CheapCPU & CostlyGPU VS CostlyCPU & CheapGPU

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emmarbee

Journeyman
Hi Guys,
My friend needs to buy a budget PC solely for the purpose of gaming.
He needs only the following
CPU + MOBO + RAM + HDD + VGA + CABINET + UPS
His budget for the above mentioned components is 20K.

I've got two configs. Which one will be better?

CONFIG I:
CPU 4950
MOBO 2350
RAM 1800
HDD 2100
VGA 5950 (Probably GTS 250 512 mb for 6200 INR OR 9800GT 1 GB for 6000INR or 9800GT 512mb for 5500INR)
UPS 1550
CAB 1300

CONFIG II:
CPU 2550
MOBO 2300
RAM 1800
HDD 2050
VGA 8500 (Probably 4870 512mb for 7700INR)
UPS 1500
CAB 1300

Which config gives me the BEST FRAMES PER SECOND for games?

BTW, my friend plays mostly First Person Shooters like Crysis, Call of Duty, MOH, etc. some Third Person shooter like Dead Space, Racing etc.

BTW, he is having 15" monitor. So he'll be playing in 1024x768 resolution for a particular time period. And after few months or a year later, he might switch to 1920x1080 monitor.
 
Cilus

Cilus

laborare est orare
The 1st choice looks good to me. I am suggesting one config based on the price range mentioned as it is not optimized.

Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz @ 4.7k
Biostar TA785G A3 @ 3.7k
Kingstone 2 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 @ 2.7k
Seagate 500 GB Sata (32 MB Cache) @ 2k
Sapphire HD5670 512MB GDDR5 Artic Cooling @ 5.3k if you want DirectX 11, else go for GTS 250. But for 15" monitor HD 5670 is more than enough.
Cabinet Zebronics Bizli @ 1.3k
 
coderunknown

coderunknown

Retired Forum Mod
piyush120290 said:
what are those numbers?
Click to expand...

price distribution.

Cilus said:
The 1st choice looks good to me. I am suggesting one config based on the price range mentioned as it is not optimized.

Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz @ 4.7k
Biostar TA785G A3 @ 3.7k
Kingstone 2 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 @ 2.7k
Seagate 500 GB Sata (32 MB Cache) @ 2k
Sapphire HD5670 512MB GDDR5 Artic Cooling @ 5.3k if you want DirectX 11, else go for GTS 250. But for 15" monitor HD 5670 is more than enough.
Cabinet Zebronics Bizli @ 1.3k
Click to expand...

everything seems balanced. also the 16Mb Seagate cost 2k. the 32Mb Seagate or WD counterpart should cost around 2.4-2.5k.

also what about the PSU?
 
ajai5777

ajai5777

Youngling
emmarbee said:
Hi Guys,
My friend needs to buy a budget PC solely for the purpose of gaming.
He needs only the following
CPU + MOBO + RAM + HDD + VGA + CABINET + UPS
His budget for the above mentioned components is 20K.

I've got two configs. Which one will be better?

CONFIG I:
CPU 4950
MOBO 2350
RAM 1800
HDD 2100
VGA 5950 (Probably GTS 250 512 mb for 6200 INR OR 9800GT 1 GB for 6000INR or 9800GT 512mb for 5500INR)
UPS 1550
CAB 1300

CONFIG II:
CPU 2550
MOBO 2300
RAM 1800
HDD 2050
VGA 8500 (Probably 4870 512mb for 7700INR)
UPS 1500
CAB 1300

Which config gives me the BEST FRAMES PER SECOND for games?

BTW, my friend plays mostly First Person Shooters like Crysis, Call of Duty, MOH, etc. some Third Person shooter like Dead Space, Racing etc.

BTW, he is having 15" monitor. So he'll be playing in 1024x768 resolution for a particular time period. And after few months or a year later, he might switch to 1920x1080 monitor.
Click to expand...

2nd config is nonsense.HD 4870 with a 2.5k proccy? Also you need to buy atleast corsair vx 550 for that card.

Your config is here

Athlon II X4 630 @ 4.7k
Biostar TA 785G3 HD @ 4.1k
Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333 @ 2.6k
Seagate 500GB HDD @ 2.1k
Sapphire HD 5670 512MB @ 5.3k
Zebronics bijli with out SMPS @ .9k
Gigabyte APFC 460W @ 2.2k

Total 22k
If you need UPS spend another 2k on APC or 1.6k on numeric.
Also you should add another 2GB later for massive gaming.
 
asingh

asingh

Aspiring Novelist
If you friend is going to move to full HD, he should minimal get a mid range CPU and mid range GPU. Else it will look quite crap. Shooters are the most demanding on games, because the camera angles change the quickest with reference to the player. Quicker frames are required for nice look and feel. Plus the CPU (mid range) can be OC'ed to get better performance. Give the GPU the most thought.
 
