Request:Best CPU,Mobo,RAM combo for around Rs.10000-pc upgrade for basic usage.

[tinornit]

I have a PC already which is very old - Pentium 4 - 1GB RAM DDR1. ATA HDD.
I want to change/upgrade ONLY these components in the PC & give it to my cousin (so he could use it with decent performance):

1. CPU
2. Motherboard
3. Processor
and
4. probably SATA HDD

I request people to provide inputs on what would be best combination & value for money.

Purpose of the PC:
Basic usage like MS office, browsing, some study work involves using borland C++, ASP, java, web development etc. other usage involves: movies (mkv files), 720P files, surfing, some basic gaming. (mafia I, wolfenstein, racing etc).
The PC should not slow down and cause intermittent problems.

Budget:10000 Rupees - 13000 Rupees- Will be purchasing components in Bangalore, India; let this not limit you providing your inputs; I will check availability here, and purchase based on your inputs.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,
tinornit

 

[Cilus]

Well your budget is fair enough to get a good config, obvuously AMD based.

Here goes your suggestion:

1. CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz @ 4.4k
2. Motherboard: Gigabyte GA880 GM UD2H - 4.6k
3. Processor : I think processor and CPU are same thinng @ 0k
4. probably SATA HDD: Seagate/WD 500 GB SATA @ 1.8k

I think by CPU, you mean the Cabinet. Then Get a Zebronics Reaper Cabinet @ 1.7k.
Total is 12.5k, considering the Cabinet. I think it will fulfill all your needs. The Quad core Athlon II 630 is one of the best value processors and will run your coding and other development software very smoothly.
Playing HD movies (720p or 1080p) is not a problem for the processor mentioned, + the motherboard is having ATI HD 4250, a Direct X 10.1 capable GPU with 128 MB of dedicated DDR3 sideport memory. So you will get smooth GPU acceleration for playing movies. Even gaming is possible in lower or lower middle details.
The games you've mentioned are very old games and they will run without any problems at all.

 

[ico]

^ pretty much sums up everything well.

 

[Power_user_EX]

^ Agreed...

 

[amd4life]

AthlonII X4 quad so cheap..i love AMD....

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

cilus you forgot ram. moreover AFAIK gigabyte GA 800GM UD2H doesnt have sideport memory.

@op you also need to upgrade the ram to 2GB DDR3 1333MHz @ 2.3k.

 

[Cilus]

cilus you forgot ram. moreover AFAIK gigabyte GA 800GM UD2H doesnt have sideport memory.

@op you also need to upgrade the ram to 2GB DDR3 1333MHz @ 2.3k.

I did not forget about Ram Jas, OP didn't mention it. An Gigabyte GA880GM UD2H does have sideport DDR3 memory. Please check the link here.

 

[Cool Buddy]

OP didn't mention it coz he doesn't want to change that. But you should know that DDR RAM won't go into a DDR3 board and I suppose op is unaware of this fact. So it must be mentioned to him.

I think the following would be more in budget:

Biostar A780L3 - 2.7k
AMD Athlon II X2 250 - 2.8k
2GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 RAM - 2.3k
Ordinary cabinet with SMPS from iBall or Zebronincs - 1k
Seagate or WD Blue 500 GB HDD - 1.9k

Total - 10.7k

The mobo might be hard to find. other options are MSI 785GM-E51 or MSI 880GMA E41 or the one mentioned above which might cost around 1-1.5k more. Otherwise will have to go for Nvidia chipset based motherboards.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

err cilus now i am confused.
what can you infer from here -

Total available graphics memory - 894mb
Dedicated video memory - 256mb
System video memory - 0mb
System shared memory - 638mb

and my ram is shown as 1.75gb usable out of 2gb

@cool buddy
he has a budget of 13k

@op
which psu are you having?

 

[Cool Buddy]

Oh, I missed the 13k, the title says 10k. Then he can get Athlon II X4 630 and/or Gigabyte GA 880GM UD2H which will ad around 3.5k

 

[Cilus]

err cilus now i am confused.
what can you infer from here -

Total available graphics memory - 894mb
Dedicated video memory - 256mb
System video memory - 0mb
System shared memory - 638mb

and my ram is shown as 1.75gb usable out of 2gb

@cool buddy
he has a budget of 13k

@op
which psu are you having?

