I Bought a $300 Gaming PC on TaoBao

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Have you ever wondered what Chinese consumers might be buying from their version of AliExpress? We didn't, at least not initially, but when we saw the specs and price of this Frankenstein gaming PC listed all over Taobao, our tune changed completely. What's going on inside this $300 14-core xeon beast of a computer? Who makes these parts? Why is it so cheap? And why is hwinfo64 telling us that this motherboard has specs that straight up shouldn't exist?

When we fantasy-built our own workstation equivalent to the Taobao gamer special, here's what we came up with:

Build 1:
- HP Z440 ($130) + $39 shipping within US
- Updated version of the PC we used for the latest $69 PC
- Add on E5-2690 V4 $22.22
- Add on 2070 Super for $150
- Includes 700W power supply
- Uses 2133 RAM, same as the Taobao
- Has Front USB 3 x4
- RAM and SSD were included in a few of the listings we found

Build 2:
- Dell Precision T5810 ($67) + $35 shipping within US
- Add on E5-2698 V3 $24.99
- Only does E5 V3 processors
- 2698V3 is only slightly slower than 2690V4 at CPU mark
- Includes 825W PSU
- Has Front USB 3 x1 USB 2 x3
- Uses 2133 RAM, same as the Taobao
- 16gb ram included in the model we found on ebay
- Add on a 240gb Kingston A400 for $25
- Add on an RTX 3070 OC for $200 + $15 shipping on ebay

Discuss on the forum: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1543394-i-bought-a-pc-on-taobao%E2%80%A6-china%E2%80%99s-wish/

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MUSIC CREDIT
---------------------------------------------------
Intro: Laszlo - Supernova
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfxmFU3lWY
iTunes Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/supernova/id936805712
Artist Link: https://soundcloud.com/laszlomusic

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngsGBSCDwcI
Listen on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/UxWkUw
Artist Link: http://www.youtube.com/approachingnirvana

Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa https://www.instagram.com/mbarek_abdel/
Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 https://geni.us/PgGWp
Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 https://geni.us/mj6pHk4
Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 https://geni.us/Ps3XfE

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
2:06 Mystery Case
3:32 Accessories
5:15 Cable Management & PSU
6:28 They sent the wrong unit?
6:43 SSD
6:57 RAM
7:37 Motherboard (more on that later)
8:30 Firing it up and solving some mysteries
11:03 Green Internet Explorer & Ham
12:34 Gaming
13:32 A chipset only a motherboard could love
17:15 Should you get one?

BetaSeries' opinion

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Next episode

S14E177 - Tech Support Told Her To Break the PC - $1500 PC Secret Shopper 3 Part 3