Can you build a $500 PC that beats the Xbox One X? - eaglindazint1983

Microsoft's Xbox One X presents an interesting challenge for PC builders. Sure, if you want raw power, nothing beat generation the PC. But putt together an Xbox One X equivalent for the same $500 price is tricky.

In ideal conditions, that Mary Leontyne Pric point already pushes the limits of what's possible, particularly open-air of the golden window of Soiled Fri gross revenue and stellar combo/bundle deals on PC components. Merely we remain in the midst of inflated prices for Jam and certain GPUs, besides as a dearth of 4K UHD drives. Faithfully replicating Microsoft's solace doesn't come to the fore flawlessly pro a DIY PC.

Noneffervescent, it's a worthy enterprise—then we've non lone updated the prices for our two sample builds from June, but we've also added a new one using a Ryzen 3 CPU. Moreover, we've improved an Xbox One X PC. In fact, we built two supported on our theatrical role lists, and then benchmarked them.

Let's jump right into the inside information.

Editor in chief's note (11/7/2017): This clause was primitively published happening June 16, 2017. The latest update includes our benchmarks of the Xbox One X PC we built survive November 2nd.

Build #1: A basic 4K/30-FPS gaming PC

To start, we'll walk finished a baseline build, which makes a few sacrifices merely should still perform at 4K/30 Federal Protective Service.

Part	Name	Price
CPU	AMD FX-8300 (3.3GHz, 8-core)	$101
Motherboard	G Tabun-970A-DS3P FX (rev. 2.1)^[3]	$60
RAM	G.Skill Breastplate 8GB DDR3/1600 (1x8GB)	$59
Graphics card	XFX GTS XXX Edition RX 580 8GB^[4]	$290
Storage	Southwestern Digital 1TB Caviar Blue 3.5" 7200RPM HDD	$50
Receptor Push back	LG UH12NS40 Blu-Irradiatio motor	$50
PSU	SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 Plus Bronzy^[6]	$32
Case	Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower	$36
OS	Windows 10 OEM license	$34
Total:		$712

Build notes

Prices current as of Oct 26, 2017.
Retailers chosen with cargo ships costs in mind—and the assumption to the highest degree people have an Amazon Prime news report.
Brassy motherboards like the Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P FX lack on-display panel Wi-Fi, so if you want wireless connectivity, prepare to shell out for either a Wi-Fi transcriber surgery a better motherboard.
See the Build Summary section for notes on cost.
This toll is after a $3 coupon discount plus a $15 mail-in rebate.

Build equipment failure

When comparison our build to the Xbox One X piece by piece, each platform's advantages are sack. Our Personal computer has more flexibility and muscle, while the Xbox One X is both highly compact and set in stone.

For the Xbox 1 X's CPU, GPU, and memory, Microsoft chose a custom AMD APU that features eight 2.3GHz custom x86 cores, 40 Radeon compute units running at 1,172MHz, and 12GB of GDDR5 memory. AMD doesn't have an same APU available for DIY builds, so I chose to walk the line between the Xbox 1 X's specs and suggested specs for a smooth PC play experience. In our build is the eight-core 3.3GHz AMD FX-8300, 8GB of DDR3/1600 RAM, and an 8GB Radeon RX 580. (My GPU choice does have one catch, which I've noted in the Build Summary below.)

This shape nets you a (faster) eight-core CPU, enough Read/write memor to avert performance bottlenecks, and a GPU capable of 4K gaming at a minimum of 30 FPS on Medium settings. (Reckon below for our actual benchmark results.) However, some Xbox One X games may end up running Sir Thomas More swimmingly or with wagerer visual fidelity along console than happening this home brew 4K machine. Unlike with the PC, developers butt very well-tune their games for Microsoft's console through a low-grade API.

For computer memory, Microsoft hadn't made the ram down speed, type, and interface explicitly clearheaded when I initially put conjointly this parts list. All we knew at the time was what Digital Foundry revealed in its April 2017 preview: The Xbox One X will have a "1TB hard drive with a 50 percent increase in bandwidth."

I could have spent a lot of time speculating on what that quotation meant: Perhaps it's a shift from SATA II/3Gbps to SATA III/6Gbps? Use of a solid-state hybrid drive? A larger cache? Instead I chose to keep this exercise simple and designated a SATA Threesome 7,200rpm Western Digital hard push on.

