We Built the CHEAPEST PC on Amazon!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
2,740 words · ~13 min read
0:00
Good old Rosewill.
0:01
Oh, the SCM01.
0:03
Yeah, oh, you know this case?
0:04
No, I don't.
0:05
Oh, okay.
0:06
Okay, so should we start with that?
0:09
Yeah, let's take it out of the box, I guess.
0:11
Like the idea here is we're just gonna build this thing.
0:13
Yeah.
0:14
Okay, and you've never built it before?
0:16
Nope.
0:17
So a lot of the time when writers prepare a video,
0:20
they do a lot of the preparation.
0:23
Yeah, I heard that they do that.
0:24
Ahead of time.
0:25
Uh-huh.
0:27
But today we're just YOLOing it.
0:28
Yeah, well, I mean, it's fun to prepare,
0:30
but you know, it's fun to keep life spicy too.
0:33
That sounds like mistake number two.
0:38
We're gonna have a mistake counter.
0:39
Yeah, yeah.
0:42
High-end PCs are pretty cool.
0:45
Yeah.
0:46
They can trace rays with the best of them,
0:49
but they have one major problem.
0:54
They're expensive.
0:55
Most people don't think about that.
0:56
Yeah, that's what we're here for.
0:57
But we did.
0:59
So we set out to build
1:00
the
1:01
least expensive PC possible
1:04
with components that we could buy on Amazon.com.
1:09
Yep.
1:09
I literally went to Amazon.com,
1:11
searched the name of the component,
1:14
sorted by price,
1:15
and ordered whatever was cheapest at that time.
1:18
And this is it.
1:21
So it's time to figure out
1:22
whether what we ordered was an actual PC
1:26
or whether we made a horrible mistake.
1:36
Okay, so I couldn't just go to Amazon.com,
1:39
and literally pick the cheapest option
1:42
because they have to be compatible.
1:44
Compatible.
1:44
If this is the cheapest case
1:47
and this is the cheapest board,
1:49
then we're just going to have to put them together.
1:51
It's only fair.
1:53
So this is a LGA 775 socket motherboard.
1:57
It's a Dell PowerEdge Server board.
2:01
Okay.
2:02
Yes.
2:03
And that's gonna be compatible
2:05
Compatible.
2:06
Compatible with our CPU,
2:07
which is a Core 2 Duo motherboard.
2:09
E8400 from Intel.
2:11
Are you sure?
2:13
What?
2:14
That that's going to be compatible?
2:15
Most server boards from that generation were LGA 771.
2:20
That is a good point.
2:22
I've never seen that before.
2:23
And this is a locking floppy disk.
2:26
Oh, cool.
2:27
This is locking IDE.
2:29
Oh, cool.
2:30
Do you want to come in and get some closeups of this ?
2:33
She's light as I'm so sorry.
2:35
Oh my God.
2:37
So this is an Insignia.
2:39
It doesn't weigh much more than the box.
2:40
Does it?
2:41
Try it.
2:43
Oh, wow.
2:44
You know what?
2:45
Since I'm tired of being dumped on, look at this.
2:48
It's a hard drive.
2:49
It's probably perfectly functional.
2:50
I'm pretty sure it's new.
2:51
Why are you asking me questions like that?
2:54
I didn't know they still made 160 gig hard drives.
2:56
We have a single DDR2 DIMM.
3:01
That is two gigs big.
3:05
This is not ECC and this is a server board.
3:07
Oh my God.
3:08
No, it should support.
3:10
And that says,
3:11
memory ECC DDR2 chipset.
3:14
That's not the socket.
3:18
Wait, front side bus, 800 megahertz for Pentium 4.
3:20
Well, hold on a second.
3:22
This might actually be 775, but oh my God,
3:25
this is a Pentium board.
3:28
I don't believe this will work with a Core 2 Duo.
3:32
The graphics card is a blazing fast
3:37
AMD Radeon 6350.
3:40
All right.
3:41
How much did this cost us?
3:42
This cost us a whopping, actually 2888.
3:46
Wow.
3:46
It's the most expensive part out of all of them,
3:49
which is great news to hear when it might not even work.
3:54
You know this is not DVI, right?
3:55
Yeah, this is a different port that is,
3:59
everyone knows is not DVI.
4:01
You have actually done something today
4:03
that hasn't happened in a while.
4:05
You've shown me three tech things
4:08
that I have never seen before.
4:10
Hey! In a single sitting.
4:12
That could be the title of the video.
4:13
I've never seen this before.
4:15
This port, these like doohickeys,
4:20
doohickeys on the IDE things, this cooler mount.
4:25
Oh, you've never seen that?
4:26
I've never seen that before.
