Gaming PC for under 900 francs: Can it do anything?
14.12.2018
Translation: machine translated
Why is that, Asus? I think your graphics cards and motherboards are brilliant in terms of performance. You can argue about design, but Asus products "devastate". At least that's what I thought until I had the TUF Gaming FX10CP-CH009T on my desk.
"Not everyone wants a gaming PC bursting with power," I think with a sceptical look at the TUF. "For some, the minimum is enough," I ponder further. "The TUF is probably going to go Uff very quickly," I say, only half-jokingly. "What am I supposed to do with this thing?"
This is what you get for your money
Take a deep breath and take a closer look at this thing. The TUF is a lightweight. I'm not (just) talking about the performance, but the actual weight. The 36.4 × 18 × 42 centimetre device weighs just eight kilos. And this is inside:
- Intel Core i5-8400
- Motherboard with Intel H310 chipset
- 8 GB DDR4 RAM 2666 MHz
- nVidia GeForce GT 1030
- 128 GB M.2 SSD
- 1 TB HDD with 7200 rpm
- DVD burner
Look inside
I'm unimpressed by the components. A GT 1030 for gaming? Please! But never mind, I have to remain as objective as possible and not be influenced by my requirements of a PC. I wonder what it looks like on the inside and open it up.
When I look at the innards, I feel like I'm back in the late nineties. Back then, I regularly assembled budget PCs for friends and acquaintances. The shimmering silver metal with the corners and edges brings back memories of many painful hours of building. Back then, I always cut myself when installing the hard drive. Enclosures at that time were real death traps. I can only shake my head at the inner workings of the TUF. At least the edges are nicely rounded, so no worker had to get their hands bloody.
I'm initially perplexed by the graphics card installed. What kind of "fan" is installed there? That thing is ridiculous. If I look at the 1030 GT from Asus in our shop, it has a different calibre of fan. It's astonishing that Asus seems to be cutting corners here, given that this is a graphics card from its own company.
When I look at the components, I wonder what it would cost to assemble a PC with similar parts. I do this in our shop and create this watch list. I end up with just over 760 francs (as of 14/12/18). And I chose a 250 GB SSD due to a lack of alternatives. And I dare say that the mainboard, SSD and RAM deliver more performance than the parts installed in the TUF. And then there's the case. The TUF has one of two possible fans installed in the case - which, by the way, makes a lot of noise. Can it really dissipate enough hot air? The GPU and CPU will quickly run at the upper limit due to the low performance and therefore produce a lot of waste heat. The case on my watch list also comes with one pre-installed fan, but you can connect up to seven. For ten francs more, you can already get a solid fan. Although the case is advertised as an office case, it is sufficient for the planned components for gaming and it also looks "gammy" in terms of design.
But now I've digressed. The TUF is aimed at people who don't want to or can't build a computer themselves. As you can see, I find it difficult to write positively about the PC. But I want to remain objective and put it through its paces now.
Performance - or something like that
The eighth-generation Intel i5-8400 is manufactured using the 14 nm++ process. The six-core was released at the end of 2017 and is not capable of hyperthreading. To test its performance, I plan to use the benchmarks Cinebench R15, Geekbench 4 and 3DMark Fire Strike.
The built-in GT 1030 is the weakest Nvidia graphics card with a Pascal chip. It offers 2 GB of VRAM, 384 shader units and a clock frequency of 1278 MHz.
Cinebench R15
This benchmark tests your PC when rendering Cinema 4D content. It focuses on floating point performance. CPUs with more threads therefore achieve better results. The TUF renders at an average of 95 fps in the OpenGL benchmark, which utilises the graphics card. The CPU achieves a score of just under 800.
