The All AliExpress PC

[SupaKomputa]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

Link please? I'd forgotten about TYC, I've seen some of their videos before, the presenter seems like a knowledgeable guy

https://www.youtube.com/user/bryaneasy

to be specific this one:

 

[SupaKomputa]

4 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Good luck shipping parts back to the seller, if they even take refunds it'll take weeks to ship it and the cost of shipping it back might be more than what the item is worth.

I totally agree on this, this is an obvious risk for having it shipped from china, but at least you can invest more time in selecting better quality parts. 

Like in any marketplace, there are good and bad stuff, you just gotta be extra selective.

[Radium_Angel]

52 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

I totally agree on this, this is an obvious risk for having it shipped from china, but at least you can invest more time in selecting better quality parts. 

Like in any marketplace, there are good and bad stuff, you just gotta be extra selective.

So let's do this then,

 

For those that have ordered from Ali Express, let's put together a better (or at least better put together) system for less money, and show the LTT forums here how it should be done.

[Nethy]

I was hoping Linus would comment if the mouse was actually as decent as it sounds or not, finding a budget mouse on there for a laptop could be useful.

[SupaKomputa]

36 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

So let's do this then

Naah. He has (paid) soldiers to do it.

[JTuyen]

At 9:28 you can see that the power supply is specified for 170-240V. That might be part of the problem you guys were having.

[Zezuca]

Made an account just to leave some feedback to this video, because I feel there's just so much wasted potential. This could be an interesting build because most people outside Europe and USA/Canada have those exact same brands as mainstream. Taking the B450 Battle Ax for an example, was a good-selling motherboard in Brazil because it used to be the cheapest B450 available year-round, when MSI, Asus and other name brands struggled with stock issues and high prices. People stopped buying the Battle Ax after a local tech youtuber managed to set the board's VRMS on fire with an OC'd 2700X, which prompted a response from the manufacturer saying that it was an isolated issue and a hardware revision would follow up shortly to replace said model.

 

Anyways, instead of troubleshooting the build, Linus just gave away and did absolutely nothing with the machine, leaving the viewers empty-handed. No comments whatsoever on the mouse, keyboard and headset, those were just thrown away, never being actually used. In those types of video, when Linus finds out that the weird AliExpress tech is actually decent, it's a very nice surprise for the viewer that might be looking into buying new stuff. And his opinion is worth a lot.

 

The builds on the channel became kinda generic, it's usually a combination of the best i9 available with the top nVidia card, a different case and sponsored brands for the rest. Too predictable.

[stanfiveohtwo]

7 hours ago, Spotty said:

I think it's fair that they stopped after it wouldn't work because of the PSU. 

A PSU was procured which requires a minimum input voltage of 170v. It is designed to supply a peak 12v under 400 watts. It won't run the GPU, which is the cause of the error presented in the video.

 

This is on the list of common concerns for those of us accustomed to dodgy parts sourcing, or who shopped at Fry's or NCIX back in the day. This is why, North Americans especially, absolutely should buy a power supply (and maybe an old crap case if they haven't all been recycled) from the domestic marketplace. It is as conspicuous of an error as buying a Z390 board onto which to mount your Ryzen CPU. And then the whole project is just dismissed. More bits on the pile, I guess.

Aside from getting a "right sized" machine for considerably less, part of the joy of AX/Taobao/etc. building is the mad combinations of bits. This is worth exploring properly. Dismissing of China-direct sourcing out of hand, and not acknowledging the actual risks and troubles one may encounter, is a disservice to the audience.

 

LTT is better than that.

[stanfiveohtwo]

10 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

So let's do this then,

 

For those that have ordered from Ali Express, let's put together a better (or at least better put together) system for less money, and show the LTT forums here how it should be done.

Fine. Typed on my Huananzhi ZD3, 1650v2, RX 470D machine I built (in 2019) for $400. A good-value machine might come when I get really bored again.

 

The object of the exercise is to build a respectable, if not exemplary, gaming PC for under US$1114.08 including shipping from Aliexpress. This is the admitted price of the LTT all-Aliexpress build minus peripherals. Peripherals being a maelstrom into which I shall not wander. Apologizing for formatting, but after copy and paste from a word processor, I've grown tired of fighting the formatting.

 

This is a more powerful build in some respects than your correspondent would devise without a budget to fill.