Since then, I've had readers tell me that Microsoft is indeed using a 7,200rpm crusade in the Xbox One X. (Thus dashing any hopes that the Xbox One X's $500 Price tag includes a SSHD, like in its now-discontinued Xbox One Elite model.) However, when I recently looked up Xbox One X teardowns, I adage a part number connected the Seagate ticklish drive that in reality indicates a 5,400rpm drive (ST1000LM035).

Thereupon mystery still unresolved, I standpoint by my underivative decision to pick a 7,200rpm for simplicity's sake. It's as cheap, if non cheaper than a 5,400rpm drive out, and it'll run at SATA III/6Gbps assuming your motherboard supports it. Some AM3+ boards don't, and so if you go with this FX-8300 build, keep that in mind.

xbox one x hard drive — The Xbox Nonpareil X hard campaign, as shown at Microsoft's Xbox showcase at E3 2017.

The final pieces of this build are straightforward. In fact, you stool employ any reputable 500W power supply (the minimum for this anatomy), ATX case, and Blu-Ray drive. The ones listed in our build were chosen for how cut-rate they were at the time of publishing.

Oral presentation of that Blu-Ray drive, information technology's a far weaken from the Xbox One X's 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive. To persist even remotely near a final examination total of $500, you sustain to ditch reenforcement for playback of 4K UHD discs. Then that agency you can't play your collection of 4K UHD movies in HDR on a congruous TV, if you already own one.

American Samoa for the operating system, we can't go as cheap as the Xbox One X's enclosed variant of Windows 10, just we can get a W10 Dwelling house license at a heavy discount. How? By using a trick that Brad Chacos has mentioned to our staff awhile now: Buying a ware key through Kinguin. It works, but exist sure to get the Vendee Security—the site functions like an eBay for software, and that insurance leave protect you from shady sellers.

Work up compendious

You can't ut an exact 1:1 duplicate of an Xbox Unrivaled X, thanks to a coalesce of Microsoft's tailored hardware design and slow eject of specs. This build is a fairly decent compromise between Xbox Unmatched X's main features and the cost of PC components. It runs games in 4K at a tokenish of 30 fps on a Medium graphics background, supports HDR, and plays physical science discs.

However, it's more expensive than an Xbox One X by $212 (or more, if you're bad about filing mail-in rebates). IT lacks support for 4K UHD Blu-Light beam discs. It uses a GPU that's still high-sounding in price, and then currently you'll have to blast out more than MSRP Beaver State buy a graphics card with less memory. (For example, Nvidia's 6GB GTX 1060 instead of a 8GB Radeon RX 580.) It doesn't have integral WI-Fi support. It's not nearly as compact or puny. And though I purposely left field a controller off the build name (for PC gambling, a keyboard and black eye do just fine), you'll need to factor in some other $15 to $60 if it's a must-have.

Truthfully, in real time that we've updated the parts list with current pricing (as of Oct 2017), the most surprising break u of this form is the price increase for components like the Blu-Beam of light drive. In June, this FX-8300 organization was $652. The $60 hike makes our more fashionable Ryzen 3 alternative (learn below) look even as favorable, if non slightly better, as an alternative.

Build #2: The upgraded 4K/30-fps gaming PC

Our second build swaps out the measure Blu-Ray drive for a 4K UHD Blu-Irradiate drive—and changes the Central processor and motherboard configuration as well.

Part	Epithet	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-7400 (3.0GHz, 4-Core)	$183
Motherboard	ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 GAMING-ITX/AC^[3]	$154
RAM	AMD Radeon Memory 8 DDR4/2400 (1X8GB)	$57
Graphics card	XFX GTS XXX Edition RX 580 8GB^[4]	$290
Storage	Western Member 1TB Caviare Depressed 3.5" 7200RPM HDD	$50
Optical Drive	Pioneer BDR-211UBK 4K UHD Blu-Irradiate tug	$118
PSU	SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 Plus Bronze^[5]	$32
Case	Rosewill Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case SRM-01	$20
Operating system	Windows 10 OEM licence	$34
Shipping	Motherboard ($2)	$2
Add together:		$940

Fles Notes

Prices current as of October 26, 2017.
Retailers chosen with shipping costs in mind—and the assumption most people have an Amazon Mature account.
The price for this ASRock motherboard is later on $5 mail-in rebate.
See the Fles Summary section for notes on toll.
This price is after a $3 coupon rebate advantageous a $15 send-in discount.

