Budget Rig @ 25k

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Sh*t man..!! Need a long sleep. Really got confused. Forgot basic maths

lol..!! Can't get worse than this.

Thanks buddy for correcting me.

 

[vickybat]

^^ Nope its not like that. Running two 1920x1080 monitors side by side will yield a resolution of 3840x1080.

There are single monitors which have a native resolution of 2560x1600. Puuting two of these will yield 5120x1600.

6770 can drive a 2560x1600 res monitor (that's what the statement means) but gaming isn't advised in that resolution but you can watch movies though. Anyways, you'll be settling for a fullhd monitor, so no worries on that front.

Get i5 2400 and with the money saved, invest in a 6770 or a stock 6850 if budget can be stretched a little bit. Its 1.5k more than a 6770.

 

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Thanks

Already stretched to 35k. Can't go more than that

 

[Cilus]

Even I also like Vicky's idea of getting a higher end Graphics card instead of spending for i5 2500. In Full HD gaming (1920X1080[16:9] or 1920X 1200[16:10]), Graphics card is far more important than CPU. A Phenom II 965, armed with HD 6850 can perform better than i5 2400 + HD 6770 in 1080P.

If you're lucky there is a high chance of getting i5 2400 within 9K from the old stock. Invest the extra money saved to get either HD 6790 or HD 6850. As per my knowledge, reference models of HD 6850 from MSI, Sapphire or Powercolor are available at sub 9K price (excluding vat) in Kolkata. Also the motherboard prices are low in Kolkata and the DH67BL may be found over there couple of hundred bucks cheaper.
So get i5 2400 + HD 6850 Reference model, perfect for gaming.

For Monitor, what I've heard that BenQ G2220HDL is on the per with Dell ST2220L. So get whatever is cheaper.

 

[MyGeekTips]

For Monitor, what I've heard that BenQ G2220HDL is on the per with Dell ST2220L. So get whatever is cheaper.

BenQ G2220HDL Model is superior than ST2220L my friend compared both when buying he told me HDL has better colour reproduction, better viewing angle then Dell.

 

[$$Lionking$$]

@Krishnandu - Dude!!!!!! You can get a 6 core for this much AND cut down ur budget by 2.5k...!!

Lets get things into perspective here...

This is what you want to do -

1) HD Movies - 2) Programming 3) Little bit Gaming ...right???

1. HD Movies - You can do that with your current configuration!!!

2. Programming - For programming on windows you need to buy a Pentium/Athlon II Dual Core and it will fulfill all your programming needs. On linux your current machine is good enough.

3. Little Bit Gaming.(lets say u play 2 hours a day @ medium settings) - As you're going for a 22" monitor. I'll say go with a Sapphire HD 6750 1GB GDDR5 with a 955BE.

Core i5 is totally an overkill for your purpose - so is an HD 6770(So not meant for "little bit" gaming).

Also for gaming anything over 60fps that a cpu+gpu combo churns out is pretty much useless because your monitor is most probably limited to 60Hz refresh rate hence 60fps.

Anyways heres what i would suggest -

Processor Phenom II X4 955 5700/-
Motherboard Asus M4A88T-M 5000/-
RAM G-skill 2x2GB 1600MHz kit 2200/-
PSU Corsair GS 600 4500/-
Case CM Elite 310 1500/-
Monitor Benq G2220HD 6950/-
Speakers Altec Lansing BXR1221 1000/-

Total 26850/-

 

[Cilus]

^^ I think Krishnendu wants a future proof config that's why he asked for the Sandybridge based config.
However, I like the idea, so just optimizing a little:-

Processor Phenom II X4 955 5700/-
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 AM3+ 4800/-
RAM Gskill Ripjaw 4GB X 1 1600 MHz 1650/-
PSU Corsair GS 600 4000/-
Case CM Elite 310 1500/-
Monitor Benq G2220HD 6950/-
Speakers Altec Lansing BXR1221 1000/-

Total 24,100. You can get Phenom II 965 if you want.

 

[MyGeekTips]

@ Lionking: Nice Config Just Change the Mobo to Gigabyte USB3 AM3.

 

[$$Lionking$$]

Cilus - Dudeeee -> Dual Channel - 2x2 GB gives 21.4GB/s Bandwidth on AMD system while 1x4GB only gives 10.7GB/s.

MyGeekTips - Dude Asus boards are so much more reliable than Gigabyte + same chipset Asus boards tend to perform slightly better vs Gigabyte. Ive seen this time and again.

 

[MyGeekTips]

MyGeekTips - Dude Asus boards are so much more reliable than Gigabyte + same chipset Asus boards tend to perform slightly better vs Gigabyte. Ive seen this time and again.

That Depends on the Model plus Gigabyte RMA is lot better than Asus Handled By Crap Rashi Peripherals. I've Seen Your Some Post i think you're a Asus Fanboy. :lol

 

[$$Lionking$$]

MyGeekTips - Rashi is beyond crap i agree with you there.

@Chipset/Fanboy - Yeah ive tested most of this stuff myself and im sharing my personal experience here.

