While the traditional place for gaming PCs is at the desk, advances in computer hardware and accessibility has allowed computing to move into other areas.
In fact, with the increasingly recurrent revision of console generations, many gamers have begun replacing their consoles by hooking up small form factor rigs to their TVs.
Ranging from lightweight streaming PCs to heavy-duty gaming rigs, these devices allow gamers more freedom than a console thanks to the wide variety of software and specialised operating systems available on PC.
Building a PC in South Africa is also expensive, but there are a number of advantages which offset the initial cost, depending on how you use your gaming PC.
For example, you no longer have to pay per month to play online while still getting free games thanks to the large amount of bundles and giveaways spread across the various PC gaming platforms.
We’ve checked the price of building a living room PC in South Africa, which can handle most games while retaining a small form factor and costing less than a fully-fledged gaming PC.
Below is the hardware selection and cost of the build, per component:
Hardware Setup
We chose a balance between budget-oriented components and performance, aiming to deliver the performance of a gaming console and the utility of a PC.
Intel Core i3 6100
The Intel Core i3 6100 Skylake processor makes short work of any modern games, and provides more than enough CPU power for a living room entertainment build.
AMD Radeon RX 460
While Nvidia has also released its budget 1080p gaming cards, AMD’s Radeon RX 460 is still the cheapest of the new budget GPU lineup, while still delivering DirectX12 support and improved power efficiency.
The RX 460 is capable of handling most games and boasts similar performance to gaming consoles.
Cooler Master Elite 110 Chassis
We chose an ITX case for this build, which may cost slightly more than a cheap Micro-ATX case.
However, a living room build like this favours small form factors, and Mini-ITX PCs fit in far more comfortably when hooked up to a TV than a full ATX chassis.
AsRock H110M ITC/ac Motherboard
While you could probably get away with a cheaper LGA 1151 ITX motherboard, the AsRock H110M ITC/ac includes built-in Wifi, allowing for greater accessibility and ease of use.
| Entertainment PC Build | |
|---|---|
| AsRock H110M ITC/ac Motherboard | R1,329 |
| Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz | R1,971 |
| HIS Radeon RX 460 iCooler OC 2GB | R1,749 |
| Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR4 2,133MHz | R743 |
| Corsair VS350 380W PSU | R478 |
| Cooler Master Elite 110 Chassis | R633 |
| WD Blue 1TB 7,200rpm HDD | R799 |
| Total Price | R7,702 |