4:27
See, and I've never seen it either.
4:28
Yeah.
4:29
Well, we do have some other processors
4:32
that might work, Linus.
4:34
Look at this wonderful selection of Pentiums
4:37
and one Celeron.
4:39
So a lot of these are newer.
4:42
New Pentium, old Pentium.
4:45
Pretty le different.
4:47
Okay, here's what I think we have to do.
4:50
We have to order the cheapest one from Amazon.
4:52
That's true.
4:53
We have to stay true.
4:54
We have to, yeah.
4:55
To our video.
4:56
Stand strong.
4:57
Okay, so then there's gonna be some movie magic.
4:59
Yeah.
5:00
And we'll get back to this next week, I guess.
5:02
So this is attempt number two.
5:04
Wait, this is the old stuff.
5:06
Are we even using this anymore?
5:07
Yeah, no, we're not using that.
5:08
Put that away, I never wanna see it again.
5:10
This is also,
5:13
This is also,
5:15
This is also meant for a pre-built system.
5:17
Right.
5:17
But as you can see,
5:18
it's a little more of a normal layout motherboard
5:22
meant for, it's a regular micro ATX form factor.
5:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:27
It actually has front panel connector pins on it.
5:30
Yeah, which we can short.
5:31
Yeah, we're gonna have to guess at them a little bit,
5:33
but at least there's something to guess at.
5:35
Indeed.
5:37
Wow, even a PCI Express 16X slot this time.
5:41
Good job, Riley.
5:42
I did it, I did it.
5:43
You've still got- This is the same.
5:44
This is the graphics card of Doom here.
5:46
Same AMD Radeon 6350 with a DMS connector.
5:51
So we know what the connector's called now.
5:53
DMS 59.
5:54
DMS 59.
5:56
DMS gonna give it to you.
5:57
What?
5:58
Yeah, no.
5:59
This connector, curiously,
6:01
is one that's meant to drive two displays by default.
6:06
So that's why both adapters go from one DMS 59
6:11
and to two of the other thing.
6:13
Yeah. VGA.
6:14
VGA.
6:15
All digital interface.
6:16
Ooh.
6:16
Ooh.
6:17
Okay, what else did we change?
6:18
Okay, and the last one we got,
6:19
we changed was the RAM.
6:22
We have real DDR2 non-ECC RAM.
6:27
Cool.
6:28
That was the problem.
6:29
We had a server board.
6:30
It was only compatible with ECC RAM.
6:31
Also, this is DDR3.
6:32
You know this, right?
6:33
What?
6:34
What are you talking about?
6:36
I haven't written in the script DDR3, all right?
6:39
I've just-
6:40
Okay, so everything's here.
6:42
Yep.
6:43
Should we build it?
6:43
I hope we can.
6:44
I hope we can.
6:45
They fit in the holes.
6:48
It's like they were actually designed to fit together.
6:51
Pow.
6:52
Yeah.
6:53
Boom.
6:54
Pow.
6:55
Pow.
6:56
Yeah, dual channel, baby.
6:57
Four gigs of RAM.
6:58
Yep.
6:59
We paid $8 for four gigs last time.
7:01
Right.
7:02
And now we're up to-
7:03
18.
7:04
18.
7:05
So $10 more for DDR3.
7:06
So we paid an extra $13.
7:08
But for it to be compatible.
7:09
Plus the adapters, which I actually don't have in here.
7:12
Minor details.
7:13
But I think they were like $3.
7:14
Hey, okay.
7:15
It's kind of coming together now.
7:17
It looks like this might be a PC.
7:22
I mean, that's not a great indicator.
7:24
But it's on.
7:26
Which is farther than we got last time.
7:29
Sweet music.
7:30
Yeah, oh man.
7:30
I need like a piece of tape or something.
7:32
It's so annoying.
7:33
What, new RAM?
7:34
Yeah, it's worth a shot.
7:36
I honestly don't think it's RAM though.
7:38
Let's give it a shot.
7:39
This is pretty much our most compatible DDR3 RAM.
7:43
This RipJaws Z stuff.
7:47
Hey, everybody.
7:53
Okay, so I got a tray full of LGA.
7:57
I think they're LGA 775 Pentiums.
8:00
And-
8:01
Yeah, this one's not.
8:02
The $69 gaming PC.
8:05
Cause that, I think it had an E7500 in it.
8:09
But we'll see.
8:09
Oh.
8:10
Yeah.
8:11
Okay, sure.
8:12
Should we try it?
8:13
Let's, you know what?
8:14
That seems promising.
8:15
That is?
8:16
Yes.
8:17
That's an E7500.
8:18
Oh, well let's try that first.
