- Hey guys, this is Austin.
Today, we're going to find out
how not to buy yourself a gaming PC.
After years of doing custom builds
I have one question.
Is it possible to get a decent gaming PC
from a big-box store?
This is an area we've checked out before.
A few months ago, we picked up
a $750 pre-built system from CyberPower
that actually wasn't bad.
But this time, we wanted to step up the challenge.
What would happen when we walk into a store
with $600 and asked to see what they have?
- Um, so I'm kind of looking for a, like,
gaming PC for around $600.
- This is Ken. He usually lives behind the camera,
but today he has a mission.
- Immediately, the salesman offers him a $750 CyberPower PC.
You know, the one we just did a video on,
and definitely not inside the $600 budget.
Soon, however, another option comes up.
- Oh that's, that's really good.
People must really like it.
Okay.
- Oh wow. Okay.
Do you mind if I call my dad first?
- Sure - Cool.
Dad, AMD FX-4300, eight gigs of RAM,
one terabyte, 7200 RPM hard drive, RX 460
- $450?
- $450.
- That's not crazy for $450, but it's not really good.
- Dad doesn't approve.
Okay, let's uh, I guess we'll keep looking then.
See if he was my real dad he'd get me a GTX 1080 Ti.
Do you want anything?
- One Starbucks excursion later,
Ken was on to another big-box PC store
where the halls were filled with promise.
Well, if you looked hard enough at least.
- Oh really.
- Oh well yeah, I'd imagine.
Let me actually call my dad first.
Core i3-6100T
8 gigs of RAM,
1 terabyte hard drive, GTX 750 Ti.
- 750 Ti?
- Yeah, for $449.
- That is really old system. 750Ti is like
three generations old.
- That's what I thought.
- See that's not crazy terrible for $450,
it's not going to be very good though.
- Are there any other alternatives?
- Yeah so, originally it was $700,
and I think he's going to take off like
30 or 40 bucks because it's a floor model.
So the graphics card is basically worth
more than half of the price of this computer.
I'm like, that's actually not a bad deal.
- All right, that actually doesn't look bad.
So, HP Pavilion, you can see the Core i5 sticker,
- Yep. - What's the deal?
- So, this is an HP Pavilion something
something something something.
- (laughs) Sounds about right.
- A really long name.
It has a Core i5, RX 480.
- 480, okay.
- Eight gigabytes of RAM. - Alright.
- It has a 1 terabyte hard drive,
with a 128 gig M.2 SSD. - Oooh.
Okay. So how much was this?
- It was $664.
- That seems like a pretty good deal.
So you said it's a 480, it's a Core i5.
Is that Skylake, is that Kaby Lake?
- Is that older? - Uh, 6400?
- So Skylake. Okay. - Skylake, yeah.
- So it's a little bit of an older system.
Probably like a 2016.
Why did you get a floor unit?
- Because this was the only one that they had left.
Because everyone, apparently, that was looking for--
- Oh, cryptominers.
- Yeah.
Everyone that was looking for those cards
just swiped the computers for the cards.
Probably just sold everything else.
- This is a very small 480, it also has no branding on it,
so I wonder who actually made the card.
A 300 watt power supply!
Well it's an 80PLUS bronze unit.
300 watts actually is, that's really low for a 480.
Um, I bet it probably just barely works.
Oh dude, there's a card reader and USB-C up front?
- Wait, USB-C? - Yeah, right there.
- Oh wow, I did not even see that, wow.
- For like $660 this seems like a pretty good deal,
I mean you've got wifi, you've got an SSD,
you've got a solid graphics card.
Congratulations, you successfully defeated
the big-box stores.
But, I actually want to see what we
can actually do with this.
I bet it's actually going to be pretty good at gaming.
First test will be Rocket League.
And I have a good feeling about this.
So right now, yeah, we're at
122 frames per second on high at 1080.
So what were you expecting when you went
into (bleep) and, er sorry, (clears throat)
Uh, random PC part retailer,
what were you actually expecting?
- Um, to get scammed?
- Next we have Dirt 4.
Now this is another game that's fairly new,
but I think the 480 should be able
to handle it pretty well.
Um, when you look at a system like this
for about like $650, what you're getting here
is something that you really should be able
to play at 1080 on high with most games.
- Right.
To be fair, all those stores that we visited
had options that were just really overpriced,
that were basically like that,
like we're talking, $1,000 for like a 1060
- And you obviously want to avoid that kind of stuff, right.
I think the mid-range is a little
bit more of the sweet spot, of when you're buying something
that's pre-built, it can actually sometimes
make a little bit of sense,
as I go flying off into the woods. (laughs)
So next we have Battlegrounds, and since Ken
is way better at this game than I am,
why don't you take it away?
- Yep.
- What settings can we actually play on?
- Let's find out.
- Because Battlegrounds, I know it's been getting better
with optimization, but it still
does not run very well.
- No, it's pretty awful on like a lot of systems.
- Well it's defaulting to 1080 high,
that's not bad.
- I mean, we can see how it plays first.
- It's a little bit loud.
But then again, I mean,
it's a fairly powerful graphics card in what is not
a super well-ventilated case, so.
- Yeah
- This is actually running really well though.
Again, 1080p high, we're getting 50-60 frames
which on PUBG, I think is actually not bad.
- Not crazy.
- Ken, Ken! - No, ah, dammit.
- He didn't even see you, what was that?
(Ken laughs)
- All right, so Ken, what is your conclusion here
with this whole experience of trying
to actually get a decent pre-built gaming PC?
- The deals exist.
Keep your eyes peeled.
That's really what it comes down to.
- (laughs) Such great advice.
Just pay attention, and life will be okay.
- Hey look, there are a lot of people
that will egg on you for getting a pre-built PC
when sometimes, maybe it is the better deal.
- This is a good deal. You did a good job.
I know you had to shop around a little bit,
you had to argue with some salespeople,
but you're able to get a system that honestly
is a better deal than what you could actually,
could get on your own.
So I ran the numbers on this,
and if you tried to build this system today,
now mind you it would be a little bit nicer,
with a Kaby Lake i5, and an RX 580,
but it's going to cost you around $870.
Now mind you, that 580 is way overinflated in price,
but even once you cut that down,
you get rid of some stuff like the DVD drive,
and the wifi, you're still looking at something
that's going to cost you over $700,
which is more than what you paid for this.
So, what do you guys think about how Ken did
with the pre-built gaming PC?
Honestly, I think you actually did
a lot better than I was expecting.
So. - Thanks, dad.
- Anyway, let us know that you think in the comments below,
and we will catch you on the next one.
Well, maybe I'll catch you in the next one.
Ken will probably be behind the camera,
like usual, but, you know.
- The way it should be
(Austin laughs)