PC Peripherals Greatest 50K Rig

[cybertragic]

Hi guys

I shall be purchasing a new comp in about 20 days time at Jamshedpur where I'll be beginning my MBA. My budget is approximately 50 grands and my primary usage would be music and movies with a bit of Microsoft Office, web surfing, research and multiplayer AOE on the University LAN. Ofcourse I'd like to keep it future-proof for the next 2 years I'll be there as I might delve into some heavy-duty games later on like Sims 2. I'll probably keep my computer switched on most of the time and my room will not have airconditioning.

Now after a lot of research I've come up with the following rig and it'd be great if you people could advice me on this. The prices are just approximately what I've read in the various forums etc. so please correct me if you find any discrepancies. Also feel free to advcie on & substitute any parts. I want this to be the most ultimate 50K rig possible in India currently.

Cabinet & SMPS - Antec SLK 1650B with 350W - 3000/-
Processor - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (Socket 939) - 7500/-
Motherboard - Asus A8N E - 8000/- (Does this have good Onboard Sound or will I have to go for a separate soundcard)
Monitor - 17" Flat CRT - Samsung 793 MB or Viewsonic E72DF or any other - 7000/- (Which one should I go for, and which 1 gives the best performance with regard to movies)
DVD RW - Liteon Dual Layer - 4500/-
Graphics Card - Absolutely no idea - Please advice me on a good PCIE one for under Rs. 5000/-. 6600GT is a tad too expensive at 10K.)
Speakers - Altec Lansing MX5021 - 9500/- - (I know these are too expensive but suits my primary purpose. The reviews seem to make this the God of 2.1s. I may not have much room for 4.1 or 5.1 and I hear they're crap in SUb10k category)
RAM - 2*256 Transcend 400 MHz - 3500/-
Hard Disk - 160 GB SATA Seagate - 4000/- (I already have Seagate Barracuda 120gb 7200 rpm PATA. Should I couple this with a SATA or PATA. Raid(0) is not an option coz I need a 2nd one higher than 120 gb preferably about 200 gigs as I already have about 500gb of movies & music on my friends' computers courtesy mIRC)
Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech or Microsoft Wired for about 1000/- (Please advice)
UPS - Please advice on this one - Shud be abt 2000/- (Non-APC as APC is way too expensive)
LAN - The institute recommends 10/100 MBPS LAN Card (Will the onboard LAN suffice?)
Headphones - Already have a pair of Sennheiser HD457 which I bought for about 1250/- at Dubai (An absolute bargain for the quality it offers)

Total comes up to about 55,000 which is a li'l overbudget but should do.

Please do advice me on this config ASAP and feel free to alter it in anyway possible.

 

[Switch]

Drop the Mobo and pick up a MSI mobo with radeon xpress 200 chipset... The mobo comes with a Onboard graphics cared and will be equal to anything you will get for under 5000. The mobo is around Rs 5800 and has PCIe ports for future upgradability. the only drawback with the board is that it doesnt overclosk well... Hope this helped...

 

[cybertragic]

Guess you're talking about the much debated MSI RS480 M2. Well initially I had decided on this one as it sounded too good to be true but then I've heard its a low quality motherboard and does not perform well in a lot of respects. An NF4 chipset is supposed to be much better acording to general opinion (Can anyone enlighten me on the reason as to this please) Now since the motherboard is the heart of the comp and the only thing I'll never upgrade till I dispose this system off I think it would be advisable to go in for a better MoBo. Thanks a lot for the advice though and if anyone who has been using this board for a longtime review the longterm life I could think about going for it which would really solve a lot of things for me.

Sounds almost like the allrounder India much need but always land up with someone who can do a bit of everything but lacks expertise in anything. ;-)

 

[Aces170]

The MSI board is pretty decent at stock speeds. The ATI Xpress 200 chipset is also not bad, infact chipset performance is not a big issue in A64 as the memory controller is on chip. Definitely the Asus A8ne is much better, but its expensive + you need to invest in a n external gfx card.

One drawback of the MSI board is it does not have any PCIE 1x slot. You might as well buy a Sound blaster Audigy 2 for those high-end speakers.

 

[TechHead]

Get the ATI motherboard. Good deal.. good price. Don't get a Lite-On, get a Benq 1620 or LG4163 for the same price.
Onboard LAN is fine, and I'd recommend the Samsung 793. Nice monitor.

