Budget desktop config suggestions required !

[Xeno]

Alright a friend of mine needs a desktop on a tight budget.

22k for everything. Will be used for mostly movies and playing songs so onboard sound proccy should be good. Preferrably having a 7.1 output on the backpanel.

I suppose an AMD config will just do fine, although I have no idea on which motherboard to couple with it.

Processor - AMD Athlon X2 240 - 2.8k ?
Motherboard - no idea
RAM - no idea
HDD - WD Caviar Green 500GB - 2.5k

Display - ? (6-7k LCD ?)
Cabinet - Zebronics Bijli - 1.6k
SMPS - ?

Keyboard + mouse - 1k
UPS (APC 550 VA)- 2k

P.S
I think I need a GPU for my asus m4a785td-v evo , budget is a bit tight on 5k, should I buy a GPU or now save up some more ?

 

[coderunknown]

^^ mobo get MSI 785GM E65. ram: 2Gb DDR3 from transcand. cabinet + psu: bijli + zebronics/fsp/vip 350W.
with rest of money ask him get 22'' monitor as movie wil b treat to watch on.

for yourself get HD5670. nvidia gt400 won't out soon nor wil b pocket friendly. waiting wil only delay ur purchase.

 

[Xeno]

Thanks a lot !

Hmmmm would all that come into the budget ? I don't have an idea about the prices for the DDR3 RAM or the mobo. ( I live near bangalore )

Also,
How good is the WD 500GB Black and how much does it retail for ? Ill be needing a drive by a month

 

[coderunknown]

Thanks a lot !

Hmmmm would all that come into the budget ? I don't have an idea about the prices for the DDR3 RAM or the mobo. ( I live near bangalore )

Also,
How good is the WD 500GB Black and how much does it retail for ? Ill be needing a drive by a month

oops, it won't come. ok, change it. msi 785gm e51. if movie watching then its good. wdc 500gb blue, the bundled psu & 20'' benq monitor should make it abt 23k.

wdc black 500gb should cost 3k. good for gaming. but wdc blue is good. y black?

 

[emmarbee]

For low end configs like dual cores, Intel and AMD are more of the same and Intel having an upper hand (Various Sources) at times. (Correct me if I'm wrong).
So if you want, you can go for

Intel E5400 - 3075
Asus P5QPL-AM - 2550
2 GB DDR2 - 2100
SG/WD 500GB - 2475
Palit GT210 - 2400
LG DVD Drive - 1050
Monitor BenQ G2220 / G2412 - 7850/11100
Logitech KB/MS - 650
Logitech X540 - 5100
Cabinet - 1200
Numeric UPS - 1550

The whole config is 30000K, going below this price is not recommended.
You can swap E5400 and P5QPL-AM with X2 240 and Asus M2N68-AMPLUS.

-->Reducing the budget for Processor/ Mobo / RAM will decrease your overall system performance and in 1 year time it'll be too hard to use it with latest applications.

-->Reducing the budget for Hard Disk / Monitor /SPKS will lower your movie watching experience. (of course, only if u r a movie buff).

--> If you can adjust with a 20", then go for Dell S2009W 6950 and buying HDD below 500 GB is waste of money.

--->Removing video card degrades your overall computing performance. Video card can be used for various applications like Encoding movies, Watching HD movies, Playing Youtube HD Videos (adobe flash player 10.1), and of course gaming. Other than this, there are various other applications too like CS4, but I'm not sure whether you'll be using that regularly.

Hope this helps.

My friend was about to buy a PC for 28k budget, I have stretched his budget to 40K. Initially I had the above config, but later he said he can stretch the budget if it lasts long.