In the absence of a basis for comparison with desktop PCs that we have tested here on the digitec editorial team, I compare the TUF with the ultrabooks that my colleague Martin Jud has tested. In OpenGL, the weakest device, the Acer Spin 5, also rendered at 95 fps. However, the TUF leaves the Acer behind in the CPU benchmark. At first glance, the comparison with an ultrabook may seem a little off. Nevertheless, I'm including it here because the Spin delivers similar results in terms of graphics performance. And that is rather embarrassing for the TUF, which calls itself a gamer PC. The ultrabook is not designed for gaming, but still achieves similar values in OpenGL. It is obvious that the Acer's CPU performs worse, it is designed for mobility and does not have the same power consumption as the desktop model. In any case, the values are an indictment of a device that calls itself a gamer PC.
3D Brand Fire Strike
The DirectX 11 benchmark is ideal for testing gaming performance in 1080p. Fun fact about the memory of the TUF at this point: When I tried to install the benchmark, the installer always kicked me out without any feedback. As it turned out, I didn't have enough memory on the SSD. 128 GB is definitely not enough for a gaming PC. At least for me, because I want my games to start quickly. In this case, I just have to install them on the HDD.
The results continue with the bashing of the TUF. The Fire Strike really does make a lot of noise - sorry for the bad joke, again. I've looked at the Fire Strike what feels like a hundred times this year when testing notebooks. But it's never been such a jerky experience. The "gamer" box achieved a lousy score of 3307 points. What stands out is that the CPU actually performs well with 11,555 points. However, the GT 1030 brings the overall result down.
For comparison, I'll again refer to Martin's Ultrabook test. The lowest score was achieved by the Lenovo Yoga with 4246 points. Of course, the Yoga costs another 800 francs more. But it doesn't call itself a gamer notebook either. And you mustn't forget: You also need a monitor, keyboard and mouse for the TUF. You can get the latter two, but they are so shabby that I dread touching them.
3D Mark Time Spy
I want to expose this thing properly. That's why I want to insert the Time Spy before the Geekbench. This is the go-to DirectX 12 benchmark and renders in 1440p. This is now really too much for the TUF. It doesn't even have enough puff for a Uff - well, that's it for the worst joke ever. At an average of 7 fps, I can't watch the actually beautifully animated sequences and would rather talk to Martin about Christmas biscuits.
The Time Spy brings the TUF to its knees. With a score of 1221, you shouldn't even think about trying to play a game in 1440p. I don't even do Geekbench 4 anymore. It's already clear that the performance is lousy.
Now it's time to play
As anything but top performance is to be expected from the GT 1030, I'm not testing any AAA titles. However, the TUF should be able to handle "CS:GO", "League of Legends" and "Fortnite".
"Fortnite"
In the game I don't understand, I play in 1080p resolution and high settings. The GPU is utilised to 99 per cent. The CPU averages 29 per cent. The temperatures of over 60 degrees for the GPU and an average of 40 degrees for the CPU are fine. The frame rate averages 35 fps at these settings. The game is therefore playable, but I would not have liked a higher frame rate for shooters.
"CS:GO"
The picture is similar for "CS: GO" in terms of utilisation and temperature. I also set the resolution to 1080p and the settings to high. The frame rate is a lot better than Fortnite and is between 80 and 120 fps.
"League of Legends"
The game requires the fewest resources. The temperatures are similar to those of the other two games. The GPU is not fully utilised at 60 to 70 per cent. This is also reflected in the frame rate. This is around 200 fps.
Hands off
Planning to buy the TUF Gaming FX10CP-CH009T? Don't do it! It is cheaply made and the components installed do not justify the price. The graphics card quickly reaches its limits. At least the PC didn't get exceptionally hot, contrary to my expectations. The TUF calls itself a gaming PC, but I wouldn't give it that label. Just because the case looks a bit "gammy" doesn't mean the inside is. You can play "Fortnite", "CS: GO" or "League of Legends" without any problems, but that also works on an ultrabook.
You can get a gaming PC for less than 900 francs, but not the TUF. You'd be better off building your own computer. Simply replace the GT 1030 in my watch list with a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and you'll have enough power for 1080p gaming. Alternatively, you can also take a look at the Medion Akoya P66032. It has similar components to the TUF, but has a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti in it.
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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