Intel Core i3 rig in 24k?!

iChaitanya · Jan 8, 2011

:Hi:

A friend of mine wants to buy a new assembled PC here in Pune, India. His budget is 24k Ã‚Â±500 INR max. (including 500-600 VA UPS and 2.1 speakers). We did some research and have composed a Core i3 config. that is fitting well in this budget. I have mentioned prices of individual components below.

Q1: What is your budget?

A1: 24k Ã‚Â±500 INR max. (including 500-600VA UPS and 2.1 speakers).

Q2: What is your existing hardware configuration?

A2: None.

Q3: Which hardware will you be keeping?

A3: None.

Q4: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name)? If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.

A4:

Q5: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future? If yes, then please mention when and which component.

A5: This'll be his final config. but he's willing to add another 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM in the near future (if required).

Q6: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)

A6: Pune, India.

Q7: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market?

A7: No.

Q8: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware?

A8: Browsing, desktop processing, watching movies, photoshopping, accounting softwares, educational softwares, etc.

Q9: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.

A9: Do not want to buy Seagate HDD as 3-4 of my Seagate HDDs have failed within a year. Worst HDD brand ever.

I've also been using WD since couple of years and I've faced absolutely no problems with WD.

Q10: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?

A10: No gaming as of now. Dedicated GPU may be added later on for gaming.

Q11: What is your preferred monitor resolution for normal usage?

A11: Anything >= 1336*768 will do.

Q12: Are you looking to overclock?

A12: No!

Q13: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?

A13: Windows 7 x86 (32 bit) for now. Will install x64 (64 bit) if and when RAM is upgraded to 4GB.

Some doubts:

Monitor: One dealer suggested that we should buy LED monitor instead of LCD. Is LED monitor worth going for? Price difference between LCD and LED monitor is about ~400 INR but I have absolutely no idea about the difference in picture quality.

PSU/SMPS: Will the stock PSU/SMPS be able to handle this config.? Note that there's no dedicated GPU and we'll definitely upgrade PSU/SMPS while upgrading GPU in the future.

Speakers: Any decent quality (around 1.5k INR) 2.1 set will do. Please suggest any brand/model no.

UPS: Any decent quality UPS with 1-2 yrs warranty will do. Even 10 mins backup will be more then enough! Please suggest any brand/model no.

Finally, do you guys think we should go ahead with the above mentioned config.? My friend is adamant on buying Intel so we're not looking for AMD proccy. and mobo. The thing is... all this needs to fit in 24k Ã‚Â±500 INR max.!

Any advice/suggestions/comments would be most appreciated!

Hades. · Jan 8, 2011

Components Description Price (INR)

Processor AMD Athlon II x3 440/Athlon II x4 640 3300/4600

Motherboard Gigabyte 880GM-UD2H/880GMA-UD2H(Sata 3 + USB3) 4100/4800

RAM Corsair DDR3 2GB Value Ram 1250

HDD WD 500GB AAKS 1800

GPU Onboard HD4250 -

Monitor Benq G2220HD 7700

Cabinet CM Elite 310 1500

PSU/SMPS Gigabyte Superb 460w 1950

Key Board Logitech Combo 700

Mouse NA -

ODD L.G./Samung/ SOny OEM SATA DVD-Writer 950

Speakers Altec Lansing 2.1 BXR1121 900

Total 24150/26100

This rig is better than the rig that u r thinking to buy... LGA1156 socket proccies are soon going to get EOL'ed... So better off wid something better and more futureproof

+ x4 640 performs better than i3 530... i dont know much about UPS but i have heard that APC UPSs are good so buy an APC UPS if u r going wid the x3 rig...

the amd config i suggested wud last longer coz it has USB3 + Sata3... i suggested 22 incher(21.5) monitor coz u said that u will use this rig to watch a lot ov movies...

Arjun · Jan 8, 2011

i3 540 + gigabyte h55m-s2 costs 8k in delhi

i3 540 - 4.5k

gigabyte h55m-s2 - 3.5k

Hades. · Jan 8, 2011

Arjun said:
i3 540 + gigabyte h55m-s2 costs 8k in delhi

i3 540 - 4.5k

gigabyte h55m-s2 - 3.5k

H55M-S2 doesn't even have a DVI port... IMO really not worth the 3.5k...

