I’m hoping to find the best bang for the buck components whether it’s used or new. I’m located in the u.s. and will look for deals on eBay. I found a case on FB marketplace for $25 already and have a cheap power supply that claims it’s 700w. I’m just not sure what GPU/CPU would be, I figure it should be a ddr4 system to keep costs down. I would be open to a pre built office pc and slapping a GPU into that as well. This would be for “lan” type game nights just to have something that can play pc games as an option.
Edit: I won an eBay auction for an MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus for $60.
Nvidia 1080ti and Ryzen 5 5600x is a pretty solid pairing that will run you a little over half your budget. I had the very same setup until about 2 years ago. You ought to be able to run anything pre~2021 on max settings without any issue, and pretty much anything afterwards with medium-high graphics (YMMV).
The GPU will be your bottle neck here but is about the most cost effective option. Consider upgrading it if possible
I found this combo with the 5600g https://ebay.io/m/icN0lD
Now that I’m looking at it I think it’s just for the CPU and the seller is just dumb.
The 5600G is indeed a combo, but with integrated graphics. It’s obviously vastly less capability than a discrete GPU like the ones mentioned in other comments, but would certainly provide you flexibility and time to find a good deal on a GPU
Although a 5600G isn’t very good for gaming, it sure is convenient down the line when you repurpose the old machine as a home server.