 

Miyconst-approved motherboard, memory and CPU: (Intel Xeon E5 2678 v3, 12c 24t, 3.30 GHz on 22 nm)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001146681791.html

$316.64 inclusive of shipping to the US

MAXSUN GeForce RTX 2060 Terminator (not especially good value

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001027567757.html

$378.81 inclusive of shipping to the US

KingDian SSD 512 GB NVME (not a bargain for this class of NVME)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32955472430.html

$52.97 inclusive of shipping to the US

KingDian SSD 1 TB SATA

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32985030187.html

$89.28 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Snowman 90mm 2011 CPU cooler (4-pin, no led, 2 fans)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000307321126.html

$27.94 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Snowman 1-to-10 4-pin fan hub

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000309479715.html

$8.61 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Snowman 120mm “faux rgb” case fans (package of six, black preferred for lower price, only four are required)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000309479715.html

$33.61 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Crappy MATX case (bad value)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33013655848.html

$50.75 “ships from United States” inclusive of shipping to the United States

 

Segotep 700P 80 plus platinum, 600w power supply (utterly tragic value)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32824114589.html

$119.99 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

This totals, inclusive of shipping, US$1078.60, and will very likely not only boot but run its own GPU. By purchasing the bad-value items locally (at least in the US), you would save over $150 on the build.

 

A similar PCPP build, just thrown together, (2700x, 2060 KO, 32 GB, Rosewill case) came in at about $980.

[Radium_Angel]

10 hours ago, stanfiveohtwo said:

I've grown tired of fighting the formatting.

No worries
 

 

10 hours ago, stanfiveohtwo said:

not especially good value

 

10 hours ago, stanfiveohtwo said:

not a bargain

 

10 hours ago, stanfiveohtwo said:

utterly tragic value

I'm sensing a trend here 

[Robert Steele]

On 10/6/2020 at 4:31 AM, stanfiveohtwo said:

Ok, look. I know the video was a bit of fluff. For whatever reason, despite "China builds" or whatever being something of a trend right now, my go-to guys for both pretty good information and watching a bunch of dudes muck around with stuff just can't be bothered for some reason. Acknowledging I don't have the credibility to say something like this, this video was beneath your typically high standard.

 

The dance-break, glamour shot was deliciously silly. Credit where it's due.

 

The folks from LMG actively and consciously purchased a 400 watt power supply and then dismissed the power supply as junk. I mean, it almost certainly is not of a outside-of-Asia-market standard, but that's ridiculous. The gimmick with AX shopping is to go at it on that marketplace's own terms. Instead of trying to get something of a Western standard, go for a "garbage patch" board, an old Xeon, quad-channel DDR3 ECC for effectively modern memory speed, and a 1660, if even that much of a GPU. "Cheap and cheerful" was coined for a reason.
 

And get the above items for under $600 delivered to the US, Canada will almost certainly be different or not and who the [heck] knows anymore about shipping. This isn't the first time deliberately expensive parts were ordered and then judged not to be worth the expense. That is defying the object of the exercise. I don't have the credibility to hold you guys to a higher standard. I'm just some old retired geek, but you are just better than this. /old

Agreed. 9:29 the tag clearly showed that the fit voltage of the PSU is 170~240v, while the one in Canada is 120v. I think in China it's 220v, not to mention that shipping from Asia to NA costs a lot. It makes no sense to buy a PSU made exclusively for the Chinese market on purpose then criticize its bad quality and high price.There is so much fun stuff such as that DIY cooler applied on the area 51m laptop on Aliexpress lol. This video could be better.

[stanfiveohtwo]

On 10/6/2020 at 9:50 PM, stanfiveohtwo said:

Miyconst-approved motherboard, memory and CPU: (Intel Xeon E5 2678 v3, 12c 24t, 3.30 GHz on 22 nm)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001146681791.html

$316.64 inclusive of shipping to the US

MAXSUN GeForce RTX 2060 Terminator (not especially good value

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001027567757.html

$378.81 inclusive of shipping to the US

KingDian SSD 512 GB NVME (not a bargain for this class of NVME)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32955472430.html

$52.97 inclusive of shipping to the US

KingDian SSD 1 TB SATA

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32985030187.html

$89.28 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Snowman 120mm “faux rgb” case fans (package of six, black preferred for lower price, only four are required)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000309479715.html

$33.61 inclusive of shipping to the US

 

Crappy MATX case (bad value)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33013655848.html

$50.75 “ships from United States” inclusive of shipping to the United States

 

Segotep 700P 80 plus platinum, 600w power supply (utterly tragic value)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32824114589.html

$119.99 inclusive of shipping to the US

The light of the morning, and rain keeping me from tending to the back yard as planned, has lead me to desperately want a more productive hobby.

