Want to help specify a Neowin Cheap Gaming Computer Build for $300?

[DevTech]

Want to help specify a Neowin Cheap Gaming Computer Build for $300?

 

A couple of days ago somebody posted a question here about a cheap gaming build for a friend and of course needed a GPU

 

I took the time to provide a technically complete answer and then they deleted the thread! Shame on you, whoever you are, because it's not just about YOU, every thread is indexed by Google and can HELP THE WORLD!

 

So, it seems to me that outside the FIRST WORLD and also many places in the developed countries, maybe for a kid on your street, maybe for a deserving relative, a PC Gaming Computer similar in price to a console would have a lot of value to many people.

 

Perhaps something a little larger that @warwagon new baby:

 

 

Plus a gaming GPU with a lot of value such as a GTX 770

 

Plus a decent 500 Watt PSU?

 

Plus a small SSD boot drive?

 

Can we do this for $300 with used or new  components that are easy to get?

 

Reference:

 

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trag3dy]

I don't know... at that price point I feel like you're better off just getting a console which will be capable of 4k, depending on the game and of course your tv.

 

Sure you can do it but I don't think anyone who plays games often will enjoy it very much. And does that $300 include a monitor and peripherals?

 

JayzTwoCents recently made a budget gaming build video with a budget of $500, which I think is the absolute minimum you'll want to spend on a "gaming" pc:

 

 

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, trag3dy said:

I don't know... at that price point I feel like you're better off just getting a console which will be capable of 4k, depending on the game and of course your tv.

 

Sure you can do it but I don't think anyone who plays games often will enjoy it very much. And does that $300 include a monitor and peripherals?

 

JayzTwoCents recently made a budget gaming build video with a budget of $500, which I think is the absolute minimum you'll want to spend on a "gaming" pc:

 

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

My vague fuzzy thinking on the concept was that there are some great games a few years old and also a certain number of new ones that play excellently on a GTX 770 for less than a $100 - So can the rest of it be just $200??

 

1. $300 just seemed like a low enough number that people could collect money and donate the assembled PC for their community etc.

 

2. Lots of struggling folks in developed countries, maybe just down the street somewhere...

 

3. Lots of struggling countries out there with bright young minds

 

4. Unlike a console, a PC can be used for school, and for working parents to learn new skills, like graphics and Spreadsheets etc.

 

5. There are tons of old PCs with crap integrated graphics, but the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse would be workable.

 

6. The "Solid Gaming" part of it would attract people that might otherwise be allergic to school Chromebook crap or One Laptop Per Child project by owning a valid mainstream very functional Personal Empowering Computing Device.

 

 

If the concept makes any sense at all, there will be a price point that makes it or breaks it as a viable "movement" but I don't know what it might be... $500 seems a bit high, but I just picked $300 because I can't imagine getting below that number...

 

[trag3dy]

I suppose a different way to look at it would be a budget pc that can also play some games. And even then it's not going to do it well.  You'll be stuck with low settings and low resolution, and even worse, low fps. If you're fine with all of that then anything is possible.

 

And to do this you'll most likely be using used parts, which will come with a questionable lifespan.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

 

 

Another $300 build from 4 months ago.

40-50 fps in Overwatch....

 

 

[DevTech]

6 hours ago, Eternal Tempest said:

 

 

Another $300 build from 4 months ago.

40-50 fps in Overwatch....

 

 

 

Thanks for joining in!