8:20
Aha. Do we know that this one works?
8:21
It would.
8:23
That was what was originally in the $69 gaming PC.
8:26
Great.
8:27
I was there.
8:29
And I was there too.
8:31
All right.
8:36
I don't even have to put the heat sink on
8:37
to know if this worked any better.
8:40
Okay, can I have the RAM from $69 gaming PC too?
8:43
Let's just.
8:45
Eventually we just put all the components in here.
8:48
Samsung, Samsung quality here.
8:59
It's a different beep.
9:02
Why?
9:02
It's a different beep.
9:04
This is HP OEM memory.
9:07
Anthony checked it.
9:09
Anthony should have known better.
9:12
That's, I'm upset.
9:13
The memory you had Riley buy was HP memory.
9:17
No, no, no, no, no, no.
9:18
Okay, wait.
9:19
I don't want to get in.
9:21
OEM system builders you
9:24
in a couple of different ways.
9:26
Wait, what?
9:27
First, they you with their motherboard,
9:29
making it not compatible with other things.
9:31
Mm-hmm.
9:32
Then, they you with their motherboard, making it not compatible with other things. Then, they you with their motherboard, making it not compatible with other things. Mm-hmm.
9:34
upgrade components,
9:35
because they want you to buy their specific upgrade
9:39
compatible thing
9:41
to put in their system.
9:43
But then they you again,
9:45
when you try and buy their thing
9:47
and you put it in some other system.
9:48
So, every memory module has what's called an SPD chip.
9:52
And what that has is all the information
9:54
that the system needs about the memory.
9:57
And they can actually program it in such a way
10:00
that it's like,
10:01
Right.
10:02
oh.
10:03
some I was expecting.
10:08
Now I'm not saying that that was necessarily
10:10
what happened here because this board also spat out
10:12
that G.Skill memory.
10:13
So it could be the board us,
10:15
but it could also have been the memory us.
10:18
Either way.
10:19
Okay, so we're gonna put the E7500 aside for now.
10:23
We're gonna put your Car2Duo back in here
10:26
and see if that works.
10:33
I wanna put this RAM back in just to see.
10:38
Nope.
10:39
No.
10:40
You ready for a graphics card?
10:41
I am ready for this.
10:43
And did you, I mean, you must've known.
10:47
You must've known that this is what this video was.
10:50
Really?
10:51
You thought it would be smooth?
10:52
Smooth sailing?
10:54
Buy the cheapest thing.
10:55
You told me, go buy the cheapest thing
10:56
you can possibly find on Amazon.
10:58
And you thought it'd be hunky dory?
11:00
I honestly, what I kind of expected was for you
11:04
to buy the cheapest brand new things.
11:09
And I had meant the cheapest thing in a given category,
11:12
but like.
11:13
From 2018.
11:13
New.
11:14
Yeah, like in a box with a manual and an IO shield.
11:18
Well, we could do that.
11:19
That'd be a different video.
11:20
Yeah, yeah, we could.
11:21
Cheapest PC on Amazon.
11:24
Part two.
11:25
I swear it's less cringe this time.
11:39
Oh my God.
11:40
Hey, not bad.
11:43
Is it gonna make it all the way to the desktop?
11:45
Linus!
11:46
Tech tips.
11:48
Tech tips.
11:49
I am vindicated.
11:50
Welcome.
11:52
Welcome to a functioning PC.
11:54
Do we have gigabit LAN?
11:56
You can.
11:57
It is.
11:58
It's gigabit.
11:59
Oh man.
12:00
It's Broadcom net extreme gigabit.
12:02
That's the good kind.
12:03
It's extreme.
12:04
Extreme.
12:07
Okay, so the first thing we wanna know
12:09
is what exactly the crap graphics card this is.
12:13
I know what it is.
12:15
I have that information.
12:16
Look, he can actually look it up faster
12:18
than I can check in device manager
12:19
because of how slow this thing is.
12:21
It's a Radeon 6350.
12:23
Turns out this is actually a Radeon 5450.
12:26
So it might've been mislabeled on your listing there,
12:29
but that's what it shows up.
12:30
I've got swindled.
12:32
Get them.
12:33
Ha ha.
12:34
Nice dude.
12:35
At 95% SEMA.
12:38
Huh.
12:38
Okay.
12:39
Let's move on.
12:40
Let's move on.
12:41
Dota 2.
12:42
Dota 2 was what we really wanted here.
12:44
You know, we do this and figure stuff out
12:47
so you don't have to guys.
12:49
We save you from having to deal with eight frames per second.
12:51
In the loading screen.
12:54
You thought Anthem was bad.
12:58
It still is.
13:00
30 frames per second, 720p, second lowest settings.
