Help in buying a cheap CPU+Mobo

[akash1988]

My grandfather is going to upgrade his old PC which has a 1.7Ghz Pentium 4 with 512MB RAM and Intel 845G chipset. He just uses it for normal internet usage like email and ticket booking. He is happy with it. He has even bought a 22" LCD monitor.

When I checked, his chipset is not able to provide 1680x1050 resolution output to the monitor, even HD 720p videos are lagging, browsing internet is also slow.
So I recommended him to upgrade, but he is not willing to spend much as he is wanting to buy a Netbook. Maximum 6.5K is his budget.

So I need to get a CPU+Mobo+2GB DDR3 RAM within 6.5K
The RAM would cost around 1K. So that leaves 5.5K for the CPU and Mobo

So please suggest what CPU+Mobo can I get within 5.5K, it should provide 1680x1050 resolution support, and should play 720p and 1080p MKV files decently. No gaming or video encoding or any other high end stuffs will be done on this PC.
Suggest Intel or AMD builds, whichever you think is best.
I am going to buy it from Ritchie Street in chennai, so if anyone knows the prices from there, do tell.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

 

[Cilus]

AMD Athlon II X2 - 250 @ 2.7K
Asus M4A78LT-M LE @ 2.7K

Total: 5.4K. This config can play 720P videos but there may be some problems with the highly compressed H264 based 1080P configs. But for normally it can play both 720P and 1080P videos without any issue.

And one suggestion, for playing 1080P video use Splayer. It does not require any codecs and has GPU acceleration support and able to distribute the workload properly among CPU and GPU. This player can play 1080P content smoothly.

 

[akash1988]

Thankx for suggesting the AMD build. Also SPlayer sounds cool.

Any Intel build suggestions??

 

[Cilus]

Not possible buddy. Their cheapest dual core based on Nehalem (the 1st gen Core series) will cost you more than 3K and the motherboard will be also more than 3K. But Athlon II X2 performs slightly better than the Intel Dual cores.

 

[akash1988]

Not possible buddy. Their cheapest dual core based on Nehalem (the 1st gen Core series) will cost you more than 3K and the motherboard will be also more than 3K. But Athlon II X2 performs slightly better than the Intel Dual cores.

How about Intel Pentium E5700 3Ghz with Intel G41 Chipset motherboard with X4500 IGP.
How does it compare with the AMD build you suggested?

 

[Cilus]

^^ those are obsolete processors based on older Core2Duo (Wolfdale) architecture. Intel has officially stopped manufacturing those products.
Intel GMAX4500 is a crappy IGP and can't process even 720P video properly.

The mobo I have suggested is having ATI HD 3200 based DirectX 10.1 graphics solution and far far better than Intel X4500 IGP. It can play almost all kind of Full HD contents (except the ones I have previously mentioned) easily.

And Athlon II 250 is also far better than the E5700 (E5700 is not a Core2Duo, it is cheaper dual core version) and can be compared with Core 2 Duo 7300/7500 processors, selling at 5K price point even today.

 

[akash1988]

^^ those are obsolete processors based on older Core2Duo (Wolfdale) architecture. Intel has officially stopped manufacturing those products.
Intel GMAX4500 is a crappy IGP and can't process even 720P video properly.

The mobo I have suggested is having ATI HD 3200 based DirectX 10.1 graphics solution and far far better than Intel X4500 IGP. It can play almost all kind of Full HD contents (except the ones I have previously mentioned) easily.

And Athlon II 250 is also far better than the E7500 (E7500 is not a Core2Duo, it is cheaper dual core version) and can be compared with Core 2 Duo 7300/7500 processors, selling at 5K price point even today.

Hmm I was talking about Pentium E5700 and not Core2Duo E7500 Wolfdale.
But I agree with IGP. Intel IGP always suck and have very less compatibility.

I will go with your AMD build. Thankx

 

[saswat23]

Yes, it the best rig you can get for under your budget.

 

[Cilus]

akash1988, I was also telling you about Dual core 5700, not the Core2Duo 7500. That was a printing mistake. Edited my previous post. Athlon II 250 is equivalent to more powerful C2D 7300/7500 in a far cheaper price..almost half

 

[akash1988]

akash1988, I was also telling you about Dual core 5700, not the Core2Duo 7500. That was a printing mistake. Edited my previous post. Athlon II 250 is equivalent to more powerful C2D 7300/7500 in a far cheaper price..almost half

Thank u bro for great suggestion!