Support NeoGAF

[Voost Kain]

Priced higher than any other console on the market and built with native 4K gaming in mind, the One X packs considerable hardware heft, above and beyond what’s possible with entry-level PC kit.

Nevertheless, between competitively priced Raven Ridge quad-core processors and prices coming down on Polaris parts, it is possible to build a system from scratch that’s competitive with the Xbox One X.

RAM: 16 GB Patriot DDR4 at 2666 MHz

Price at the time of writing this feature: $99.99

RAM speed doesn’t have a tremendous impact on performance as long your other pieces of hardware are adequate. 2666 MHz is the sweetspot as far as squeezing in a few extra frames per second without breaking teh bank. Moreover, the 16 GB capacity is greater than the One X’s 12 GB shared memory pool.

GPU: XFX 580 XXX Edition

Price at the time of writing this feature: $199

Though the RX 590 came out recently, its greater performance is accompanied by higher pricing. Our aim here is to match the Xbox One X’s performance. The 6.2 TFFLOP RX 580 is the closest analogue to the One X’s 6 TFLOP Vega-based GPU. While the RX 580’s memory bandwidth is nominally lower at 256 GB/S, keep in mind that the One X’s memory is shared, with the CPU also needing access. Having actually had an RX 580 for some time—and looking at benchmark figures—the card hands in 4K performance that’s roughly in line with the One X

CPU: Ryzen R3 2200G

Price at the time of writing this feature: $95

From about 2011 onwards, the CPU space was incredibly boring: AMD’s anaemic, powerhungry Bulldozer and Piledriver-based parts fared worse than Core i3’s in gaming and for year after year, Intel, with no compelling reason to innovate, stretched out its “tick-tock” cycle to such an extent that even today, a Sandy Bridge 2500k from 8 years ago can tackle modern games just fine. 2011’s the year Battlefield 3 came out. Now imagine running that on a 2003-vintage processor. That is how stagnant the CPU market was until AMD got its act together and outed the Ryzen architecture in 2016. Ryzen parts offer single-threaded performance that’s broadly comparable to their Intel counterparts at lower pricepoints. And significantly for us, they’re a lot faster than the eight-core Jaguar processor in the One X.

Storage: WD Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD

Price at the time of writing this feature: $48

Sure, an SSD would be a qualitative step up in expereince, but this is all about matching the One X, and as storage options get cheaper, the reliable default—the 7200 RPM HDD becomes even more affordable. You get what you pay for here. Overall performance and load times are neither spectacular nor awful. Thanks to the faster processor in our build, games will load somewhat faster than on the One X.

Motherboard: Asus Prime A320M-K

Price at the time of writing this feature: $59

The motherboard is a part that says a lot about your builds. As a rule of thumb, I opt for entry-level no-frills mobos that get the job done. With a processor that already runs circles around the One X’s, there’s no need for an “extreme” motherboard with OC options and an appropriately “extreme” price tag. We just need something that’ll fit our processor, GPU, and RAM module without going up in flames. Asrock is a reliable brand for that.

PSU: Seasonic S12II

Price at the time of writing this feature: $55

The S12II is the standby PSU for midrange builds. The bronze-rated 520W piece offers more than adequate juice to power the (relatively) efficient RX 580 and Ryzen R3 combo with some headroom for OC’ing the 580 a little. Backed by a 10 year warranty, the S12II has a solid record of not exploding violently.

Keyboard and mouse: Logitech MK550

Price at the time of writing this feature: $44

We are most definitely not in the “Lookit the shiny lights!” school of thought when it comes to peripherals. In all honesty, who actually wants randomly coloured lights to impinge on what’s happening onscreen? The one thing in your build that should be emitting bright shiny lighting is your monitor. With that being said, this Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Mouse duo is more than adequate: the lack of wiring will also reduce some clutter on your desk.

