I Bought a £50 eBay Gaming PC

[@andystech101]

Just noticed on watching back that the CPU never pulled more than 20w! Any ideas? Or is the board just reading faulty?

[@Midori_Ringo]

Pretty sure that 20w reading is wrong. 20w idle? Yeah that's reasonable for a CPU of this era. 20w at 70-80%+ load on a 84w TDP CPU? No chance that's correct. The platform itself isn't too bad though replace with a i7 4770 or 4790, cheap 120mm Heatsink, another 8 gb of Ram + RX 580 or 1060 6gb and you're playing most modern AAA titles with FSR for not a lot of money with mostly second hand parts. Also just as a sidenote, it didn't look like your i5 - 4460 ever hit it's boost clock of 3.4ghz. (it's not much but it helps) so check BIOS settings.

[@andystech101]

Yeah I’m guessing it’s a faulty reading off the mother board as yes it should be at least 60w+! Might try a bios update to see if it fixes it or just leave it… No it never boosted under load really but it’s been replaced for a E3 1240v3 £12.50 well spent.

[@Midori_Ringo]

@@andystech101 Shouldn't have to. Check your power setting in BIOS and also check power settings in Windows - if it's in eco mode or balanced it probably won't hit boost, should be at performance mode. This will affect your new cpu too. I can't remember if boards of this era had the modern easy way of updating BIOS or the old way with a possibility of unrecoverable bricking potential.

[@AlfaPro1337]

Haswell has a FIVR (fully integrated voltage regulator), that means the VRM that you usually see on the motherboard is moved to the CPU silicon itself. This attribute to the increase heat output, and likely why it's 'sipping' power--because there's voltage and heat wasted (the close to the 'core', the better). Just like how IF has a huge bottlenecking when compared to monolithic die. I remember some old PSU being mentioned to be 'incompatible' with Haswell, as when the chip went too low wattage due to system in idle, the PSU 'trips' thinking it's off. Then again H81 is pretty basic chipset, try using a H87 or Z87 chipset.

[@Midori_Ringo]

@@AlfaPro1337 The power issue only affected sleep states. So all ATX Psu's were compatible with Haswell they just don't do the C7 states so they shut off. Complete non-issue. In any event that PSU released well after Haswell released and was Haswell compatible so it's irrelevant. Thermal throttling is a non issue - just look at the reported temps, top left 1st line. 40-50c. If you doubt the software reporting you'd also definitely hear it especially on stock cooling as the CPU fan would ramp up like a jet trying to take off. A 92 mm fan at 2500-3000 rpm is stupidly loud. CC didn't make any mention of this. The fact you can hear the dog walking around being picked up ever so slightly by the mic but no fan whine tells me the CPU is well within operating temps.

[@Timmy51m]

It's the same as my old Bitfenix Prodigy itx case inside, so I assume it's a Bitfenix case. You can't go wrong for £50 can you, £20 will got you an i7 4790 from CEX, 16gb ddr3 cheap as chips. Excellent retro rig.

[@andystech101]

Exactly what I’ve done, added the Xeon, cheap Ali express wifi card and an 8GB stick to make 16GB. Think I’m about another £22 in now. Ohw plus a 1TB HDD I had around. Get asked a lot at the moment for sub £200 systems for Roblox so it fits the bill and should double my money for other projects.

[@konstantine_c]

That's an amazing PC for 50 GBP! Would be nice to see a quick update video to show how much better it performs with that Xenon processor you mentioned as well as 16GB RAM in dual channel. And maybe then trying out a different GPU to see how much extra difference that makes.

[@andystech101]

Maybe we can do a quick one! I’d love to have to time to get more out and I’m trying to cut things down so I can! I may do a review on the E3 1240v3 Xeon as I’m interested in its full potential going forward! Not much but it’s probably enough to keep up with a 1660Ti/2060.

[@bauer9101]

This will play 90% of my steam library just fine. Haswell and Maxwell still slugging away.

[@andystech101]

No such thing as a bad gaming pc just a bad use case 💪🏼

[@MrSamadolfo]

😊 you be surprised how many games still are playable at the lowest settings even further back with a Core2Quad or i7-870

[@DestelloTech]

Back in the good old days where Chillblast didn't bother charging to install Chrome 😂. Great video as always mate.