13:04
I don't know.
13:05
There's three main characters on screen.
13:06
There's not that many.
13:07
There's not that much going on.
13:08
No, there's really not much going on.
13:09
But still like this is playable for a MOBA,
13:11
like 30 frames a second.
13:12
Yeah, with bots.
13:14
Offline, it's playable.
13:16
That's true.
13:17
Bump the settings down to lowest.
13:18
Can you do that in game?
13:20
Well, we're up to 50.
13:21
Wow, and it looks even worse somehow.
13:24
At the lowest settings and 720p.
13:27
Okay, let's try.
13:28
Rocket League.
13:29
Rocket League.
13:30
All right, 30 FPS.
13:31
Hey.
13:32
30 FPS in the menu.
13:34
Okay.
13:35
All right.
13:36
Okay.
13:37
Wow, it's like.
13:38
Wow, it looks really bad.
13:39
Oh, you better go 2v2 here, sir.
13:41
I might go.
13:43
Wait, where is it?
13:45
Bot difficulty.
13:46
Unfair 1v3.
13:47
Oh yeah?
13:48
Okay.
13:51
Oof.
13:52
You're getting 30 FPS though.
13:54
So I don't want to hear
13:55
any juices here, bud.
13:56
Oof.
13:58
My gosh.
13:59
This is like.
14:00
I feel like I'm on drugs right now.
14:04
Oh, no, no.
14:05
No, we're good.
14:06
We're good.
14:07
We're good.
14:07
We're good.
14:08
Good-ish.
14:09
Dude.
14:10
Good is all realistic.
14:12
This is really bad.
14:13
Can you beat three unfair bots?
14:15
I have.
14:23
This is a clinic, folks.
14:25
This is how it's done.
14:26
Look at this.
14:27
Look at this.
14:27
This is gonna score on the logo.
14:29
Oh, he put the car in the net.
14:32
All right, sports fans.
14:33
This is why we all watch the game.
14:35
Chipper, chipper.
14:38
So what we're discovering here is that
14:40
unless you're gonna meet a certain sort of threshold
14:45
for how much you're gonna spend,
14:46
there are certain components
14:48
that are expensive to buy standalone.
14:50
Like a case, just because of the logistics of the thing
14:54
is never gonna cost below a certain amount.
14:56
You gotta, you gotta ship it and stuff.
14:59
Whereas when you buy it as part of a bundle,
15:02
it might contribute very little of the value of the total.
15:05
And we're gonna have to get out of the box
15:07
and service the game to a certain extent.
15:09
But you just gotta be careful.
15:10
And if you're gonna use the right device,
15:12
you've got to be careful.
15:13
You might end up buying a full-time PC
15:16
as we saw with the $69 gaming PC.
15:19
So we stand by our previous recommendation
15:23
for low budget gamers.
15:24
Rather than trying to go on a retail site,
15:26
like Amazon, buy all the cheapest stuff,
15:28
slap it together and hope that you can get it working.
15:32
We'd really recommend doing what we did last time,
15:35
Cause this was $150, just all the parts by itself.
15:41
And that computer was 30 bucks plus 30 bucks
15:44
plus another 60 bucks for a GPU, 120 bucks altogether.
15:48
We got a good gaming experience.
15:49
That was a way better gaming experience.
15:51
Way better.
15:52
Terrible.
15:53
Yeah.
15:54
And for those of you out there being like Linus,
15:56
not everything is about gaming.
15:57
Trust me, it's terrible for everything else too.
16:00
So thanks for watching guys.
16:02
Really, thank you for watching.
16:04
Thank you for accompanying us
16:07
on this painful, painful journey.
16:09
But we had fun, didn't we?
16:10
Hey, I learned a lot.
16:11
We had fun.
16:12
If you guys dislike this video, you can hit that button.
16:14
But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed,
16:17
or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff
16:19
we featured at the link in the video description.
16:22
Also down there is our merch store,
16:23
which has cool shirts like this one
16:24
and our community forum, which you should totally join.
16:27
By the way, Anthony sent me an email,
16:29
said he was exonerated by an email that he found.
16:32
Oh, that's true.
16:33
Where apparently I signed off
16:34
on the memorabilia.
16:34
Yeah.
16:34
Yeah.
16:34
That's a good memory.
16:35
I confess, I never clicked the link.
16:37
Yeah.
16:37
And the listing for it did not specify
16:40
that it was HP system-specific RAM, so.
16:44
I'm exonerated too.
16:46
So everyone's exonerated.
16:47
Wow.
16:48
Except the Amazon seller that shipped us these.
16:52
Yeah, stay away from them.
16:53
Yeah, butt heads.