Controller: Xbox Wireless Controller

Price at the time of writing this feature: $40

While keyboard and mouse input is how you’re likely going to use this system, there are plenty of console ports (the Dark Souls games for starters), that benefit immensely from having a controller. And let’s admit it here: it’s just more comfortable to have your paws around a controller. As this is a build to offer direct parity with Xbox One X, the controller we’ve included is (unsurprisingly) the Xbox controller, a simple plug and play affair on PC.

Operating System: Windows 10 Home Edition

Price at the time of writing this feature: $139

Ah, here’s an unavoidable extra: the operating system. A Windows 10 Home Edition license will cost you an extra $139 dollars.

Wifi Dongle: TP-Link

Price at the time of writing this feature: $10

It goes without saying that you’ll be needing an internet connection and while our motherboard pick does (obviously) have an ethernet port, you’ll want to pick up a cheap USB Wifi dongle for wireless connectivity. This no-frills TP-Link dongle gets the job done—though there’s not much more to say about it.

Case: Thermaltake Versa

Price at the time of writing this feature: $39

A case holds your parts together and, unless you’re literally using a sealed wooden box, most entry level cases will have adequate airflow for acceptable CPU and GPU temps. If space isn’t an issue, a smart idea is to buy a relatively large case like the Versa for enhanced air circulation.

Final price: $827.99

Well, that’s a wrap. Our final price point is a bit higher than what the Xbox One X goes for sale for.

Xbox One is $449 official right now, and even this has it at $827.99, even if you remove OS, and M&K that's still over $600 in cash, so it seems like for those that are building a PC ground-up, 2 years later nearly, the Xbox One X is still a better value for your buck!

Not to mention unified architecture, don't have to worry about updates, firmware, errors etc, but that's another story. Of course we are talking about objective hardware here, whether you prefer steam or not is a different topic all together.

But hardware wise it's clear the Xbox One X still can't be beaten by PC for an equal price. Showing powerful hardware for the cost of an average joe.

 

[xStoyax]

No one would ever build a PC to run games at 30fps. And no one would build a PC to run 4K with only medium settings.

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

You can do more with a PC than you can an xbox.

Wheres the eyeroll emoji?

Found it

 

[demigod]

OP did you price these yourself? $44 for keyboard and mouse? You can get one for half that price. $139 for Windows 10? I bought a buncha keys for under $4. 16GB Ram solely for gaming? You can go with 8 for half the price. Why even add xbox controller. For reference, you can buy a prebuilt for $500.

 

[Ellery]

who pays 139$ for an operating system?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

who pays 139$ for an operating system?

Old people

 

[Sparda]

Another pr for one x.

 

[Gamezone]

Sounds like a terrible PC experience.

 

[Fbh]

The 1X is a good console and it offers pretty good value for the money in that it's clearly the strongest console right now without being that much more expensive.

But this comparison seems silly. You can do more with a PC than with a console and even ignoring that the entire comparison only seems relevant for people who want to play games at mostly 30fps and focusing on resolution above everything else.... which doesn't exactly strike me as what most people want out of a dedicated gaming PC

 

[Hendrick's]

OP did you price these yourself? $44 for keyboard and mouse? You can get one for half that price. $139 for Windows 10? I bought a buncha keys for under $4. 16GB Ram solely for gaming? You can go with 8 for half the price. Why even add xbox controller. For reference, you can buy a prebuilt for $500.

Those can't be legit keys though.

 

[ResilientBanana]

No one would ever build a PC to run games at 30fps. And no one would build a PC to run 4K with only medium settings.

But the point that's being made in the OP is that with cost vs performance you will need to pay significantly more to accomplish what the Xbox One X can do. If you're buying a PC however, you want it to be powerful, but in order to do so you have to spend quite a bit of money.

 

[thelastword]

Wow....Hunert Smo.....I mean Voost kain......Why do you need to spend all that money, if you're just trying to build similar XBONEX hardware????...