 

[vickybat]

Cilus - Dudeeee -> Dual Channel - 2x2 GB gives 21.4GB/s Bandwidth on AMD system while 1x4GB only gives 10.7GB/s.

MyGeekTips - Dude Asus boards are so much more reliable than Gigabyte + same chipset Asus boards tend to perform slightly better vs Gigabyte. Ive seen this time and again.

He can later go for 4x4 which will wipe out a 2x2 setup. Its more futureproof to go with a single 4gb now. Single 2gb's are now obsolete.

 

[$$Lionking$$]

Vicky - 2x2GB XMS3 available at prime for 1.5k. and 2x2gb will kill 1x4gb now!!

@Futureproof - you still have 2 DIMMS left on both 880GM-USB3/88T-M after 2x2GB.

P.S. Unless you're overclocking ur CPU ..a lot!!! adding sticks to the 3rd & 4th DIMM in a dual channel system will not make a difference.

 

[Cilus]

Cilus - Dudeeee -> Dual Channel - 2x2 GB gives 21.4GB/s Bandwidth on AMD system while 1x4GB only gives 10.7GB/s.

MyGeekTips - Dude Asus boards are so much more reliable than Gigabyte + same chipset Asus boards tend to perform slightly better vs Gigabyte. Ive seen this time and again.

That bandwitdh is the theoritical maximum value of Dual channel config but in practical it never achives that speed. Different tests have shown that dual channel setup only delivers very minimum performance improvement in most of the applications and sometimes it is opposite, the performance reduces compared to the single channel config.

Another thing is the current market standard of DDR3 module is 4GB size, not 2 GB. So getting with a single 4GB will allow OP to add another 4 GB later to get dual channel config and will save one Ram slot for now. Vickybat has correctly point out that already.

And there is nothing like "ASUS boards are better than Gigabyte". I've used boards from all the major brands Gigabyte, Asus and MSI.

In fact Gigabyte boards are little better in lower-middle end segments than Asus. Also the board I've suggested does have USB 3.0 ports, 4 Ram slots and support for AM3+ CPUs, opposed to Asus M4A88T-M board which lacks all the features mentioned above.

 

[$$Lionking$$]

Cilus -

That bandwitdh is the theoritical maximum value of Dual channel config but in practical it never achives that speed. - True.

Different tests have shown that dual channel setup only delivers very minimum performance improvement in most of the applications and sometimes it is opposite, the performance reduces compared to the single channel config. - How?? :O Can you please tell more - I beg to differ!!!

And there is nothing like "ASUS boards are better than Gigabyte". I've used boards from all the major brands Gigabyte, Asus and MSI. - Dude that is ur personal experience. In my experience Asus performed better everytime!!!

@Asus lacks USB 3.0 / AM3+ support /4 RAM Slots - Now M4A88T-M actually has 4 ram slots. I'm just saying that in my experience Gigabyte does not perform as well as Asus thats all dude...!!! :O

 

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Guys thanks a lot

And Lionking, ya you are right, I don't even play 2 hours per day!! Make it 2hours per week on avg. I just like to try them out. Nothing more than that. Play 2-3 stages and uninstall them. Though there are exeptions(NFS MW, COD Series etc ).

Ya, I selected AMD Config first, but then thought about going with SB rig as it'll be more future proof.

And yeah, my present rig should be ok for HD Movies, I wouldn't have changed it, as there is no problems with the PC till now.

But HD Movies doesn't run smoothly, I don't know why.

Let me post summary of few videos which don't run smoothly.

General
Unique ID                                : 182503423470614157500611284723509226700 (0x894CE17D84F73A0CA1BD274BEED3ECCC)
Complete name                            : F:\Downloads\Fast.&.Furious.5.The.Rio.Heist.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD\Fast.&.Furious.5.The.Rio.Heist.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 9.25 GiB
Duration                                 : 2h 10mn
Overall bit rate                         : 10.2 Mbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-08-21 23:08:28
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v4.8.0 ('I Got The...') built on May 24 2011 03:12:58
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 2h 10mn
Bit rate                                 : 8 654 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 816 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.35:1
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.230
Stream size                              : 7.69 GiB (83%)
Title                                    : AVC.High@L4.1.[8.6Mbps] encoded by:riplleyhd@RiplleyHD Encoding Group
Writing library                          : x264 core 116 r2044 392e762
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=5 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=10 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=8654 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 2h 10mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 22ms
Stream size                              : 1.37 GiB (15%)
Title                                    : DTS-MA(Core)1510Kbps
Language                                 : English

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : Romanian

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : English

General
Unique ID                                : 179747980907784525040399350464062486870 (0x873A33AEE397207E91FE449F5514F956)
Complete name                            : F:\Downloads\Unknown.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD\Unknown.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 8.38 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 53mn
Overall bit rate                         : 10.6 Mbps
Movie name                               : Unknown.2011.MultiSub.1080p.[Encoded By riplleyhd@RiplleyHD Encoding Group].for.HD-Space.org
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-06-10 18:17:14
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v4.8.0 ('I Got The...') built on May 24 2011 03:12:58
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 5 frames
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1h 53mn
Bit rate                                 : 9 096 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.247
Stream size                              : 7.02 GiB (84%)
Title                                    : AVC@L4.1: 9 Mpbs
Writing library                          : x264 core 115 r1995 c1e60b9
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=24 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=9096 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1h 53mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.19 GiB (14%)
Title                                    : English
Language                                 : English

