Upgrading the system to gaming rig

[bobby23]

I am planning to upgrade certain components (highlighted in red) of my system, my system config is:

1. Intel core 2 duo E6700
2. Asus commando motherboard
3. 4GB (2*2) Transcend ram
4. 19" View sonic LCD monitor
5. Nvidia 8400GS graphics card (originally had 8800gts 640mb but went kaput)
6. 250 GB Seagate HDD
7. Zebronics 450 watts

My max budget is 35K and purpose is purely gaming.

Graphics card, I am confused between Nvidia 460GTX and ATI 5850 both are similarly priced, performance wise I don't know which is better and also which is best for gaming out of these two?

For monitor, I want 24" nothing less. Can't decide between Dell ST2410 and Benq G2420, both have similar spec except Dell has 5ms response time and Benq has 2ms grey to grey. I intend to use the monitor for PC as well as PS3, so please suggest the best.

PSU, I am looking for Corsair HX620 watts.

 

[Cilus]

I am planning to upgrade certain components (highlighted in red) of my system, my system config is:

1. Intel core 2 duo E6700
2. Asus commando motherboard
3. 4GB (2*2) Transcend ram
4. 19" View sonic LCD monitor
5. Nvidia 8400GS graphics card (originally had 8800gts 640mb but went kaput)
6. 250 GB Seagate HDD
7. Zebronics 450 watts

My max budget is 35K and purpose is purely gaming.

Graphics card, I am confused between Nvidia 460GTX and ATI 5850 both are similarly priced, performance wise I don't know which is better and also which is best for gaming out of these two?

For monitor, I want 24" nothing less. Can't decide between Dell ST2410 and Benq G2420, both have similar spec except Dell has 5ms response time and Benq has 2ms grey to grey. I intend to use the monitor for PC as well as PS3, so please suggest the best.

PSU, I am looking for Corsair HX620 watts.

35k is a good budget for your upgrade. My suggestion will be

VTX3D HD5850 1GB GDDR5 @ 15.2k
Corsair TX750W @ 6.45k
BenQ 24" G2420 FULL HD LCD Monitor @ 11.3k

total 32.95k + Vat

Now HD 5850 is better performer than GTX 460 and it is priced higher than GTX 460, a few thousand bucks extra. If you are planning to do some serious gaming in Full HD resolution then HD 5850 will be better choice.

Regarding the PSU, TX750W is more than enough. Don't spend extra money for HX series.

Regarding the Display, go for the BenQ one. In one of the Digit reviews they were chosen as the best buy 24" TFT.

 

[coderunknown]

1. Intel core 2 duo E6700

2.66Ghz will pose bottleneck for high end cards. if possible, try overclock it to 2.9-3Ghz.

2. Asus commando motherboard

965 board. i'll suggest, change it to P43 board. some old stock may sell it for low price.

4.19" View sonic LCD monitor

Cilus already suggested. won't suggest again.

5.Nvidia 8400GS graphics card (originally had 8800gts 640mb but went kaput)

HD5850 suites you best here.

7. Zebronics 450 watts

if going for single GPU, get Corsair VX450W. if multi GPU, Corsair TX650W or TX750W.

Alternately, get a Core2Duo E8*00 keeping the board same. this will offer good performance along with the new GPU.

 

[Jaskanwar Singh]

Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 5.5k
MSI 5850 Twin Frozr II @ 15k
Corsair VX550W @ 4.7k
BenQ 24" G2420 @ 11.3k

Total - 36.5k

 

[Cilus]

If you want a quad core then just changing Jas' suggestion a little:

Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz @ 6.3k
Zotac GTX 460 1 GB @ 12.5k
Corsair VX550W @ 4.7k
BenQ 24" G2420 @ 11.3k

Total 34.8k + Vat

 

[bobby23]

Thanks but I read somewhere that Nvidia cards have CUDA and Physx, which ATI cards do not have. Will this affect the games? I know what Physx is but CUDA I just know what it is but have no idea how it will be good for gaming. So should I consider these when purchasing graphics card?

Also any idea about when the prices will drop for the graphics cards?

 

[Cilus]

Thanks but I read somewhere that Nvidia cards have CUDA and Physx, which ATI cards do not have. Will this affect the games? I know what Physx is but CUDA I just know what it is but have no idea how it will be good for gaming. So should I consider these when purchasing graphics card?

Also any idea about when the prices will drop for the graphics cards?

Well, absence of Physx may disable some of the games PhysX but CUDA is nothing to do with game performance.

CUDA ( Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a parallel computing architecture developed by NVIDIA. CUDA is the computing engine in NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) that is accessible to software developers through variants of industry standard programming languages.

This is basically developed after the GP-GPU or general processing GPU concept where GPU will be programmed to do general purpose working like CPU. CUDA enabled software products can take the avantage of parallel processing of GPU and gain a significant performance boost. Now a days most of the CUDA enabled software are multimedia based products like Audio/Video Encoders, HD players, 3D rendering software etc.

But not to worry, ATI is also having their CUDA counterpart, the ATI Stream. It is also beneficial in the same way as CUDA. The thing is Nvidia's CUDA was released some times before ATI and hence number of software support CUDA is little higher than that of ATI Stream.

 

[coderunknown]

Thanks but I read somewhere that Nvidia cards have CUDA and Physx, which ATI cards do not have. Will this affect the games? I know what Physx is but CUDA I just know what it is but have no idea how it will be good for gaming. So should I consider these when purchasing graphics card?

Also any idea about when the prices will drop for the graphics cards?

to use Physx well you'll need 2 fast cards or run games at low resolution. Physx is not just any small feature. its extremely power hungry & will cripple any midrange Nvidia card. so not sure how much effect it'll make on GTX460 but i sure you'll loose frames if you turn Physx on.