 

First one:

https://youtu.be/aZP1RlW9eYk

 

 

 

i5 2400 - https://ebay.to/2H767k8

1155 Motherboard - https://ebay.to/2IYkJnz

8gb DDR3 - https://ebay.to/2VN5DTC

RX 580 - https://ebay.to/2NQdAEL

120gb SSD - https://ebay.to/2SNOqHL

400w PSU - https://ebay.to/2Hj3nPM

Gamdias Talos E1 - https://bit.ly/2VRDbjB

 

 

 

Second:

https://youtu.be/4Ams-x7iYQY

 

 

AMD Athlon 200GE APU on Amazon:http://austin.tech/athlon200ge

Gigabyte A320M-S2H motherboard on Amazon: http://austin.tech/a320ms2h

8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 RAM on Amazon: http://austin.tech/8gb2666

128GB ADATA SU800 SSD on Amazon: http://austin.tech/adatassd

450W EVGA Bronze PSU on Amazon: http://austin.tech/evga450w

Rosewill SRM-01 PC case on Amazon: http://austin.tech/srm01

 

 

---------------------------------------

 

In the first one, I like the usage of used components from eBay to get more value

 

It has a stand-alone GPU

 

I think it might be possible to work with a Dell or HP or Lenovo off-lease/refurb with Windows COA and a i7-2XXX or i7-3XXX as a possible standard platform...

 

Most of those units were business models with Windows Pro and just need a GPU card and SSD and hopefully not a PSU

 

The mini or micro tower models have room for a GPU but often not the super-slim desktop units which were more common.

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

5 minutes ago, DevTech said:

In the first one, I like the usage of used components from eBay to get more value

Yeah, but you don't get the 1-5 year warranty...

[DevTech]

22 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Yeah, but you don't get the 1-5 year warranty...

The objective is challenging and there WILL BE trade-offs galore at $300

 

You won't get a Windows license on a new build, but you can easily get a Windows Pro license on the old business surplus units.

 

For $300, the other option is Linux, and Gaming on Linux is a shotgun splattershot of what works and what mostly, mainly does not... but even there it's just another trade-off to optimize maybe since the $300 Windows unit won't run everything either.

 

But also, hey, just not feeling integrated GPU for any of the scenarios - defeats the actual objective of this exercise and there are plenty of junk computers out there that this project would replace by just using the old monitors and keyboard.

 

I'm thinking that if enough people contribute ideas here we can make a complete BLUEPRINT document listing all the options for every component, how to assemble it, how to configure it etc and make it available for community workers etc to promote PC Empowerment Everywhere.

 

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

33 minutes ago, DevTech said:

For $300, the other option is Linux, and Gaming on Linux is a shotgun splattershot of what works and what mostly, mainly does not... but even there it's just another trade-off to optimize maybe since the $300 Windows unit won't run everything either.

Actually, I have to disagree with you on that part... Steam has most of it's games ported to Linux. YES, not ALL games work, but a good portion ARE.

 

And gaming on Linux isn't actually bad for gaming. You ever watch LinusTechTips?

 

 

[DevTech]

7 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

Actually, I have to disagree with you on that part... Steam has most of it's games ported to Linux. YES, not ALL games work, but a good portion ARE.

 

And gaming on Linux isn't actually bad for gaming. You ever watch LinusTechTips?

 

 

Sadly, I don't have time for the insanely slow information transfer speed of Video. I read. It is super fast. Most of those YouTube Yokels couldn't even be bothered to type up a blog article with the same content so that their ideas could be quickly and critically examined without wasting a chunk of my life looking at their stupid faces yammering on. So the answer is no, I avoid Youtube. Like with the Million Monkey theory, there might be pockets of well constructed Youtube information, but Life Is Too Short!

 

For a $300 computer, it is all various trade-offs as I said so there is no disagreement.

 

If this thread keeps building up insight and information over the next days, weeks, months etc then if we proceed with a Blueprint document, Linux is the obvious choice for any new hardware config paths to save the Windows license fee which is not practical at the $300 level.

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

17 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Sadly, I don't have time for the insanely slow information transfer speed of Video. I read. It is super fast. Most of those YouTube Yokels couldn't even be bothered to type up a blog article with the same content so that their ideas could be quickly and critically examined without wasting a chunk of my life looking at their stupid faces yammering on. So the answer is no, I avoid Youtube. Like with the Million Monkey theory, there might be pockets of well constructed Youtube information, but Life Is Too Short!

I don't blame you, but it is NOT just some jackarses talking about wth they "think" they know. There are some GOOD people I watch for information on SBC boards. It is VERY interesting. If you don't like watching it, fine..

