1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,920 4 years ago, we went to the local Best 2 00:00:03,439 --> 00:00:10,080 Buy and bought whatever gaming PC the rep recommended in our price point. We 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:14,719 were expecting disappointment, but ended up pleasantly surprised by how 4 00:00:11,759 --> 00:00:18,480 competitive their offering was. But it's a new decade, and there's been plenty of 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:21,760 time for them to bung things up since then. So, we decided to take another 6 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:27,519 swing at it and see what your hard-earned dollars can get you from the 7 00:00:23,519 --> 00:00:29,359 folks over at Best Buy. iixits mahi 8 00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:32,480 driver kit includes their quarterinch aluminum screwdriver handle with a 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:37,150 magnetic bit socket nurled grip and swivel top and 48 driver bits. Check it 10 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:45,200 out at the link below. 11 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:50,800 Now, to keep our test somewhat controlled and in the spirit of our last 12 00:00:48,879 --> 00:00:55,920 attempt, we needed to send someone with limited gaming PC knowledge and who 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:01:00,960 wouldn't be immediately recognized. So, we enlisted special agent Janice to 14 00:00:58,399 --> 00:01:05,840 crack the case. Buy the case. A PC case that is with a 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:10,080 with there's a PC. Anyways, you get the point. Her mission was simple. Buy a 16 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:15,439 system for her imaginary little brother with a budget of around $1,000. And in 17 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:19,759 case she runs into a very inexperienced Best Buy staffer, to make sure the 18 00:01:17,439 --> 00:01:24,080 system has a graphics card at the very least. You might recall that last time 19 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:28,880 around without Ivon's quick thinking, we would have been left with a gaming PC 20 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:32,720 that didn't have a graphics card, which isn't much use to anyone. Upon arrival 21 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:36,799 to our local Best Buy's computer section, Special Agent Janice was pretty 22 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:40,240 much immediately helped by a pretty knowledgeable staff member. He walked 23 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:44,159 her through, in layman's terms, the performance benefits of having an SSD 24 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:49,119 over a standard hard drive and mentioned that her little brother might actually 25 00:01:46,159 --> 00:01:53,119 prefer an i7 over an i5, but that it wouldn't necessarily make a huge 26 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:58,159 difference just for gaming. The sales associate also made sure to clarify any 27 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:03,600 gaming PC he would try to sell her had a GPU and was in stock. Very important. 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:07,680 Overall, the experience was actually really solid and a huge step up from 29 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:12,000 last time where we actually had to go to three different stores just to buy the 30 00:02:09,679 --> 00:02:17,920 system the first store recommended and reserved for us. GG, Best Buy. But your 31 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:23,200 mileage may vary. So, what did we end up with? I'll be honest, when I first saw 32 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,520 the box, my first thought was, "Oh no, 33 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:31,680 we ended up with an Optiplex." But after cracking it open, things started to look 34 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:34,080 up. I present to you the Dell G55090 35 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:39,280 gaming desktop, which we spent a cool $929 36 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,200 on before tax. Might I say, she sure is 37 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:45,120 a be. Just like this shirt from ltdstore.com. 38 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:50,000 Jokes aside, what really matters is what's inside in life and in PCs. In the 39 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:55,840 configuration we bought, the G5 features an Intel Core i5 9400 6core processor 40 00:02:53,280 --> 00:03:02,000 clocked at a cool 2.9 GHz with a turbo of 4.1. It's paired with a single stick 41 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:04,000 of 8 GB 2666 MHz DDR4, meaning you're 42 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:08,720 running in single channel mode, but at least the proprietary AF H370 Dell 43 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:12,560 motherboard in this system has four slots, so that's an easy enough upgrade 44 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:17,440 if your budget allows. The rest of the board is pretty lackluster with no video 45 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:23,360 outputs despite our CPU being equipped with integrated graphics. On the back 46 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:25,120 are four USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports, 47 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:29,680 gigabit Ethernet, and your standard audio jacks. Up front is a pretty 48 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:35,599 similar story. Back inside, we find a total of three PCIe slots, an integrated 49 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:38,080 Aquantia AC Wi-Fi card, precisely enough 50 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:43,280 SATA ports to fill this specific case, and a single M.2 slot. I also noticed 51 00:03:40,799 --> 00:03:48,080 the board doesn't have a 24 pin ATX power connector. They instead opted for 52 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:52,959 a proprietary six pin connection with SATA power coming from a header on the 53 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:57,200 board. So, good luck upgrading the power supply without also getting an entirely 54 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:01,200 new case and motherboard. Thanks for the unnecessary engineering, Dell. Now, 55 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:07,040 let's get back to that M.2 slot for a sec because in it is one of the cutest 56 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:10,879 little NVMe drives I've ever seen. This 57 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:14,400 little nugget is a DRAMless 512 GB 58 00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:17,040 Toshiba TLC NVMe SSD. Normally, we 59 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:21,440 recommend against DRAMless SSDs as both performance and write endurance or the 60 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:26,400 longevity of the drive can be a lot worse without a cache. You can check out 61 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:30,560 this tech wiki for more info on that. However, as Lionus mentioned in a recent 62 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:35,520 video, this SSD makes use of a cool technique called host memory buffer, or 63 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:39,040 HMBB for short, allowing it to ask the computer's processor if some of the 64 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:43,600 regular system memory can be used as a cache instead, which for general 65 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:48,080 consumer use does help mitigate these issues. As for the graphics card, our 66 00:04:45,919 --> 00:04:53,680 configuration comes equipped with an OEM single fan NVIDIA GTX 1660. So, nothing 67 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:57,520 special there except you do at least get the new Turing Envank encoding chip on 68 00:04:55,919 --> 00:05:01,280 this card. So, this rig should actually be pretty solid for streaming. 