Suggestions for a budget Gaming/Development PC

D

digitalD

Disciple
Hello friends,

My Dell XPS m1530 died last month after a serious rescue operation on the faulty nVidia GPU. It was just 3 years old and had served me well during its life time and served as my default PC at home. Initially, I was looking to resurrect it but the dell tech support quoted ~ 18K to replace the mobo and give a warranty of 1 yr on the laptop.

I felt this was a little too steep and adding a few more grands I would be able to get a good desktop system that can be used as the server, in case I get another laptop in the long run.

However, being out of touch with the desktop market for nearly 3 years has put me in a confused state. The technology has evolved so fast in this short period that I feel like a n00b in this world.

So, dear friends, please help me getting the best machine that I can afford to help me with my day to day computing needs.

1. Q: What is your budget?

- ~ 30K

2. Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)

- Creative SBS 2.1 speakers

3. Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)

- Creative SBS 2.1 speakers

4. Q: 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.

- Still confused between AMD/Intel, also about the impact on the market due to the next generations of the two with BullDozer and SandyBridge.. Which one would be the best value for money in terms of performance and energy.



5. Q: 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

- Yes, I'm planning to go for a incremental build, not sure about which components should go in first and which ones should be updated later.

6. Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)

- Mumbai

7. Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market

- NO

8. Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware

- Active: Gaming and software development, Watching HD Movies

Passive: downloading, 24x7 operation

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

- Nothing in specific



10. Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?

- Crysis, GRID, NFS etc.

11. Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage

- Not sure about it as havent been using a desktop for gaming for almost 2.5 years now.

12. Q: Are you looking to overclock?

- Yes

13. Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?

- Windows 7
 
Wait for somedays... Gigabyte has released some new P67 & Z68 budget boards... These boards would soon hit indian shores maybe within 2 to 3 weeks... But if you want to build an overclockable rig ASAP then i dont thing you would be able to build one coz current P67 boards are way too overpriced...
 
Thanks for the response @Hades, I can wait for a week or so or even a little more, if the final output is worth the wait. Was doing some research and found the price for GA-P67A-UD3R to be 11K as of now.. were you talking about the same? do you think its price would reduce in 2 weeks substantially?

Also, I think there is a buzz about the new budget GPUs coming up in the market for AMD, am I correct?
 
digitalD said:
Thanks for the response @Hades, I can wait for a week or so or even a little more, if the final output is worth the wait. Was doing some research and found the price for GA-P67A-UD3R to be 11K as of now.. were you talking about the same? do you think its price would reduce in 2 weeks substantially?

Also, I think there is a buzz about the new budget GPUs coming up in the market for AMD, am I correct?
Click to expand...
AMD is about to release its first APU(GPU + CPU) architecture based budget processors in June alongside the long awaited FX-series (based on BullDozer architecture)

The AMD Fusion
Inside the AMD Bulldozer Architecture | Hardware Secrets
AMD Details Bulldozer Processor Architecture | techPowerUp

Hades. said:
Wait for somedays... Gigabyte has released some new P67 & Z68 budget boards... These boards would soon hit indian shores maybe within 2 to 3 weeks... But if you want to build an overclockable rig ASAP then i dont thing you would be able to build one coz current P67 boards are way too overpriced...
Click to expand...
Z68 Express motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI - The Tech Report - Page 1 ~ Z68 is a compromise chip-set, excels ahead of the H67 in some cases, brings in some P67 advantages, but SATA performance is lesser than the P67.

Hope this helps guys.
 
digitalD said:
Thanks for the response @Hades, I can wait for a week or so or even a little more, if the final output is worth the wait. Was doing some research and found the price for GA-P67A-UD3R to be 11K as of now.. were you talking about the same? do you think its price would reduce in 2 weeks substantially?
Click to expand...

Yeah current P67 boards like P67A-UD3 & UD3R are way too overpriced... Gigabyte has recently released GA-P67A-D3 in the US and its is selling for 109$... you can expect it launch here for around 6k to 6.5k... its a great VFM feature rich board... for more info about the board checkout this link : GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-P67A-D3-B3 (rev. 1.0)

@Alpha17

Thanks for sharing that link... yeah Z68 Sata performance is nothing sort of spectacular... But the boards that i am suggesting OP are budget boards so one really can't expect a high end mobo performance from a low end board... :) And OP has a really tight budget... IMO OP should wait for the board that i have suggested above... :)
 
Alright, I'm open to waiting for a little while.. but can you please suggest something on the basis of whats available as of now.. we can at least discuss on the other aspects like GPU, PSU, Monitor etc..

As it is I'm not gonna buy anything before the month end.. we can swap out the components as they are available.. Thanks.
 
^^OP the first wave of Z68 based boards should hit India by about the end of this month.