Go to Amazon

CPU: Athlon CPU $52 or you can get an intel Pentium
Memory: 8 GB Corsair Vengeance at 2400Mhz for $46
HDD: Seagate 1TB HDD refurb for $37
GPU: XFX RX 580 GTS $189
Case: Rosewill Microt ATX Mini-Case $23
Keybaord and Mouse: Amazon Basics K&M combo $14
Power Supply: Thermal Take 500W PSU $40
Motherboard: Gigabyte AM4 Micro ATX $64
Windows PRO Key $4 average

Total $469.00

Now come on now, I bought another windows key for $3.11 on Ebay a few days back.....It's the PRO version 32/64bit...Home? Who's buying that anyway @ $139.00???? Come on Voost...


You can run your games at 16xAF or run it at 1080p/60fps ultra or high settings......If I'm missing anything, let me know..

 

[Virex]

There’s some serious Xbox shilling going on here the last couple of months. Really makes you think

And Voost Kain is the king of clickbait as well.

 

[GTR R35_Supra RZ]

Another pr for one x.

Glad you sharing the love, much preciate it

 

[Xyphie]

This is like "The Verge builds a PC Part 2".

 

[AV]

This is kinda embarrassing.

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

This is kinda embarrassing.

It's really bad.

 

[Norse]

No sir, I don't like it.

 

[Tygeezy]

Nobody in their right mind would build a pc gaming system with a cpu that crippled the rest of the system.

 

[SlashBringingHasher]

wheres the GPU? are you telling me that the integrated GPU is comparable to xbox one x? lol. get out

those integrated GPUs are comparable to base xbox. not even xbox one s.

RX 580 matches the xbox one X. or close to it. and its about 200. add 100 for RAM. 50 case. 50 power supply. 100 CPU. at minimum your paying 100 more

 

[Trogdor1123]

Xbox is a great value, so is the ps4, so are PC's. Just cause one is, doesn't mean the others are not...

I've never understood why people fight over things that aren't even real.

On a side note, I need to build a computer for my kids. Would be for school work mostly, some simple games. Suggestions on a build?

 

[Ballthyrm]

Hardware isn't as important as unified development architecture.
Because most games running on the oneX have to run on the normal xbone you not even using all that power.

Let devs make a game only for the oneX and it will show you what it can really do.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

I'm sorry OP, these are nonsense prices. You can build a vastly more powerful PC than an Xbox 1 X for not a lot more, especially if you go used.

 

[Stuart360]

lol saw the thread title, then predicted a paticular 4 or 5 users that would be in here, and yep there they are!.

 

[Damian black]

I love how they never factor in xboxlive and the fact that pc has a waaaay better selection of games.

 

[phil_t98]

nobody is mentioning a 4k blurry drive to the cost

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

nobody is mentioning a 4k blurry drive to the cost

Probably because it's 2019 and streaming is a thing.

 

[SlashBringingHasher]

I'm sorry OP, these are nonsense prices. You can build a vastly more powerful PC than an Xbox 1 X for not a lot more, especially if you go used.

you can buy an xbox ne x for alot cheaper used

wtf is your argument?

 

[phil_t98]

Probably because it's 2019 and streaming is a thing.

but its cost of buiding like for like aint it, coarse streaming is a thing but the X has a 4k blurry drive

 

[demigod]

nobody is mentioning a 4k blurry drive to the cost

Or you know, PC gamers DOWNLOAD the games and don't need a blu ray drive.

 

[Grinchy]

Wow, the Xbox One X™ sure is a fantastic value. You can get them at any local or online retailer that sells videogame hardware, so it's not just a great piece of hardware, it's also convenient! Pick one up today!

 

[phil_t98]

Or you know, PC gamers DOWNLOAD the games and don't need a blu ray drive.

but isn't this building the same as the x but with a pc? and the X has a 4k blurry. how about controller? yeah mouse and keyboard are cool but not for certain games

 

[Voost Kain]

I thought the Consensus on Gaf was that Blu-ray was better quality than digital for movies.

