Lian Li's Launch the O Series cases

[othertomperson]

First, I doubt you can match the specifications of the consoles for the cost. I have never even heard of a low-clock octacore CPU, and even if it existed, it would not make any sense in a PC build. I think you are referring to performance, which can be a bit of a Pandora's Box for a build budget that low.

 

Second, in order to make a complete build under $500, you need to make serious compromises on the parts, including the PSU, which is a general no-no.You would need to spend significantly more time in configuration and troubleshooting. You would also need to be more careful about the impact of general overhead, including Windows/Linux, non-gaming applications, and thermal throttling. And yes, you can get a better performance out of paying a bit more upfront, but again, that is not the point. The specs of the consoles may seem horrible, but it still gets the job done, with form factor and ease of use as a bonus. PCs still have quite some ways to go to actually meet those basic conditions for that price, so it loses out.

 

To those that claim that you can "destroy" the consoles by actually paying the same price for a PC build; I am sorry, but you are full of yourselves! 

 

Obviously I'm talking about performance... I'm genuinely confused as to what metric you assumed I was using, gold content!?

 

How about I show the build costed to match the price and performance of a PS4 before you lecture me more about what I have and haven't included?

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£49.14 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.95 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£32.77 @ Ebuyer) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£28.19 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£29.94 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 260 1GB Video Card  (£67.97 @ Ebuyer) 

Case: Zalman ZM-T3 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£19.47 @ Amazon UK) 

Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  (£29.99 @ Novatech) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£69.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Total: £352.41

 

The PSU is adequate for the power draw of this, it includes a CPU cooler and Windows. And it'll handle those non-gaming applications a lot better than an Xbox One, I assure you...

 

Like I said, you have to cheap out on a case and motherboard. The 260X was available for the price when I first did this but price fluctuations have made that about £370, which is a bit more than a PS4 so I've gone with the R7 260.

 

I never claimed you could destroy a console for the same price, I said you could match it. And at current UK pricing you can.

 

(If you wanted to venture into used parts you could decimate the consoles, but that's used parts so I'm not going to count it)

 

Before you go on about how this is not a good gaming PC, I know. It doesn't have to be. It only has to play games to the same standard as a console, and that's setting the bar pretty low.

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

-snip-

 

There is a difference between performance metrics, and raw specifications. For example, the i5-4690 has a better metric than the PS4/X1 CPU (performance), but has a lower core count for the price of higher clock speed (specifications). To me, when you say specifications, you are essentially saying that there is a octacore CPU, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and a 270X equivalent(ish) all for the cheap. Just for starters, the only consumer octacore that exists is about the price of three eighth-gen consoles.

 

I have made the exact same build in the Canadian counterpart, and it is already $550 before taxes, after it is almost $700, thus exceeding the $500 budget.

Citation for evidence: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/BpTJqs

 

I would not recommend the build for anybody. There are a number of specifications that would not work in grand scheme of things (I.E. 4GB RAM + 1GB VRAM will get bottle-necked very easily by the OS alone). While I acknowledge that the prices are different in the UK, I was talking about dollars (USD/CAD), not pounds or euros. The only reason your build works is the 1:1 currency conversion for the consoles. In this situation, the price you would have to actually match for the build is £275 for $500, and a lowly £220 for the actual price of the consoles ($400). With that said, here is a more suitable build for under £500 (again, not the same thing as $500):

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (£49.14 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£58.89 @ Ebuyer)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£67.21 @ More Computers)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Cooler Master Force 500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£28.20 @ Scan.co.uk)

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.98 @ Novatech)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.60 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £473.90

 

And even then, this does nothing to mention about maintenance or ease of use.

 

EDIT: that "destroy consoles" comment was not directed at you BTW, it was a general comment.

[othertomperson]

I said repeatedly that I was looking at UK prices. The UK cost of a PS4 is £350 (~$634 CAD), and that build above costs £352.41, including taxes. The fact that you get the PS4 for nearly £100 less than I would have to pay for it is kind of irrelevant as far as I'm concerned: for me and others this side of the Atlantic everything I said holds up.

