The short answer
A used PC is worth the sum of the parts inside it, priced at what those parts currently sell for used — minus whatever a buyer charges you (in fees, shipping, or hassle) to turn them into money. That's it. The brand on the case, the RGB lighting, and what you paid for it three years ago don't enter the equation.
That leads to the single most useful thing to know: the graphics card usually dominates. On a typical gaming PC, the GPU alone is often a third to well over half of the machine's entire used value. A plain-looking tower with a strong graphics card is routinely worth more than a newer, flashier machine without one.
What actually sets the price
- Graphics card — the headline number. Used GPU prices move weekly with the market, but the tier matters far more than the age: a high-end card from a few generations back can still beat a brand-new budget card.
- Processor — the second-biggest line. Core count and generation drive it; the difference between an i5 and an i9 of the same era is real money.
- Memory and storage — steady, modest value. More RAM and bigger, faster drives add up, but they rarely change the machine's tier.
- Motherboard, power supply, case — the smallest lines. Necessary, but the used market pays little for them individually.
Why the model name misleads
Two PCs with the same brand and model name can differ by hundreds of dollars, because prebuilt manufacturers ship the same case with wildly different parts inside — and because owners upgrade. This is why quotes based on a model name (or a photo of the outside of the case) are guesses. Any serious buyer needs to know the exact CPU, GPU, memory and storage before a number means anything.
Rough tiers — very rough
With every hedge attached (used part prices genuinely move week to week):
- Older office-style towers with no dedicated graphics card often carry little resale value as whole machines.
- Entry and older gaming builds — a mid-range machine from many years ago — commonly land in the low hundreds.
- Recent mid-range gaming PCs typically land in the several-hundred range.
- Recent high-end builds — current or last-generation top-tier GPU — can be worth four figures.
The whole point of ranges like these is that your machine isn't a range. The parts inside it have specific market prices today, and the only honest quote is one built from them.
How to get a real number
You have two solid options. The manual one: identify each major part (Task Manager → Performance shows your CPU and GPU), then look up recent sold listings for each — not asking prices — and total them. Budget an evening.
The fast one, if you're near Columbus, Ohio: run our free scanner app. It reads the exact hardware in your desktop and shows a cash offer built from live part pricing in seconds, itemized, with no obligation to accept. If the parts add up to less than our minimum, it tells you that immediately too — before anyone drives anywhere.
Deciding whether to sell it whole or break it up? That trade-off has its own guide: sell whole vs. part it out.