Worth it for gaming in 2017? - Dell XPS8910-10420BLK w/ i7-6700 & GTX 750 Ti

Looking for a ~$900 PC for gaming? Ok, lets have a look at this black minimalist looking Dell XPS desktop computer. It has a pretty good Skylake i7 processor, but the graphics card released in early 2014 and it is 2 generations old (launch price was 149 USD, dropped to around 99 USD, around same price as faster and newer GTX 1050). If you plan to buy this PC for gaming then I suggest something else, because this build is not balanced for playing games, graphics card is less than 10 percent of the total cost of this system. 16GB is nice to have in 2017 and 2TB HDD is sufficient for most, although an SSD would be a nice upgrade for this computer. If you think of upgrading the graphics card and adding an SSD right away, then I recommend buying a computer that already have the wanted part, you can save money this way. For normal work it is still good, the processor is from previous generation, but that doesn't matter. Going from Skylake to Kaby Lake didn't give any performance boost, only higher clockspeed and few special features.

Intel Core i7-6700 3.40 GHz, up to 4.0 GHz (4 cores, 8 threads)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM

16GB DDR4 memory; 64GB supported

2TB mechanical hard drive for storage

Windows 10 Professional

Positive:

Good processor with plenty of power for any task
Good amount of RAM and hard drive space
Windows 10 Professional instead of Home version


Negative:

Not the best graphics card, not VR ready
There are better deals if you want a PCpurely for gaming 


Neutral

This isn't the newest generation XPS series computer
The modest looking case can be a postitive for some people who don't like flashy gaming cases, for others the office pc look can be a big minus. Those people should look for something from CyberPowerPC or iBUYPOWER

Overpriced or not? EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3 04G-P3-2739-KR

If you are an active computer gamer then you have almost certainly compared your PC specs to system requirements of dozens of games that interest you. Unless if you buy the highest end computer every two years to not worry about game minimum requirements. But when your video card falls short and needs replacing you may check what GPU's are popular at the moment. By browsing Amazon bestseller list for graphics cards you can find many $400+ cards there and may think "There must be a better deals for less". And there is this 4GB GT 730 in TOP 100... "It costs much less than some other 4GB video cards and this game I'd like to play only requires a 2GB GTX 660, so it should be good enough" - this is what some people may think when they see this "gaming" graphics card. Unfortunately it is not good enough for games that require 2GB GTX 660 or GTX 670 by far.
 There are 3 types of GT 730, the slowest DDR3 128-bit based on Fermi, DDR3 64-bit based on Kepler and the best one - GDDR5 64-bit Kepler variant. This EVGA 4GB 128-bit GT 730 is based on the old and slower Fermi GPU verison that was originally launched in 2010 as GT 430, then renamed to GT 530, GT 630 and now GT 730. So this card is basically a renamed GT 430 with 4GB of slow 1400 MHz DDR3 video memory. If you have bought a midrange card in past 5 years, then buying this one will most likely be a downgrade. Keep in mind, the amount of video memory tells nothing about the performance of the graphics card. The price for performance in gaming with this video card is really awful, for 10-15 dollars more you can get a card that is multiple times faster in games.

Specs:
Fermi architecture
96 shaders
Core Clock 700 MHz
Memory Size 4GB
Memory interface 128-Bit
Memory type DDR3
Memory speed: 1400 MHz (effective)
DVI-I, DVI-I, Mini-HDMI


EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3 128bit Dual DVI mHDMI Graphics Cards 04G-P3-2739-KR


Positive:
No need for extra power connector, low power consumption
OK if you only play old games and can get it cheap

Negative:
Priced too high to make sense, cost more than GT 1030
Poor price to performance
Not suitable for new and upcoming games
4GB of video memory is useless for gaming on this card




The best graphics card for under $80
AMD Radeon RX 550 is a massive improvement over any GT 730 and it costs about the same.

If you really need a 4GB graphics card
Get a 4GB AMD Radeon RX 560 or 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

If you really need a 4GB graphics card for under $80
Get something from used market, even the GDDR5 version of 4GB GT 730 is useless compared to 2GB GT 1030.

Used graphics card 
You can buy a used 2GB GeForce GTX 760 or even GTX 770 for less than cost of new GT 730 4GB. Both of these are massive upgrade from 4GB GT 730 and even 2GB GT 1030. You need a good power supply and roomy case for those cards though.

