Buthere's what I'vedonetotransformthissupertreatworkstationinto a budgetgamingPC.
Asyoumayrecall, thismachinecamewith a stock 650.
Whatpsyouthere?
Weonlyhad 16 pinconnector.
Itstillseemed a wastetoreplaceitwithallthatuntappedpowerunderthehood.
So I wentinsearchof a graphicscardthat I couldfindat a reasonablepriceononethatwouldonlyneed a sensibleamountofwattagetorunsafelyarethereforeendedupwiththis.
TheGigaby I T.
X Genetics 9 60 ThisMaxwellbasedcardssitsbetweenthe 10 50 10 50 t i performancewise, butcostmelessthanbothhalfinfact, thanthelatter.
HereintheUK, I alwayscomparethedeals I findonhardwaretothepricesoverat C E.
X, astheyseemtobeamongthecheapestforusedparts.
So I think I didokayhere, especiallyforthebuyitNowitem.
Thenextproblem I hadtodealwithwasthattwogigabytesofRAM.
I hadnocompatiblememoryatthetimeofmakingthelastvideo.
So I tooktoeBayasusualandmanagedtofindsomecheapdelmemory.
That I wasinsuredwascompatible.
Atfirst I thoughtaboutjustbuying 24 gigsticks, butwhystopthere?
When 16 gigsseemssoreasonablypriced, it's notoften I stick 16 gigsin a budgetPC.
Butwiththisbeing a workstation, I'd liketocontinueusingitlikeoneaswell.
Althoughunrelatedtotheperformance, I alsothinkthebabyblueheatspreaderslookgood, too.
Sowith a totalspendof £110 or $145 onthissetupstill a savingof 4800 orsoontheoriginalpricetag, itwastimetoseewhatdifferencemylowscostupgradeswouldmaketothisthing's gamingperformance.
Solet's getintoit.
I triedtotarget a 60 f.
P.
S at 10 80 p experiencewiththissystemorascloseas I couldgetbyloweringthesettingsasrequired, thoughthatwasn't alwaysthecaseisyourlaterseeFirstupinBattlefieldone, thisworkstationturnedgamingPCmanaged 59 F.
P.
S, onaverage, withfairlyrespectable 1% in 10.1% lowsaswell.
Thesefiguresreflects a prettysolidperformance, relativelyfreeofstutterandslowdown, turningthingsdowntoLoman, a slightincreaseinperformanceandhighsettingsimpactedtheframerate a little, thoughnotby a significantreduction, butmedium, inmyopinion, creates a niceblendofgraphicalqualityandperformance.
Nextup, I tookto a moremodernbattlefieldin a slightlyoldergame, Battlefieldthree.
Althoughit's a fewyearsoldnow, itremains a verygoodgameandgraphicallyintensiveoneforolderormoreBadriorientatedhardware.
Butnonetheless, I crankedeverythinguptoultraandsaw a nice 82 framespersecondonaverageduringthisactionpackedopeninglevel.
NextupArctictoseeusgo.
Thefootageherewastakenfrom a boatmatch, thoughthefiguresweretakenfromanonlinegamewiththingssettoohigh.
Movingonto a couplemoredemandingtitlesandghostreconwildlandsrunthebestonlow.
It's alsoworthmentioning.
ThegraphicscardsoftheRamwasexceeded, evenatthesesettings, thatmaybeworthbearinginmindwithregardstocertaintitles, butwestillsaw a playableaverageof 45 framespersecond.
Loweringtheresolutionwouldalsohelp a bitwiththatframeratesandevenatmediumsettings.
Thegamestayedat a prettysolid 30 f.
P s.
Soif 30 isfineforyou, thenyoucouldturnthingsup a littleon a systemlikethisone.
Now I saythiseverytime.
ButPubJiisfarbetterthanitusedtobe.
Performancewiseandrunsbetteron a widerarrayofhardware.
Nowthatdroolseonsandtwo.
Gig 9 60 hadnotroublehereatlowsettings, thoughtheframeratedidstartoffatabout 40 when I firstlandedbeforetheenvironmentaroundmehad a chancetofullyloadResidentEvilsevenwasprobablytheeasiesttoruntitletoday, soaringwayover 100 f.