 

And the 1GB Vram and 4GB ram isn't an issue. Turn Aero off, limit the number of background apps you have running and game at 792p and 30 fps for the Ubisoft Cinematic Experience^TM.

 

Also a 270X would decimate the PS4. The 260X is the closest equivalent, which is why I aimed for it.

 

I would absolutely urge anyone on as tight a budget as this to look at what they could get used, though.

[spwath]

so pretty...

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

I said repeatedly that I was looking at UK prices. The UK cost of a PS4 is £350 (~$634 CAD), and that build above costs £352.41, including taxes. The fact that you get the PS4 for nearly £100 less than I would have to pay for it is kind of irrelevant as far as I'm concerned: for me and others this side of the Atlantic everything I said holds up.

 

And the 1GB Vram and 4GB ram isn't an issue. Turn Aero off, limit the number of background apps you have running and game at 792p and 30 fps for the Ubisoft Cinematic Experience^TM.

 

Also a 270X would decimate the PS4. The 260X is the closest equivalent, which is why I aimed for it.

 

I would absolutely urge anyone on as tight a budget as this to look at what they could get used, though.

 

Fair enough. Keep in mind though that the prices of consoles are based in USD at the end of the day, and PC build comparisons should be priced under such. As I have said, the consoles use a 1:1 currency conversion, plus some weird import fees in the case of Brazil. That means you guys get a technical advantage in PC part prices, although it does not reflect prices on an even value metric. 

 

In other words, the consoles are far more expensive than they should be outside of North America. Would you be more willing to buy a PS4 if it was priced correctly at  £200-£220 instead of £349? If you just want to stick with PCs, then that is fine. I have no problems with that; I just want to know if it would have changed anything in terms of market tolerance.

[othertomperson]

Fair enough. Keep in mind though that the prices of consoles are based in USD at the end of the day, and PC build comparisons should be priced under such. As I have said, the consoles use a 1:1 currency conversion, plus some weird import fees in the case of Brazil. That means you guys get a technical advantage in PC part prices, although it does not reflect prices on an even value metric. 

 

In other words, the consoles are far more expensive than they should be outside of North America. Would you be more willing to buy a PS4 if it was priced correctly at  £200-£220 instead of £349? If you just want to stick with PCs, then that is fine. I have no problems with that; I just want to know if it would have changed anything in terms of market tolerance.

 

It depends. I think the price of games in general needs to come down drastically. Having been screwed so monumentally on the console itself, having to pay the equivalent of $80 USD per game is ridiculous. I would love for Steam Sales to be a nice way of enticing people to binge every season, instead of being the only way an awful lot of people can afford new games at all.

 

If consoles genuinely were the cheap way to game that their proponents claim then I wouldn't have a problem. If game devs were just honest about the power of the consoles and the reasons for their creative decisions, I wouldn't have a problem. If they overcame their limitations in interesting ways and actually offered a gaming experience that you just couldn't get on PC, even if they couldn't get a constant 1080p 60fps, I'd be interested. Hell I got a Wii U for this reason and it's the least powerful of all of them.

[kn1ckerb0cker]

Wide ribbon cable FTW!

[IdeaStormer]

Wide ribbon cable FTW!

 

Agreed, its like going back in time and adding IDE drives as something cool or feature rich :wacko:

 

I'd prefer they made a vertical slot even if it makes it look like a fallen letter L or a standing letter L for more stability?

[AJR]

*Sigh*, I wish this supported SLI. If I'm going to have an ATX Motherboard I want to use at least two of the PCI-E's.

[Notional]

*Sigh*, I wish this supported SLI. If I'm going to have an ATX Motherboard I want to use at least two of the PCI-E's.

This is from the 07S. You need to buy an extra PCIe extender:

 

[McMurderMonkey]

OMG THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED