pgpcs

With apologies for resurrecting a dead thread... TL:DR; use a Radeon HD 7870 for this build. Avoid the Nvidia 7xx cards. I built another machine using an MSI GTX 760 instead of the Radeon HD 7870. Specs are roughly the same otherwise (will post shortly). The results for Shadow of the Tomb Raider were disappointing: at low graphics, 1080p, my average FPS was only 29 and my minimum was 13 FPS. I had to decrease the resolution on Shadow of the Tomb Raider to 720p, still at low graphics, to get my minimum FPS to 31. At these settings, the game was only 70% GPU bound. Cinebench and Timespy CPU scores were about the same at 911 and 2309, as expected since I used the same CPU. The Timespy graphics score dropped by about 100 points to 1498. Both machines run Fortnite at about 45 FPS on High settings. The Radeon machine runs the CS:GO benchmark on high settings at 172 FPS while the GTX 760 machine runs at 153 FPS. I also tested a newer machine with an EVGA GTX 770 and it also couldn't beat 30 FPS minimum at 1080p, low graphics, despite the GTX 770 having significantly higher Passmark scores than the Radeon HD 7870.

RE the adapter, I know for my build, I needed 2x PCIE 6 pin power connectors for the video card. The workstation power supplies we're talking about usually have the 500 watts of power to run fancy video cards, but they may not include two 6 pin connectors. I actually have a Dell T3500 here that I'm using as a server, and the stock power supply pushes 525w but only includes one 6 pin PCIE power output, so I would need a Molex to PCIE adapter for the second PCIE six pin power output. Perhaps that's the adapter we're talking about?

Benchmarks complete! Both ran successfully. The results aren't all that amazing, but that's not surprising given the age of the hardware. Time Spy Graphics Score: 1599 Time Spy CPU Score: 2273 Cinebench CPU Score: 893 Your GPUs did significantly better, though our similar CPUs look like they produced similar results.

Nice! I hadn't thought of using workstations. They definitely support the Xeon CPUs and I am jealous of all the extra RAM slots. Plus, you wouldn't need to buy a power supply upgrade.

Like the title says, I wanted to see if I could build a PC for $200 that would run Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p resolution. TL:DR; my upgraded Optiplex 390 runs the benchmark (on low settings of course) at an average of 42FPS with a floor of 33FPS. Success!!! Parts List and Prices Base PC: Dell Optiplex 390 Mini Tower - $52.50 on eBay CPU: Xeon E3-1225 at 3.1GHz (this is the gen 1 LGA1155 version) - $19 on eBay Motherboard: Dell M5dcd - included with base PC Case: Dell Optiplex 390 - included with base PC CPU Cooler: Stock Intel cooler - included with base PC Thermal Paste: If you don't have any lying around, just use mustard, lol - free RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz - one stick included, $10.50 for the second stick Graphics Card: Radeon HD 7870 - $47.50 SSD: NEW Silicon Power 256GB SP256GBSS3A55S25 - $28.50 SSD 2.5" to 3.5" Adapter and Dell Hard Drive Caddy - $7.50 Hard Drive: 500GB 7200 RPM - included with base PC Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts EA500 80+ PSU - $35 Other fans, cables, etc: whatever came in the base PC Windows 10 Pro License - included with base PC (upgrade from Windows 7) Total: $200.50 When procuring parts, I would check Craigslist (or local equivalent) first for deals, especially on the base PC. I had to buy all of my parts, except the new SSD, on eBay, which took quite a bit of digging. Fortunately, my labor is not included in the budget! Build Log For the base system, any mini tower with an LGA1155 socket will probably work. We only really care about the case, motherboard, OS license, and at least one 4GB 1333MHz RAM stick. A hard drive is a nice to have. I used the stock case, motherboard, and CPU cooler. I had to settle for a board that only had two RAM slots, officially capped at 2x4GB of RAM (though the internet tells me that I could probably upgrade to 2x8GB). None of these parts are great, but they're cheap and they got the job done. Xeon E3-1225 processors are cheap four core, 3+GHz processors that are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the graphics card. While Xeon processors are usually not listed as compatible for the PCs you'll find for $50, theoretically they should work in almost any 1155 motherboard. An i5-2400 costs a little more for the same performance and (almost) guaranteed compatibility. Prior generation i5-760 processors are cheaper but noticeably slower, and prior generation i7s are more expensive and slower. Newer generation CPUs of any flavor are significantly more expensive. Note that I don't like AMD CPUs from this era and did not seriously consider them - let me know if I screwed up! RAM selection is unremarkable, just get 8GB of 1333MHz and try to match your sticks. For the graphics card, I was able to find a Radeon HD 7870 for $47.50. If you prefer team green, GeForce GTX 760s offer slightly better performance for about the same price. You may need to dig a bit for a deal. You'll need an SSD. I spent a few extra bucks for a new 256GB drive, but you can save $5-$10 here with a lower capacity or used drive. I'm picky about mounting so I purchased a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and one of Dell's special mounting sleeves to mount the SSD properly. The PC came with a 500GB 7200 RPM hard drive which I wiped and converted to extra storage. Finding the power supply was probably the trickiest part of the build (honorable mention to the GPU). I ended up with an Antec Earthwatts EA500 PSU. JonnyGuru liked it back in 2010, so it probably won't blow up the rig, and it had the two six pin GPU connectors I needed, so no adapters required. eBay usually has a couple of old, lower-tier-but-non-explosive 500w power supplies available at around $35. I included Windows 10 in the list above as you should be able to find a PC with a Windows 7 Professional license (possibly already upgraded to Windows 10). It's nice to have an activated copy of Windows 10, especially if you got it for free! All that remained was assembly, a Windows 10 installation, and unsupported BIOS update, and a lot of nail biting while the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark ran. Remarkably, the rig cleared the 30FPS hurdle and averaged 42FPS, as you can see in the screenshot. Shadow of the Tomb Raider actually doesn't look all that bad on low settings. Also, the rig runs Fortnite on high settings at about 45 FPS and chews through CS:GO at 100+ FPS, so it can game (; Hope y'all enjoyed, pgpcs