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : Romanian

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : English

Text #3
ID                                       : 5
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : French

General
Unique ID                                : 197348200924783527107381397124007874669 (0x9477E186CDE06BAD99DAC4A4F004506D)
Complete name                            : F:\Downloads\X-Men.First.Class.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD\X-Men.First.Class.2011.MultiSub.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264.RiplleyHD.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 9.53 GiB
Duration                                 : 2h 11mn
Overall bit rate                         : 10.4 Mbps
Movie name                               : X-Men.First.Class.2011.1080p.BluRay[ encoded by:riplleyhd@RiplleyHD Encoding Group ].encoded.for.HD-Space.org
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-09-25 17:01:57
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v4.8.0 ('I Got The...') built on May 24 2011 03:12:58
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 5 frames
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 2h 11mn
Bit rate                                 : 8 850 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 816 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.35:1
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.236
Stream size                              : 7.95 GiB (83%)
Title                                    : AVC.2pass.High@L4.1[8.8.Mbps].riplleyhd@RiplleyHD.Encoding.Group
Writing library                          : x264 core 116 r2057 0ba8a9c
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=8850 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 2h 11mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 11ms
Stream size                              : 1.39 GiB (15%)
Title                                    : English DTS-HDMA core 5.1 1509Kbps
Language                                 : English

Text #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : Romanian

Text #2
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                                 : English

I don't know but 9500GT should be good with HD Movies, but it's not doing so. But on VLC I the no. of lost frames keeps increasing. Same with WMP, Totem and others. Tried both on Windows and Linux.

But other movies runs fine.

It may be because of my Monitor as it's resolution is 1440x900. But then the movies runs fine on my laptop Dell Vostro 1015.

So I think it must the proccy which is not capable enough to handle all these.

Other than this, PC gets hell lot slower with ~10 tabs on Chrome + VS2010 + SQLServer 2008 R2.

Though I use Linux in general. But the scope of gaming is totally off in this PC. So I'd like to open the scope of gaming too, to try out new games.

So considering all these, and future proof, I'm inclined towards SB.

This is the total story for which I'm looking to upgrade

 

[avichandana20000]

want to clear a concept.

The mentioned Gigabyte Board is saying regarding memory--Support for DDR3 1800(O.C.)/1333/1066 MHz memory modules.
This means upto 1333Mhz it will support normally and for 1800 it needs to be overclocked.

Then how will Gskill Ripjaw 4GB 1600 MHz be supported in this board?

 

[coderunknown]

^^ will clock down to 1333Mhz.

 

[$$Lionking$$]

krishnandu - 1st things first - install "msi afterburner" or any other application capable of monitoring "gpu usage".

2) You can see cpu consumption in the performance tab of the task manager.

So Id say that fire up an HD video that you have issues with and monitor the cpu & gpu usage both. If there is very high cpu usage & ~zero gpu usage then ur gpu is NOT decoding the video.

If yes then you should try reinstalling gpu drivers. and run the above monitoring sort-of-test again...

you should also try vlc 1.1.0 it brings hardware acceleration(I have not used it myself yet but that might help you with HD videos.)

On linux use nouveau drivers > theres not much 3d there in linux anyway unless youre an animation specialist or that sort of workload u have.... nvidia proprietary drivers might have issues on linux.

Other than this, PC gets hell lot slower with ~10 tabs on Chrome + VS2010 + SQLServer 2008 R2.

Chrome is sensitive to RAM & CPU Cores. - Its nicely threaded & uses lot of ram.
SQL Server 2008 R2 - All database applications are very CPU cores intensive.
Visual Studio - Its probably only dual threaded.

Anyways, you should probably go with a Phenom II X6 1055T(or a 1090T if u can stretch ur budget) with an AM3+ board like Cilus recommended as your workloads are core intensive...

and i5 2400 is future proof??? you know if by this time next year you feel that you should've had a faster processor you would have to buy a new mobo+cpu - You have no other option at all (phased out 3 sockets in 4 years - WAY TO GO GUYS!!)!!!

AMD is always more future proof - More cores for less!! That really works - apps are getting highly threaded by the day and probably going with a higher core count is the solution here.

Also you have the options to only upgrade the cpu(I can slap in an Athlon II X4 in a 6 year old AM2 board and the suck3r will still work with a BIOS update!! ) or overclock the CPU on the AMD platform open. So maybe a year later if you change your mind about overclocking or you want a budget upgrade you can do that on an AMD platform. - That my friend is future proofing!!

 

[krishnandu.sarkar]

Thanks, that's a really nice explanation

Now I'm again confused between AMD Quad/Hexa Core or Sandy Bridge.