The well-known YouTuber Austin Evans looked around for the cheapest gaming PCs on Amazon and bought them. But the two devices don’t really convince him.
The YouTuber Austin Evans (4.3 million subscribers), along with Linus Tech Tips, is one of the best-known tech YouTubers currently on the go. On his channel, Austin tests crazy hardware or buys computers and examines them with a lot of expertise and humor.
In his video, he has now selected the cheapest gaming PCs on Amazon.
- One is a $ 450 PC made by Allied.
- The other is a $ 399 refurbished Dell PC.
In theory, both offer reasonable performance. But how does it look in practice? Austin Evans has taken on the two systems and explains in his video what he thinks of the hardware.
We have embedded the entire video of Austin in this article. Here you can watch him himself how he deals with the gaming PCs:
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$ 450 Gaming PCs – Too much money for cheap hardware
This is in the computers: Austin takes the PCs apart and see what they’re made of. Here we give you a brief overview of what hardware is in the two computers:
| 450-Dollar-PC “Allied“ | 399-Dollar-PC „Dell |
|---|---|
| 550 watt power supply, Allied | 290 watt power supply Dell |
| AMD Athlon 3000G | Intel Core i5 4570 |
| Vega 3 Graphics (integrated graphics card) | Nvidia GT 1030 (separate graphics card) |
| 8 GB of RAM | 16 GB of RAM |
| 240 GB SSD | 128 GB SSD + 500 GB HDD |
This is what the $ 450 PC looks like: Inside, the manufacturer relies on an in-house power supply, which Austin doesn’t really convince at first glance. This is also due to the performance offered. A USB port on the mainboard was not connected. Instead of a manual, there is only a thank you letter from the manufacturer.
In addition, the computer does not start smoothly at first. Only after a BIOS update and new drivers does the device start as it should.
Out of interest, Austin is now checking how much he would have to put on the table for the components at Amazon. He is surprised to find that he would have to pay 288 US dollars to build it himself. The manufacturer Allied is asking for a mere 450 US dollars.
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This is what the $ 399 PC looks like: The housing is functional and dispenses with RGB lighting. Inside is a decent and, above all, efficient power supply unit with 290 watts, which, according to Austin, “will last for years longer than the super-cheap part from the other PC.” because the Intel processor does not have an integrated graphics unit like the Athlon.
Austin states, “I’m not sure it’s worth the $ 400, but at first glance I like what I see a lot better than what I saw in the other PC.”
Incidentally, there are no start-up problems here, as with the other PC, the Dell computer starts without any problems.
What is refurbished? Incidentally, the Dell PC is a refurbished model. This means that the computer has already been used but has now been refurbished.
Austin’s conclusion: Too little performance for 450 US dollars
The manufacturer Allied is asking too much money for its “gaming PC”. Not only that you can buy most of the components on the open market for just under 290 US dollars, but also because the performance is not really suitable for gaming. A mediocre processor and a weak integrated graphics unit do not make a gaming PC.
Even the several years old Dell computer offers more power than the Allied PC and that for 60 US dollars less. In addition, the Dell device had no starting problems.
While the $ 450 PC at Fortnite struggled to manage 19-40 FPS, the Dell hardware easily managed 60-80 FPS at medium settings. The game doesn’t look prettier, but it runs much smoother.
Whoever buys a gaming PC does not always get “gaming”
The video from Austin Evans shows quite clearly what you should always pay attention to when buying a PC. You shouldn’t let yourself be unsettled by big promises and especially not by the attribute “gaming”.
Even a cool look or RGB lighting do not speak for a powerful gaming computer. In the end, the components installed inside are decisive.
The $ 450 PC promises to be a gaming PC, but in the end Austin can only play a game like Fortnite on the lowest settings with 19-40 FPS.
What else should you watch out for? The video clearly shows that gamers should make sure to buy at least a 4-core processor. A dual-core processor with hyperthreading like the built-in AMD Athlon 3000G is only conditionally recommendable in 2021 – at least if you want to gamble. Because complex tasks are done better with a real 4-core.
What is hyperthreading? With hyperthreading, processor cores can handle additional tasks. A two-core processor can handle 4 tasks, a 4-core 6 or 8. However, these virtually used cores do not exist in reality.
Basically, the performance is better with a quad-core processor, but the rest of the hardware also matters. This YouTube video contrasts dual and quad core once again. While games like World of Warcraft benefit from the quad-core, a dual core in GTA V or Witcher 3 hardly has any effect.
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