That Dell Tower looks kind of suspicious because dual core intel implies either a real low end chip from last 5 years or even an older Core2Duo chip from late 200Xs.
Yeah it will run a few EQ instances but nothing really current.
That AMD A4 machine you posted first is even worse though, it is a horrible machine..
You want 3 things:
- CPU speed with at least 4 real Intel Cores from 2011 or later, i5/i7 nothing else (not counting Xeons)
- GPU: integrated Intel is ok for EQ, but for better performance start with Nvidia GT730 for around $50, for current games you want at least 750Ti, AMD 360/460, for really awesome full details 1080HD performance on the newest games Nvidia 1060, AMD RX480
- RAM: 8GB RAM -> 8 EQ instances, 16GB RAM -> 16 EQ instances
HDD any pretty much will do, if you want to load your games and Windows faster get a 128GB+ SSD (Samsung 850Evo rocks)
For CPUs: use
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ to get a rough idea of how powerful the CPU is, you want at least 5000 score there, you can also check Intel chip features here:
http://ark.intel.com/
For GPUs: you can use this handy chart
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html so anything from GT730 up,
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ is also useful but again very aproximate
What you want is nice 4 solid core i5 or 4core/8thread i7 box.
Solid start here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-E...-8GB-RAM-1-5TB-HDD-Windows-7-Pro/252531302343
(not sure how good seller is though).
That is a 3rd gen i7, and its speed is actually quite close to current i7s(not much progress in the last 5 years
).
You could box 16+ instances of EQ, once you add 8 more GB of ram. As it it that box would be good for 8 instances. 1GB RAM-> 1 EQ instance
If you want to play current games or have high settings in EQ then you would have to add a discrete graphics card like Nvidia 750Ti aprox $100, AMD 460(good luck finding it though).
If you want to play ALL current games at full 1080HD settings then you'd have to get something like Nvidia 1060 or AMD 480 around $200 but again NO need for EQ.
EQ will run ok even with just the integrated Intel Graphics on the 3770.
I personally like SFF machines as long as you do not plan on sticking a bigass Graphics card in them. I am partial to HP 8200/8300 series but they also come in the tower size.
If you can live with more limited graphics upgrade options this here would be a cheaper start:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-8...2400-3-10GHz-320GH-4GB-Computer-/322263965763
only $100 for 2nd gen I5 with 4GB RAM you could already play EQ on it
+ add 16GB RAM + graphics card and you would have a very nice gaming machine.
EDIT: Found this Shellshocker on Newegg for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2PF43C4123 for $209.
That is 3rd gen i5 3470 with 8GB of RAM, very solid for gaming as far as CPU, again for EQ fine as is, for newer games you'd want a low profile GPU something like 750Ti.