[@andystech101]

Haha! Yes shame on them…

[@StopItGCC]

Was recommended this channel on yt. Nice chill stuff. I like it. Keep at it!

[@andystech101]

Cheers really appreciate the comment and glad you like the channel 🙏🏼

[@grimmpickins2559]

Glad to see you back, Andy!

[@andystech101]

Thanks and much appreciated 🙏🏼

[@AndyLayman]

Perfect video to wind down my workday, thanks for uploading! Glad to see a fellow Andy back again 💪

[@andystech101]

Thanks and glad to be of service to a fellow Andy 🙏🏼

[@ZeRDTechGaming]

I just love these PCs; they're capable of playing many games, especially for under $100.

[@andystech101]

100% agreed! It’s much more fun than more expensive stuff.

[@voteDC]

I have an Aero Cool Integrator 750w semi-modular PSU that I bought at the end of 2018. According to the tier lists out there it is little better than a IED. Yet it has powered three generations of my gaming PC with the current one being a Ryzen 5 5600X, 32GB of DDR4 3600MHz, and a RTX 3060 12GB, two NVMes and three hard drives. I suspect the people who make these tier lists have never actually used the components they rate.

[@andystech101]

No I don’t pay attention to the tier list and I don’t think it’s anywhere near a real world ranking! Generally I go with my gut/feedback/trail and error! Corsair I’ve had the most problems with and they’re supposed to be a top brand… generally any £30/£40 PSU is going to be some sort of IED but I think budget goes over most reviewers heads as I don’t have £100+ to spend on a PSU haha

[@voteDC]

@@andystech101 Same here. KZbinrs tend to rag on Kingston as a budget RAM brand for example but they've always been the most reliable in my experience.

[@Midori_Ringo]

It depends what aerocool you got - the high end is very well regarded. The low end - not so much. The more reputable tier list have testing methdology and if you have a basic understanding of how voltages work and what they're testing for you will understand why some are not so good. Stuff like voltage ripple, voltage noise, soft/hard switching etc etc. The smaller components get - we're at 5nm CPU's now - the more sensitive they become to voltage issues. The reason your PSU scored so lowly was the internal components - capacitors/FETs are from a manufacturer that is very hit or miss. We're taking about miniscule differences like .5% failure rate vs 3% failure rate or 5% variation in voltage vs .05% . It's not much but on a grading scale it's a lot. As for your RAM comment - understand the purpose of the channels you are watching - they're not after stock standard stability - they're after overclock potential, high frequencies and fast timings etc on top of stability. That's where they fall down. It's not that they're bad, it's that they typically when they do the l33t gaming tests, they don't perform well in the standard test benches for those. Kingston is a reliable brand - majority of office PCs will use them, they just fall down at the performance sector (other than the Hyper X stuff) where 99% of tech youtubers are making content for. The Kingston Hyper X range is well regarded in the high performance sector. The Kingston Value range is not recommended in the performance sector.

[@DuneRunnerEnterprises]

Upgrade it to the max, with 4790,watercool it,add 1660 (any kind).

[@andystech101]

I’ll poll it 💪🏼

[@DuneRunnerEnterprises]

@@andystech101 Ok,roll with it!!

[@TrusteftTech]

Here I am with my GTX 860M, hearing you talk about this as a potato system! lol Fair enough. Yeah I think the extra RAM could help a lot with the 1% lows in some games. Regarding suggesting a Xeon CPU, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be a better purchase. Xeon CPUs (that I know of) lack an iGPU. That can hurt under certain circumstances, especially when talking about older hardware which are pushed to the limit today. The iGPU can take a load off the rest of the system at some times, which can be very useful when the PC is struggling to cope with whatever you are doing. Just putting that out there. I am sorry for your loss. That always sucks. I wish I have some comforting thing to say. I haven't found a way to not think about these things yet, so....good luck and stand strong. I have to say, that PC case...looks interesting. I like how the motherboard is parallel to the desk and that it has space for optical and FDD. Thanks for the video. Keep up the good work.