AMD is still somewhat by July only.

The rig I would suggest will be --

AMD HD 6670 ~ 6000/- (recently a member bought this in Jaipur, so it should be available throughout India soon, I'll give his profile you can talk in detail about its performance to him http://www.techenclave.com/members/altair.html)
Corsair VX 450W ~ 3500/-
BenQ E2220 HD ~ 8500/-
NZXT Gamma ~ 2100/-
Mouse + key-board Microsoft / Logitech combo ~ 700/-

In your budget --
AMD Athlon IIx4 640 ~ 4200/-
Gigabyte GA-880G-UD2H ~ 4400/-

I would say save cash and then buy, you will get better AMD APU's coming out with Athlon II + HD 56xx series graphics performance after July. Getting a Sandy Bridge rig is out of question in the current time / budget situation.
 
Need advice on buying pc

budget 20k.

only need processor,motherboard,psu,ram,graphic card

considered products-

processor-amd phenom II x4 945

motherboard-Ga 880gma ud2h

psu-fsp saga II 400w

ram-G-skill F3-12800CL9S 2gb

graphic card-SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB gddr5.
 
Thanks for the suggestions @ALPHA17, but you missed out the HDD on the config.. :) I am planning to get a Seagate 500GB 7200.12 which is 1800 I think...

How is AMD HD 6670 in comparison with HD5770 1GB GDDR5 .. there is only a few hundred bucks of a difference in the price point.. ?

I was also thinking about getting the rest of the system ready without the GPU, and get that on later.. So what can be good options on the mobo with inbuilt GPU for the time being (say 2 months) with future upgrade options.. ?
 
Thanks for that clarification @DarkAngel..

Now, which one of the two combos do you guys think would be better.. ? Consider overclocking too..

intel Core i3 2100 + Gigabyte H67M-D2-B3 1.1 rev vs. AMD Phenom IIx4 955 + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD3H .. Once again the price range for these is almost the same..
 
For overclocking --

AMD Phenom IIx4 955 + GA-880GM-UD3H, the Intel Core i3 2100 + H-67 board really cripples your chances of over-clocking. The Black Edition does add up too.
 
Phenom II X4 955 B.E.

Black Edition for Overclocking, and you cant overclock the Core i3 2100 by more than 100-200 Mhz, AFAIK it has a locked multiplier, and overclocking sandy bridge on BLCK is not an option at all.
 
digitalD said:
intel Core i3 2100 + Gigabyte H67M-D2-B3 1.1 rev vs. AMD Phenom IIx4 955 + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD3H
Click to expand...

Okay.. so other than overclocking, which one is a better value for money in terms of gaming + development(multi-threaded applications) ?
 
LGA1155 has future buddy... Ivybridge processors would be backward compatible with LGA1155 motherboards ... AM3 platform is on the verge of getting EOL'ed... If you can spend some 3k more then do consider i5 2400 + MSI H67MA-E35 Combo

If you can't spend a single penny more then i would advice you to wait for bulldozer processors to launch... i3 2100 outperforms 955BE in gaming as well as in archiving + consumes way less power... 955BE only outperforms it in multithreaded apps like Cinebench 11.5R and in video encoding...
 
Okay So lets see, if I consider i5 here is what we are looking at :

- Intel Core i5 2500 + MSI H67MA-E35 ~ 15500/-

- Corsair 4GB DDRIII 1333MHz ~ 2100/-

- Saphhire HD5770 1GB GDDR5 ~ 6800/-

- Seagate 500GB 7200.12 ~ 1800/-

- Corsair VX 450W ~ 3500/-

- BenQ G2220 HD ~ 7200/-

- NZXT Gamma ~ 2100/-

- Mouse + key-board combo ~ 700/-

TOTAL = 40K

Almost 10 K more than what I started off with.. do you think this is a good config for my needs..?

I think I know a few limitations already.. Please help me get them clarified..

- No overclocking options for CPU ?

- No HDMI port on monitor, so full HD isnt possible.. ?

- Most Games would play alright on lower resolutions, but on HD config, it wouldnt be great.. ?

- How would it perform on multi threaded operations like video encoding?

Can you also help me with a few things that this config would be good at..

May be once we discuss the pros and cons of this one.. we can look for AMD alternates like BullDozer etc.. and see if would be worth the wait for me..
 
Intel Core i5 2400(9.3k) + MSI H67MA-E35 (4.7k) -> 14k + shipping from SMC International Delhi :) This way you can shave off ~1k from the cost!

P.S: Since you are from Mumbai local pricing should be similar!
 