 

Stepping down to a similar Huananzhi combo with 2630v3 and 16 GB, an RX480 or RX580 from a reputable seller, cutting back the fans to 4, and getting a domestically-sourced 650W PSU slices >$300 off the build while providing acceptable if not RTX 2060 performance. Nobody scrounging around for parts like this is going to be running a 4K gaming monitor. I wouldn't buy a case like this but would budget the same money on a domestically-sourced crappy case. In the interest of full disclosure, I am typing this into a computer in Matrexxxx 50 with four Snowman fans. Why Matrexxxxxx 50? It was on sale for $38 with free shipping the week my parts came in.

 

You could do even better with dual-channel memory, although noticeably slower, and shave another $40ish bucks. This gets us to a $500 build. 

 

In actual practice I'd dump the SATA M.2 and just run a HDD for more capacity per dollar. For my $50-60, I'd go with a domestically-sourced NVME, unless Asgard AN? series reappears at the same price point we have seen before.

 

It's the miscellaneous bits where AX really shines. Coolerman/Snowman is something of an open secret and it won't be much longer until they properly market in the West. (see: Aigo/Darkflash) The properly no-name heatsinks with Lanshuo fans are particularly compelling even if the likes of me will always buy a step or two more heatsink than required, just in case.

 

Just putting this out there, a dual X79/X99 board combo that nets a total of 16-24 cores and a sea of memory can be had within sight of $700. Add $300 of bits and some HDDs and your community center, college student, or small business is readily making Davinci Resolve/Kdenlive videos, even long-form ones. It's worth it just as a dedicated box for that purpose alone in contrast to a $3000 laptop or something. Rebuilding Mom's Facebook terminal into something she won't be calling you about all the time is a $200 exercise. (Mom needs cores to keep all those Chrome tabs up.) AX is really excellent for some use cases, but building a generation or two old machine in North America is not one of these.

 

Yeah. I'm done. Sorry guys, but it's a compulsion.

Edited October 8, 2020 by stanfiveohtwo
Maybe I should mind my own business.

[kalamanci]

On 10/5/2020 at 10:53 PM, Randomuser95 said:

Does anyone know what song is used at 11:35 in the video?

I hope someone will tell us the song... Still waiting for answers

[AlexTheGreatish]

1 hour ago, kalamanci said:

I hope someone will tell us the song... Still waiting for answers

It's "Sexy Sexy" by Stephane Michel Huguenin.  Not sure you'll be able to find it anywhere except APM Music (we use the service to get songs for videos).

[PyCCo_TyPuCTo]

Anyone tried that keyboard? Is it any good?

[AlexTheGreatish]

59 minutes ago, PyCCo_TyPuCTo said:

Anyone tried that keyboard? Is it any good?

It's fine imo.  The mouse is a proper good deal, the keyboard you can get pretty similar stuff on Amazon.  Personally I got a knockoff mechanical keyboard for $20 that worked awesome for about 1.5 years and then the number "7" stopped working.

[Erwin vdB]

I saw Linus getting a broom with the memory.

I have the matching shovel! (though it came with yellow fly-paper stickers).

[Joey Image]

On 10/5/2020 at 2:22 PM, A_man said:

And the case is already gone

EDIT

found it on another listing

I actually like this case. I don't know if I'd buy it on there, but I appreciate the other link!

[Cpatt20]

I am having this same issue with my PC. If I plug anything in or sometimes even lift the mouse, just like at @ 14:10 in the video.

Before I send in my PS for warranty I wanted to know if this was ever confirmed for sure a PS issue. I have a EVGA Supernova NEX 750 80+ Gold, Do you think the problem could be something else? 

 

[GCMospeada]

hey @AlexTheGreatish

 

I was watching this video and i loved it because the case is something that was only seen in the early 2000s.

For many years i have been trying to find a full acrylic case for a retro build , (i know original owners hated it because it is a dust magnet and a pain in the ass to clean)

 

so i went to the link on aliexpress and its not being sold anymore, then i searched for the model and there is only 1 listing and its sold for 150 dollars, impossible price, its not even great quality to pay such price.