Arjun · Jan 8, 2011

Then get Asus p7h55m-lx also costs 3.5k and has dvi

These are the only two h55 boards that i have seen in stock in nehru place since 1-2 months

Hades. · Jan 8, 2011

Arjun said:
Then get Asus p7h55m-lx also costs 3.5k and has dvi

Asus = BAD A.S.S

iChaitanya · Jan 8, 2011

Hades. said:
...This rig is better than the rig that u r thinking to buy... LGA1156 socket proccies are soon going to get EOL'ed... So better off wid something better and more futureproof

+ x4 640 performs better than i3 530... i dont know much about UPS but i have heard that APC UPSs are good so buy an APC UPS if u r going wid the x3 rig...

the amd config i suggested wud last longer coz it has USB3 + Sata3... i suggested 22 incher(21.5) monitor coz u said that u will use this rig to watch a lot ov movies...

Umm, I don't have a problem with AMD, but he has. Anyway which one of these will be better: AMD Athlon II x3 440 OR Intel Core i3-540 (3.06Ghz)? Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about AMD. Our main concern here is a fixed limited budget and I guess there's no way a 19"+ monitor will fit in...

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Arjun said:
i3 540 - 4.5k

Are you sure about that? :O

Hades. · Jan 8, 2011

iChaitanya said:
Umm, I don't have a problem with AMD, but he has. Anyway which one of these will be better: AMD Athlon II x3 440 OR Intel Core i3-540 (3.06Ghz)? Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about AMD. Our main concern here is a fixed limited budget and I guess there's no way a 19"+ monitor will fit in...

Both are good proccies but AMD Athlon II x3 440 has a bit edge over i3 530 coz it has 3 real cores where as i3 530 has two cores... + AMD Athlon II x4 640 is a great VFM processor... Tell ur frnd that AMD x4 640 performs better than i3 530... or show him this benchmark...

CPU Benchmark, Part 2: Mainstream Processors - X-bit labs

And the config that i've suggested has a 22inch monitor also...

Arjun · Jan 8, 2011

iChaitanya said:
Umm, I don't have a problem with AMD, but he has. Anyway which one of these will be better: AMD Athlon II x3 440 OR Intel Core i3-540 (3.06Ghz)? Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about AMD. Our main concern here is a fixed limited budget and I guess there's no way a 19"+ monitor will fit in...

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Are you sure about that? :O

It has been selling for 4.5k for more than a month now, listed for 4.4k + tax here http://www.costtocost.in/list/pricelist.pdf

Hades. said:
Both are good proccies but AMD Athlon II x3 440 has a bit edge over i3 530 coz it has 3 real cores where as i3 530 has two cores... + AMD Athlon II x4 640 is a great VFM processor... Tell ur frnd that AMD x4 640 performs better than i3 530... or show him this benchmark...
CPU Benchmark, Part 2: Mainstream Processors - X-bit labs

And the config that i've suggested has a 22inch monitor also...

Both i3 540 & x4 640 cost the same so 22inch monitor can be added to intel config also and benchmark posted by you show that their performance is also similar but i3 is more energy efficient.

neojjjk · Jan 9, 2011

check this comparison

Bench - CPU - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Hades. · Jan 9, 2011

Arjun said:
Both i3 540 & x4 640 cost the same so 22inch monitor can be added to intel config also and benchmark posted by you show that their performance is also similar but i3 is more energy efficient.

Buying an LGA1156 based processor now is really not worth IMO... Coz low end sandy bridge processors are soon going to launch... But if OP doesnt wanna wait for sandy bridge processors then Athlon II x4 640 + Gigabyte 880GMA UD2H(Sata3+USB3) is a great combo to go wid...

DarkAngel · Jan 9, 2011

Sandy Bridge would be too costly initially with the Core i-3 2100 costing ~6k and the H67 mobos costing ~7k. So no point in going for SB initially. He has to wait for the H-61 mobos to get a good deal. Both the sockets are dead. Even AM3 mobos wont be compatible with bulldozers etc.... And Llano would need a new mobo.