Is it worth it? - CybertronPC Electrum QS-A4 Gaming Desktop

The CybertronPC seems to be a good deal at first glance, at least for an average person, but unfortunately it is quite the opposite when you try the newest games. A high clocked 3.8GHz processor (4GHz with boost), 8GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and AMD Radeon HD 8470D graphics card look pretty good on paper, but in reality the pretty weak dual-core AMD cpu and integrated graphics are not suitable for most modern games. Let's take a popular game like Witcher III which requires a minimum 3GHz AMD quad-core processor and a AMD Radeon HD 7870 graphics card (like other popular games like PUBG etc). It seems like an easy pass, 3.8GHz is higher than 3GHz and HD 8470D is bigger number than HD 7870. Unfortunately this CybertronPC is far below minimum requirements, the game requires  3GHz 4 core processor and it only has 2 core at 3.8GHz and the graphics cards performance is only a fraction of required HD 7870.
On the better side the 8GB of RAM (although older DDR3) and the 1TB mechanical HDD are pretty normal for computers even twice the price. This PC is fine for low demanding games like WoW, LoL and so on, but don't expect to play AAA games from recent years. If you wonder why there are still some people raving about this CybertronPC gaming computer, it is because a lot of these cheap "gaming computers" are being gifted by not so tech savy person to their kids or grandkids. Often you see reviews like "I bought it for my 9 year old son and he seems to like it, so 10 out of 10!"


Processor:
The dual-core A4-7300 Richland based AMD APU costs around and it is one of the cheapest processors you could buy as new, even cheaper that Intel Celeron series CPUs. It runs at 3.8 GHz base clock and 4.0 GHz turbo and it is equipped with a Radeon HD8470D GPU.  The high GHz number seems tempting, but in reality this 3.8Ghz AMD APU is slower than 2.8GHz Celeron. Some modern games won't even start with a 2 core, so buying graphics card costing over $150 (like GTX 1060 or RX 580) is pointless because of the CPU bottleneck.

Graphics card:
There is no dedicated graphics, integrated Radeon HD8470D GPU is not suitable for new games. You can buy a $100 video card to upgrade gaming performance.

RAM:
Due to the FM2/FM2+ socket, it can only use DDR3 ram, not DDR4 like newest AM4 Ryzen CPUs and latest Intel processors. 8GB is plenty for this kind of computer, the processor is not suitable for extreme multitasking anyway which would require 16GB of ram.

Storage:
1TB mechanical hard drive is the norm for computers from $400 to $800. An SSD would be a good upgrade for any desktop because of faster booting, loading times and overall experience.

Case and power supply
The case is modern looking and definitely has more options for upgrading than cheap office computers, but you might need a new power supply if you plan to upgrade the PC. It is because most cheap "gaming computers" come with very cheap no-name brand PSUs. Keep in mind this desktop doesn't come with an optical drive, so you would need an external USB DVD drive. Modern cases don't often have an internal slot for your DVD or Blu-ray drive.


Pros:
Just enough of RAM and storage for the price
Nice looking case
One of the cheapest PC with a "gamer look"

Cons:
Only a dual-core processor
Integrated graphics card

Other:
Power supply not suitable for massive upgrades
No optical drive or wireless
Needs about $200 in upgrades to play newest games



Specs:
AMD A4-7300 3.80GHz Dual-Core
8GB DDR3 memory
1TB SATA HDD
Windows 10 Home 64-bit operating system
AMD Radeon HD 8470D GPU
No Optical Drive
Keyboard and Mouse
Gaming Mid-Tower with a 400 Watt Power Supply (unknown brand)
1 Year Parts & Labor Warranty | Free Lifetime Tech Support


What are the alternatives?

For under $400

Refurbished HP Pavilion 510-p127c

Refurbished, but better in almost everything. Quad-core instead of dual, more ram, has a dedicated gpu, so it can play some newer games. More modern platform. Case and power supply are not upgrade friendly.


Lenovo Ideacentre 300 Desktop Computer, Black (Intel Core i3, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB HDD, Windows 10) 90DA00LPUS 

Much better processor, but case and powersupply are not upgrade friendly. IGPU is better than AMD A4's.


Acer Aspire Desktop, 7th Gen Intel Core i3-7100, 8GB DDR4, 1TB HDD, Windows 10 Home, TC-780-ACKi3

It is cheaper and similar to the Lenovo, but has a newer generation processor. Power supply and case can hold a GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti that don't require a six-pin power.

If you want the best gaming performance for under $400

Alienware Alpha ASM100-1580 Console (Intel Core i3-4130T 2.9 GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, Windows 8) (Discontinued by Manufacturer) 

This one has the best gaming performance under $400 for a new PC, but its graphics card and CPU are not upgradeable, needs extra RAM. Better than the problematic newer version according to reviews.

