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  • - You know, the script calls for me to say

  • this isn't running very well, but it's fine.

  • We love building, benchmarking, and gaming

  • on the kinds of showcase one-percenter machines

  • that most people can only ever dream of,

  • but as much fun as that is,

  • the vast majority of those rigs

  • actually get torn down for reuse in future videos,

  • because even for us, daily driving that kind of hardware,

  • it's just not cost-effective or practical.

  • It also kinda gives PC gaming a bad image

  • as something that only the elite can afford,

  • when that couldn't be farther from the truth.

  • We've built competent esports gaming machines

  • at great prices and even for under $100 on this channel,

  • and you can too if you're willing to make some compromises.

  • Of course,

  • the kinds of machines that the average gamer is running

  • are somewhere between potato and dream battle station.

  • How do we know this?

  • Well, the monthly Steam hardware survey,

  • which tells us exactly

  • which PC gaming hardware is the most popular.

  • So with its help

  • we built the most popular gaming PC on the planet

  • and we're gonna show you guys

  • exactly how much it would cost you to build it

  • and what kind of performance you can expect.

  • And today's video is brought to you by Corsair.

  • The Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB tempered glass smart case

  • features their RapidRoute cable management system,

  • smart RGB out of the box, and more.

  • Check it out at the link down below.

  • (upbeat music)

  • That's right, we've gone one:

  • a quad-core Core i7 4770K.

  • According to the Steam hardware survey,

  • 42.94% of you are rocking four-core processors,

  • with 18.03% of you running a hyperthreaded model

  • like this one between 3.3 and 3.69 gigahertz, nice.

  • It turns out then

  • that as much as we all love Ryzen right now,

  • AMD couldn't possibly even manufacture

  • enough of these things to put a dent

  • in Intel's years of dominance,

  • and as of January 2021,

  • Team Blue still owns 72% of the install base.

  • Now, that number is shifting, and fast.

  • Intel is down almost 10% since December,

  • but it's gonna take time.

  • Since motherboard choice shouldn't impact performance much,

  • we grabbed a Z87I-Deluxe from Asus

  • that was lying around on a shelf.

  • This combo should put us in the top range

  • of average CPU performance according to the survey.

  • It was important for us

  • to find something with hyperthreading

  • since just shy of 20% of you apparently do have it.

  • It's kind of amazing how long

  • this chip has kept its relevance.

  • And we actually checked out some reviews

  • on Newegg and PCPartPicker leading up to this video,

  • and it's mostly super positive.

  • Like, even as recently as a couple of years ago.

  • In the interest of strictly adhering

  • to the specs in the Steam hardware survey,

  • we're unfortunately gonna be running this puppy

  • at stock speed.

  • But lots of users of this CPU

  • report running it at 4.2, 4.3,

  • or even 4.4 gigahertz for years at a time.

  • That's not too shabby for a CPU

  • that's older than our new social media coordinator.

  • Memory was a surprising one for me.

  • The average gamer out there, a whopping 43.85% of you,

  • is running 16 gigs of system memory.

  • Not bad!

  • So we picked up two 8-gig sticks

  • of good, old-fashioned DDR3 1866.

  • This is actually a great middle ground today.

  • You can still squeeze by with 8 gigs,

  • but most triple-A games are recommending 16 gigs or more

  • and a lot of other desktop applications

  • can also benefit from more RAM.

  • We're gonna go ahead and assume

  • that you guys are running your memory in dual-channel mode

  • and install it that way.

  • You are running in dual-channel mode, right?

  • Now, a few things the survey doesn't mention

  • include the case, power supply,

  • cooler, and other peripherals,

  • so we went with some Amazon bestsellers

  • that I'm sure most of you will recognize.

  • We've got the NZXT H510,

  • a Hyper 212 EVO V2,

  • and a Corsair CX550 power supply.

  • All of them are tried-and-true classics

  • and all of them should fit comfortably

  • within most people's budgets.

  • That is, unlike our solid-gold Xbox controller. Ha ha!

  • Get subscribed so you don't miss those videos.

  • That is, like, the emptiest-looking computer.

  • Now it's time for what you guys all crave: the GPU.

  • Thing is, as much as we may all lust after ray tracing,

  • you might surprised to learn

  • that the top ray tracing-capable card

  • was the RTX 2060 in fifth place with only 3.6% share.

  • Pretty much every current card, then,

  • that is capable of delivering

  • a smooth ray-traced gaming experience

  • is conspicuously absent.

  • The 3070 isn't even on the list

  • and the 3080 maintains a slim .6% market share.

  • So it ended up being a pretty close race

  • with the GTX 1060 leading the pack at 9.4%.

  • Okay. Get outta here.

  • (Linus grunts)

  • We've gone with the 6-gig model

  • since that's how much VRAM 23.5% of you have,

  • and with 66.7% of you running 1080p displays,

  • this should be more than good enough.

  • All that remains is storage.

  • On average you guys are running

  • over one terabyte of storage.

  • It didn't specify whether it's solid state or mechanical,

  • so we're putting an SSD in here

  • just to make our benchmarking run a little bit faster.

  • And that's it.

  • Ain't she a beauty?

  • Looks to me like a lean, mean Steam machine.

  • Or at least an LTT Steam game-playing machine,

  • since that whole Steam Machine idea

  • totally, unexpectedly, fizzled and died.