 

[phil_t98]

I thought the Consensus on Gaf was that Blu-ray was better quality than digital for movies.

only when it fits peoples agenda to bash a console lol

 

[demigod]

but isn't this building the same as the x but with a pc? and the X has a 4k blurry. how about controller? yeah mouse and keyboard are cool but not for certain games

Explain to me why you need a 4k blu ray in a PC? The controller was added in the OP, but its not needed since you're gaming on a PC and can use mouse/keyboard. Even so you don't need an expensive proprietary controller.

 

[phil_t98]

Explain to me why you need a 4k blu ray in a PC? The controller was added in the OP, but its not needed since you're gaming on a PC and can use mouse/keyboard. Even so you don't need an expensive proprietary controller.

because this is building like for like, and 4k blurry are massively better than streaming 4k. if your gonna compare a pc the x x it has to be same spec wise. as a cost cutting exercise yeah leave the drive out but it aint the same as the x then

 

[demigod]

because this is building like for like, and 4k blurry are massively better than streaming 4k. if your gonna compare a pc the x x it has to be same spec wise. as a cost cutting exercise yeah leave the drive out but it aint the same as the x then

Priced higher than any other console on the market and built with native 4K gaming in mind, the One X packs considerable hardware heft, above and beyond what’s possible with entry-level PC kit.

Please read the OP. This is for 4k GAMING, not streaming movies.

I thought the Consensus on Gaf was that Blu-ray was better quality than digital for movies.

Read your own post dude, lol.

 

[Ribi]

It's like a bad informercial but in text form...

 

[thelastword]

Please read the OP. This is for 4k GAMING, not streaming movies.



Read your own post dude, lol.

Do people still buy PC games on CDROM/DVD/BLURAY?

 

[phil_t98]

Please read the OP. This is for 4k GAMING, not streaming movies.



Read your own post dude, lol.

and where does it say pc must not do movies lol, again it shows how good a price the x actually is at the moment that's all

 

[KINDERFELD]

The Xbox 1X supports dynamic resolutions and checkerboard upscaling, so near no game for it holds a constant native 4K image.
That limitation, along with medium graphics settings and 30fps thresholds has to be factored into its price.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Oh man, lol. Stop. I think you forgot to put #ad.

 

[AgentP]

Better yet buy PS4 and run Linux and native Steam along with emulators from various old consoles!

Seriously, consoles are cheaper. PCs are general use. Try video editing on a XB.

 

[mcz117chief]

Do people still buy PC games on CDROM/DVD/BLURAY?

Yes, mostly older games obviously. Don't know if there are any modern releases with any form of compact disk inside.

edit: I checked and there are.

It's like a bad informercial but in text form...

still the best one

 

[demigod]

Do people still buy PC games on CDROM/DVD/BLURAY?

Nope, outside of WoW I don't even know of any game that retailers stock.

and where does it say pc must not do movies lol, again it shows how good a price the x actually is at the moment that's all

This is about 4k gaming, not about watching movies. Go make your own thread for that where it fits your agenda.

 

[mcz117chief]

Nope, outside of WoW I don't even know of any game that retailers stock.

There are, but most of them are just cases with codes and some extras.

edit: ok so I checked my local retailer and I obviously won't list all the games but here are some which come on DVDs: Division 2, DMC5, Dirt 2.0, Metro:Exodus, Tropico 6...

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used my PC’s disc drive

 

[phil_t98]

Nope, outside of WoW I don't even know of any game that retailers stock.



This is about 4k gaming, not about watching movies. Go make your own thread for that where it fits your agenda.

then why dismiss the controller if its about gaming

 

[mcz117chief]

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used my PC’s disc drive

The only games that use my DVD player are C&C The First Decade and Star Wars Empire at War. Aside from gaming I use it for movies and music.

 

[Afro Republican]

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used my PC’s disc drive

Your PC has a disc drive???!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!