So I changed to below config(PC not bought yet, will be buying it today most probably)
AMD X4 630 - 5150
MSI GF615MP33 / any cheap 770 chipset (ECS, Biostar, MSI) - 3000
2GB DDR3 - 2800
1 TB - 4000
Palit 9600GT/9600GSO - 4400
BenQ G2412 HD - 11100
Logitech X540 - 5150
Logitech KB/MS - 650
LG Drive - 1050
Cabinet - 1200
Numeric UPS - 1550
Web Cam - Not decided
Total 40K

 

[Cilus]

1st of all if you are buying a PC right now, always go with the trend. Now the trend is for DDR3 based system, not DDR2 based system, which is going to be obsoleted soon.
2ndly Athlon II and Phenom II based processors are better performer than Intel Core2Duo Processors.
Lets go for a config then

Processor: Athlon II X3 425 @ 3.4k
Mobo: Biostar TA785G A3 @ 3.7k or Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H @ 5.5k
Ram: Transcend 2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz C9 @ 2.5k
HDD: Seagate 500 GB @ 2.3k
Monitor: BenQ 22" G2220 FULL HD LCD Monitor @ 8k
Cabinet: Zebronics Bijli without SMPS @ 1.2k
PSU: Zebronics 550W Pro @ 2.8k

Total is 25.7k if you go for the Gigabyte Mobo else it is 23.9k

This mobo is very good value for money.
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[Xeno]

Like I said, the budget is tight and cannot be increased at all. This will absolutely not be used for gaming even a bit. Just movies and internet and ehh MS office

Hrmm the AMD config seems viable. When did the Athlon II X3 processor arrive ?

 

[Cilus]

AMD Athlon X3 processors are already available in the market for some times now. You can easily get them. If you want to reduce price then go for a Athlon II X2 240 2.8GHz @ 2.8k. Price will be reduced 1k then.
ANd for PSU go for the VIP Gold 500W @ 2.2 k or Colorsit 500W @ 2k.

Now everything is within your budget.

 

[emmarbee]

^^ Dude why separate SMPS? SMPS accompanied with cabinet is enough.
And about processor. Here's the real deal

*www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=98&p2=114&c=1

Please see which applications is suitable for you.
In Microsoft Excel 2007 Monte Carlo Simulation, E5300 is better compared to X2 240. Whereas for winrar compression X2 240 is better.

BTW, Cilus from where u r getting the price? Is it including the VAT?

BTW, no need of DDR3 for that budget PC. You won't loose too much for buying a DDR2 RAM.

Source: (as of may 2007 only, but checked with decent configuration)
*www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=7

We couldn't see a vast performance difference in DDR2 and DDR3. But may be I'm missing something. But the system will be future proof. After 2 years, when u install a 64 bit OS and trying to upgrade your RAM to 4GB, you might find a bit harder and costlier than the DDR3 counterparts. Suit yourselves. And the price difference would be around 200 - 300 INR at that time. Now its around 800.

As I said before, I'm going with the same configuration mentioned earlier.

But if you are VERY RESTRICTED about your budget and not so keen on enjoying movies, Go for Zebronics Duality 5000 2.2 speakers (digit's editor's pick) for 1600 or less OR Creative T6100.

I'm very sorry for mentioning X540. Please don't buy logitech X540. Just now checked out Digit comparision and several other forums(UK, avs etc,) even for the 40K PC that I had mentioned I'm going to buy Creative T6100.
Of course, it seems X540 has the upper hand (wins by a small margin in numbers) - but for what 1.5K difference???

Also go for 20" rather than 22". It'll save you 1K. But you'll loose fullHD and of course the extra real estate.

 

[coderunknown]

^^ go with cilus suggestion but get a bit cheaper PSU like FSP SAGA II 350. go with gigabyte mobo, onboard sound better than bio. the final config is worth the money.

 

[Cilus]

emmarbee, IF you are buying a good system, SMPS is going to be the one of the most important part of it, but also the neglected section. A good PSU always enhance the performance and increase the durability of any system. I have suggested the 500W PSU for make the system future proof. If you are going to add a Gfx card say after some time, you don't need to change the PSU then.

 

[vickybat]

@ emmarbee
Yes Cilus is correct.The amd system is best for op as its a bit future proof.Going for a ddr3 based system is viable as one can upgrade them in future since ddr2 will soon become obsolete.

Regarding smps, its the most important component in the system as it gives dc power to all pc components. The efficiency of the psu is always considered and one should not be too skimpy whilst purchasing this component.The op should go for either vip gold 500 or gigabyte superb 460.

 

[coderunknown]

but including a PSU costing 2.5k or so wil only make the system go out way. if he spend too much on PSU at tight budget whats left for the rest of the PC? & if he gets a PSU like 350W from Zebronics Pro or FSP or so, he can easily run a card of caliber of 9600GT. spending more on PSU for a PC @ 22k which can't even exceed its budget, its really not advisable.