  • Let's go ahead and fire her up.

  • But what games should we play?

  • How 'bout the top five games on Steam? All right.

  • So we got "CS:GO," "Dota 2," "PUBG," "Apex Legends," and

  • "Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer"?

  • Wait.

  • Is that really "Garry's Mod"

  • and "Half-Life 2: Deathmatch" in fifth place?

  • Did this thing take us back in time?

  • To a time when there was no LTT underwear on lttstore.com?

  • Nope. They're definitely there.

  • Go check 'em out at the link below.

  • As it turns out, most Source mods running on Steam

  • contribute to this inflated number,

  • including the "GTA V" community with the FiveM mod.

  • So "Team Fortress 2" in sixth place?

  • Let's go with that.

  • Who put this here?

  • Whee!

  • Okay, I'm gonna fight this guy.

  • Honestly, it's running pretty darn well.

  • We're at 80, 90 FPS, dropping as low as 70,

  • but this is totally an acceptable gameplay experience.

  • Now you might've noticed the, ah,

  • details of the game are lookin' a little basic.

  • That's on purpose. That's so that we get enough FPS.

  • How have I not...

  • Dang it.

  • Aw, I'm knocked...

  • I'm dead.

  • I'm still a winner 'cause the game ran okay.

  • And overall,

  • the average Steam gamer with a machine like this

  • is having a pretty smooth experience.

  • Only "Apex Legends" and "PUBG" fell to 60-FPS lows,

  • with most of these competitive titles here

  • managing closer to 100 FPS

  • with reasonably consistent frame times.

  • Now, that's not to say that these games

  • wouldn't benefit from a faster machine.

  • We did a video back in 2019

  • demonstrating the competitive advantage

  • of running at higher FPS,

  • even if you don't have a high-refresh rate monitor,

  • since your eyes will get more up-to-date information

  • than your competitors'.

  • And "CS:GO" was an example of a situation

  • where that difference is quite noticeable.

  • It's really at its best

  • when you can crank out over 200, 300 FPS.

  • The competency of our...

  • Competence? Whatever.

  • Of our Steam PC shouldn't be that surprising though,

  • I guess.

  • Most of these games are actually from around the same era.

  • So to kick things up a notch we're heading over to Twitch

  • to see if we could use this thing

  • to play along with our favorite streamers.

  • We didn't plan on this part of the video,

  • but it is an interesting point to make.

  • Sometimes your CPU can actually be a bottleneck

  • when it comes to downloading and installing games.

  • But our 4770K is actually keeping up pretty nicely

  • with a 107-megabyte-per-second download

  • of "CoD: Warzone" from Battle.net, so...

  • Oh yeah, it's at 20, 30% CPU usage.

  • Not bad.

  • Really? They make you watch a cutscene.

  • See, every other game knows not to do this.

  • Okay, here we go. Whee!

  • Let's see if I can manage to stay alive

  • slightly longer than last time.

  • You know, the script calls for me to say

  • this isn't running very well, but it's fine.

  • Definitely a little chuggier and a little more tear-y

  • than what we looked at before, but actually looks not bad.

  • Okay, that's a lot of tearing right there.

  • When I was a kid

  • I'd have been absolutely elated

  • to have anything over 60 FPS

  • regardless of whether I had to smear Vaseline on the screen

  • for that free anti-aliasing.

  • As for the rest of our games, you know,

  • being on older hardware really isn't the end of the world.

  • "Fortnite" was only a little rough

  • when flying in on the Battle Bus,

  • and even "GTA V" was able to run at plenty of FPS by default

  • and even looked pretty decent

  • if we didn't mind losing a little bit of frame rate.

  • So there are a couple of lessons here for us,

  • with the biggest one being

  • that all it takes to join the PC master race

  • is an interest in computers,

  • and the gatekeepers who fawn over brand-new hardware

  • and put down anything less than the latest and greatest

  • can go suck an egg.

  • Because unless you're trying to run

  • brand-new triple-A games on high or ultra settings,

  • like "Cyberpunk," "The Medium," or "Microsoft Flight Sim,"

  • you can have a really solid gaming experience

  • with hardware like this.

  • And the best part is that with some savvy eBay-ing

  • you can build a machine like this,

  • or upgrade a non-gaming machine that you get your hands on,

  • for anywhere from 750 to $1,300.

  • Or maybe even less if you're willing

  • to get a little creative with a Dremel

  • to fit things together.

  • With that said,

  • a lot of this hardware is starting to show its age,

  • and if you upgraded you'd definitely appreciate

  • the smoother animations and additional image quality,

  • especially in anything fast-paced.

  • So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,

  • the average Steam hardware survey PC.

  • Are any of you guys out there

  • running any of these components?

  • Of course you are.

  • Are you still happy with them,

  • or are you ready for an upgrade?

  • Let us know in the comments below.

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  • Plus you get e-commerce features

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  • and easily manage your inventory and orders.

  • So head to squarespace.com/LTT

  • to get 10% off your first purchase.

  • And if you liked this video

  • and you're looking to build something like it,

  • check out the Dell office PC

  • that I upgraded to run "Valorant" a few months back.

  • It's got some really great tips in that video

  • for optimizing OptiPlex gamer builds,

  • as we like to call them.

- You know, the script calls for me to say

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