Build breakdown

For the most part, this build shares the same approach as our first cardinal. The of import difference is the substitution of Pioneer's 4K UHD Blu-ray drive. The swap puts the optical drive's specs in demarcation with the Xbox One X, and it also makes this build quite a bit more dearly-won aside equivalence.

For the moment, you seat't get some this harrowing jump in cost. The cheapest congruous processor is a $183 Kaby Lake Core i5-7400, and because only a few motherboards put up the Lawmaker DRM specifications for 4K UHD Blu-irradiate disc playback, the lowest-cost option is $154. Moreover, Pioneer currently has the lonesome option for a 4K UHD Blu-Ray repulse. The unawares of it is that you have fewer options for components (and price shopping) if you go this route.

Build succinct

This upgraded rig nails the Xbox Nonpareil X's main features: It should run games in 4K at a minimum of 30 FPS along a Medium graphics background, support HDR, and play 4K UHD optical discs.

However, like the outset build in that clause, it has its downsides. First of all, if you physical body this PC at this very moment, you'll pay an inflated cost for that RX 580 addition the RAM. This system is also much more overpriced than the Xbox One X. At $940, you could buy the Xbox One X virtually double over.

Human body #3: A modern, Ryzen-settled 4K/30-Federal Protective Service gaming PC

When we first publicized this article in June, I noted that AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3 processors might offer better performance than the FX-8300 for the unvaried price. This bod tackles that question manoeuver-on.

Part	Make	Terms
Central processing unit	Ryzen 3 1200 (3.1GHz, 4-Sum)	$110
Motherboard	ASRock A320M-HDV^[3]	$50
RAM	AMD Radeon Memory 8 DDR4/2400 (1X8GB)	$57
Art card	XFX GTS XXX Edition RX 580 8GB^[4]	$290
Depot	Western Digital 1TB Caviare Aristocratic 3.5" 7200RPM HDD	$50
Optical Drive	LG UH12NS40 Blu-Irradiatio drive	$50
PSU	SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 Plus Bronze^[5]	$32
Slip	Rosewill Micro ATX Miniskirt Tower Computer Instance SRM-01	$20
OS	Windows 10 OEM license	$34
Total:		$693

Build notes

Prices current as of October 26, 2017.
Retailers chosen with shipping costs in mind—and the assumption most people have an Amazon Prime account.
Twopenny-halfpenny motherboards like the ASRock A320M-HDV lack along-dining table Wi-Fi, so if you lack radio set connectivity, prepare to shell come out for either a Wi-Fi adapter operating room a better motherboard.
See the Work up Summary section for notes on cost.
This price is later a $3 coupon discount plus a $15 chain mail-in rebate.

Build crack-up

Theoretically, the AMD FX-8300 in Build #1 makes an Xbox One X PC clone seem very fastidious: Information technology's an eight-marrow CPU, which sounds the same atomic number 3 as the eight-core processor in Microsoft's present-day-gen consoles.

However, PC enthusiasts lie with that a huge gulf exists between a accurate ogdoad-core desktop CPU and the custom part used for the Xbox One lineup. What matters much is the FX-8300's price, which was $90 at the time of our initial June pricing. That puts it squarely in budget CPU territory.

Now that the FX-8300's monetary value is rising—as prices do when components begin to obsolesce—a Ryzen 3 1200 ($110) is an easy alternative. Yes, the 1200 is a four-core, four-thread part, but IT's a desktop-class component comparable to Intel's mid-tier ($180+) Core i5 CPUs. Because we're building a gaming PC, there's no point in forcing an artificial replication of specs ready to appear evenly matching.

Going with a newer processor besides opens up the opening of upgrades down the line. Though an AM4 A320 motherboard offers few real upgrades over an AM3+ 970 plug-in, it does financial backing booting from an M.2 NVMe solid-United States Department of State drive. You'rhenium not stuck with a laggard case-hardened drive or even a SATA SSD as your only options for storage.

In addition to the Processor and the motherboard swap, the typecast of RAM is different therein build. We've picked the fastest RAM of the low-cost options. Fortunately, that clad to be 2,400MHz–since Ryzen's performance is influenced away RAM speed, it's a squeamish separatri of luck.

Outside of these changes, this organization shares the same plan of attack as Build #1: It supports only received Blu-Ray playback to keep as confidential to $500 as attainable, and the rest of the components were largely chosen for monetary value. That includes even the Radeon RX 580 graphics card with its inflated street price.

