I Bought a $300 Gaming PC on TaoBao

[TannerMcCoolman]

Have you ever wondered what Chinese consumers might be buying from their version of AliExpress? When we saw the specs and price of this Frankenstein gaming PC listed all over Taobao, we got curious. What's going on inside this $300 14-core xeon beast of a computer? Who makes these parts? Why is it so cheap? And why is hwinfo64 telling us that this motherboard has specs that straight up shouldn't exist?

 

When we fantasy-built our own workstation equivalent to the Taobao gamer special, here's what we came up with:

 

Build 1:

- HP Z440 ($130) + $39 shipping within US

- Updated version of the PC we used for the latest $69 PC

- Add on E5-2690 V4 $22.22

- Add on 2070 Super for $150

- Includes 700W power supply

- Uses 2133 RAM, same as the Taobao

- Has Front USB 3 x4

- RAM and SSD were included in a few of the listings we found

 

Build 2:

- Dell Precision T5810 ($67) + $35 shipping within US

- Add on E5-2698 V3 $24.99 - Only does E5 V3 processors

- 2698V3 is only slightly slower than 2690V4 at CPU mark

- Includes 825W PSU

- Has Front USB 3 x1 USB 2 x3

- Uses 2133 RAM, same as the Taobao

- 16gb ram included in the model we found on ebay

- Add on a 240gb Kingston A400 for $25

- Add on an RTX 3070 OC for $200 + $15 shipping on ebay

 

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[Lurick]

So a small correction, the memory shown comes from Cisco UCS servers in this case, not switches/routers

[Needfuldoer]

47 minutes ago, TannerMcCoolman said:

- Dell Precision T5810 ($67) + $35 shipping within US

- Add on E5-2698 V3 $24.99 - Only does E5 V3 processors

The T5810 supports v4 CPUs, if you update the BIOS to at least version A13. I've done it before. (The machine's in storage right now, but it has a 1650 v4.)

[saltcute]

Prebuilts on Taobao are kinda scammy and most tinkerer will buy the parts and build it themselves at lower price or more rarely buy from name brands like Huawei, HP or Dell. Yeah, this isn't even the best deal lol. And people who don't know PC are often told to avoid those prebuilts, too.

[RoseLuck462]

I wonder why they didn’t feel the need to remove the CPU cooler or the GPU and show the audience.

[kuro68k]

Good on them for recycling this stuff instead of sending it to landfill. There are a lot of gamers who can't afford the latest and greatest.

[Enne]

Anyone else kinda tired of these "i bougth x amount from y shady reseller?" i mean, it was fine at first, but it seems to have 4-5 videos like these last couple weeks...

[Shah M]

5 hours ago, Enne said:

Anyone else kinda tired of these "i bougth x amount from y shady reseller?" i mean, it was fine at first, but it seems to have 4-5 videos like these last couple weeks...

Generally with the wish stuff I'd agree (especially the peripheral/non-pc stuff)  but I think this was a good variation on the premise, with an interesting result.

 

This kind of thing is an interesting product line for those of us outside the places with a robust second hand markets in enterprise hardware. In South Africa we really struggle with getting our hands on actually cheap pre-used hardware, so offers like this can be intriguing at times. Good to know it's not a complete waste. Also the recycling angle appeals to me (not that I would buy this but still good info).

 

I know LTT might not have the capability yet but I would like to know if the Qihoo stuff does call home under longer and more intensive testing. Hopefully as Labs grows that would become something that can be done. Even for American software, being from outside the US I worry about them as much as China...

[Shah M]

9 hours ago, saltcute said:

Prebuilts on Taobao are kinda scammy and most tinkerer will buy the parts and build it themselves at lower price or more rarely buy from name brands like Huawei, HP or Dell. Yeah, this isn't even the best deal lol. And people who don't know PC are often told to avoid those prebuilts, too.

Damn, missed this with my last reply, certainly makes it less enticing. Would you say this is more a case of LTT got lucky or just that it's scammy in the reused/repurposed parts with misleading or dishonest descriptions kind of scammy? That is, would you say what Linus got is a consistent outcome or is it more often just a rock in a box?

[silentdragon95]

This is a decent example of why I don't think it's fair that AliExpress/TaoBao tends to get bundled in with Wish/Temu/whatever when it comes to PC parts.

 

It may not actually be an amazing idea to shop prebuilts there, but there is a huge market for second hand PC components and semi-new chinese motherboards like the one in the video. You can often get really good deals on CPU/MoBo/RAM bundles, which are also a lot easier (and therefore cheaper) to get shipped. Sure, you may be able to get similar or even better deals (as far as gaming performance goes) locally, but that only applies to some countries, whereas AliExpress is available pretty much everywhere in the world.

 

Not to mention that AliExpress is invaluable if you repair your own electronics. Ever tried getting small quantities of specific electronic parts locally? In the best case you will be completely ripped off price-wise, but usually you won't even be able to buy them. Not so much on AliExpress, if it exists there is probably a chinese seller that has that specific part you need.

[Felipe Pessoto]

Sorry if I missed, where can I find the Dell for $67. Would I able to play GTA V?

 

thanks 

[aisle9]

Just getting to see this one--bravo sirs and madams. I fucking LOVE tech with a weird story behind it. I'm familiar with the old Chinese chipset switch, going back to when they first started making Frankenboards out of H55 and P55 chipsets because there weren't enough working X58s left in the wild. Definitely a very cool computer, even if everything about it just screams "you're going to regret buying me".

[saltcute]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:14 AM, Shah M said:

Damn, missed this with my last reply, certainly makes it less enticing. Would you say this is more a case of LTT got lucky or just that it's scammy in the reused/repurposed parts with misleading or dishonest descriptions kind of scammy? That is, would you say what Linus got is a consistent outcome or is it more often just a rock in a box?

Mainly misleading marketing and exceptionally low quality parts. In the past those people would call any 8 core Xeon from a decade ago a “i9 class CPU” with a 16GHz base clock (because 8x2 is 16 lol). They do this less often now, but still bad marketing. And there are actually real customers who bought a certain prebuilt that have lit their homes on fire. I don’t even know if I should call it a scam or murder at this point.

 

Now, good prebuilt do exist in Taobao, but those are usually premium products that are not deals. Actually most people in China either buy laptops or from local computer shop because a) they are students and lives in small dorm room or b) they don’t know about computers and someone they know recommends them to the shop

[williamcll]

Maybe someone in north America should build recycled PCs and sell them for cheap too. If people pay a whole thousand for a new Win95 PC they will certainly buy a used xeon + RX580 + random mismatched RAM.