Short and sweet.

In 2015, I bought this beast on Amazon:

HP Elite 6000 SFF Desktop PC - Intel Core2Duo 3.0 GHz 2GB 80GB...

Can't link to it because it's no longer available. It still works fine but even when I bought it, it was outdated.

Anyway, I figure it's time to upgrade. I want to spend $500 or less. I don't know what a good PC is. I know nothing of specs. I may game on it but I doubt it. If it CAN run games, I may just give it a try, though. 

A monitor would be nice, too but if not, I'll grab one later.

This is your mission. I'll order one tomorrow. You guys help me choose, tonight.

*Edit*: returns are fine

Depending on whether or not you need it now. It might be better to wait since there's a lot of new announcements around the corner but the stuff will also release fall-holiday season. If not, this is not a bad deal:

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-TC-885-UA91-Desktop-i3-9100-802-11AC/dp/B07R8WK8VP/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=computer&qid=1585705958&sr=8-8

Does it have to be from Amazon? Because Newegg has this one on sale: https://www.newegg.com/abs-computer-technologies-ala198/p/N82E16883102949

I've ordered from Newegg before. Is this better than the other one posted in this thread?

Hard to say, to be honest. With 4 cores and 4 threads, both will perform in the same ballpark.

The AMD one might have a slight edge in games, as it has a better integrated GPU, but none of them are any good for serious gaming.

Aww man. The more I thought about it last night, the more I warmed up to the idea of PC gaming. Maybe PS4 level or earlier? I heard people saying you could get an Xbox One level PC for around $500 a few years ago.

Assembling one yourself is completely out of question?

Well, I'm not going to say that whoever said that back in the day was lying, but maybe he got carried away while discussing the new machine and its specs.

Right now you could build a PC as powerful if not more than the XOne for $500, but not without some troubles because, with no intention to disrespect the machine, it's so outdated that it's hard to find components of that level outside the second hand market.

If by "build" you mean "buy and completely destroy perfectly good components because I have no clue what I'm doing" then, yeah. I could build one...

I remember whoever said they could get one mentioned using a lot of used components. I just figured there was an off the shelf PC that could do it, now. Doesn't have to run perfectly. Even 360 level, maybe. I just want to get my feet wet.