Hi Think Digit heroes. Need guidance on HTPC- GAMING

[santhoshxtra]

Hi people!

This is my first post on thinkdigit.
Sorry that I am asking for assistance right in my first post.

I have a decent home theatre with Optoma HD66 projector, 100" DIY screen, Yamaha Rx473 receiver, Energy speakers, Velodyne sub and WDTV player.

It has been my long time wish that I have a good gaming setup which I can also use for enjoying HD movies (HTPC).

I want to experience gaming on big screen. I am quite inclined towards racing and FPS gaming.
I do not have enough hardware power as of now. To get a perspective, the last games I could afford to play on my laptop configurations (HD3000) are Max Payne 2 or Far

Cry 2 or NFS MW. Nothing more than that.

I did evaluate consoles but I am quite convinced that PC is the way to go. I now need to build a good PC which helps me to

- play the latest FPS/ racing games released this year.
- play bluray movies (rips and disc)

I am very impressed with HD7850 so I am going to keep the GPU choice frozen. For now, I will be happy with 720p max for both games and movies.
But I want to ensure that my PC is capable of 3D gaming and movies for the future (may be I will upgrade my projector or get a 3D convertor).


Now for the standard questions:

1. What is the purpose of the computer?
-The PC should be capable of playing the latest FPS/ racing game that was released for PS3.

2. What is your overall budget?
-My budget is Rs. 40k. + 10% is ok. -10% will be great.

3. Planning to overclock?
-No idea about overclocking. But if it can enhance the experience, why not?

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
-Windows 8

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
-1 TB hard disk is just fine.

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want.
-Monitor is not very important since I will use the projector. But for music and browsing, I need a small monitor. May be 18". Not included in my budget.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
-I will build the system over 2 months time. 50% now and rest after my next salary. I hope you get it.

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
-With google + thinkdigit + engineering degree in hand, I am confident of building the PC on my own.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
-I live in Navi Mumbai. I can make a trip to Lamington road. I wish to buy some items from Amazon also, since with free shipping avaialble now, I can save some money

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
-I certainly need a BD player on the PC which I will add later (not included in the budget). The rig will be used 40% MOVIES, 40% GAMING, 20% MUSIC.
Movies = 80% ripped & 20% disc. I hope the media player I have can be sold once this is built.
Obviously HD AUDIO must from both games and movies!!!


Hope to get some valuable suggestions from the gurus out here.

 

[santhoshxtra]

OK 2 days 115 views.

While I wait for response from the experts, I would like to add few more things.
-Overclocking- I will stay away from it since there seems to be an additional cost attached to it in form of fan (risk too).
-Can I manage to install OS/ drivers without having DVD drive? I mean I can use my laptop to copy the disc contents on USB drive and use it for installing the new PC?
-Can I use the projector right in the beginning of installation- since I have no plans for monitor right now.
-I am also very impressed with SSD, so I would like to have one, may be 60GB
Budget is revised to 45k +/ 5%
- Other than these and apart from keyboard/ mouse and fans, what other costs are likely to be incurred

Waiting for guidance

 

[Skud]

The budget us including the 7850 or excluding it?

 

[The Incinerator]

Intel Core i5 3450- Rs 11300
Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H - Rs 7400
Corsair Vengeance 4 GB (CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9) - Rs 1450
GPU - Gigabyte HD 7850 - Rs 13,700
HDD - Seagate 1TB - Rs 4400
SMPS - CORSAIR CX430V2 - Rs 2450
Cabinet - NZXT Gamma/Beta Evo/Source210 - Rs 2500

Rs 43,200

To bring down the price further you can alter a bit by getting i3 3220 + Gigabyte GA-B75 motherboard.

 

[Skud]

Better to stick with some HTPC cabinet, if used in the living room. Normal desktop cabbies will look ugly.

 

[santhoshxtra]

Thanks for the response

The budget us including the 7850 or excluding it?

Including the GPU

Intel Core i5 3450- Rs 11300
Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H - Rs 7400
Corsair Vengeance 4 GB (CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9) - Rs 1450
GPU - Gigabyte HD 7850 - Rs 13,700
HDD - Seagate 1TB - Rs 4400
SMPS - CORSAIR CX430V2 - Rs 2450
Cabinet - NZXT Gamma/Beta Evo/Source210 - Rs 2500

Rs 43,200

To bring down the price further you can alter a bit by getting i3 3220 + Gigabyte GA-B75 motherboard.

Thanks for your time.

I need fast bootup since I use PC as a source for Music.
So I think I will go for an SSD and stick to GA-B75M mother board.

Do you think 4 GB RAM is sufficient?

Better to stick with some HTPC cabinet, if used in the living room. Normal desktop cabbies will look ugly.

I have a dedicated room for home theatre. Look are not very important but it shouldn't look ugly either. I guess HTPC cabinets are quite expensive.


And also please suggest regarding my other queries.
Can I copy hardware drivers and OS installation from DVD onto USB drive and configure the PC?
Because I wish to avoid DVD drive no matter how cheap it is. I will go for BD drive after some time.

And can I setup the PC with projector display right after it is built?

 

[whitestar_999]

dvd drive is not required in your case.windows 7 & 8 fully supports usb boot(just download the iso/setup from official site & use microsoft's own usb boot prepare tool) & for everything else there is no need for dvd drive anyway(assuming you don't intend to use dvd's).looks wise NZXT Gamma is not recommended.you can check the pics using google/nzxt site for more info.also B75 board has s/pdif header & not an actual output port so you have to buy an adapter if you want s/pdif output from pc.see this for more info:
Onboard S/PDIF to Digital Coaxial or optical audio bracket

 

[santhoshxtra]

@ whitestar
Thanks for the reply. So I will not get DVD drive now.

