A computer without a desktop graphics card is not necessarily what you would expect from a “gaming PC”.
You can now play better and better with PCs that don’t have a dedicated graphics card. This is shown, among other things, by the recent news about AMD’s upcoming APUs. However, only a few players would probably use a computer as a Gaming-PC
which does not contain a desktop GPU.
This also applies to the owner of a Europe repair shop who recently… marveled at a customer’s PC. This calculator was given to its customer as Gaming-PC
touted and sold for 850 dollars, even though it doesn’t even have a dedicated graphics card built into it.
This hardware is in the computer: The following image shows the components in the new case that the shop owner inserted during the repair:
A part of the “gaming PC” that is said to be worth 850 dollars. The CPU cooler was still removed when the photo was taken in order to reapply the thermal paste. (Source: Reddit / Dinkelmeme)
In addition to a Core i5 11500 for currently around 150 dollars, the compact Micro-ATX mainboard only has a 500 GB SSD worth around 35 dollars and 16.0 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, which currently costs a similar amount the SSD.
The Intel CPU has the integrated UHD Graphics 750 graphics unit, which works very slowly. Its theoretical computing power is around 0.7 teraflops, which is roughly equivalent to a Geforce GT 740 from 2014.
Price isn’t the only problem
In addition to the (too) high costs and the very low gaming performance, the additional annoyance for the buyer of the PC is that it caused problems.
The shop owner quickly noticed a possible causewhen he wanted to replace the thermal paste: the plastic film was still attached to the CPU cooler. It is used for protection and should be removed before installation to avoid temperature problems like in this case:
So not only is it an overpriced PC without a dedicated graphics card, but it was also put together carelessly.
According to the shop owner, the buyer wasn’t much of a surprise pretty shocked
when he found out about both.
How can something like this be prevented?
While it can happen to even experienced PC hobbyists that they forget the foil on the CPU cooler, the only way to avoid buying an overpriced PC is to do enough research in advance or get advice from people who are familiar with the subject.
You can find suitable help from us in the form of our numerous purchasing advice as well as in the GameStar forum for hardware.
You can find out which hardware-related failures we have experienced (or caused) ourselves in the following video podcast:
47:57
Our (and your) biggest tech fails
What do you think about the PC? Would you describe such a computer as a gaming PC? In your opinion, what price would be appropriate if you take into account the other components such as the housing and the power supply as well as the assembly? And would it even be an option for you to buy a PC without a dedicated graphics card? Feel free to write it in the comments!