 

[emmarbee]

Even I have a separate SMPS. But I had bought that while I got the video card. Same can be applied to the OP. If he is buying a video card now, then he can buy the smps, else why should he spend on the smps?

And BTW, no need of APC ups. After seeing lot of members in thinkdigit saying great things about APC, I thought it'd would be like an ups from heaven. But it ain't so, one of my relation had a problem with APC ups too...
From what I've seen so far, no UPS brand has made it good and most of my friend's UPSes don't give back up, including mine. (different brands).

 

[rahul_007]

but including a PSU costing 2.5k or so wil only make the system go out way. if he spend too much on PSU at tight budget whats left for the rest of the PC? & if he gets a PSU like 350W from Zebronics Pro or FSP or so, he can easily run a card of caliber of 9600GT. spending more on PSU for a PC @ 22k which can't even exceed its budget, its really not advisable.

i too think sam.shab is correct... i mean this rig wouldn't, or rather i should say shouldn't be used for any high end usage.... so if the budget is limited, then why expand it unnecessarily if 350w is enough for doing all the tricks....

 

[vickybat]

but including a PSU costing 2.5k or so wil only make the system go out way. if he spend too much on PSU at tight budget whats left for the rest of the PC? & if he gets a PSU like 350W from Zebronics Pro or FSP or so, he can easily run a card of caliber of 9600GT. spending more on PSU for a PC @ 22k which can't even exceed its budget, its really not advisable.

No, it makes sense to invest in a better psu . I mean look at cilus's config, it definitely comes in op's budget. Zebby psu's are too crappy to recommend so instead should look for gigabyte which isn't expensive and can even handle a 5770 easily.

Else the op can also look for seasonic 380 or corsair cx400. So its better to buy a good psu now rather to invest in a crap psu and later getting a good one after purchasing a discrete card.

@ op

Don't be too skimpy on the psu as its equally important as the rest of the components.Getting the gigabyte 460 won't overshoot your budget.

 

[coderunknown]

No, it makes sense to invest in a better psu . I mean look at cilus's config, it definitely comes in op's budget. Zebby psu's are too crappy to recommend so instead should look for gigabyte which isn't expensive and can even handle a 5770 easily.

Else the op can also look for seasonic 380 or corsair cx400. So its better to buy a good psu now rather to invest in a crap psu and later getting a good one after purchasing a discrete card.

@ op

Don't be too skimpy on the psu as its equally important as the rest of the components.Getting the gigabyte 460 won't overshoot your budget.

it does but if OP won't get a midlevel discrete card a PSU of rating between Zeb 350W Pro & Gigabyte 460W should be enough for any future upgrade. CX400W is just too much for his budget. & to add to his miseries after inc tax, total cost wil touch 24k surely. so getting FSP II 350W, which seriously better than Zebronics stuff is recommended. Gigabyte is the 1 to get only if it can be included in budget.

 

[Cilus]

Processor: Athlon II X3 425 @ 3.4k
Mobo: Biostar TA785G A3 @ 3.7k
Ram: Transcend 2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz C9 @ 2.5k
HDD: Seagate 500 GB @ 2.3k
Monitor: BenQ 22" G2220 FULL HD LCD Monitor @ 8k
Cabinet: Zebronics Krish @ 1k
PSU: VIP Gold 500W @ 2.2 k

Total 23.1k. Street price of some components may be low. So there is a high chance that you will get everything within your budget. You habe a tri-core processor, DDR3 ram, ATI HD 4200 128 MB DDR3 Graphics, and good PSU for future upgrade. So don't think too much and go for it.

 

[coderunknown]

nice config. OP should get it. anything else is pure loss.

 

[Xeno]

Okay finally went ahead and got this config

Unfortunately due to further complications the budget went down a bit :S student life is full of poverty

Processor: Athlon II X2 240 2.8k
Mobo: Biostar TA785G3 HD 4.3k
Ram: Transcend 2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz C9 2.5k
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500 GB 2.4k
Monitor: BenQ 22" G2220 FULL HD LCD Monitor 8k
Cabinet: Zebronics Bijli with SMPS 1.6k (smps upgrade planned in a month's time)

21.5k