Before anyone asks, the processor is NOT on the Windows 11 support list.
(Note that I am not staff. I just volunteer to help out on the forums.)
What a shame this system has a decent GPU combined with a processor that’s just short of making the Windows 11 compatibility list. If it were a generation 7 i7 it would be even worse
Not a terrible deal. The GPU retails for around $150 alone.
This is a bit of a head-scratcher for me. The processor, while not new, is also no slouch; having only recently upgraded my desktop from a 3rd-gen i7 that benches almost identically with this processor, I can say that it should probably be fine for gaming, at least at 1080p. The graphics card, however, is pure entry level, and should only be able to play games at 1080p at medium-to-low settings for most newer titles (you can probably swing higher for older games, all things being equal, but the limited onboard memory will be a problem). On the flip side, the 32GB of system RAM is overkill for most people, but it does mean that you can get away with something silly like having about a thousand Chrome tabs open at the same time.
I usually do some comparison shopping to see what alternatives are in this price range, and honestly, the only other gaming desktops that are closely priced are similar to this – refurbished enterprise desktops with a graphics card chucked in. This machine will likely be fine as a general-purpose PC that can also handle some medium-duty gaming, though the lack of Windows 11 support is unfortunate.
On the flip side, the 32GB of system RAM is overkill for most people, but it does mean that you can get away with something silly like having about a thousand Chrome tabs open at the same time.
Or for someone like me, who just put 32GB in my OpenBSD workstation (similar machine, Optiplex 7040, minus the GPU) so I can run a whole bunch of VMs using vmm. Granted, I paid $100 for this workstation and spent another $150 on that RAM upgrade and a NVMe SSD to replace the spinning hard drive it came with.
True, but I imagine people like us are exceptions. I’ve got 64GB on my desktop now, and that’s because I have a few VMs that I spin up through VirtualBox, and I still want to be able to use my computer to do heavy lifting while I’m waiting for VMs to work in the background.