i7-920 (2.66ghz)
intel x58 motherboard?
8gb ddr3
500gb hdd with windows 10 pre-installed
radeon 4850

under $200 shipped, would this be decent if I upgraded the gpu?

Personally i wouldn't do it. that CPU and the rest of the hardware can be up to 9 years old.
Before you get it upto date with at least an SSD and new GPU it would have been better to build a new budget PC for 500-600$ dollars.

Either buy something newer used like i5-2500k, i7-2600k, i5-3570k, i7-3770k with a nvidia GPU 600 or 700 series. Or build a completely new budget PC

Thanks, I'll hold off then. Maybe I'll just build something from the ground up by buying a couple parts every paycheck, then having something nice after a while. I don't really need anything fancy though, the few games I play aren't very demanding

Depending on the motherboard, I'd actually pick it up if it were for personal use - That CPU overclocked (we'll say 4+GHZ) still keeps up with modern i5's and will even surpass them where hyperthreading is utilized.

Not quite sure about the part where that cpu beat an i5 4th gen+

Locked i5, like a 4440 or so, which is fine for 60+fps gaming.

yes you will be able to game with this. I have the same cpu, 6 gigs of ram, ssd, and a 270x and handle all my gaming needs just fine. POE, d3, Doom, Culling. All run just fine with no hiccups ever

Buy this with a newer gpu, ssd.