IMO OP will get a good deal by going for the AthlonII X3 440 and even Asus M4A78LT-M LE ~ 2.7k would be sufficient for his usage IMO.

iChaitanya · Jan 9, 2011

neojjjk said:
check this comparison

Bench - CPU - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Interesting results. Looks like the i3-540 performs better than Athlon II X4 645. I'm not jumping to conclusions here but that's what it looks like.

Hades. said:
Buying an LGA1156 based processor now is really not worth IMO... Coz low end sandy bridge processors are soon going to launch...

DarkAngel said:
Sandy Bridge would be too costly initially with the Core i-3 2100 costing ~6k and the H67 mobos costing ~7k. So no point in going for SB initially. He has to wait for the H-61 mobos to get a good deal. Both the sockets are dead. Even AM3 mobos wont be compatible with bulldozers etc.... And Llano would need a new mobo.

IMO OP will get a good deal by going for the AthlonII X3 440 and even Asus M4A78LT-M LE ~ 2.7k would be sufficient for his usage IMO.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I just checked out IntelÃ‚Â® Core - I don't think the new 2nd gen. i3-2100 will cost about the same as first gen. i3-540 so I guess there's no point in waiting for a month or two for Sandy Bridge. As you have said, it'll take time for SB proccy and H61 mobo prices to drop and I'm guessing H61 will be cheaper than H67. So, this i3-2100 is of no use atleast in my case. Either I stick with i3-540 or I go with AMD proccy and mobo. I'll definitely think about going for AMD Athlon II X3 Triple-Core + Asus mobo.

@everyone: Thanks a lot for your advice/suggestions/comments.

I still have the LED vs LCD doubt! Can anyone please help me out? Thanks!

Hades. · Jan 9, 2011

iChaitanya said:
Interesting results. Looks like the i3-540 performs better than Athlon II X4 645. I'm not jumping to conclusions here but that's what it looks like.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I just checked out IntelÃ‚Â® Core - I don't think the new 2nd gen. i3-2100 will cost about the same as first gen. i3-540 so I guess there's no point in waiting for a month or two for Sandy Bridge. As you have said, it'll take time for SB proccy and H61 mobo prices to drop and I'm guessing H61 will be cheaper than H67. So, this i3-2100 is of no use atleast in my case. Either I stick with i3-540 or I go with AMD proccy and mobo. I'll definitely think about going for AMD Athlon II X3 Triple-Core + Asus mobo.

@everyone: Thanks a lot for your advice/suggestions/comments.

I still have the LED vs LCD doubt! Can anyone please help me out? Thanks!

Go wid the the monitor that i've suggested...its a great monitor... color production quality is great... BTW if u want ur rig to last a bit longer than atleast buy 880GMA-UD2H which has Sata3 and USB3... And BTW even sandy bridge P67 chipset doesnt have any great new features rather than Sata3 and Usb3...

And BTW iChaitanya i3 540 does perform on par with x4 640 but in multithreaded applications it just gets pwned by the x4 640... So its on u... u want a processor with four real cores or a processor which has 2 real cores and 2 virtual cores...

comp@ddict · Jan 9, 2011

AMD Athlon II x3 440 OR Intel Core i3-540 (3.06Ghz)?

Athlon II X3 is cheaper, performs on par, and if successfully unlock(most cases) then you get 4 core, for a 4k processort. i3 530 is 5.2k btw, and its on LGA 1156.. Now LGA 1156 just died cuz a few days ago LGA 1155 released

ALPHA17 · Jan 9, 2011

iChaitanya said:
I still have the LED vs LCD doubt! Can anyone please help me out? Thanks!

The LCD LED factor is just a gimmick used by companies to get users to buy the more EFFICIENT more EXPENSIVE LED back-lit LCD monitors over the standard Cold Cathode back-lit LCD monitors

I have used both types of monitors and the results are pretty mixed Dell LED monitors have a odd bluish tinge to their colors, while BenQ LED monitors are more or less no deviation from their standard LCD monitors color gamut so apart from the fact that Cathode tubes contain trace amounts of Mercury and Lead they< LCD > perform as well as the LED monitors currently out

Liquid crystal display - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Backlight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, hope this helps.

iChaitanya · Jan 10, 2011

comp@ddict said:
Athlon II X3 is cheaper, performs on par, and if successfully unlock(most cases) then you get 4 core, for a 4k processort. i3 530 is 5.2k btw, and its on LGA 1156.. Now LGA 1156 just died cuz a few days ago LGA 1155 released

Ya, I think I'll go ahead with AMD.