Most of the lower end cards from ATI use a technology called Hyper Memory. These cards have a dedicated memory and they can dynamically share a maximum amount of memory from your system. HD 42XX cards can share maximum of 512 MB of memory. You can set the maximum memory that can be shared in your BIOS and the default value for it is 256 MB (in my case also). So 256 MB of memory is actually allocated o your IGP. Now 1.75 GB + 256 MB = 2048 MB or 2 GB.
I think it will clear your confusion.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

not still completely clear. then if my igp is sharing 256mb from where is that 638mb coming.? moreover dont you think if that mobo had 128mb sideport, my dedicated video memory should have been 128mb?

 

[Cilus]

The 638 MB is the maximum amount of Video memory that can be dedicated to the IGP. It is 128 MB (sideport) + 512 MB (Max shared) = 640 MB.

And it will not show you 128 MB as dedicated memory as you have already allocated a specific amount of system memory to the card. Please check your BIOS that how much amount of memory has been allocated to the IGP.

Dedicated Video memory shows the amount of memory already allocated to your IGP. So instead of showing 128 MB. it will show the amount of memory that has been allocated to it it BIOS.


Total available graphics memory - 894mb means that the IGP can use upto 894 MB of system memory if required.

I think now you got the difference.
640 MB is the amount of memory that can be directly assigned to the IGP by the user by changing the BIOS. Now the IGP can dynamically use a max amount of 894 MB of memory from the system memory, but user does not have control over it. It will be taken cared by the system.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

ok thanks cilus, got that..

 

[dsmarty]

Mine is 3.5GB usable out of 4GB, it means Dedicated video memory is 512MB. How can I decrease it or it's by default.

 

[Cilus]

Mine is 3.5GB usable out of 4GB, it means Dedicated video memory is 512MB. How can I decrease it or it's by default.

If you are having a 32 Bit OS, then the problem is different as 32 Bit OS cannot access 4 GB ram as 2^32 ~3.83 GB.
Else go to ur BIOS and check how much amout is allocated to your IGP. Change it over there

 

[dsmarty]

If you are having a 32 Bit OS, then the problem is different as 32 Bit OS cannot access 4 GB ram as 2^32 ~3.83 GB.
Else go to ur BIOS and check how much amout is allocated to your IGP. Change it over there

thanks
I have installed Windows 7 64bit and windows XP SP3 32bit but most of time I use windows 7 64bit..
there are two option under Internal Graphic Mode disable and Uma and four option under UMA auto, 128, 256 and 512, Here is my previous bios setting.
Internal Graphic Mode: UMA
UMA buffer size: Auto
I changed UMA buffer size to 256
Now my usable RAM is 3.75GB out of 4GB..

Is there any performance differece after 256mb or if I select 128mb??
What will happen if I disable Internal Graphic Mode??

 

[Cilus]

thanks
I have installed Windows 7 64bit and windows XP SP3 32bit but most of time I use windows 7 64bit..
there are two option under Internal Graphic Mode disable and Uma and four option under UMA auto, 128, 256 and 512, Here is my previous bios setting.
Internal Graphic Mode: UMA
UMA buffer size: Auto
I changed UMA buffer size to 256
Now my usable RAM is 3.75GB out of 4GB..

Is there any performance differece after 256mb or if I select 128mb??
What will happen if I disable Internal Graphic Mode??

You can't disable Internal Graphics mode if you are not having any Graphics card installed. Then there will be no display from your system as the Graphics core will be disabled.
And 256 Mb is fair enough, don't change it to 128 MB. May create problem while playing 1080p movies or playing games.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

if you wont game set gfx memory to 128mb. its enough.
also AFAIK internal graphic mode is disabled only when you install a discreet gpu because internal gfx are what that system uses.

sorry cilus i didn't see your post!

 

[coderunknown]

sometimes you need to disable the IGP yourself (in my case) else the UMA is used.