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generator: pandoc
title: Applied Method of Calculating Marginal Cost of Desktop PC Parts Sourcing
viewport: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes'
---
2019-12-16T05:55:45+08:00
Introduction
============
I have decided to build a new computer. I wish to use a lot of the same
tools that Alan Kay created for the Smalltalk-like language Squeak. A
lot of these tools are able to be run natively in *Pharo*, which is the
default open source Smalltalk development environment.
I cannot remember the specific names of the packages or development
environments of which I am speaking, but they concern making virtual 3D
environments -- I find a lot of them really attractive for making
walking simulators, or 3D sandbox games.
ANYWAY - that's not the purpose of this blog post. This post is my
process for constructing a desktop computer that is supposed to meet
certain requirements. For instance, several years ago, I constructed a
computer around a CPU that was good for processing video files. It was
built to a budget, and the computer was still functioning right up until
I had to throw it away. That's a long story.
Anyway this is how I designed this computer, which is essentially for
both video game development, and for a desire to have the computer last
a good long while.
Step One: Find Good Base Specifications
=======================================
The game I am designing is a 3D, open world, sandbox game. The one I
like the best is *Fallout 4*, so I decided to look up the
developer/publisher recommended specifications for that game, which
happened to be:
Recommended: CPU: AMD FX-9590 Video card: R9 290X (4GB RAM)
(when I saw this CPU specification my eyes boggled a little, this is a
beast of a chip, the 9590)
Minimum Specifications: CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 Video card: Radeon
HD 7870 (2GB RAM)
Step Two: Transform These Specifications Into Benchmarks
========================================================
Using the Passmark website for CPU and video card processing power
benchmarks is fairly straight forward. I believe there are also other
websites one can use to work out the relative processing power of
computer components, but I have used this website for years, so I
suppose I am a creative of habit.
Anyway these are the processing power figures extracted from the
Passmark website:
CPU Name Benchmark score
------------------ -----------------
AMD FX-9590 10 193
Phenom II X4 945 3 652
Video card name Benchmark score
----------------- -----------------
R9 290X 7152
HD 7870 4384
Step Three: Compare Current Available Components to These Figures
=================================================================
The rough figures we have to work with in order to create a PC capable
of processing the graphics needed for a fairly intensive sandbox 3d game
are obviously:
CPU -\> 4 000 to 10 000 on the Passmark score system
and
Video card -\> a score of 4 000 to 7 000
The Components Available to Me
------------------------------
CPU Name Passmark score Price (AUD)
------------------ ---------------- -------------
A4-5300 2019 40
A6-9500 3030 40
AMD 200GE 4952 80
AMD Athlon 3000G 5410 80
Ryzen 3 2200G 7333 119
Ryzen 3 2300X 8309 145
Ryzen 3 3200G 7901 125
Ryzen 5 2400G 9326 179
Ryzen 5 2600 13511 185
Card Name Score Price
----------- ------- --------------
R5 230 247 45
R7 240 976 55
Vega 11 2272 CPU internal
RX 550 3428 105
RX 570 6896 185
RX 580 8564 259
Vega 56 12039 258
Step Four: Tabulating The Performance Relationship
==================================================
Best Video Cards Against Worst CPUs
-----------------------------------
Here we sacrifice CPU performance against video card performance. We are
here using the mathemathical formulat that Passmark uses to combine the
scores obtained from video cards and CPUs on their own, to give an
overall score of the combination of the two.
In this comparison, I have held constant: (a) the RAM score; and (b) the
Hard Disk score.
Overall System Score Vega 56 RX 580 RX 570
---------------------- --------- -------- --------
A4-5300 APU 2600 2600
A6-9500 APU 2000 2000
Athlon 200GE 2000
Worst Video Cards Against Best CPUs
-----------------------------------
Ryzen 5 2600 Ryzen 5 3400G Ryzen 5 3600
-------- -------------- --------------- --------------
RX 550 3800 3700 4000
R7 240 2800 2800 2900
Median Video Cards Against Median CPUs
--------------------------------------
RX 570
--------------- --------
Ryzen 3 2200G 3500
Ryzen 3 3200G 3500
Step Five: Tabulating the Optimum Value
=======================================
Table One
---------
Vega 56 RX 580 RX 570
-------------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------
A4-5300 APU 2600 / 300 = 8.7 2600 / 300 = 8.7
A6-9500 APU 2600 / 300 = 6.7 2600 / 300 = 6.7
Athlon 200GE 2000 / 265 = 7.5
Table Two
---------
Ryzen 5 2600 Ryzen 5 3400G (\$215) Ryzen 5 3600 (\$305)
-------- ------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------
RX 550 3800 / 290 = 13.1 3700 / 320 = 11.6 4000 / 410 = 9.8
R7 240 2800 / 240 = 11.7 2800 / 234 = 11.9 2900 / 360 = 8.1
Table Three
-----------
RX 570
--------------- -------------------
Ryzen 3 2200G 3500 / 304 = 11.5
Ryzen 3 3200G 3500 / 310 = 11.3
Conclusion
==========
So there you have it! It turns out the combination of Ryzen 5 2600 CPU,
and Radeon RX 550 is the most cost effective.
The best CPU combined with the best video card only really yields an
overall system score of around 4000, and at a combined price of \$443,
this turns out to be incredibly cost ineffective (around 0.9 score units
per dollar) - and this is to be expected - the best CPU and the best
video cards are usually horribly cost effective and inefficient at
delivering good performance. They are a horrible rush to the bottom in
terms of diminishing marginal returns of unit of computing power per
unit of currency.
The Fallout 4 Minimum system requirement Passmark system score: 2600 The
recommended specifications score: \~4000