BTW.. which college? XLRI?

 

[Quad Master]

Lets take it one by one

Cabinet & SMPS - Antec SLK 1650B with 350W - 3000/-
Its 3450 according to chip , Well did you confirm it your self
Are you sure you want to go for a Antec cabby only
else you can get another cabby with Powersafe 400W Gold Plated for Rs2000 or 1500 not sure

Processor - AMD Athlon64 3000+ (Socket 939) - 7500/-
Nice Choice there make sure its Winchester

Motherboard - Asus A8N E - 8000/- (Does this have good Onboard Sound or will I have to go for a separate soundcard)
A8N-E Rs8500 as i heard it might have become less , excellent choice and it had onboard audio noe Sound card to be purchased

Monitor - 17" Flat CRT - Samsung 793 MB or Viewsonic E72DF or any other - 7000/- (Which one should I go for, and which 1 gives the best performance with regard to movies)
Well Samsung 793MB is what i have seen it looks pretty good , Rs 7800 what i have heard but if u r getting for 7000 its nice.
Never seen Viewsonic so cant comment.

DVD RW - Liteon Dual Layer - 4500/-
Go for
Pioneer DVR109
Max. 16x writing speed for DVD-R/+R
Max. 6x writing speed for DVD-R Dual Layer and +R Double Layer Discs
Max. 6x writing speed for DVD-RW
Max. 8x writing speed for +RW
or
Benq DW1640
Max. 16x writing speed for DVD-R/+R
Max. 8x writing speed for DVD+R Double Layer Discs
Max. 6x writing speed for DVD-RW
Max. 8x writing speed for +RW
Benq has got other advantages also over pioneer , its the only writer to support DVD+R DL at 8X
Both are best , infact i prefer Benq over Pioneer , make sure that Benq model is available.

Graphics Card - Absolutely no idea - Please advice me on a good PCIE one for under Rs. 5000/-. 6600GT is a tad too expensive at 10K.)
Since the A8N-E has a PCI-E x16 slot you will have to purchase PCI-E based GPU.
You want to play descent games
Nvida 6200 128MB with Turbo Cache [32MB Ram on GPU , Reast Shared from RAM] Rs4000
Nvida 6200 128MB with Turbo Cache [128MB Ram on GPU , Reast Shared from RAM] Rs ?
Nvida 6200 128MB & 256MB without TC are also available but not sure they are only AGP or they are also
available as PCI-E x16 GPU's
Just cheack the GPU suggestion with other members.

Speakers - Altec Lansing MX5021 - 9500/- - (I know these are too expensive but suits my primary purpose. The reviews seem to make this the God of 2.1s. I may not have much room for 4.1 or 5.1 and I hear they're crap in SUb10k category)
I am not good at knowing Altec Lansing Speakers so sorry cant comment.
But i feel that if you can increase your budget on the GPU so that you can get a 6600GT the gaming perf. will be much better.
RAM - 2*256 Transcend 400 MHz - 3500/-
Go for orignal Hynix D43 based PC3200 DDR400 Hynix Rams they are better than Transcend.
Make sure you get orignal Rams as there are many fake Hynix and Transcends floating in the market.

Hard Disk - 160 GB SATA Seagate - 4000/- (I already have Seagate Barracuda 120gb 7200 rpm PATA. Should I couple this with a SATA or PATA. Raid(0) is not an option coz I need a 2nd one higher than 120 gb preferably about 200 gigs as I already have about 500gb of movies & music on my friends' computers courtesy mIRC)
Well go for Segate SATA as the A8N-E allows you to connect only 2 PATA Devices i.e. ur DVDWrite and ur old Segate HDD.
Go for Segate SATA HDD as it will perform much much better than PATA.
Also Segate has 5Yrs Warranty.

Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech or Microsoft Wired for about 1000/- (Please advice)
Go for Simple Logitech Multimedia Kbd cost Rs550 i suppose.
and a Logitech Optical mouse which will not be more than 450Rs i suppose.

UPS - Please advice on this one - Shud be abt 2000/- (Non-APC as APC is way too expensive)
Dont know about UPS

LAN - The institute recommends 10/100 MBPS LAN Card (Will the onboard LAN suffice?)
Ya it has a 10/100 Lan Cand onboard if i am not mistake that shud be more than enuf.

