PC Buying Guide - July 2011

[thetechfreak]

1) Why Core i3 processors were not
recommended.

Primarily i3 is priced and designed for budget Pc's.
The Amd counterparts at the same price level are not only better vfm but better performers as well.
Pc manufacturers have it because word 'Intel' seems reassuring to a buyer.
In realworld Amd is lot better in low to mid end category.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

This thread has proved to be a boon to me
I was just in the process of upgrading (essentially replacing the CPU) my computer.

I had just two doubts:
1) Why Core i3 processors were not recommended.
I don't know much, just asking because many PC manufacturer specs have i3.

2) On AMD, they have specified that Socket AM3+ will be used in processors later this year, thus I have heard that Gigabyte had released a mother-board with that socket (backward compatible with AM3) so that users can buy it now and would have option to upgrade only processor in future (like 2-3 yrs).

Just asking if I can throw that into the mix.

My budget for CPU dibba is 15K. [No monitor keyboard mouse etc.]
[Currently on AMD for 3 yrs, love the product's Performance : Price ratio ]

1) the processors we mentioned are best vfm performers for every budget
2) yes gigabyte, asus have released several am3+ boards. gigabyte ones are identified with revision 3.1.

start a new thread with pc build questionnaire template filled.

GUYS I PUT UP PHYSX CONFIGS. CHECK THEM OUT TOO.

 

[lordirecto]

@Jas: About your PhysX configurations. I learnt recently that using a previous gfx card dedicated to PhysX will only bottleneck the performance of the graphic card.
A 2xx series gfx card that has physx will definitely bottleneck the current generation gpu. I am telling this after I saw a video on youtube, where a 580 and a 250 cards were compared to see its performance as dedicated physx cards.
I will post the video link once I find it.

AHA!! Found the link I was searching for......
Watch it carefully before you people start telling that I am wrong, ok?
Click Here

 

[outspoken]

Primarily i3 is priced and designed for budget Pc's.
The Amd counterparts at the same price level are not only better vfm but better performers as well.
Pc manufacturers have it because word 'Intel' seems reassuring to a buyer.
In realworld Amd is lot better in low to mid end category.

1) the processors we mentioned are best vfm performers for every budget
2) yes gigabyte, asus have released several am3+ boards. gigabyte ones are identified with revision 3.1.

start a new thread with pc build questionnaire template filled.

GUYS I PUT UP PHYSX CONFIGS. CHECK THEM OUT TOO.

Hi thetechfreak and Jaskanwar Singh,
Thank you for the replies.

@Singh, I had already started a thread at Midnight soon after this post.

One small question (hope it is not considered off-topic):
In the i5 Lineup, they have TurboBoost and certain processors have AES instruction.
AES is useful for people who what to encrypt their entire HDD, since it reduces the performance hit that is caused by that.
Does AMD have an equivalent for these 'features'?

 

[vickybat]

^^ NO, current amd phenom 2 cpu's don't support the AES instruction set. Bulldozer will support AES.

@ lordirecto

Nice info lordy. Will do some research on it.

@ Jaskanwar

Buddy can we build some low-end configs on sandybridge by pairing i3 and i5 cpu's with the recently released h61 chipset? According to topgear, it retails for around 3.5k.

So at 10k, we can get an excellent pair of i5 2400 + h61. How about it?

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

@Jas: About your PhysX configurations. I learnt recently that using a previous gfx card dedicated to PhysX will only bottleneck the performance of the graphic card.
A 2xx series gfx card that has physx will definitely bottleneck the current generation gpu. I am telling this after I saw a video on youtube, where a 580 and a 250 cards were compared to see its performance as dedicated physx cards.
I will post the video link once I find it.

AHA!! Found the link I was searching for......
Watch it carefully before you people start telling that I am wrong, ok?
Click Here

ok i will see it now.

^^ NO, current amd phenom 2 cpu's don't support the AES instruction set. Bulldozer will support AES.

@ lordirecto

Nice info lordy. Will do some research on it.

@ Jaskanwar

Buddy can we build some low-end configs on sandybridge by pairing i3 and i5 cpu's with the recently released h61 chipset? According to topgear, it retails for around 3.5k.

So at 10k, we can get an excellent pair of i5 2400 + h61. How about it?

sure. but names of those boards and all?

 

[topgear]

Intel DH61WW + core i3 2100

 

[vickybat]

^^ The core i3 retails around 7k afaik. So an i5 2400 would be a better option isn't it?

The h61 chipset now brings the cost down to 3k or so.

@ jaskanwar

Topgear has given the name in his above post.

 

[topgear]

i5 2400 is better but it's price is around ~9.5K - so that will not make a SB combo under 10k

 

[vickybat]

^^ Paired with the h61 board, the combo price will be 11k or thereabouts. That will do imo. What say mate?

 

[pratik03]

Primarily i3 is priced and designed for budget Pc's.
The Amd counterparts at the same price level are not only better vfm but better performers as well.
Pc manufacturers have it because word 'Intel' seems reassuring to a buyer.
In realworld Amd is lot better in low to mid end category.

Yes very true, completely agree.

 

[vickybat]

Intel core i7 2600k @ 15.9k.

Source

 

[vickybat]

^^ Thanks for being specific gaurav. Post edited.

 

[outspoken]

The recommendations mention:
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H/Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H/Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H 4500

What is the revision of these boards (rev 1.x 2.x 3.x ) for this price?

I went to SP Road today (Bangalore), shopkeepers used to scoff at me when I asked them the specifics of the revision.

I was searching for AM3+ boards (rev 3.1) they kept calling their actual suppliers, and did not even know what AM3+ was (kept telling me AM3 is only thing, no such thing as '+')

AND, They ALL quoted 5.6K for the Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H (incl tax.)
4.5K looks very far away....

 

[Gaurav Bhattacharjee]

AND, They ALL quoted 5.6K for the Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H (incl tax.)
4.5K looks very far away....

5.6k is correct for GA-880GA-UD3H.
4.5k is for GA-880GM-UD2H. GA-880GMA-UD2H is extinct.

 

[thetechfreak]

GA-880GMA-UD2H is extinct

Been shouting the same thing over and over in so many threads but still people are reccomending.


guys please come to term with the fact that this mobo is indeed extinct. Not found anywhere.
It is indeed very sad.

Read the sticky notes before posting please.

 

[Gaurav Bhattacharjee]

Been shouting the same thing over and over in so many threads but still people are reccomending.


guys please come to term with the fact that this mobo is indeed extinct. Not found anywhere.
It is indeed very sad.

Read the sticky notes before posting please.

I guess I'll have to ask Jas to remove the 880GMA boards from this thread.
Also he needs to change the posted price of 880GA-UD3H. Its 5.4k not 4.5k
Its not outspoken's fault. He just posted what he saw I guess.

 

[thetechfreak]

OK 2 reccomendatiöns to Jas for replacement board-


1) Gigabyte Ga-Ma785GMT-US2H @3.4 K

2) MSI 880MGA-E45@5.4k

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

the mobos and new configs will be added and updated in next guide update session

 

[topgear]

^^ Paired with the h61 board, the combo price will be 11k or thereabouts. That will do imo. What say mate?

I don't get it - whhich combo you are referring as 11K.

Core i3 2100 + Intel DH61WW = ~9.5k
Core i5 2400 + Intel DH61WW = ~13K

Can you tell me which combo is 11K or there's some price reduction on core i5 2400