Oh god, it's happening again. I'm delving into the weird, wild and wacky world of the endless ocean that is Aliexpress. And for no apparent reason I suddenly have the hankering to build a computer with budget bits from companies with names probably made up on the spot.
So exactly how cheap and unknown can we go to build something equal or better than what I currently have?
Is it even possible?
Let's find out!
THIS ISN'T A NEW IDEA AT ALL
Not in the slightest. I giggled my way through Linus Tech Tips building a (pretty awful) pc from the case up using badly priced and rubbish gear from Wish.com last night. And there's plenty of other Youtube techperts highlighting the pros and cons (lot more cons obviously) of using gear from Wish and Aliexpress to save money.
It really is a losing lucky dip. But above all the disappointment, it is still highly amusing.
SO ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO BUY ALL THIS RUBBISH?
Oh god, of course not! What a colossal waste of time and money. There's the chance that some of these parts may never arrive and/or work. Or I'd get something I never ordered because that can happen too. Also I could only imagine the look on my wife's face when I try to explain 'So I had another stupid idea and look what I bought..'
Look, I really don't need a janky computer with a high chance of failure or explosions. A newer computer yes, the complete unknown? No.
But I can plan it and laugh about it here and so this post is all about the possibilities of wasting coin on cheap and more than likely knock off rubbish from Aliexpress. You're welcome.
BEHOLD MY ORIGINAL CREATION
Three years ago I built a computer to do (and play) a lot more than my old dual-core could do. And using a combination of new and used components, I've ended up with an okay workhorse that hasn't fallen over or blown up yet. It's not the greatest by any stretch of the imagination but it still plays plenty of games I enjoy, does video editing okay and cops plenty of long nights of writing without a hitch.
But can we match these current specs at an even cheaper price that what I paid three years ago?
MSI B85M-E45 Motherboard (new $90)
I5 4460 CPU (Second hand $100)
12 Gig DDR3 G Skill Ram (Second hand, swapped for $30 worth of cider)
Cpu cooler (New, ebay $30)
Steelseries keyboard and mouse (New, EB Games $88)
GTX 650 Gpu (Second hand, Gumtree $30)
NZXT Case (Second hand, Gumtree $50)
1TB Sata HDD (Recycled from older computer but for the sake of argument $70 back in the day)
Power supply - A no name brand that lights up blue when on. It came with a case that I bought for $30
(I'm not counting monitors in these builds as they'd be too costly to post but for the record I used a 27inch Ben Q)
Total: $518 (Ish)
LETS GET LOW! (IN PRICE)
The rules for this made up build are pretty simple
1. Total cost must be lower than the original (or as close to it) so less than $488 delivered is what we're aiming for.
2. All components must be equal or better than in perceived performance than the original
3. No recognizable brands if possible. (So no Kingston, Asus, Seagate, Gigabyte, Msi, Radeon, Biostar, Hp, BenQ, Samsung, Hitachi, Western Digital, Corsair, G Skill, Crucial, Lenovo or anything like that.) We're on the hunt for brand names you've never heard and if they look like a random string of letters thrown together even better!
So let the bargain build begin!
-THE CASE
So many choices...for basic looking tiny HTPC builds. Useless for us here though because I'm expecting both the cooler and GPU to be on the chunky side. Given my budget (or lack there of) I was expecting a lot of terrible looking 90's designs but no, I believe they've all been crushed or sent to the developing world. Which means I'm left with something like this. Oh god.
8 Fans? I don't think I'll need that many but it's nice to have that option I guess. Even though it's one of the bigger cases available for my plans, it comes with a drawback:
Video card limit: 28cm [does not support three-fan video card]
Still, it's a start.
Oh and it's $98 for it to get over here from China. Best to find something far better locally. Still, it's on the list until we come up with something better (it couldn't get any worse...)
I'm sticking to a socket 1150 because it should be fairly affordable and hopefully plenty of examples left. Skipping past all the MSI, Asus and Gigabyte offerings I have found...Machinist!
You know Machinist, that quality motherboard manufacturer? No? (Wasn't that a movie with Batman?)
Look at that saving! Just a sniff over $60 to get this work of art over here and we have our unknown brand motherboard with a max of 16GB ram. What could possibly go wrong?
(According to the ad this is great for 'Office Games/Media play'. I'm not sure what that means but it sure sounds exciting!)
Something slightly better than an I5 4460? Well this would work and it's twenty bucks cheaper than my original one so that's a win! (Provided it's correct of course)
Also it's a smidge faster. I mean probably not that noticeable when I'm deep into a game of Dungeon Keeper but it's still an improvement.
Nothing says 'lets keep this CPU cool' than a Jonsbo! And can I really get it that cheap here in Australia? #Bargain!
This will also go so well with my already garish multicolored fan case from early - I wasn't expecting to crack a fashionable build with my plans but that's Aliexpress fate for you!
Plexhd - Yeah I don't know either. But it's DDR3 from an unknown brand as looks as exciting as toast that's been left in the toaster overnight.
Incredibly in my search to match or exceed my GTX 650, I found a 550TI that said it was the equivalent of a GTX 650 in the title! How did they know I was looking for that! The problem was, it was Asus. I know Asus and have used Asus in the past so we can't have that for project unknown.
So scrolling down I have selected...a Vienda!
I'm not sure what to make of the ad title though, this thing would Instakill a GTX650TI? Is that what you're telling me?
If legitimate then this would be 61% faster than what I'm using. But that's a big if..
Look I'd love a SSD I really would and Aliexpress is full of those brand names you've never heard of. The trouble is that 1TB SSD's are over $100 and that's just not in the budget, so back to HDD we go. Sadly there's no wacky names there either which is a shame, so lets go a 1TB Toshiba and be done with it..
A 2 for 1 deal for under $25 plus postage? How could I argue with that!
Plus iMice just do the best, it says so in their logo so I doubt I'm going to beat that offer on what looks like a rugged and reliable keyboard and mouse combo!
THE POWER SUPPLY
I can't believe I forgot this the first time around. But we can't power up anything without a juice making device and if you can believe this one (which I seriously don't..), we're getting 800 watts out of this green machine!
That's more than enough power to run everything on board and potentially melt down the computer and surrounding house too! I can't see any possibility of this going horribly wrong, no sir!
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