We Built the CHEAPEST PC on Newegg
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
1,657 words · ~8 min read
0:00
Ah, the mantra of the PC master race.
0:04
Build your own PC, they say.
0:07
It's cheaper than a pre-built, they say.
0:10
But just how cheaply can you build a completely new system?
0:14
And what compromises would you make if you were to do so?
0:18
To find out, we purchased this bag of potatoes.
0:24
Oh, and also we built this PC.
0:26
E.K. Waterblocks' all-aluminum fluid gaming lineup
0:40
offers great custom-grade water cooling performance for an affordable price.
0:45
Learn more at the link in the video description.
0:48
Okay, so the exact spec of the cheapest PC you can build
0:52
seems to vary a bit depending on the day that you're shopping for it.
0:57
And also just how ghetto fabulous you want to get.
1:00
But long story short, we ended up with something,
1:04
well, let's say usable.
1:06
For $151.99.
1:10
And to clarify the usable bit there,
1:14
we actually had managed to find a full system
1:17
with this single-core Intel Celeron 440
1:20
that would have been $1.51 cheaper,
1:24
but unfortunately, the Acer motherboard it was attached to
1:27
was a lot funkier than we at first thought.
1:31
And using it would have required some heavy case modification.
1:36
So we settled for this slightly more expensive combo.
1:40
A quad-core AMD A8 3870 and this ECS motherboard.
1:46
Now, even with the right standoffs,
1:49
assembly of this thing was nothing short of heroic.
1:53
We dodged, we spun, we rolled away from the sharp,
1:58
spiky insides of the Xion case that we picked up for 23 bucks.
2:04
I swear, around every
2:06
corner, there must have been a sharp piece of metal
2:09
just waiting for a finger to run across it.
2:12
Finally, though, still alive, but not entirely unscathed,
2:16
we fired our rig up and installed Windows 10.
2:20
And with it all assembled now,
2:22
had a chance to look at what it was that we'd created.
2:27
At which time, we promptly wished we hadn't.
2:30
Because the build quality of this thing is atrocious.
2:34
If this were the subject of an LTT review,
2:35
this would have been the first time we'd done this.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
So we had to do it again.
2:36
But as they continue our review,
2:37
it would probably go a little something like this.
2:40
All the materials of this product feel super cheap
2:43
because they are.
2:45
And the whole system is lighter than
2:47
some of the laptops we've reviewed recently.
2:51
At least I'll give them credit for this.
2:54
The outside of the case is mostly free of sharp edges,
2:59
but I still wouldn't recommend performing the ol'
3:00
reach around to plug something in in the dark
3:04
if you don't want to get bit by this here wild cat.
3:05
Arr!
3:07
Overall though in fairness the look of the case isn't that bad and it's not like it wouldn't be functional if you are on a
3:14
tight budget
3:15
Though the inclusion of a rear case fan for exhaust would have been a nice touch with that said
3:22
Arguably our 400 watt power supply does seem to take care of that job for the most part
3:29
probably because the Coolmax i400 runs its fan at full speed as
3:35
Often as you should be using a condom at a brothel, so that is
3:40
100% of the time in all seriousness though even at idle this system is
3:46
Uncomfortably loud due to that fan and at full load once the CPU fan joins the chorus
3:52
You'll actually probably be wishing for some ear muffs
3:55
The silver lining here at least is that with all that noise you do get some half decent thermals with both the CPU and
4:04
GPU
4:05
Leveling off at around 64 degrees
4:08
Spec wise though ha well you can forget about your favorite triple-a games because this thing
4:15
Barely scrapes by the minimum specs for Windows 10
4:19
I mean the CPU is actually half decent for 38 bucks
4:24
It's four cores at three gigahertz feel like they're being held back somewhat by the rest of the system so for productivity
4:32
This box works reasonably well
4:35
Well once all the extra visuals are disabled
4:38
Surfing the internet was serviceable and even full HD YouTube playback was nice and smooth at least until we ran out of RAM and
4:47
Since there's only two gigs of the stuff well you can expect to be hitting the page file every so often
4:53
just kidding always and
4:56
Oh man
4:58
Once you have to access the hard drive any resemblance of haste goes away
5:05
at only
5:06
5400 RPM the
5:09
160 gigabytes of storage is
5:12
Molasses slow like type in a search for one of the four blu-ray movies that you could fit on it
5:19
Then go make a cup of tea while you wait for the results
5:23
But come on who cares about hard drive performance. Let's answer the burning question on all of your minds can it
5:32
game I mean
5:34
The system does have dedicated graphics, so it should be able to write
5:40
Huh the dedicated I think in different graphics would probably be a better term since our GeForce
5:50
8440 GS doesn't give too cold shits about your framerate
5:55
coming in at
5:57
$19 it sports 256 megs of DDR to memory and with a
6:03
with a Dinosauric 460 megahertz core clock,
6:07
its 3DMark score is 36 times lower
6:14
than that of the lowly GTX 750 Ti.
