$600 Chinese Shady Build - P106 + E2146G + Modded Z170X

[gundamMC]

With all the LTT videos on Chinese computer parts, I've decided to make a $600 semi-budget build (you could technically achieve the same performance under $500) using mostly parts from China, including the featured P106 and a modded Gigabyte z170x gaming 3 motherboard. Although it is supposed to be a budget build, I did buy some parts with future expansion in mind since I will be using it as a server. (maybe another p106? lol)

 

The only components brought from China were the CPU, motherboard, and graphics card. The case being too heavy to ship, and I did not want my PSU to explode. The other components had relatively the same prices as in China.

 

Specs:

CPU: E2146G

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3

RAM: Single G.Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 2666

GPU: Gigabyte NVIDIA P106-100

Storage: Crucial mx500 512GB

PSU: Corsiar CX550

CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 33 eSports ONE

Case: Fractal Design Meshify C (not really budget but it looks really good )

 

E2146G and Z170X

The e-2146g (https://ark.intel.com/products/134866/Intel-Xeon-E-2146G-Processor-12M-Cache-up-to-4-50-GHz-) is basically a new "E3" series processor which requires the new C246 chipset motherboard. The motherboard requirement, however, can be easily bypassed. By modding the bios and preventing contacts of a few pins, the e-2146g can be installed on any 1151 board. For instance, you could put it in a B150 motherboard and use DDR3. They also support "AMD only" DDR3 ram, which are basically ram chips from old-server-ram soldered onto new pcbs. These rams are surprisingly cheap at about 50% of regular ddr3 prices. The cheaper ones could go to about $15 for a single DDR3 8G 1600. Nevertheless, I went for a Z170X which requires normal DDR4 ram for better upgradability (which ended up costing 40 dollars more). The motherboard costed about $70. It was pre-modified to support all 6, 7, 8-gen and E21xx CPUs, thus costing $20 more than a non-modded z170x gaming 3. 

 

Meanwhile, the e2146g costed around $180. The specs are pretty much identical to the Intel page except that it runs at 3.4Ghz and turbos up to 4.3Ghz.

 

P106

You guys probably have already seen it a million times so I will not say too much about it. The graphic card looks OK other than the dusts in the heatsink. Temperatures are alright with about 30 degrees Celsius on idle and 50-ish when gaming.

 

The Build

 

 

Benchmarks

3DMark 

 

 

Assassin's Creed: Origins on very high settings

 

 

Cinebench

 

[r2724r16]

5 minutes ago, gundamMC said:

I've decided to make a $600 semi-budget build (you could technically achieve the same performance under $500) using mostly parts from China

Time to buy Chinese computer parts! 

[lemonmusicrocks]

wow how is the cpu ? i might buy 1 myself or ryzen 1600x is better? but love the price to performance 

[gundamMC]

On 2/11/2019 at 10:00 PM, lemonmusicrocks said:

wow how is the cpu ? i might buy 1 myself or ryzen 1600x is better? but love the price to performance 

It's doing quite well. I have yet to try more benchmarks, but, according to others who have, it performs about the same as a 8700 (non-k), which is still a bit better than the 1600x.

 

That said, you are sacrificing motherboard compatibility (since you have to either use the overpriced C246 chipset or mod a 1151 board) and customer support.

[MaratM]

On 2/10/2019 at 4:22 AM, gundamMC said:

Specs:

CPU: E2146G

did you byu it on aliexpress or taobao or ebay?

[gundamMC]

17 hours ago, MaratM said:

did you byu it on aliexpress or taobao or ebay?

Taobao

[cForce]

hi..i gotta a question..

 

has been trying for whole day on getting the p106 works.. end up not working as expected.

 

I am using windows build 1809 latest build.

CPU: i3-3220 with Integrated GPU - Intel HD 2500

 

anyone successfully using this build for the p106-100 test ?

 

I will do another attempt using windows 10 build 1803

 

if anyone have the experience..kindly share me..

[gundamMC]

8 hours ago, cForce said:

hi..i gotta a question..

 

has been trying for whole day on getting the p106 works.. end up not working as expected.

 

I am using windows build 1809 latest build.

CPU: i3-3220 with Integrated GPU - Intel HD 2500

 

anyone successfully using this build for the p106-100 test ?

 

I will do another attempt using windows 10 build 1803

 

if anyone have the experience..kindly share me..

If I remembered it correctly, the p106 mod only works with 4th gen and higher CPUs, as well as windows version 1803+.

[cForce]

6 hours ago, gundamMC said:

If I remembered it correctly, the p106 mod only works with 4th gen and higher CPUs, as well as windows version 1803+.

Yea bro,

 

3th gen CPU failed.. i have tried both build 1803 and 1809

 

now moving to 4th gen CPU and give it a shot again.

 

[Tristerin]

Nice!

 

I am doing a Aliexpress custom loop and tbh - my Chinese pump and reservoir showed up yesterday.  Sturdy, well build, thick acrylics / plastics...it sells for over 2 times as much on Amazon (the same exact one).  Cant wait for the rads, cheapo blocks etc to show up so I can start my build log!