Budget Rig @ 25k

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 1, 2011

1. What is the purpose of the computer? (Note: If you are planning to say multimedia, you will have to be more specific as all types of systems are capable of doing that)
A: HD Movies, Programming, Gaming(Little Bit) (In same order)

2. Are you open to alternate ideas/products giving similar better performance but offering more VFM/ sellers? If not- why?
A: Yes

3. What is your MAX budget?
A: 25k. Can stretch little bit if needed.

4. Planning to overclock?
A: Not really. At least not now. May be after a year when latest games won't run

5. Which OS are you planning to use?
A: Win 7 64 Bit, Arch / Ubuntu, Mac OS X (If Intel)

6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A: Min 1TB. Greater would be better.

7. What resolution will the screen run at & whats the size of the screen you want? If you already want have one and want to use it, mention its resolution and size.
A: Presently I've 1400x900, so looking for a actual upgrade. Full HD please.

8. How would you rate your hardware knowledge from the count of 1-10? (1 being the lowest, 5 being you are somewhat in sync with the current performers and 10 being the highest)
A: 5

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
A: Yes, I've done it many times. Still I'd prefer assembler.

10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: Mid / End of this month.

11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: Yes please.

12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: DVD Writer, Keyboard + Mouse, Speakers, UPS

13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: Kolkata

14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A:

Well, my present configuration is:

Intel Pentium D @ 3GHz
Intel D945GCCR
Transcend 1x1GB DDR2 @ 667MHz, Transcend 1x2GB DDR2 @ 800MHz
XFX NVIDIA 9500GT 1GB DDR2
WD 160GB HDD
Viewsonic 19" LCD
Frontech 500W SMPS
Microsoft Keyboard + Mouse Combo
LG DVD Writer
Creative 2.1 Speakers

After looking at Budget 25k Rig at PC Buying Guide of TDF and TE, I've selected few components by mixing them together.

So now with the * marks.
1. I don't like Seagate. How about WD?? I really don't trust Seagate Drives.

I know I've included the speakers for now, actually the wires of my Creative 2.1 has gone really bad, can go kaput anytime. So if I stay under budget after everything I'd like to go for a new set, otherwise I'll upgrade it later next month.

Few more options that I'm looking at...

Processor:
TheITWares - One Stop for all Gizmos!AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - TheITWares
TheITWares - One Stop for all Gizmos!AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core - TheITWares

Motherboard:
TheITWares - One Stop for all Gizmos!GIGABYTE GA-880GM-USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM:
TheITWares - One Stop for all Gizmos!G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9S-4GBRL
TheITWares - One Stop for all Gizmos!CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9

I've read the reviews of the components mentioned, and it looks fine. Still need your expert opinion to confirm.

So what are your opinions?? You are always free to modify any components if you think so.

BTW is SB Rig possible within this budget??

Jaskanwar Singh · Nov 2, 2011

keep your current HDD. seagate/wd 500gb is now 4.2k.

my suggestion -

a 6770 will be good for little gaming at full hd.

for SB -

or you can get Core i3 2100 @ 6.2k + a 5670.

but imo first is best.

vickybat · Nov 2, 2011

Yup jas's first config is ideal for krishnandu.

@ krishnandu

For programming , hd movies and occasional gaming, the athlon II x4 is all you need. Pair a 6770 like jas recommended and you're good to go. Don't buy hdd now as they are very pricey due to thailand floods. Stick with your current 160gb and upgrade later when prices fall.

One more thing.... Go for a am3+ mobo to keep some upgrade path intact for piledriver cpu's in future. ASUS M5A97 @ 5.9k would be better but does overshoot the budget by a good margin. Msi 880gm ud3h-usb3.0 is also another good option @ 5k.

See if you can save up and squeeze it in.

P.S-Logitech z313 @ 1.4k is lot better than al bxr1221. Benq g2220hdl now costs 6.8k and is fullhd with led backlighting.

Jaskanwar Singh · Nov 2, 2011

batman Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P (rev. 3.1) has am3+ socket.

vickybat · Nov 2, 2011

^^ Then its terrific. Op should stick with it. :smile:

But still if usb 3.0 and sata 6 ports may be necessary in future.

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 2, 2011

Thanks guys for the help

I was clear about AMD, but now little bit confused after taking a look at this one...

AnandTech - Bench - CPU

AnandTech - Bench - CPU

Even SB i3 2100 outperforms Athlon II X4 645.

What do you guys say??

vickybat · Nov 2, 2011

^^ Yup, you can go for that as well. But in heavy multithreaded apps, the x4 performs a bit better due to having four physical cores whereas i3 2100 has 2 physical and two logical(hyperthreaded cores) i.e each core can receive two threads from its dedicated front end despatcher and process them concurrently. X4 will do the same but one thread per core.

4 physical cores always better than 2 physical + 2 logical ( to os, it appears as 4 cores) but i3 2100 has very strong single core performance which evens out the lack of two cores to a great extent.

So i3 2100 is also a great choice and even keeps the ivybridge upgrade path intact which is more promising than bulldozer and its upcoming derivatives. But your budget will have to be increased to fit in the 6770 as its bare minimum for a decent gaming experience.

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 2, 2011

Ok. Yeah, actually I'm planning to upgrade graphics card later on.

So whatever the the proccy may be (i3 2100/ i5 2400 / i5 2500k), the motherboard would be same??

justme101 · Nov 2, 2011

^^ Yes all the three processors you mentioned above are of the same socket and would fit on similar motherboards.