R

rajan1311

Padawan
get a balanced system my friend....get a decent Phenom 2 X2, 4GB DDR2 memory or DDR3 which ever mobo/mem combo turns out cheaper, a decent PSU like the seasonic 380W PSU, a decent graphics card like the 5670.


did you guys read about the ATI 5670 refresh ?

maybe if we get it in india, it would fit his needs...
 
pulsar_swift

pulsar_swift

Youngling
Guys, HD 5670 512MB is not available any where. XFX 512MB is available @ Rs 6K. I checked in all websites and made calls to dealers in PUNE and MUMBAI
 
OP
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emmarbee

Journeyman
Sorry for the late reply.
And Thanks for your replies guys!

@piyush120290 - those numbers are in INR

@Cilus - Sorry. Can't spend the extra money (1400 INR) on mobo. Of course, I do realize that the BIOSTAR Biostar TA790GXBE (not the one you told) is an awesome ATX mobo at 4200 INR. But still, there won't be any MAJOR performance increase because of this motherboard.And definitely no DDR3. IT IS NOT A HIGH PERFORMER(by a big margin) THAN DDR2. Also it is 200/300 INR costlier than DDR2. Of course, it might be future proof to buy DDR3, and my friend won't be having trouble picking up another 2gb of RAM in the future and in fact he'll be having a hard time finding a DDR2 at that time. But still.... (BTW, cheapest DDR3 mobo starts at 2900 I guess, another 600 INR higher)
If you say DDR3 is a much better(not by a small margin) performer than DDR2, please show me those links. Even I hope so.

@ajai5777 - Why? What's the problem with 2.5K CPU with 7K GPU? Can you/anyone please explain to me? Sorry for asking the explanation, but I really need to know what the problem would be?

What I thought was - a 2.5 K CPU might give a few FPS lower than 4.5K proc
but a 7K GPU might give much better results than 5.5K. Again, I might be totally wrong, please shed some light on this!

And ajai, thanks for reminding me that I have to buy a powerful SMPS for 4870. I almost forgot it. But i'll settle on with Zebronics 600W PLATINUM 2950.

@piyush120290 - I guess the 5670 can't compete with 9800GT, GTS250/4850 is far away! And 5670 is 6500 INR way too costly for its performance! And BTW, we are not talking about the features here . . .

See this link: *www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/01/14/ati-radeon-hd-5670-review/7

I guess I should settle on with CONFIG1. If only there was a benchmarking simulator. It'd be great. We can try out different configs and see their benchmarks ;)
 
ajai5777

ajai5777

Youngling
emmarbee said:
Sorry for the late reply.
And Thanks for your replies guys!

@piyush120290 - those numbers are in INR

@Cilus - Sorry. Can't spend the extra money (1400 INR) on mobo. Of course, I do realize that the BIOSTAR Biostar TA790GXBE (not the one you told) is an awesome ATX mobo at 4200 INR. But still, there won't be any MAJOR performance increase because of this motherboard.And definitely no DDR3. IT IS NOT A HIGH PERFORMER(by a big margin) THAN DDR2. Also it is 200/300 INR costlier than DDR2. Of course, it might be future proof to buy DDR3, and my friend won't be having trouble picking up another 2gb of RAM in the future and in fact he'll be having a hard time finding a DDR2 at that time. But still.... (BTW, cheapest DDR3 mobo starts at 2900 I guess, another 600 INR higher)
If you say DDR3 is a much better(not by a small margin) performer than DDR2, please show me those links. Even I hope so.

@ajai5777 - Why? What's the problem with 2.5K CPU with 7K GPU? Can you/anyone please explain to me? Sorry for asking the explanation, but I really need to know what the problem would be?

What I thought was - a 2.5 K CPU might give a few FPS lower than 4.5K proc
but a 7K GPU might give much better results than 5.5K. Again, I might be totally wrong, please shed some light on this!

And ajai, thanks for reminding me that I have to buy a powerful SMPS for 4870. I almost forgot it. But i'll settle on with Zebronics 600W PLATINUM 2950.

@piyush120290 - I guess the 5670 can't compete with 9800GT, GTS250/4850 is far away! And 5670 is 6500 INR way too costly for its performance! And BTW, we are not talking about the features here . . .

See this link: *www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/01/14/ati-radeon-hd-5670-review/7

I guess I should settle on with CONFIG1. If only there was a benchmarking simulator. It'd be great. We can try out different configs and see their benchmarks ;)
Click to expand...

