Advice for building PC July 2012

[darknight]

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: Will be used by parents mostly for basic stuff like browsing web, MS Office, listening to music, watching HD videos, video calls.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: 20K - 25K

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: No

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Win7 64 bit, later Win8

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: 320 GB/500GB

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: No, already have one 19 inch wide screen LCD monitor

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: I already have a webcam, keyboard and a mouse I can reuse.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: First week of August 2012

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: Assembler

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: Hyderabad, mostly go to CTC (Shwetha or Arun)

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: I prefer best possible processor+mobo combo with AMD APU.
Open to other's views.

 

[darknight]

After reading some posts I have narrowed down some components

WDC Blue 500GB HD 3.8k
G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 4GB 1.5k
HP/ASUS(24X) OpticalDrive 1.0k
Corsair VX430 PSU 2.0k
Intex 600VA UPS 1.2k

I can spend another 10k - 15k for
Processor (AMD A8 3870K / AMD Phenom-II X4 960T / INTEL i3 2120)
Motherboard (Depending on Processor)
Cabinet (Good looking)

I will not use this PC for any high end gaming and will not add a GPU even in the future.
Can I play HD videos (1080p) without an external GPU ?

Please advice me on the above 3 components...

 

[geekyraj]

* AMD A8-3870k -- 6.5k
* MSI-A75MA-G55 -- 5.5k
* Corsair 4GB DDR3 Value RAM -- 1.3k
* WDC Blue 500 GB -- 3.9k
* Asus DRW-24B5ST -- 1k
* CM Elite-310 -- 1.8k
* Corsair VS-450 -- 2.1k
* Intex 600VA UPS -- 1.2k
* Altec Lansing BXR1221 -- 1k

 

[darknight]

Thanks for the advice

Just one clarification, is it better to go with AMD A8 than with Intel i3 2120 ?

Then I will finalize the config.

 

[geekyraj]

APU = CPU+GPU... A8 3870k (3 GHz) has 4 real cores (good for Multitasking) as well as Integrated Radeon HD 6550D GPU. while Intel i3 2120 (3.3 GHz) has 2 real+2 logical cores as well as integrated HD Graphics 2000. so In term of Graphics (for gaming) AMD A8 is far better than with Intel i3 2120 but in speed i3 2120 is slightly faster than A8-3870k. but for overall performance AMD A8 3870k is recommended over Intel i3 2120.

AMD Fusion vs. Intel Core i3

one correction : go for

G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 4GB 1.7k (1600MHz)
rather than
Corsair 4GB DDR3 Value RAM -- 1.3k (1333MHz)

because faster RAM is required for A8-3870k.

 

[Chaitanya]

because faster RAM is required for A8-3870k.

Yup..
I suggest 2*2GB or whatever capacity in dual channel mode..

 

[reniarahim1]

Sorry to bump the thread. I am confused between A6-3650 and i3 2120. Not planning for a GPU as of now. Which one do you suggest?

 

[geekyraj]

if your primary purpose is to play games or Photoshop without using graphics card then go for A6-3650 (2.6 GHz) with 4 real cores and Integrated Radeon HD 6530D GPU. otherwise Intel i3 2120 (3.3 GHz , 2 real+ 2 logical cores) is faster than A6-3650 (2.6 GHz, 4 real cores) and its integrated graphics HD Graphics 2000 is sufficient for HD videos. so other than for more better GPU, A6-3650 is also better in multitasking due to 4 real cores.