69 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:05,759 Bafflingly though, the case is limited to a single 80mm exhaust fan for 70 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:10,160 cooling. I mean, does a bigger punch out really cost that much more, guys? And 71 00:05:08,479 --> 00:05:15,360 unsurprisingly, it's fitted with a basement tier 360 W Dell power supply. 72 00:05:13,199 --> 00:05:19,360 So, as for performance, it actually seems like it should be okay. We've got 73 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:23,680 six decently clocked Intel cores, a modern NVIDIA GPU, and a pretty solid 74 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:27,919 SSD. I would have liked to see 16 gigs of dual channel RAM in 2020, and this 75 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:33,199 tier of power supply wouldn't be acceptable in a custom rig. But this is 76 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:39,199 a Dell pre-built, and you get what you pay for, or do you? To find out, we 77 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:44,240 fired up Amazon to see if we could build the same thing for less money. Specking 78 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:48,880 everything as close as we could while still including Windows 10 Home Edition, 79 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:52,479 a crappy keyboard and mouse, AC Wi-Fi, and the labor to have someone like 80 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:56,400 MicroEnter build it for you. Wow. It turns out you would end up spending 81 00:05:53,680 --> 00:06:00,320 nearly $100 more than Best Buy's price for the G5. Now, you do end up with some 82 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:04,880 creature comforts, like easier upgradability thanks to non-proprietary 83 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:09,759 parts, a better power supply, and more SATA connections, but it's still pretty 84 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:13,919 dang hard to be competitive with OEMs on pre-built systems due to the cost 85 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:17,840 benefit they have thanks to bulk part ordering, as well as the vastly 86 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:22,319 discounted Windows pricing Microsoft offers them. But we don't have to play 87 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:27,039 by their rules, do we? Just like a Mac is often a good deal if you compare it 88 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:32,639 to exactly the same hardware, but a bad deal if you get a bit more creative. We 89 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:35,440 think we can beat this DIY style kung 90 00:06:32,639 --> 00:06:38,639 fu. Let's assume you're an avid LT viewer. You can build a machine for 91 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:42,400 yourself, and you don't need to add another crappy keyboard and mouse to the 92 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:47,840 pile. Now that we have the flexibility to choose whatever parts we want, a 93 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:50,160 Ryzen 3600 is a lot better value with a 94 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:54,400 lower price tag and performance that should be slightly better in virtually 95 00:06:52,000 --> 00:07:00,479 every workload thanks to its six extra threads, better IPC, and higher boost 96 00:06:57,280 --> 00:07:02,240 clock. It pairs nicely to an ASRock B450 97 00:07:00,479 --> 00:07:07,599 motherboard. And with the money you save building it yourself, 16 gigs of 3200 98 00:07:05,039 --> 00:07:12,400 MHz DDR4 fits wonderfully into the budget along with an 80 plus bronze 450 99 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:17,840 W power supply. Then for the cream cheese icing on top, we can spend just 100 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:20,720 $80 more than you would on the GTX 1660 101 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:27,280 and jump up to a full fat 2060 KO from AVGA, which should give us vastly better 102 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:29,599 performance. But does it? 103 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:33,680 Yes, of course it does. Computers aren't magic, and assuming no egregious 104 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:39,280 configuration errors, they behave more or less as the sum of their parts. So, 105 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,199 at 1080p medium settings using DirectX12 106 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:46,400 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, frame rates get a big old bump, nearly 34% 107 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:52,160 higher than our Best Buy special. Both GTA 5 and CS:GO show even more 108 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:54,319 impressive gains with 43 and 44% higher 109 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:58,479 frame rates, respectively. Rendering in Blender, while not as huge of an 110 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:03,680 improvement, was still very noticeable with the BMW Blender test finishing 25% 111 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:09,680 faster. And in the seven-zip compression benchmark, the 3600 absolutely wipes the 112 00:08:06,639 --> 00:08:12,080 floor with the more expensive i5 9400 113 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:17,120 from our pre-built thanks to the six extra threads. So, conclusion time. If 114 00:08:14,879 --> 00:08:22,319 you're in the market for a pre-built, honestly, Best Buy has proven again to 115 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:25,360 not actually be a terrible choice. You may still be able to find a slightly 116 00:08:23,919 --> 00:08:29,599 better deal from one of the system integrators out there who don't have the 117 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:33,360 same retail overhead as Best Buy. But before you do, make sure you check out 118 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:37,519 our Secret Shopper series if you want to see an in-depth investigation on the 119 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:41,440 entire purchasing experience of a bunch of major SI. Oh, and get subscribed so 120 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:48,080 you don't miss out on future videos like the very different unlimited budget 121 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:49,279 gaming PC. Sounds pretty cool, huh? 122 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:54,560 This video is brought to you by drop.com. 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