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500f PC (Black) review

Here is a little overview of modest HP home computer. This HP Pavilion is not exactly a gaming desktop, but it seems to be very popular for some reason. It doesn't have a fancy computer case with led lights or an expensive high-end graphics card like most gaming desktops. HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500f PC (Black) is a solid computer with six-core processor and lots of RAM, that can also handle some less demanding games like The Sims 3, Left 4 Dead 2 and World of Warcraft.  
Graphics card: This HP has AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card with 512MB DDR3 of video memory. HD 6450 is pretty weak, even DDR5 version of this card is more than 2 times slower than ATI HD 5670. It is sufficient for casual gamers, but too weak for people who want to play DirectX 11 games like Metro 2033. Although most games can be played with lowered details.
Processor: HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500f is equipped with a 2.7GHz, six-core AMD Phenom II 1045T. It's great for multi-threaded applications and video editing, but most programs don't benefit of having 6 cores. Additionally, higher clocked Phenom II X4's are better in gaming.
Other specs: This HP Pavilion has generous amount of RAM (4x 2GB DDR3 sticks), large but slow hard drive (1.5TB 5400RPM), Wireless LAN, 15-in-1 card reader and DVD burner with LightScribe. Like most computers, HP HPE-500f PC uses Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
Conclusion: HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500f PC is a great home computer that has things that most gaming computers don't have. But it is not suitable for serious gamer, who plays latest games.
Alternative for gamers: Titanium Gamer AMTI7007 has 7x faster video card for $12 more, but weaker processor and smaller hard drive, Titanium Gamer AMTI7009 is a good choice for $900.

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-500f PC (Black)

Pros:

 Wireless

 8GB RAM

 Six-core CPU

Cons:

 Bad graphics card
 Only 300W power supply

Specifications:

• 2.7GHz AMD Phenom II 1045T
• 8GB DDR3  RAM
• 1.5TB hard drive
• AMD Radeon HD 6450 512MB DDR3 
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Best Gaming Graphics Cards For The Money, May 2011 (under $100)

Choosing the right budget graphics card is not very easy, there are dozens of different models and variety of manufacturers. Not all video cards are worth their price, often other graphics card with same price is many times slower. Prices between manufacturers can vary a lot too, same card by other company can cost even $70 more. In this post I list best gaming graphics cards for the price from $40 to $100. Remember that availability and prices change very fast, this means that some info can be out of date.


Best graphics card for $40:

In this price range there are two graphics cards (DDR2 versions of ATI HD 4650 and Nvidia 9500GT) that should have almost identical performance. They are both OK for older games but some new and very demanding games only run at low settings/resolution. 9500GT (SPARKLE SFPX95GT512U2HP) has a silent passive cooling but HD 4650 (SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI) is a low profile (it should come with a full height bracket) card with a small fan.

Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB GDDR2

• DirectX 10
• 128-bit memory interface
  
• Minimum PSU: 350W

ATI alternative:

ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB GDDR2 

• DirectX 10.1
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Best graphics card for $50:

For $50 you can get a Nvidia GeForce GT 240 which is a big step up from both HD 4650 and 9500GT. This specific card is pretty loud, according to some customer reviews.

Nvidia GeForce GT 240 1024MB DDR3

• DirectX 10.1
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

ATI alternative:

ATI Radeon HD 5550 DDR3 is less powerful than GeForce GT 240 DDR3, but it has DirectX 11 support. Although, it's pretty pointless for this slow graphics cards.

ATI Radeon HD 5550 1024MB DDR3

• DirectX 11
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Best graphics card for $60:

Nvidia GeForce GT 240 is also the best graphics card for under 60 dollars. There is no point to spend extra cash for ATI HD 4670 which has same performance as GT 240.

Nvidia GeForce GT 240 1024MB DDR3

• DirectX 10.1
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

ATI alternative:

More expensive ATI Radeon HD 4670 is not really worth the price, I highly suggest getting much faster ATI HD 5670 / HD 4830 instead, they only cost $10 more.

ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3

• DirectX 10.1
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Best graphics card for $70:

The best video card for $70 is ATI HD 5670. It's slightly faster than GT 240 DDR5, but little bit weaker than HD 4830 that has much higher power consumption and no DirectX 11 support.

ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB DDR5

• DirectX 11
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Nvidia alternative:

Nvidia GT 240 512MB DDR5 is little bit more powerful than cheaper GT 240 1GB DDR3. The minimum power supply requirements is strange for this card, most GT 240's require 300W PSU.

Nvidia GeForce GT 240 512MB GDDR5

• DirectX 10.1
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 450W

Best graphics card for $80:

Best graphics card for under $80 is the ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB. HD 5670 is little bit weaker than GeForce 9800GT, but it's DirectX 11 compatible and it consumes much less power.

ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB DDR5

• DirectX 11
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Nvidia alternative:

9800GT is a card that I really don't recommend. It's very common that Nvidia 8800/9800 series cards die after few years of use. 9800GT is little bit faster than GT 240 DDR5 and ATI HD 5670.

Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3

• DirectX 10
• 256-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W

Best graphics card for $90:
Same as $80, no better deals for this price.

Best graphics card for $100:

Fastest gaming graphics card under 100 dollars is the ATI Radeon HD 5750, but I strongly suggest getting much faster ATI Radeon HD 5770 instead. It doesn't cost much more.

ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5

• DirectX 11
• 128-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 450W

Nvidia alternative:

GTS 250 is not much slower than HD 5750, but GTS 250 has significally higher power consumption and no DirectX 11 support. Even when it requires a weaker power supply.

Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 512MB DDR3

• DirectX 10
• 256-bit memory interface
• Minimum PSU: 400W