Headphones - Already have a pair of Sennheiser HD457 which I bought for about 1250/- at Dubai (An absolute bargain for the quality it offers)
Thats gr8.


Well i still suggest you to go for a descent Altec Lansing Speakers and
increase ur budget for a nice GPU like 6600GT.
You already have one rocking headphones.
You can get gr8 Altec L. Speakers upto 3-3.5K why u want to spend 10K.
Go for a nice GPU , you will enjoy it.
The best 6600GT is Gainwards.
Suggesting is upto me following is upto you

Well hope all ur queries are answered

 

[Grease Monk]

i would agree with quad master. 10k on 2.1s is a waste when your overall budget is 50k AND you already have great headphones.

@Quad Master:
How do you differentiate the real transcends from the fakes?

 

[Rockyme2002]

Get packed ram peices ....thts how

 

[Quad Master]

@cybertragic - major update , IF you stayin Mumbai the Venice Core AMD has arrived.

AMD 3000+ S939 Venice instead of Winchester is now what i recommend.
Its available at Mnemonic systems , Mumbai.
Thanks to Funky for this news.
Read here:- http://www.techenclave.com/forums/showthread.php?p=31981#post31981

And i dont know how to exactly identify Fake Chips may be the Packaged ones
are orignal but cant say.

 

[Shripad]

There are no packed Hynix D43. They are all loose.
You have to watch the chips. If you have seen original D43 in past you will easily makeout fake chips by your eyes.

About the config.
Why do you need such config if all you want to do are the things you say you want to.
Are you looking for future upgradability or in future plan to use this as gaming machine?
If no then half of the parts dosent make sense. You can easily go for S754 setup and save huge chunk of money or as said get MSI RS480.
If you plan to use this machine for say 2 years max for the purpose you have stated then just get S754. It will last for 2 years for your purpose. And yeah, if your primary aim is music and DVD then forget about onboard sound. It sucks, the best of the best onboard sound sucks. Specially it will be useless to couple it with such top notch speakers.
Get atleast SB Live 24bit. Ideally Audigy2 zs.

 

[SunnyBoi]

Get ATP3 instead, pool the saved money on a 6600GT

 

[Hacker]

Speakers - Altec Lansing MX5021 - 9500/- - (I know these are too expensive but suits my primary purpose. The reviews seem to make this the God of 2.1s.

UPS - Please advice on this one - Shud be abt 2000/- (Non-APC as APC is way too expensive)

10 k for 2.1 speakers ?????? :S
The apc ups is for around 2500 rs. I think you can increase your budget by 500 rs.

 

[zhopudey]

If music is important to you, and you will be listening to uncompressed CDs, (not lossy mp3s), then forget about creative. You should go for an M-audio Revolution 5.1 ( or 7.1 if 5.1 is not available) You should be able to tell the difference on the mx5021s, and even or your HD457s. So get the ati motherboard, and use the money saved for the m-audio.

 

[Shripad]

i was gona tell him that but maudio is sold everywhere. And where its available it costs 7.5K.
And that too without warranty.

 

[cybertragic]

Well. Thanks a ton (esp to Quad MAster for his detailed analysis) for all the replies. This forum is probably the most active among Indian Tech sites. Dunno how I missed it till now.

Btw Techhead, the college is XLRI. Now according to most of my friends in B-Schools the amount of time a person spends in front of his comp is unbelievable. Since you generally get free time only during the night and its not possible to go out often coz of the enormous workload, the PC is ur last and only resort when it comes to movies/music/gaming (mostly AOE) on LAN & ofcourse there's the odd project and presentation ;-)

Now probably the most controversial thing abt this rig is the vulgarly exhorbitant AL MX5021 that too without a sound card. I've decided on these coz I am a huge movies & music buff and since there'll be a dearth of space I cannot go in for a 5.1 system. Moreover I've really heard great things about these speakers and no 5.1 speakers can give this kind of output in sub10k category. As for the sound card I'll probaly buy it after a few months as that is something I can always add later unlike most other parts.

As for the Graphics card I think most of you are right. No point going in for a 5k card which I'll later regret. So I've raised my budget by 5 grands and guess I'll go in for a 6600GT PCIe which I hear is about 10K.