[@andystech101]

To be fair I have a lot more fun playing on these over my main system. Just a challenge to see what playable titles you can get out of them! If I’m board I’m usually playing old totalwar titles which run on anything. Honestly the Xeon’s are night and day Fortnite when up to 123 / 68 / 15 over 92 / 1 / 1! £12.50 well spent and i won’t get it coming back at me for the dreaded stutters 😅 Im tempted to recase this and turn/cut the case to make a second test bench for pre build testing! Only trouble is it’s mATX. Still cool though! Would be fun to put a 12900k and AIO in for a laugh Cheers and will do 🙏🏼

[@AlexHusTech]

Nice little build for the price, hopefully can get 150ish after putting it up for 200ish.

[@andystech101]

Cheers and not bad for an eBay job! £150 is what it’s going up for with the Xeon and 16GB ram. You can buy a lot worse.

[@MrSamadolfo]

🤠What a Coincidence? I bought an ASUS Strix GTX 970 way back in 2020, today Im repasting it and gonna test it out, it has one bad fan so if the card tests OK then I'll order a fan for it. I plan on pairing it with my new old retro gaming pc build that I put together: Asus P55 and an i7-870. My card has a single 8Pin. Ive been looking at some benchmarks and I recommend that you have 16GB of System Ram, because some of the games will need more than 4GB of Vram so what Im seeing from the benchmarks is that the card will borrow 1GB of System Ram to help compensate for the lack of vram. If your playing older low spec and older mid spec video games this is all you need. I think its a good beater card thats cheap enough now so you can throw it into any old beater computer and start playing games, or as a backup, or for a ultra low budget potato gaming build that you can gift for Christmas to a Kid. The power supply looks like it doesnt have to be too strong because i see the card is only pulling around 120 watts which is not bad at all, of course you can always cap the fps to 30, and lower the graphics settings, and that will lower the watts even more. Theres a ton of cards around this cluster on the GPU TIER LIST / CHART if you just need something cheap but still stronger than bus powered cards. The older RX Cards are still getting security updates if thats important to you. And you can go over to amernime zone and they have modded updated drivers all the way back to HD 7750. I like bus powered cards too so pick up some of those too from both radeon and invidia. Happy Halloween Everyone 🎃😊👻

[@andystech101]

I do love the 1st core Intel series! Unlocked out the box and even overclockable on budgets motherboards ! Ram as well will run at 1866 quite happily! 16GB is a must these days and DDR3 is so cheap! Yes your system will start to dump its lack of vram into system ram but it’s not a great option, really just a if you have to kind of thing! I also don’t mind capping games! I’m the PS1 generation and 20/25 fps was the norm!

[@pete8475]

1:50 - "stingle"

[@andystech101]

I’m dyslexic so you’ll have to just roll with it 🙏🏼

[@jonathanparker123]

Another video! I had nothing to watch, thanks alot lol

[@andystech101]

12 minutes you’ll never get back 😅

[@RobertFixit]

Ironically these specs are very close to my personal rig, and I just upgraded 😂😂😂 Did you just say CyberPunk and budget gaming in the same sentence?

[@andystech101]

I love Cyberpunk as it’s forgivingly brutal all at the same time haha! Nothing wrong with Haswell mate even in 2024. I ran a Dell 3020 for a few years before going to a 5600G when I started the channel it’s just been down hill since then haha! Still got the Dell though 💪🏼

[@Playtrack22]

That pc should be retro emulator project.

[@andystech101]

Like your thinking!

[@danielgoodrum1991]

And heres me struggling to sell a dell precision t1700 mid tower, with xeon 1225 v3, 16gb crucial ballistix 1600mhz ddr3 ram 500gb hdd with windows 10 on just to be seen working and a 1tb hdd for £50 working pc with potential uk based aswell

[@refurbs1971]

Thats a nice little case for 10 year-old not too big, i think you should have added the ram and put I bought a £50 ebay Gaming PC for £55, Ha ha

[@andystech101]

I could have cheated haha I’ve got draws of the stuff! May do a quick follow up just to see what it does with the Xeon and 16GB! Maybe overclock the balls off the 960 but Zotac cards have a habit of blowing up on me….

[@refurbs1971]

@@andystech101 Ha Ha yes, that would be good, ye iv had a load of 'broken' Zotc cards in the past and XFX Ghost, may be the single fan, but the interwebs was flooded with HD7850/70 XFX Ghosts

[@SlimePlayz_Blue]

Hi

[@andystech101]

👋🏼