whether it's worth buying it for $495 (with a possible discount to $450). Thanks in advance!
I don't have the price information for Moldova, but in the US it would likely be around $250 for a PC. Regarding its performance, things were decent until around 2017 when the situation changed significantly. Nowadays, high-end GPUs are hard to find and often not worth the investment. For CPU upgrades, only a couple options stand out—both the 8700 and 9900 are expensive relative to their performance. A 600W power supply also doesn't add much value. The GTX 1080 still works well for gaming today, and having 32GB RAM is a plus. However, the CPU quality is poor, and upgrading could actually reduce the system's value if not done carefully.
You can estimate Moldovan prices by comparing items like the RTX 3070 which costs $500 in the US to around $800 in Moldova, both brand new. The local minimum wage is only a fraction of the US amount—making this deal seem really good.
It should work well for most games up to Red Dead Redemption 2 in late 2018. 4C/4T will face significant challenges with most AAA titles released in the 2020s.
It was possible to swap the processor later with an i5 or i7 featuring six cores and eight threads, then sell the i3 afterward.