A YouTuber buys a gaming PC on Aliexpress for 1400 dollars. However, he has less joy with it than he had hoped. Because he is confronted with a whole lot of problems.
What it’s about: The YouTuber Dawid Does Tech Stuff regularly presents gaming PCs and especially pre-built PCs on his channel. He disassembles these PCs and tests them for their value.
In his current video, Dawid bought a pre-built PC for 1400 USD on Aliexpress. The PC is advertised with an i7-10700K and RTX 2060/2070 Super, which initially sounds like a good deal for the price.
He explains in the video description that the pre-built PC has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for him. What he experienced is presented in our article.
We have embedded the entire video from Dawid in this article. Here you can watch him with more or less enthusiasm take the PC apart:
Pre-built PC for 1400 USD poses challenges for YouTuber
The package with the gaming PC arrives well packaged at the YouTuber’s place. Already at first glance, Dawid notices several problems.
These are the problems with the PC:
- The water cooling is not securely screwed into the case. In hindsight, he realizes that the poor case is also responsible for this.
- The computer has 2 stick RAM installed. However, they are in the wrong RAM slots of the PC.
- The PC has a RTX 2060 installed. However, it has been used before, as the YouTuber points out.
- The manufacturer has been very generous with thermal paste, as it is also spread on the case, the motherboard, and the RAM (seen at 5:19 and 7:20 in the video). There’s also way too much of it on the processor.
- The motherboard and the power supply are both of good quality. However, the cable management is bizarre and more pragmatic than sensibly thought out.
- When he starts the PC, he gets a Chinese version of Windows. After a reinstall, he struggles with blue screens. According to the YouTuber, the problem was a RAM stick that was likely defective.
What performance does the PC have? The performance of the device is quite reasonable for its conditions. The YouTuber also demonstrates this with his benchmarks:
- Far Cry 5 (1080p, Ultra) Avg: 105 Fps 1%: 70 Fps
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, Highest) Avg: 114 Fps 1%: 87
- Rainbow Six Siege (1080p, V. High) Avg: 230 Fps 1%: 153
The performance of the water cooling is also decent. The graphics card and processor stay around 60 degrees while gaming, which are good numbers. By the way, you can tell us in a survey what is important to you when buying a graphics card:
This is his conclusion: At the end of the video, he explains again that the PC has been an “emotional rollercoaster.” At first, he approached the matter enthusiastically. However, the problems with the RAM and the incorrectly mounted water cooling cost him a lot of time and nerves. Overall, he is surprised that it hasn’t been as bad as he had feared.
His next project is supposed to be a 400-dollar PC that he also wants to order on Aliexpress. After having so much fun with the last build, he wants to find out what a buyer gets for 400 dollars.
The test with the 400-dollar PC has now been done by someone else: YouTuber Austin Evans purchased a gaming PC on Amazon for 450 dollars and tested what he gets for the money. Unsurprisingly, not everything that says gaming is actually gaming.
These construction errors from the video should be avoided
You should pay attention to this when assembling: The errors that Dawid criticizes in his video on the computer should also be considered when building your own. Many of these errors will otherwise make your life difficult during assembly:
- So you should pay attention to put the RAM sticks in the correct slots during assembly.
- You should be very careful with thermal paste. Often, less is better than more. Because thermal paste should only compensate for the unevenness on the processor and not cover the entire system.
- Screw all parts into the case firmly, so that nothing wobbles. It’s already helpful to look in advance at which parts you want to install before buying your case.
- If you are looking for helpful tips, check out the detailed PC building guide at GameStar. Here you will be guided step by step.
More tips for building a PC yourself: We at MeinMMO also have a few tips for you if you want to assemble a PC yourself. These 7 tips before building a PC that you should consider. Here we explain to you, among other things, why you shouldn’t save money on the power supply and should pay a little extra. You should also take enough time when building your PC.