Guys, please take a look at the final config.:

* AMD Athlon II X3 440 (3.0Ghz) is not listed anywhere on AMD's website. Only 445, 450 & 455 are listed. Has 440 been discontinued or anything? :huh:

* I've heard from my local friends that ASUS A.S.S. is good in our city so decided to go for the ASUS mobo. This mobo has onboard ATI Radeon HD 3000 GPU. I'm guessing this thing'll be able to play HD videos without any problems. There'll be no gaming but this thing should be able to play HD vids.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

ALPHA17 said:
The LCD LED factor is just a gimmick used by companies to get users to buy the more EFFICIENT more EXPENSIVE LED back-lit LCD monitors over the standard Cold Cathode back-lit LCD monitors

I have used both types of monitors and the results are pretty mixed Dell LED monitors have a odd bluish tinge to their colors, while BenQ LED monitors are more or less no deviation from their standard LCD monitors color gamut so apart from the fact that Cathode tubes contain trace amounts of Mercury and Lead they< LCD > perform as well as the LED monitors currently out

Liquid crystal display - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Backlight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, hope this helps.

Interesting. Thanks a lot for the info!

According to LED-backlit LCD television - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,

The use of LED backlighting has a dramatic impact, resulting in a thinner panel, less power consumption and heat dissipation, and a brighter display with better contrast levels. It does not affect the image quality.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Also, I don't see the point in buying a costly mobo just to get SATA3 and USB3. I'm pretty sure SATA3 and USB3 PCI cards can be added later on when SATA3 HDDs and USB3 stuff becomes cheaper. I guess a SATA3 500GB costs like ~3k INR right now whereas a SATA2 costs half of that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Hades. · Jan 10, 2011

As time goes by computer parts get cheaper... See almost 10 to 12 months back a 1tb hdd used to cost 4k to 4.5k... See whenever a new technology come up all the products based on that technology launches with a high price tag... Sata3 is new aswell as usb3 so thats y the prices of sata3 hdds and usb3 flash drives are high but after few months the prices of sata3 hdds and usb3 flash drives will comedown... I really dont wanna force u to buy something expensive but 880GMA-UD2H is really worth the 4.8k... Plus it performs like asus crosshair formula iv motherboad... If i were u i definately wud have bought this motherboard... Well i am just suggesting u this board bcoz i prefer buying something new rather than old... But if u wanna save some bucks by buying something old then go ahead...

iChaitanya · Jan 10, 2011

^ Agreed. Thanks for the advice!

The thing is that I'm still researching. I've completely lost touch with hardware stuff so it's taking some time...

I might go for the 880GMA-UD2H as I just noticed that ATI Radeon 3000 (AMD 760G) doesn't even support H.264 video playback acceleration. :|

AMD 880G looks promising and so does BenQ G2220HD!

Pernicious · Jan 10, 2011

Hades. said:
As time goes by computer parts get cheaper... See almost 10 to 12 months back a 1tb hdd used to cost 4k to 4.5k... See whenever a new technology come up all the products based on that technology launches with a high price tag... Sata3 is new aswell as usb3 so thats y the prices of sata3 hdds and usb3 flash drives are high but after few months the prices of sata3 hdds and usb3 flash drives will comedown... I really dont wanna force u to buy something expensive but 880GMA-UD2H is really worth the 4.8k... Plus it performs like asus crosshair formula iv motherboad... If i were u i definately wud have bought this motherboard... Well i am just suggesting u this board bcoz i prefer buying something new rather than old... But if u wanna save some bucks by buying something old then go ahead...

+1 to that suggestion, but that board isn't available anywhere! at least the last time I checked. Gigabyte has stopped distributing it I heard, and I think it was a wise step because that was a fantastic board @ that price point. I had to take M4A88TD-M EVO USB3, which is the same board, with some nifty overclocking features, but 1 grand more expensive. If he is able to find 880GMA, very lucky guy.

Intel Core i3 rig in 24k?!

Cooler "Master"