@funkymonkey

About the config.
Why do you need such config if all you want to do are the things you say you want to.

I did not exactly get what you mean. Can you tell me which parts do not make sense. I guess I came across as a n00b who's just going to use his PC for a few multimedia apps but I'll be using it for many more things such as heavy-duty web-surfing, MS Office tasks, projects, various p2p apps such as mIRC, BT, Ares etc. and all these things in a multi-tasking environment. Now though your suggestion for a Socket 754 2800+ saves me some money I've heard there are huge advantages of having a Socket 939 above a 754, the processing power and availability of good motherboards being the primary ones. Moreover its not like I'll stop using my PC after 2 years. It's just that if there are major changes in technology, I might have to consider an upgrade once I leave college. Moreover a 939 3000+ will give me much better performance even if I use it for the next 2 years. As for the RS480, I've heard its quality is somewhat inferior as compared to the NF4 boards. It would really solve a lot of problems if I could go for the RS480 but I really want a rock-solid foundation for my PC. Could someone please educate me as to what exactly are the disadvantages of the ATI RS480 boards vis-a-vis the NF4 boards.

So as of now I've upped my budget to 60,000 and included the 6600GT. Are there anymore chinks in the config. As for the DVD and RAM brands I guess I'll start separate threads for them later. Hence the current config stands as:

Cabinet SMPS - Antec SLK 1650B with 350W smps included - 3000/- (Quadmaster, why do I need 400W)
Monitor - 17" Flat CRT Samsung 793MB - 7000/-
CPU - AMD Athlon64 3000+ Socket 939 (Hopefully Venice otherwise Winchester) - 7500/-
MoBo - Asus A8N E - 8000/- (Any better substitute?)
RAM - 256*2 DDR 400MHz - 3500/- (Brand to be decided later depending on availability with vendor)
DVD RW - 4500/- (Brand to be decided later)
Graphics Card - PCIe 6600GT - 10000/- (Details to be researched)
Sound Card - Onboard for now (Shall upgrade later)
Speakers - Altec Lansing 2.1 - MX5021 - 9500/- (Are they worth it?)
Hard Disk - 160 GB SATA Seagate - 4000/- (To be coupled with my current 120gb Seagate PATA)
Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech or Microsoft Wired - 1000/- (Shall decide the exact model later)
UPS - 2000/- (Shall decide after checkin out the power scene at Jamshedpur)
LAN - Onboard

The total comes up to exactly 60,000. Can someone comeup with a better config for this kinda money (Please dont substitute the speakers. Good music is an important part of life. THX Certification too.)
Guess that was too long and I thank you people for your patience. People please keep commenting on this so that I can finetune it and get absolute bang for buck.

cybertragic posted 42.28 minutes later:

@zphoduey & fm

If music is important to you, and you will be listening to uncompressed CDs, (not lossy mp3s), then forget about creative. You should go for an M-audio Revolution 5.1 ( or 7.1 if 5.1 is not available) You should be able to tell the difference on the mx5021s, and even or your HD457s. So get the ati motherboard, and use the money saved for the m-audio.

Thats exactly what I think zphoduey. Music is really important to me (Listen to a lot of varied genres such as classical (Beethoven, Bach etc.), Jazz (Sinatra mostly), Rock (The Doors, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin etc.), New Age (Gregorian MAsters, Chemical Brothers etc.)). Now only a great pair of THX certified speakers such as the MX5021 can do justice to the various highs, mids & lows produced by these great musicians. I have very little music in lossless format as of now but should acquire a lot more over the University LAN in the future. Now since I'll need a really great soundcard like you say to get the best out of these beauties and since I'm already exceeding my budget I think I'll buy it in abt 3-4 months time instaed of going for an average one right now and substituting a low-end MoBo such as the ATI.

Btw, can you ppl tell me if there're any better speakers avilable under 10k than these, esp. for music. 5.1s may give you surround sound but the exactness of frequency reproduction is really crappy in this budget I've heard.