Intel Core i5 2500 ~ 10150

MSI H67MA-E35 ~ 4700

G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600MHz CL9 1x4GB ~ 2600 or Corsair Value 1333MHz CL9 1x4GB ~ 2100

Total = 17450 / 16950

The CPU and Mobo price is from theitwares and the RAM quoted price is from Primeabgb...

Okay So lets see, if I consider i5 here is what we are looking at :

- Intel Core i5 2500 + MSI H67MA-E35 ~ 15500/-

- Corsair 4GB DDRIII 1333MHz ~ 2100/-

- Saphhire HD5770 1GB GDDR5 ~ 6800/-

- Seagate 500GB 7200.12 ~ 1800/-

- Corsair VX 450W ~ 3500/-

- BenQ G2220 HD ~ 7200/-

- NZXT Gamma ~ 2100/-

- Mouse + key-board combo ~ 700/-

TOTAL = 40K

Almost 10 K more than what I started off with.. do you think this is a good config for my needs..?

I think I know a few limitations already.. Please help me get them clarified..

- No overclocking options for CPU ?

- No HDMI port on monitor, so full HD isnt possible.. ?

- Most Games would play alright on lower resolutions, but on HD config, it wouldnt be great.. ?

- How would it perform on multi threaded operations like video encoding?

Can you also help me with a few things that this config would be good at..

May be once we discuss the pros and cons of this one.. we can look for AMD alternates like BullDozer etc.. and see if would be worth the wait for me..
Click to expand...

Here is what i would suggest you to do... buy CX400 instead of VX450 by doing this you would be able to save 1k and dont buy a grapic card now so total money left to spend would be 7.8k... save some more money (1.7/2.2k) for few days and buy Sapphire HD6850 ~ 9.5k / MSI HD 6850 PE ~ 10.2k

HD6850 would be able to handle most games @FullHD at medium settings
 
Thanks for a quick response @Hades and @DarkAngel .. So may be I can save 1K on the prices that I mentioned, however, I realized that I missed out on the DVD writer which would cover up for the 1K hence saved.. :)

But my point of discussion is majorly about .. if its worth spending the additional bucks for this config as opposed to a lower CPU+Mobo combination.. say ( i3 2100 / Phenom II X4 955 BE / PhenomII X4 840 / etc.. )

What am I gaining in terms of performance, and where am I still falling short..

digitalD said:
Almost 10 K more than what I started off with.. do you think this is a good config for my needs..?

I think I know a few limitations already.. Please help me get them clarified..
- No overclocking options for CPU ?
- No HDMI port on monitor, so full HD isnt possible.. ?
- Most Games would play alright on lower resolutions, but on HD config, it wouldnt be great.. ?
- How would it perform on multi threaded operations like video encoding?

Can you also help me with a few things that this config would be good at..

May be once we discuss the pros and cons of this one.. we can look for AMD alternates like BullDozer etc.. and see if would be worth the wait for me..
Click to expand...

I know there would be a trade off, so just want to see what can I do without and what is an absolute must..

Thanks for the help .. :)

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
Hades. said:
Intel Core i5 2500 ~ 10150

Here is what i would suggest you to do... buy CX400 instead of VX450 by doing this you would be able to save 1k and dont buy a grapic card now so total money left to spend would be 7.8k... save some more money (1.7/2.2k) for few days and buy Sapphire HD6850 ~ 9.5k / MSI HD 6850 PE ~ 10.2k

HD6850 would be able to handle most games @FullHD at medium settings
Click to expand...

Hmm, that makes sense... will look into that option too.. thanks :)
 
- No overclocking options for CPU ?
Click to expand...

Yes you wont be able to overclock but its fast enough to even pawn the overclocked AMD Phenom Processors in Gaming... i5 2500 outperforms 1090T in gaming, archiving, power consumption... in rendering and video encoding it performs like 1090T... And LGA1155 has future as i said earlier

o HDMI port on monitor, so full HD isnt possible.. ?
Click to expand...

Its possible... G2220HD has DVI-D ports which is like HDMI only but the difference is that HDMI cable can parse audio with video too whereas DVI-D can only parse Video... And HDMI doesn't make sense in your case coz the monitor that you are thinking to buy doesn't have speakers and HDMI port :p... So dont worry what HDMI can do DVI-D can also do that partially...

Most Games would play alright on lower resolutions, but on HD config, it wouldnt be great.. ?
Click to expand...

If you want to game @full HD you can buy HD6850 for 9.5k by saving/gathering some money... For temporary usage i5 2500 has on die IGP so would be enough for watching HD movies...

How would it perform on multi threaded operations like video encoding?
Click to expand...

In video encoding its just great it outperforms 1100T in video encoding... in First pass it just flies... Checkout this benchmark: AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Quad-Core Processor Review - x264 HD Video Encoding - Legit Reviews
 
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