Advice on this computer?

[Luca]

Just this Christmas I got some money to go towards a PC that I am still currently looking for. I need a bit of advice on this computer that I have came across. In terms of gaming on my PC, I'm looking to connect to my HDTV in my bedroom. First of all, I just want of clarify that I am not looking to play the most brand new games as of the moment and I am aware the graphics card isn't all that much but I am open to upgrading it in the future. Can you guys tell me what sort of games I'd be able to play with this computer out the box and if it is worth the purchase to begin with?

- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-H30-Desktop-PC-Black/dp/B00O8SED2Q/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0YNRGMGA6VN5MECSWF96#productDetails

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Worth to purchase as long you don't plan to game on it. But when it comes to recent titles, the performance is horrible. Except that weak GPU, it has a very weak CPU too. 2 Ghz AMD? I lold.
And what I don't see, but I can imagine, knowing Lenovo, DELL, HP and co, that it has also a cheapo motherboard with limited upgrades and some generic noname PSU.

If you want a decent PC, do yourself a favor and build it up from scratch.

[Uneventful]

Performance on that computer is going to be poor. CPU is fairly slow at 2 GHz. The real problem is the video card. First the card that they include isn't much better then the integrated GPU on the APU and second the case is so small that they have to use a low profile card. You will have almost no upgrade options in the future with that computer. If you are going to buy a computer from one of the big three (Dell, HP or Lenovo) then you have to real the specs very carefully to make sure that the power supply they include is powerful enough for the type of Video Card you put in and the case has the room for the card and decent airflow. This Computer fails on both of those counts. I would strongly advise against it.

As far as what games you can play, that is almost impossible to answer decently. There are thousands of popular games and all of them have different system requirements. If you are looking to hook the computer up to a HDTV then you will mostly likely be running everything at 1080p which will stress most good graphics cards on a lot of games. Otherwise you will have ot run at 720p which will run all games better, but is considered unacceptable by most gamers. So without knowing the exact type of games you want to play and what levels of performance you find acceptable, answering you question about the games it will play is pointless. Compare the recommended system requirements against the specs of the computer to get an idea for yourself. -Uneventful

[-=[WireframeDouche]=-]

- It's a mobile CPU, that's why the low clock.
- RAM is ok for this price category imho.
- Video is integrated into the CPU. Page doesn't specify if you can install a discrete GPU later. You might want to check that.

That said, for the money I think you're getting a decent PC in this config. Add to that it's a SFF system (DIY that and it will probably cost twice as much) and in my experience Lenovo is a solid brand.

AMD Integrated Graphics are usually faster than Intel at the same price level. I found a video of the same CPU/GPU playing Skyrim (with only 4GB RAM):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTk4jy7BLnA

As I said before, the only thing i can't find is wether you could upgrade video later or not. Other than that this system looks pretty good to me.

cheers.

[Luca]

I checked on Game Debate and the graphics card seems to be able to play most decent games ranging from PS3 games from 2012 prior. Obviously not of PS4/XB1 level but like I stated before, I am not going for that level of gaming out the box. I am just looking for a PC to start with. Also, it says it's a quad core 2GHz processor, 8GB of RAM (I am aware that RAM isn't as massively important but better too much than too little) and the graphics card is stated to be a dedicated graphics card with 1GB of Graphics RAM. So I'm assuming if it claims to be dedicated than it isn't integrated onto the motherboard or whatever. Unless Amazon is lying and it's not a dedicated graphics card really?

Surely this thing has to be decent for the level of gaming I'm looking for. As for future upgrades and customisation, I'll get more information on that through Lenovo. Thanks for your feedback guys.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Pre-Build SLIM/MINI Desktops like that don't make for anything good worthy of buying for gaming purposes. They lack ability to upgrade things like the PSU and GPU; as what they accept are very limited overall.

Get a regular desktop; even one using a MicroATX Motherboard would be fine. But you want it to at least use a standard ATX power supply spec and accept full sized GPUs.

[-=[WireframeDouche]=-]

Publicado originalmente por PrinceLuca:

8GB of RAM (I am aware that RAM isn't as massively important but better too much than too little)

Much more important than what you think ;) 4GB is very basic (especially with integrated graphics, see below). 8GB gives you a lot more headroom.

and the graphics card is stated to be a dedicated graphics card with 1GB of Graphics RAM. So I'm assuming if it claims to be dedicated than it isn't integrated onto the motherboard or whatever. Unless Amazon is lying and it's not a dedicated graphics card really?

It's an integrated R5 GPU, if it says 1GB it's taken from your system RAM, meaning you're left with 7GB for OS/apps/games:
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/notebook-tablet/apus#

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Just avoid such desktops u can't upgrade. You can usually get a MicroATX Desktop right around the same pricing range. Then simply add a GPU to it, such as GTX 750 Ti or R7 260 for example.

[Luca]

Or perhaps I'm better off with something like this, this seems highly customisable, same price range-ish, faster processor, I think the GPU is more advanced with room for a dedicated Graphics Card. Same 1TB and 8GB of RAM. The only thing that irks me about is it comes with no OS at that price but my plans would be to use Ubuntu temporarily and purchase Windows 7 at a later date.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00ISVK7ZG/ref=pd_aw_sbs_computers_2?refRID=1X1EDMWVK2XNKZS4P931

[Rove]

My advice to you is that prebuilt PCs in that price range will all be crap with Windows on top.
Meanwhile for that price or slightly more you can build yourself a much more reasonable PC and use Linux OS for free.

Here's what I'd recommend:

AMD A8-7600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
MSI A78M-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard
G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Zalman ZM-T3 MicroATX Mini Tower Case
EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/QWfCqs
Total: £271.07

There is not a single thing you should go cheaper on in this build so don't try and cut any corners or you'll ruin it. The fast RAM is needed for the integrated graphics in the APU (about as good as a R7 240 dedicated card) and so on. When you want to upgrade the graphics card, which you probably will then you will be able to thanks to the ample 500W 80 Plus Bronze PSU. I'd recommend a R7 260 through to R9 270X as the graphics upgrade from currently available cards though by the time you upgrade maybe new stuff will be out and a better deal.

You can get Linux for free and install a free program called Wine that will allow you to run Steam for Windows and Windows games as well as Steam for Linux and Linux games. I recommend Linux Mint, Steam OS is also in Beta and it's a type of Linux.

Linux Mint can be easily installed onto a bootable USB drive and used to install on the new PC. You can also make a live-CD/DVD but then you will need a DVD drive which is not included in these builds. The USB stick method is cheaper and not that hard to figure out.

If you can spend just a little bit more you can get a build that has better performance:

AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
MSI Radeon R7 260 1GB Video Card
Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case
EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/x66xkL
Total: £330.04

This last one should be similar to the Xbox One console in terms of performance, same technicall ballpark at least so that should give you a idea of the games it can play.