 

[SunnyBoi]

hehehe...

i still say, go for an ATP3 and a good soundcard instead...i have the ATP3 and can vouch for it

 

[Quad Master]

Cabinet SMPS - Antec SLK 1650B with 350W smps included - 3000/- (Quadmaster, why do I need 400W)
Not Sure if a 350W Antec Smart Power SMPS will be enuf so i recommended a PowerSafe 400W.
You can ask the dealer for the cabby without SMPS , Antec 350W might be costlier than Powersafe 400W.
PowerSafe 400W comes at 1500Rs.
Also check how much power & ampere you will be requiring on the 12V line as Antec 350W might not be having
sufficient. [Check it on the site www.antecindia.com]

Monitor - 17" Flat CRT Samsung 793MB - 7000/-
Best no doubts here , guys how about a 793DF instead of 793MB donno whats the difference.
but both are flat if i am not mistaken , the Magic Bright series has some softwares thats it as i know
and 793MB has a different look

CPU - AMD Athlon64 3000+ Socket 939 (Hopefully Venice otherwise Winchester) - 7500/-
No Winne now as Venice have arrived here.
The Advantages of Venice over Winchester are
- SSE3
- Better overclocking
- Better DDR Controller
And you know the magic it can be overclocked to 2.4Ghz easily if you know the proper
method on the A8N-E.[But i cant gurantee you]
Funky also said me that the Venice with 0515 & 0517 Stepping OC better at low Volts.

MoBo - Asus A8N E - 8000/- (Any better substitute?)
No substitute , A8N-E is the best performing Mobo only drawback it doesnt have Firewire slot.
It has nice options to overclock.
Thanks to Deejay i was getting a A8N Sli Delux but he told me that it was better to get a
A8N-E as SLi is not useful later as dual core Gpus might come later.

RAM - 256*2 DDR 400MHz - 3500/- (Brand to be decided later depending on availability with vendor)
Go for Orignal Hynix , it can also overclock to a descent 220Mhz but if you are lucky that same can
overclock to 250 also.

DVD RW - 4500/- (Brand to be decided later)
Pioneer and Benq are the best i still suggest them ask anyone here

Graphics Card - PCIe 6600GT - 10000/- (Details to be researched)
Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/1960 PCX XP 128MB [Codename for Gainward 6600GT]
Read its reviews and you will run to a conclusion that nothing is better than Gainward in 6600GT category

Sound Card - Onboard for now (Shall upgrade later)
Soundcard your decision , cant comment on this

Speakers - Altec Lansing 2.1 - MX5021 - 9500/- (Are they worth it?)
Well as you have decided , i cant comment here dont know much about Altec Lansing.

Hard Disk - 160 GB SATA Seagate - 4000/- (To be coupled with my current 120gb Seagate PATA)
Gr8

Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech or Microsoft Wired - 1000/- (Shall decide the exact model later)
upto you

UPS - 2000/- (Shall decide after checkin out the power scene at Jamshedpur)
I dont have any idea on UPS

Overclocking of any component cannot be guranteed by anyone , it also depends on luck

Well this is what i have to say.

 

[zhopudey]

I think instead of buying the sound card later, go for the ati mobo and m-audio soundcard now. You can buy the graphics card later, when 6600 prices drop. If you say you'll be getting lots of lossless audio, a good soundcard becomes extremely important. Remember, for a music server/htpc (home theater pc), the important things are hard disk -> soundcard -> speakers.
Also, I have been playing AOE, ceaser3, civ3, warcraft3 on a pathetic Geforce2 MX without any problems, so the x200 onboard the msi mobo will be more than enough. And it has a pci-e, so you have the option of upgrading later.
Do you have the option of getting a soundcard from the US? The EMU 0404 is a <100$ card that beats the pants of cards costing twice or thrice as much.
Check out this http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=119977
The guys at that forum are in love with the emu.

 

[Quad Master]

I dont want a fight but still i wud like to tell you.

MSI RS480 with Ati Xpress onboard GPU might cost less and you might save money
on GPU.

But MSI RS480 has zero overclocking options that means you will have to
run your CPU at 1.8Ghz thats it also ram at 200Mhz.

But if you get A8N-E , you can overclock your 3000+ to 2.4Ghz giving you much
better perf at low cost , also ram can be overclocked.

A good Motherboard is the foundation of any Rig

 

[bottle]

well the speakers are definitely worth it, am using it myself with an audiotrak soundcard (uses the same via envy 24 ht as maudio cards) and i can say its one of the better multimedia speakers available for that price..