What an ex-office tower actually gives you
A business desktop that came out of a city office is a solid starting point. The case, the board, the processor, the memory and the storage are usually fine — they were specified to run all day for years and they have done exactly that on a desk in an air-conditioned room.
What those machines do not have is a graphics card worth anything for games, because nobody was gaming on them. That is the part that gets added.
So the build is mostly about spending your money on the one component that matters for games, instead of paying again for parts you already have.
What gets replaced
The graphics card
Always. This is where the money goes and it is what decides what the machine can play.
The power supply, usually
An office desktop's power supply was sized for an office desktop. A graphics card changes that arithmetic, and running one on a supply that was never meant for it is how machines get unstable or die. This is the upgrade people skip and regret.
Cooling, often
A tower that has been running for three years is full of dust, and a graphics card adds heat the case was not designed around. Sometimes that means new fans. Sometimes it means a different case.
Storage and memory, where they are tight
An SSD if it is still on a spinning drive, and more memory if there is not enough for modern games to sit in. SSD and memory upgrades
What it can and cannot run
The honest version, because this is where people get sold things.
It handles well
Older and less demanding titles, the big competitive games at sensible settings, anything on a 1080p screen. For a lot of people that is the whole library.
It handles with compromises
Current big-budget single-player games. They will run, but at moderate settings rather than everything turned up.
It does not handle
High refresh rates at high resolution, current flagship titles at maximum detail, or anything expecting the newest hardware. There is a ceiling, and it is set by the case, the power supply and the board rather than by how much you spend on the card.
That ceiling is the whole thing to understand. Below it, a refurbished base is excellent value. Above it, you are fighting the machine, and building fresh is cheaper than fighting.
When a cheap refurbished box is the wrong answer
We will say this before you spend anything.
If you are chasing high frame rates on a fast monitor, an office tower is the wrong foundation. You would spend on the card, then the power supply, then the case, and still be limited by the board. At that point a build from the ground up costs less and ends up better. Custom gaming PC builds
If the machine has to be quiet and small — and in Perth, where around four in five homes are flats or apartments, it very often does — an office tower with a hot graphics card in it may be louder than you want in a living room. Worth deciding before, not after.
And if the budget is genuinely tight, be wary of the cheapest possible version. A weak card in an old box is a machine you will want to replace within a year, which is not a saving.
Where it does make sense
A first gaming machine for someone who is not sure how much they will use it. A second machine so two people can play. A budget that does not stretch to a full build but should not be spent on a console instead. Someone who wants to start now and upgrade the card later.
In all of those, a refurbished base is the sensible answer, and we will build it properly rather than bolt a card onto whatever is nearest.
What you get
- Firm quote within 24 hours, and nothing ordered or built until you agree it.
- Most jobs done in two to three days.
- 90 days warranty on the hardware and on the parts we fit.
- A straight answer about what the machine will and will not run, before you buy it.
Tell us what you play
That is the only thing we really need to know, along with what screen you run it on and what you want to spend. We will tell you whether a refurbished base gets you there, or whether a build is the better use of the money.
If there is an old machine being replaced, it can come off the price. Device trade-in
Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. Workshop in Bayswater.