 

21 minutes ago, DevTech said:

For a $300 computer, it is all various trade-offs as I said so there is no disagreement.

When was I disagreeing? LOL...

[DevTech]

51 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Actually, I have to disagree with you on that part... Steam has most of it's games ported to Linux.

 

29 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

When was I disagreeing? LOL...

Um... the part where you said "I have to disagree"

 

But since the topic has come up...

 

There are 111,572 games on Steam:

 

https://steamdb.info

 

And 2,000 of them run on Linux:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_gaming

 

Which means that your definition of the word "most" is in disagreement with the Wide World of Math (WWM)

 

So, Donald Trump, stood in front of the United Nations General Assembly and said he had accomplished the "most" of any American President and the countries of the world burst out in laughter. Trump paused, and said "I wasn't expecting that"

 

So, it turns out that the word "most" is rather tricky and perhaps should be retired.

 

In Trump's case, instead of "most", he meant to say "he had accomplished a total mockery of being a President"

 

In your case, maybe you meant to say, "Steam might have barely scratched the surface of porting games to Linux but they will keep trying to support that significant 0.77 % of their customers!"

 

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

 

Windows: 96.12 %

 

Mac:            3.11 %

 

Linux:          0.77 %

 

 

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

7 hours ago, DevTech said:

<snip>

Wasn't there a Linux program that can use Windows games?

[trag3dy]

8 hours ago, DevTech said:

There are 111,572 games on Steam:

That figure includes dlc, expansions, and other non-gaming related software such as wallpaper engine. FYI.

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, trag3dy said:

That figure includes dlc, expansions, and other non-gaming related software such as wallpaper engine. FYI.

Isn't the 346,115 number showing the sum total of those things you mention?

 

https://steamdb.info

 

 

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

Wasn't there a Linux program that can use Windows games?

Well it doesn't really matter what tangent this thread veers off into as long as people want to discuss whatever is on their minds....

 

But, if over time the thread escapes the usual Neowin fate of just dying and a body of suggestions and knowledge builds up on this subject, then I would hypothesize that some hypothetical document that shows a Linux based $300 PC, would have included in it a useful list of games that are confirmed to work... so we would definitely do that and find out exactly what would be runnable on both the software and hardware...

 

[Daniel F. Administrators]

for good info on "extreme budget gaming" try  video from Tech Yes City (personally recommended) 

 

 

 

 

Looking for 2mins on ebay....

 

here

 

Hard Drive Capacity:250GB

Processor Type: i5

Memory : 8GB

Screen Size: 17"

Operating System: Windows 10

 

£169.99

 

Here

 

ASUS GeForce GTX 1050 Ti DirectX 12 DUAL-GTX1050TI-O4G 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5

 

£51.33

 

Total: £220.33

 

Leaving some money left for games or pizza

[DevTech]

8 hours ago, Daniel F. said:

Looking for 2mins on ebay....

Of course anybody here can do that! Although, technically proficient people are NOT likely to be aiming at a super budget gaming computer!

 

The basic  idea which I guess I communicated poorly is to "hand hold" via documentations and links to supply sites etc, a standardized "no fail" config (that is still adaptable by some sort of no fail "if-then-else" formula to whatever used components "should" be easily available) so that NON TECH people, very young people, disadvantaged countries and communities, etc can put together a DECENT COMPUTER instead of the JUNK that you always find in those situations....

 

i.e. broadcast the collective knowledge in these forums to help less knowledgeable and less fortunate people out there...

 

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Here is mine (not that I would buy this ... just was browsing NewEgg and decided to play ...

 

A refurb Dell OptiPlex w/ an i3-3220 for $104

A refurb Asus 1060 for $119

An eVGA 400w PSU to replace the 275W Dell PSU for $25 (after rebate)

A Mushkin 250GB SSD for $33

 

$19 left over ... might be able to get a cheap keyboard/mouse combo or two more 2GB memory sticks (to bring system memory up to 8GB).