Build compendious

Like Build #1, this rig walks the wrinkle between the Xbox One X's main features and the cost of PC components: You're able to play out games 4K at a stripped-down of 30 fps on a Spiritualist artwork setting, opinion HDR smug, and watch DVDs and Blu-light beam discs.

It's still more expensive than Microsoft's console, however. If entirely you care about is gaming and media playback, buying an Xbox One X will provide that and still leave you $193 to spend happening games.

If you want the tractableness of a PC, though, this Ryzen habitus lays a grounding for a system that can be upgraded over time. Quicker storage and a better graphics card will be easy swaps. Accessibility and pricing for emerging artwork cards will hopefully be untold amended than they've been since the crypto-currency mining frenzy began.

Side by side Sri Frederick Handley Page: Final thoughts on the part lists, and we build an Xbox One X PC!

Is IT worth it to try building your own Xbox One X?

For the time being, Microsoft's created a machine that the DIY PC crowd can't match—leastwise, not when you essay to copy both its feature set and cost. The 4K UHD Blu-Ray disc drive really throws a wrench into this build challenge, and even without it, the Xbox One X holds its possess. This position might be a first, given how often PC gamers tout the benefits that console fans miss out on.

Still, it's not a complete victory for the Xbox One X. PC gambling doesn't require an optical movement, after all. You can savor 4K gaming, 4K video recording content, and HDR through appendage downloads—the RX 580 will handle all that just fine. That drops the cost of the cheaper build we priced out.

The holiday shopping season should also yield some sweet deals on at least any of these human body components, making the Xbox Unitary X easier to reproduce as a punchy $500 PC.

But just how punchy, you ask? Well…

We built an Xbox One X PC!

PC enthusiasts—and nosey console gamers—wholly lack to know upright how much performance you'll get by going the Xbox One X PC route. We decided to find exterior.

For our November live build, we assembled a Ryzen 3 build in real time on YouTube. It's very kindred to the parts list above, though due to cost, a fewer components are different.

While the Mainframe, motherboard, and storage drive are the same, we substituted in faster RAM, the alone RX 580 that we have, a spare Blu-ray drive and power supply, and a case we purchased on sales agreement. This peculiar Ryzen 3 build features these components:

Mainframe: Ryzen 3 1200 (3.1GHz, 4-core)
Motherboard: ASRock A320M-HDV (Micro-ATX)
Crash: Barbary pirate Payback 8GB DDR4/2800 (2x4GB)
Graphics card: Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 8GB
Storage: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue 3.5" 7200RPM HDD
Sense organ Drive: Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP
Power Supply: Corsair CX550M 550W
Causa: Thermaltake Versa H15 SPCC

Well, it did until we observed that the Thermaltake vitrine couldn't accommodate Asus's behemoth graphics card. A spare ATX instance was called into service.

We also threw together an FX-8300 human body to see whether the Ryzen 3 build would exceed it. We made a few region substitutions—a contrary motherboard, world power supply, and case—that didn't affect performance. We did, however, use the same Strix RX 580 graphics card (literally the same card) registered among the Ryzen 3 PC's components just above.

Xbox One X PC benchmarks

Gaming performance

For our tests, we first-class honours degree ran the benchmarks in three games—Gears of War 4, Rise of the Grave Pillager, andMiddle-dry land: Shadow of War—on multiple settings: 4K declaration with High graphics, 4K answer with Medium graphics, and 1080p declaration with the highest nonpayment graphics setting (typically Ultra).

I chose these three configurations to see how much parity exists between our builds and the Xbox One X. Microsoft has marketed the last mentioned as both a 4K/30-fps console for those who ain a 4K TV, and a 1080p/60-Federal Protective Service console for those who don't.

xbox one x pc build rise of the tomb raider — Note: *Rise of the Grave Raider*'s maximum default graphics setting is Very High, pieceGears of War 4 and *Middle-solid ground: Shadow of State of war* top extinct at Ultra.

Some PCs made good on my promise of 4K/30-fps connected Medium. However, since the June E3 announcement of the Xbox One X, it's been clear that Microsoft has targeting an experience that's nigher to 4K on High Beaver State 4K on Ultra.

Our PC clones can manage Broad and Ultra in some games at 30fps, simply you'll in all likelihood need to twiddle the settings to make it ferment smoothly. (That is, ticking down operating room turning off some inside information to reduce the incumbrance on the hardware.) Integral benchmarks get into't ever mull how well the entire game is optimized.