Yes, I would surely look at better looking cabinets may be in the range of Rs. 3000 to Rs. 3500
One Q, the 3.0 USB port these cabinets have is on the front panel?

I would not need SPDIF for now. I will use HDMI for the AVR and USB for DAC (Music).
But just in case, is there any other MB in that range which is better than Gigabyte GA-B75M with SPDIF output.

My another concern is the need for two HDMI out. One for the projector and another one for the monitor (which I will buy later).
I think I will have to get a miniDP to HDMI converter when I get the second display.

EDIT:
I got the answer for the USB question.

***
Chipset:
Up to 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB headers)
***

So even though the MB supports 2 USB 3.0 ports for front, the cabinet restricts it to one.
This MB also supports only one SATA with 6 gb/s.. Remaining are 3 gb/s.
So if I am expanding my memory in (near) future, will the read/ write speed significantly drop on 2nd HDD?.

 

[The Incinerator]

Skip the GA-B75M ....sound quality is not that great instead get the Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ,much better sound and avoid the same board with a D3H moniker sound is not good again. The next good sounding board is the ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP.

Alternate and a better idea is to get the GA-B75M with a Asus Xonar DG which will add up to the same price as the H77 boards at the end of the day but with a much better sound.


Connectivity options of the video card - *www.gigabyte.in/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4155#sp

 

[santhoshxtra]

Skip the GA-B75M ....sound quality is not that great instead get the Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ,much better sound and avoid the same board with a D3H moniker sound is not good again. The next good sounding board is the ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP.

Alternate and a better idea is to get the GA-B75M with a Asus Xonar DG which will add up to the same price as the H77 boards at the end of the day but with a much better sound.


Connectivity options of the video card - GIGABYTE - Graphics Card - ATI - PCI Express Solution - Radeon HD 7000 series - GV-R785OC-2GD

Thanks bro. But I am not going to use the onboard DAC. I will use HDMI and only my AVR will do the sound processing job.
I just need bitstreaming- for movies and games both.
Same case with music. I have a DAC (Beresford Caiman) which will do the conversion of digital signal on USB and its better than Xonar XG according to me

My concern is this MB has only one SATA @ 6gb/s.
If I add another HDD in future, it will be connected on 3 gb/s port.
Will there be a big difference in reality??

If GA-B75M is bad in other aspects also, please suggest alternative in same price bracket, if possible with two 6gb/s SATA (if answer to above question is YES)

 

[The Incinerator]

This is one of the main reasons why I suggested the H77 board since connectivity is a lot better with the H77. You are building a new system hence should go for newer tech.An i5 does better with a H77.With 6Gbps supporting drives you will see an increase in the burst speeds and decrease in application loading times,more apparent with SSDs than mechanical drives but then that has lot to do with the way SSD work natively more than the connectivity.

Since you are using Beresford Caiman TC-7520 I believe its better to get a better digital output than what most mobos provide.Audio cards are not always for conversion or upsampling,its also for cleaner digital outs to help your DAC decode better for a jitter free D/A conversion.I would always ask you to get the digital audio out from either Coaxial or Toslink with capable cables. USB is a noisy compromise in my opinion.Thats my view you can totally differ from my view and correct me.

 

[santhoshxtra]

Let me see, the options are




Suggestions from other members also welcome!

 

[santhoshxtra]

Hi guys... the lowest price for HD7850 was on flipkart (Rs. 12720) but there's no stock. Can I still place order and wait?
Where else it is available for that price (or close to it)? I asked at Sunrise electronics in Navi Mumbai, they have quoted Rs. 14150 (Gigabyte AMD GV-R7850OC-2GD 2 GB).

 

[Skud]

Wait for some day, they may restock.

BTW, which model is that one?

 

[singh_dd93]

Hi guys... the lowest price for HD7850 was on flipkart (Rs. 12720) but there's no stock. Can I still place order and wait?
Where else it is available for that price (or close to it)? I asked at Sunrise electronics in Navi Mumbai, they have quoted Rs. 14150 (Gigabyte AMD GV-R7850OC-2GD 2 GB).

I got the last one from Flipkart.
It was immediately listed out of stock after my order on 15nov. I got my card on 22nd nov but the box had only card in it and no driver cd even. As it was working I did not return it

 

[d6bmg]

Hi guys... the lowest price for HD7850 was on flipkart (Rs. 12720) but there's no stock. Can I still place order and wait?
Where else it is available for that price (or close to it)? I asked at Sunrise electronics in Navi Mumbai, they have quoted Rs. 14150 (Gigabyte AMD GV-R7850OC-2GD 2 GB).

Search for sapphire 7850. Their price is comparatively lower than other basic 7850 models.

 

[santhoshxtra]

Search for sapphire 7850. Their price is comparatively lower than other basic 7850 models.

I dont think it is lower than Gigabyte. Its not seen for less than 16500 for the OCed version while Gigabyte OC is just Rs. 12720.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Myth]

Sapphire HD 7850 1GB OC : 13,913

SAPPHIRE HD7850 2GB : 14,144

 

[santhoshxtra]

Sapphire HD 7850 1GB OC : 13,913

SAPPHIRE HD7850 2GB : 14,144

Exactly.. Flipkart is 1GB version and MDcomputers is non-OC version.
I really don't know how much difference it is going to make (1GB vs 2GB and OC vs Stock) but I dont want to settle with less, if I can afford a few hundred bucks more

 

[Myth]

Just take this locally.
Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7850 HDMI OC Edition 2 GB GDDR5