6:18
That's right, not a GTX 1080 Ti,
6:22
but the 750 Ti, a card that costs only five times as much.
6:29
So, needless to say, in our tests,
6:32
we're going for playable rather than pretty.
6:38
Half-Life 2, then, at 720p, medium to lowish details,
6:43
actually not the worst gaming experience I've ever had,
6:47
though that's more of an endorsement
6:49
of Valve's excellent storytelling than this gaming PC.
6:54
And as for anything newer than 2010,
6:56
well, you can forget about that.
6:58
Even CSGO at 720p with the lowest settings
7:02
yields an absolutely unplayable 10 frames per second.
7:07
But wait, Crysis was released before 2010.
7:12
Can it, can it run Crysis?
7:16
Yes, yes it can.
7:18
At 800 by 600 and the lowest settings.
7:23
And it's actually somewhat playable, which is cool.
7:26
But we also wanted to bench our system
7:29
in such a way that you can compare it at home.
7:32
So we booted up 3DMark,
7:34
where only the Ice Storm benchmark for mobile devices
7:39
was able to run since everything else required
7:43
either a higher level of DirectX support or more VRAM.
7:49
Funny story, our GeForce 8440GS managed a score of 4,989,
7:56
which actually kind of sounded like a big number
7:59
until it got absolutely butt-wrecked.
8:02
By the 24,320 score recorded by the AMD integrated GPU
8:11
built in to our processor.
8:14
So I guess then that spending that $19
8:17
on some Mountain Dew and Doritos
8:20
would have had a bigger impact on the gaming experience.
8:25
So then with the GeForce 8440 ripped out,
8:29
actually the whole system got more usable in general.
8:32
We managed almost 60 FPS in CSGO at 720p low,
8:37
and GTA V, well, hey, it got the game to launch.
8:41
Which at this point, we consider a win,
8:44
even if it did only manage frame rates in the 20s,
8:47
among other issues.
8:49
So bottom line, would we recommend this system?
8:53
Absolutely not.
8:55
I mean, to be clear,
8:57
there's still a lot of fun to be had with it.
8:59
I mean, older titles like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4,
9:03
worked awesome.
9:04
But this is a lesson in smart spending.
9:09
Even if you're on a super tight budget,
9:11
the cheapest thing on the market
9:13
is almost never a good value.
9:17
So our previous guidance still stands.
9:20
Below a certain price point,
9:22
you really are actually better off with a pre-built
9:26
or going further down, used hardware.
9:30
No matter how many crack pipes you might find in it,
9:32
is pretty much the way to go.
9:37
Blue Apron lets you create delicious,
9:40
chef designed meals at home.
9:43
They deliver all the farm fresh ingredients you need,
9:45
right to your doorstep in exactly the right proportions.
9:49
No trips to the grocery store,
9:51
no waste from unused ingredients.
9:53
And because they're shipped in a refrigerated box,
9:57
the ingredients stay fresh,
9:58
even if you're not at home when your package arrives.
10:01
Their whole vision is to develop a more sustainable,
10:02
sustainable food system through sustainable fishing,
10:05
responsible farming and reducing food waste.
10:09
So they source their ingredients from quality suppliers
10:12
and they offer two types of plans,
10:14
the two person plan and the family plan.
10:16
There's no commitment.
10:17
You can skip or cancel at any time.
10:18
And each meal is between 500 to 800 calories per person
10:22
and is able to be prepared in 40 minutes or less.
10:26
They're always adding new dishes every week.
10:28
So there's tons of variety.
10:29
So stop making the same old dishes,
10:32
because the first 100 people will get three free meals
10:36
on their first Blue Apron order
10:37
by using the link in the video description.
10:41
So thanks for watching you guys.
10:42
I hope you enjoyed this video.
10:44
If you didn't, well, you know where that button is,
10:46
but if you did like it, hit the like button, get subscribed,
10:49
and maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff
10:51
we've featured at the link in the video description.
10:54
Also down there, we're gonna have a link to our merch store,
10:56
which has cool shirts like this one,
10:58
as well as our community forum,
11:00
which you should totally join.