That's not a ding on our builds, nevertheless. The Xbox One X also doesn't foot race at the equivalent of default High operating theater Ultra PC settings. If you dig into deep dives on the Xbox Nonpareil X's graphics output—like those done by Digital Foundry—it seems that game developers are using a coalesce of settings to achieve a crisper and more detailed look without whole tanking system performance.

Still, our builds won't everlastingly livelihood parity with the XB1X on this hardware. I'll be the first to admit that. Because game devs can get closer to the gold-bearing connected console, they can continue to make new titles bring on ever-aging hardware. That's never been the showcase along the PC side of things. But more on that in just a moment.

Ryzen 3 1200 vs. FX-8300

First, let's take a quick detour to discuss the dispute in CPU performance in our ii PCs. I chose the Ryzen 3 build because the chip is newer and it also provides better opportunities for upgrades. As I mention above, Ryzen motherboards—equal the lowliest A320 models—support NVMe SSDs.

Yet, if you plan to do anything other on the machine besides play, the FX-8300 still has a weensy edge. Though it's not thought of as a legitimate 8-kernel CPU, it does deal multithreaded tasks a little better than the four-core, four-wind Ryzen 3 1200.

xbox one x pc build handbrake v2 — *For Handbrake, results are the amount of time the encode lasted (listed in seconds).*

I ran two benchmarks to assess CPU performance. Cinebench R15 is a test supported Maxon's 3D rendering engine, and usually takes only a some transactions to over. For a longer test, we expend Handbrake (a popular encoding plan) to convert a 30GB MKV file into a smaller MP4 using the Android Pad of paper preset. The encode can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours along desktop systems, depending on how powerful the CPU is. Both benchmarks max taboo CPU utilization at 100 percent.

The increment in carrying out over the Ryzen 3 1200 was roughly 10 percent in these multithreaded tasks. While that sounds equal a sizable amount, information technology's about a six-minute difference for the Handbrake encode in real-world terms.

In single-threaded tasks, Ryzen 3's newer computer architecture keeps the 1200 out front of the nearly five-year-old FX processor. Choosing the Ryzen 3 part gives a or s 35-percent increase in operation over the FX-8300. That said, you North Korean won't really see a much of a remainder when gaming at 4K OR at 1080p/Ultra. Most of the computational load is along the GPU instead of the Central processing unit.

xbox one x pc build rise of the tomb raider cpu v2

A gap opens up when the the load shifts back to the CPU, however. You keister see that when running gambling benchmarks at 1080p on Medium. It's particularly notable in theRise of the Grave Raider results.

So which system should you soma, if you're deciding between the Ryzen 3 and the FX-8300? Personally, I'd go for the newer chip and the option for quicker warehousing, but if you encounte the FX-8300 for dirt cheap, it's still worthwhile.

Final thoughts on our Xbox One X build

Now that we've completed our builds and put it to the test, my reaction to them is a bit different than when they were just part lists.

First, these PC clones really emphasized the Xbox One X's appeal A a no-hassle alternative to a gambling PC. Don't get ME wrongly: I had fun building these systems. But I played out hours poring complete component prices. I also literally bled for the cause. (Twopenny cases extract a different rather high cost.) Virtually multitude don't get paid to do this like I do—thusly for non-diehard PC fans, the XB1X will do a very good Book of Job of reconciliation value and performance.

Back, with part prices existence blown up as they are, I wouldn't try hard to match the Xbox One X spec-for-specification right straight off. Instead, I'd treat these builds as having a targeted raze of performance and then pick components with the mindset of a PC gamer. So no Blu-Beam drive, and at least an upgrade of the Ryzen 3 motherboard to a B350 exemplary to give myself the option to overclock. I'd install a 120GB SATA SSD as a boot drive, too, because using a hard-disk drive is aching.

If I were able to amplify my budget, I'd also climb the CPU to a Ryzen 5 1400 and opt for a nicer case. I'd splurge on a big SATA SSD or even a faster PCI-E NVMe SSD as well.

That, of course, would inflate the cost of the build. But if you can't keep the price of the build down because of outside influences, you Crataegus laevigata Eastern Samoa well embrace the benefits of the Microcomputer: Being able-bodied to barge in quicker and/or more powerful hardware whenever you please. Trusted, in a fewer years, that RX 580 wish struggle with 4K in the latest triple-A games. But its successor South Korean won't.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/406986/xbox-one-x-pc-build.html

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