For 2.5k you wont even get an Athlon II X2.WITH an HD 4870 the system will be bottlenecked.Also in future, games wont be run in that proccy.Also for that price you will get an obsolete motherboard with old chipsets, lower HT link PCIex16 1.0 and AM2+ socket.That will be a real waste of money.

You are just fascinating about high end GPU.What is the use of High end GPU in a low grade PC?
Zebronics platinum is a waste of money.Only their pro series can atleast match with other branded PSU's.You should atleast buy corsair vx 450 @ 3.6k

Also HD 5670 is never bad unless you go for full HD.Now I can play most games in max settings in 1600 X 900 with Athlon II X4 630.

eg. NFS SHIFT @ 1600 X 900 all maxed getting full 60 FPS.

You cant refer PC config buy price.Show your components then we will tell you how bad it is.

I still suggest this config

Athlon II X4 630 @ 4.7k
Biostar TA 785G3 HD @ 4.1k
Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333 @ 2.6k
Seagate 500GB HDD @ 2.1k
Sapphire HD 5670 512MB @ 5.3k
Zebronics bijli with out SMPS @ .9k
Gigabyte APFC 460W @ 2.2k

Total 22k

Its full value for money and very much future proof.
Proccy will be run much in future
Mobo having all the upgrades for future HT3,AM3 socket(It can even support phenom II X6),16GB DDR3 etc..
When your Graphics card is obsolete you can sell it and can go for just a graphic card not a whole PC.
But if you go for a high end gpu and low end CPU, your CPU will be obsolete and GPU will be mediocore.So you will have to change whole CPU

I had a 9500GT purchased at 3750/ I used it max and sold @2250.Then bought HD 5670 @ 5.4k
 
OP
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emmarbee

Journeyman
@rajan - Oh! I don't know what "5670 refresh" means, sorry.
@ajai - Thanks for your valuable suggestion mate. For the past one year, I had not been playing games on my PC (D930 + 9600GT + 22" 16:10). Yesterday, I played Shift and Modern Warfare 2. Both the games I couldn't play at full res and full settings. In fact, I had to reduce both, the resolution and settings to get the FPS at a playable level. I thought my D930 would be the culprit, but I guess not. Cause even my friend (E8400 + 9800GTX) had the same problem with both of these games. But of course, as he is having 9800GTX+ he was able to pump up the settings slightly better than mine. And also, if I overclock my card to 760/1100, I was able to get few more FPS.
But still, while playing the game, I noticed the amount of CPU used, it was 100%. SO I've decided to follow your orders.

No Cheap CPU + Costly GPU.
In fact, no costly GPU. I'm gonna ask him to wait and buy very costly GPU (I mean around 12K). I was really frustrated when my system lagged to play both of my favorite games. He shouldn't be getting the same level of frustration after spending so much money(for him, it too much of a money).

What's the entry level card to play Crysis at Max Settings at 1920x1080? If possible I'll ask him to wait until that card comes under his budget. Crysis is certainly a benchmark game, ain't it. If a card can play crysis, then it can play anything :)

Pour in your suggestions guys. Just tell me what's on your mind. I might argue, but if you are right, i'll definitely bow down :)
 
Piyush

Piyush

Lanaya
^^to play crisis at that resolution u need at least HD5770(9k) or gtx 260(10k) to play at fluid frame rates
 
OP
E

emmarbee

Journeyman
Thanks for the suggestion piyush. But I don't think, 5770 can handle crysis at 1920x1080 with enthusiasist settings and AA and AF turned max.
 
asingh

asingh

Aspiring Novelist
^^
True you will not get good performance at enthusiast setting for Crysis and/or Warhead.
 
coderunknown

coderunknown

Retired Forum Mod
2 X HD5770 or 1 single HD5870 or asigh's Crossfire setup. however minimum a X3 @ 2.9Ghz. or entry level X4 or Phenom II X2 550 needed. so take decision accordingly.
 
OP
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emmarbee

Journeyman
As of now my friend has settled down with the following
X4 630 + BIOSTAR TA790GXBE + 2 GB DDR2 800 + SG 500

I have asked him to wait and buy the video card later. Is there any possibility (in the near future) to buy a video card (including SMPS) for around 10K and play Crysis Or Warhead at full resolution? If so, how many more months will it take?

Sorry, if i'm bothering you guys with too many questions. The thing is, even several hours & days & weeks & months of browsing at anandtech, tomshardware, guru3d, overclockersclub, google can't clear all my doubts and help me come to a conclusion.
 
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