Jaskanwar Singh · Nov 2, 2011

if gpu later then yes 2400. but remember 2400 wont oc. you will need a 2500k + p67/z68 mobo.

mantu008 · Nov 2, 2011

This would be better for op as he plans by gpu later.

i3 2100 outperforms even 955BE

Component Make Price
Processor Intel Core i3 2100 6200
Motherboard MSI H67MA-E35 4700
RAM G-skill F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT(4Gx1) 1350
DVD Writer ASUS 24X Sata Black DVD 1150
PSU FSP Saga II 500W 2300
Case CM Elite 310 1500
Monitor Benq G2220HD 6950
Speakers Altec Lansing BXR1221 1000
Total 25150

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 3, 2011

Thanks for the suggestion guys

BTW I won't OC.

So, let me think, and if I can arrange more money will go for i5 otherwise will stick to i3.

And for HD Movies and little gaming for the time being I guess IGP2000 would suffice.

What say??

Another thing, do you guys suggest to wait till December and see if prices comes down??

Cilus · Nov 3, 2011

All of you guys have suggested DVD writer whereas Krishnendu mentioned than he does not need one. So 1K saved n can be used for other purposes.

Here is my suggestion, not much different from others:-

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 9.5K
Intel DH67CL-B3 (16x,8.Ch.S,L / Vga & HDMi, USB 3) @ 5.6K
Corsair 4GB X 1 1333 MHz DDR3 Value @ 1.2K
Tagan Stonerock TG500 @ 3K
CM Elite 310 @ 1.5K
Dell ST2220L 21.5" Full HD LED @ 8K (HDMI, DVI-D n VGA) @ 8K

Total 28.8K. You can decrease 1K by going for the MSI motherboard. I have suggested you a better monitor, especially LED based because HD movie watching is the 1st priority of yours.

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 3, 2011

Thanks a lot Cilus

This one looks more promising. I'll be using Old HDD as of now, till the prices comes down again. And once it comes down I'll buy one 1TB.

One more thing, for the time being, if I use my old XFX NVIDIA 9500GT 1GB with this rig, will it be ok or overkill for the GPU??

Cilus · Nov 3, 2011

9500 GT can't be a overkill, its not that powerful. But it will offer you smooth HD content playback. Use players like Media Player classic Home Cinema, Splayer etc which do have GPU acceleration support. It will allow you to apply post processing filters over the video to enhance the quality. The Intel 2000 HD IGP is capable of handling HD playback but cannot take load when lots of post processing filters are applied over the video content. So a dedicated GPU is always a welcome addition in a good HTPC.

krishnandu.sarkar · Nov 3, 2011

Got it thanks...

vickybat · Nov 3, 2011

Cilus said:
All of you guys have suggested DVD writer whereas Krishnendu mentioned than he does not need one. So 1K saved n can be used for other purposes.

Here is my suggestion, not much different from others:-

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 9.5K
Intel DH67CL-B3 (16x,8.Ch.S,L / Vga & HDMi, USB 3) @ 5.6K
Corsair 4GB X 1 1333 MHz DDR3 Value @ 1.2K
Tagan Stonerock TG500 @ 3K
CM Elite 310 @ 1.5K
Dell ST2220L 21.5" Full HD LED @ 8K (HDMI, DVI-D n VGA) @ 8K

Total 28.8K. You can decrease 1K by going for the MSI motherboard. I have suggested you a better monitor, especially LED based because HD movie watching is the 1st priority of yours.

Buddy benq g2220hdl (led fullhd) monitor is now available @ 6.8k and is a terrific deal imo. Two of my friends in delhi and pune respectively has already purchased the hdl at the above price. Its a lot better deal than the dell monitor which costs more than 1k.

MyGeekTips · Nov 3, 2011

vickybat said:
Buddy benq g2220hdl (led fullhd) monitor is now available @ 6.8k and is a terrific deal imo. Two of my friends in delhi and pune respectively has already purchased the hdl at the above price. Its a lot better deal than the dell monitor which costs more than 1k.

If op needs HDMI he can go for BenQ V2220 @ 8K It's Same as HDL but with HDMI & More Power Saving.

vickybat · Nov 3, 2011

^^ Hdmi is not required for a pc monitor unless 3d comes in which benefit from the 1.4a standard. But for a sub 7k monittor, hdmi doesn't make sense because you never need to send audio signals to your monitor.

Dvi-d is good enough as its same as hdmi except that its incapable of transmitting audio signal along with video.

Cilus · Nov 3, 2011

MyGeekTips said:
If op needs HDMI he can go for BenQ V2220 @ 8K It's Same as HDL but with HDMI & More Power Saving.

Nice suggestion. Why don't you guys post the latest prices in the *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-components-configurations/96218-hardware-price-list-spec-sheet.html and *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-components-configurations/143901-pc-buying-guide-2011-q4.html section.

It will help us a lot to create the PC buying guide in more optimized way.

Vicky, even dual link DVI is also capable enough to deliver 3D in PC monitors and in fact delivers more bandwidth than the HDMI 1.4a standard and the modern Gfx cards come with Dual Link DVI ports. HDMI is only having advantage if you guys wanna use the Bit streaming Audio capability of your Gfx card into your Display with integrated Speakers as DVI can't carry audio signal.
But since all the Monitors discussed above don't have integrated speakers, DVI or HDMI hardly makes any difference.

Budget Rig @ 25k

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