Advise for buying new desktop within RS 42,000

[Pritampaul]

Hi Friends,

I am planning to buy a new desktop within next 15 days. The desktop will be used for decent gaming, watching movies, and Internet purpose. It should be future proof for next 5 years and I prefer Intel. I have a configuration in my mind, appreciate if anyone can help me finding everything is ok or not. I am pretty new at this. I will buy the PC from the shop in Kolkata and get assembled from the shop as well. Also let me know if I can get the configuration within 42,000 or not. Any suggestion/alternatives on the configuration mostly welcomed. Please help. Thanks in advance.


Processor: Intel i5 2400
Motherboard:Intel DH67BL B3
Graphics Card:Sapphire/MSI HD5770
Hard Disk:Western Digital 500GB
Ram:Transcend 2GB DDR3 1333MHz C9
PSU: FSP Saga II 500W
Cabinet: Cooler Master Elite 310/NZXT GAMMA
Dell UltraSharp U2311H
Logitech Desket Combo
APC 600va UPS
Sound system:Creative 2.1
Samsung 22x DVD RW

 

[skeletor]

Nothing will actually be "future proof" for 5 years. It is nothing more than a means of consoling yourself.

Your config is fully balanced. It'd be better to go for a dual-channel RAM kit (2*2GB) from Kingston/Corsair now itself. Also go for APC 800VA UPS if you can as it will give you some headroom if you'd like to upgrade your graphic card later.

If you're going for NZXT Gamma (bottom PSU mount), then better get Corsair CX400 as FSP Saga II series has short cables.

 

[Pritampaul]

Thanks for the suggestion. Also can you give me any idea, if I can get any branded PC within this price range which has decent gaming performance. Any certain model number.

 

[Cilus]

ico, I think a Phenom II 1090T is little better than a i5 2400 , apart for gaming. And even gaming, it is not that behind...1090T can even perform better in multithreaded environment better than 2500K in stock speed.

And as the OP mentioned a futureproof rig, an AM3 based motherboard will allow him to upgrade to a Bulldozer based AMD processor in future without changing the mobo.

So my suggestion will be

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 9.8K
MSI 890GXM-G65 @ 6.8K
GSkill Ripjaw 2 X 2 GB 1600 MHz CL7 @ 2.5K
Seagate 500 GB @ 1.7K
Tagan StoneRock 500W 80+ @3K
Sapphire HD 6850 @ 9.6K
NZXT Gama @ 2.1K
BenQ G2220HD @ 7K

Rest are your choice

 

[vickybat]

^^ No i disagree. No point in going for 1090t with sandybridge round the corner. Sandybridge is faster in multithreaded apps even than phenom 2 1100t BE. So 1090t falls even further.

Check this , this & this. All are from anandtech.

The video encoding tests were done using the x86 codepath and not quicksync. The later will bludgeon any phenom 2's now. The most important aspect of not going for 1090t now is the lack of AVX instruction set which will be used in all video encoding and other apps. All sandybridge cpu's have this and the upcoming bulldozer will also have it.

Now check some tomshardware and xbitlabs reviews below.

1. Benchmark Results: 3DMark11 : Intel’s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review

2.Intel Core i5-2500, Core i5-2400 and Core i5-2300 CPU Review - X-bit labs


It appears cpu physics is better handled by i5 2400 than the 1100T. So 1090t should be further down the list.

I would also want to say about AES instruction set which aids in encryption and favours intel cpu's much more. But op here won't be using it.

The entire adobe suite including aftereffects and premiere pro cs5 performs way better in sandybridge cpu's and these are multithreaded. I5 2400 is far ahead than 1100T BE. So 1090t should also be even further behind.

In productivity tests like file conversion and compression, i5 2400 is well ahead of 1100t except the 7zip benchmark.

In media encoding the newer apps supporting avx instruction set will favour sandybridge as said earlier. Quicksync is the difference maker here and thats a no brainer.

Lastly games are gpu dependent and cpu's has to be fast enough not to be a bottleneck.
Both i5 2400 and 1090t will do fine here but the phenom's performance is rather inconsistent here.

In metro, it performed equally well as sandybridge. But in f1 2010, the phenom 2 hexcore flagship dropped way below in the list. So sandybridge is preffered here.

Checking powerconsumption, sandybridege cpu's consume way less power than phenom 2 x6.
If we consider xbitlabs, i5 2400 consumes 97 watts in full load whereas 1100t be consumes 164 watts. 1090 t must be similar too. So this is a difference maker.

Lastly about future proofing, lga 1155 is more future proof than socket am3. Why because we are not 100% sure that am3 will support the upcoming bulldozer. Even if it does, the lower hypertransport speeds in am3 boards will adversaly affect performance of bulldozer as said by previewers.

Whereas intel will support 1155 longer along with socket 2011. We miht also see some sandybridge hexcores fitting in the 1155 socket. So its more future proof.

So my advice for op is to stick with sandybridge in the current situation. Bulldozer will make sense when it arrives.

 

[skeletor]

Thanks for the suggestion. Also can you give me any idea, if I can get any branded PC within this price range which has decent gaming performance. Any certain model number.

Branded PCs are usually overpriced and won't give you the best performance in your budget. Most also come with sub-par PSUs from Cooler Master, Zebronics etc.

Assembled is the way to go.

And as the OP mentioned a futureproof rig, an AM3 based motherboard will allow him to upgrade to a Bulldozer based AMD processor in future without changing the mobo.

I'm pretty confident that AM3+ Bulldozer will work on AM3 socket, but I won't suggest this to anyone until AMD confirms this officially.

 

[coderunknown]

And as the OP mentioned a futureproof rig, an AM3 based motherboard will allow him to upgrade to a Bulldozer based AMD processor in future without changing the mobo.

I'm pretty confident that AM3+ Bulldozer will work on AM3 socket, but I won't suggest this to anyone until AMD confirms this officially.

was about to tell exactly this. but then saw ico's post. also if the upgrade process involves removal of pins glass-disagre, hmmmm better avoid AM3 platform for now.

Branded PCs are usually overpriced and won't give you the best performance in your budget. Most also come with sub-par PSUs from Cooler Master, Zebronics etc.

at OP's budget, branded PC will come with 19-20" monitor & i5 with a low-mid card like GT240. absolutely not suited for gaming.

 

[Pritampaul]

Exactly, you are so wright. I have been searching for a branded one for so long, but not getting any such model which is even closer to the assembled one. They are not flexible on monitor, motherboard, processors which are the main parts. Even if some branded one have nice configuration, it will put a heavy toll on customers’ pocket. But just want to make sure if i am wright. Thanks for your help.