As someone who just got a decent desktop for $250, go check out eBay. There are absolutely amazing deals on used workstations. Warning: only buy from the people

As someone who just got a decent desktop for $250, go check out eBay. There are absolutely amazing deals on used workstations. Warning: only buy from the people with good reviews and >50 reviews. Examples: Xeon E5-1660 + 16GB RAM = $359 (add your own SSD) http://www.ebay.com/itm/351956704259 http://www.ebay.com/itm/351956704259 i7-6700 + 16GB DDR4 + 4TB HDD + Radeon R5 340X = $650 http://www.ebay.com/itm/172487064618 http://www.ebay.com/itm/172487064618 Xeon E5-2690 + 32GB RAM + 512GB SSD = $996 http://www.ebay.com/itm/302054600901 http://www.ebay.com/itm/302054600901 These are just examples. There are tons of options. You can even build your own system.