Budget 0-20k Home PC for basic usage

C

CapriAnupam

Adept
Hi all,

I am often asked by people and families I know, for a good configuration for a home PC. These people are not so computer savvy, and need PC for quite simple home usage, like normal desktop processing, internet browsing, watching movies/videos, listening to music, etc. So, I am looking for suggestions for configuration of a basic home PC. It should be reasonable price range, around 15-20K. The configuration should be good enough for the long run, as they don't look to upgrade. Multiple options can be suggested, as I am not asking this for a particular family.. but different families, whose budget may vary a bit up and down.

The template is below.

Questions


  1. Q: What is your budget?
    • 15-20K
  2. Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)

    Not relevant
  3. Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)

    Not relevant
  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.
    • CPU
    • Motherboard
    • RAM
    • HDD
    • SMPS
    • Cabinet
    • Keyboard
    • Mouse
  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

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

    Indore
  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
    • Desktop Processing
    • Browsing
    • Watching movies/videos
    • Listening music
    • Maybe a few games for children, nothing too heavy
  9. Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.

    Leaning towards Intel processor more... maybe because I don't know how good are AMD processors, and I have always used Intel processors, and I think Intel processors are more popular in India?
  10. Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?

    Nothing too heavy
  11. Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage

    Not relevant
  12. Q: Are you looking to overclock?

    No
  13. Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Windows XP
    • Maybe Windows 7


Thanks :)
 
@CapriAnupam here is a budget build --

Intel Pentium G630 ~3500/- OR Intel Celeron G520 ~2500/-
GIGABYTE-B75M-D3H ~4500/- OR Intel DH61WW ~3000/-
Corsair 4GB x1 ValueRAM ~1200/-
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 500GB ~3500/- (can go for a larger drive for more data dump)
Cooler Master eLite 311 ~2000/- OR local Zebronic dabba ~1100/-
FSP Saga II 400W ~2000/- OR Corsair CX v2430W ~2700/-
APC BR600VA-IN
(monitor and audio-equipment their preference) OR DeLL IN2030M ~6000/-
LOGITECH K100 desktop ~400/-

AMD Trinity offerings will come later this month so let us see what they offer.

If they want gaming prowess throw in a discrete GPU in the build. Depending on their budget, though anything below a HD6770 will be unworthy for any gaming until they play the most archaic of titles. Cheerio!
 
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@CapriAnupam Go for this-
AMD A6 3500-4.4k
Gigabyte A55-DS2-3.4k
Gskill Ripjaws 2X2GB 1600mhz-1.7k
Segate 500GB 7200RPM-3.5k-
Dell ST2220L-8.5k
Zebronics Bijli With PSU-1.5k
Hope this helps.:)
 
Thanks a lot for the replies guys :)

I will look up the suggested products, because I have no idea about the motherboards and the processors suggested.

Jakob, your suggested configuration is a bit on the higher side, but I will still look up the motherboard and processor suggested... thanks.

katiezeal, am not looking for an Apple computer... thanks.

Thanks for the suggestions ALPHA17, will look into them.
I had forgot about adding a monitor to the desired configuration, so thanks for mentioning about that.

Would you suggest any Asus motherboard for the configuration? Will it be better than Gigabyte, or are they both good?

Zebronics "dabba" :D ... comes with a PSU too, or is it better to buy the suggested ones separately?
Never heard about FSP Saga II ... so will have to look that up.

Will look up the suggestions, and post back if I have more queries, which I think will be there :D

Thanks guys! :)
 
CapriAnupam said:
Would you suggest any Asus motherboard for the configuration? Will it be better than Gigabyte, or are they both good?

Zebronics "dabba" :D ... comes with a PSU too, or is it better to buy the suggested ones separately?
Never heard about FSP Saga II ... so will have to look that up.

Will look up the suggestions, and post back if I have more queries, which I think will be there :D
Click to expand...

To tag any member use the following syntax @<iD>, e.g., @CapriAnupam.

No at this price point I suggest that you go with either Intel OR GIGABYTE offerings, they are budget friendly and after sales is also good. And no competing boards offer the value the mentioned boards have.

Buy a proper SMPS, cheap SMPS generally end like this --> Death of a Gutless Wonder Review / The Bargain Basement Power Supply Roundup Review.

A little expense now means peace of mind later.

Hope this helps. Cheerio!
 
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Thanks @ALPHA17 .. that indeed helps :)

The links you posted return 403 forbidden error... both of them.

You are right about SMPS... agreed.
 
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The AMD Combo suggested by me is better in performance than Intel G620,The IGP on A6 3500 is better than G620,If you add gpu in the AMD rig it'll Crossfire with the IGP and you'll get better performance.If you're not going to game at all then go with rig suggested by @ALPHA17.Do get FSP SAGAII 400W OR Corsair CX430V2.
CapriAnupam said:
Thanks a lot for the replies guys :)

I will look up the suggested products, because I have no idea about the motherboards and the processors suggested.

Jakob, your suggested configuration is a bit on the higher side, but I will still look up the motherboard and processor suggested... thanks.

katiezeal, am not looking for an Apple computer... thanks.

Thanks for the suggestions ALPHA17, will look into them.
I had forgot about adding a monitor to the desired configuration, so thanks for mentioning about that.

Would you suggest any Asus motherboard for the configuration? Will it be better than Gigabyte, or are they both good?

Zebronics "dabba" :D ... comes with a PSU too, or is it better to buy the suggested ones separately?
Never heard about FSP Saga II ... so will have to look that up.

Will look up the suggestions, and post back if I have more queries, which I think will be there :D

Thanks guys! :)
Click to expand...
 
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Jakob said:
The AMD Combo suggested by me is better in performance than Intel G620,The IGP on A6 3500 is better than G620,If you add gpu in the AMD rig it'll Crossfire with the IGP and you'll get better performance.If you're not going to game at all then go with rig suggested by ALPHA17.Do get FSP SAGAII 400W OR Corsair CX430V2.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation, and your inputs @Jakob :)

Gaming is not a priority, so I am not keen on a configuration from gaming point of view. Will check out your suggestions though.

- - - Updated - - -
@ALPHA17 ... the search for Intel Celeron G520 does not return any result on the Intel site. Does not return a link to Intel site on search in Google too. There are sites which mention it though. Maybe Intel does not support it anymore?

Or, did you meant Intel Celeron G530? It shows up in the suggestions on Intel sites.
 
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Since all the following components have been suggested to OP, lets have a combo face-off

1. [Core i3 3220 + Discrete GPU] vs. [Core i3 2120 + Discrete GPU]
2. [Pentium G620 + Discrete GPU] vs [AMD 3500 + Discrete GPU]
3. [Pentium G620 with onboard gfx ]vs. [AMD-3500 with onboard gfx]
4. [Pentium G620 + 8400GS + H61 motherboard] vs. [Pentium G620 + B75 motherboard]

Edited: :p To remain somewhat on-topic
 
sato1986 said:
In a similar dilemma of Budget Sandy/Ivy bridge/AMD Value-For-Money builds. Three comparisons which need to be sorted out for once:

1. [Core i3 3220 + Discrete GPU] vs. [Core i3 2120 + Discrete GPU]
2. [Pentium G620 + Discrete GPU] vs [AMD 3500 + Discrete GPU]
3. [Pentium G620 with onboard gfx ]vs. [AMD-3500 with onboard gfx]
4. [Pentium G620 + 8400GS + H61 motherboard] vs. [Pentium G620 + B75 motherboard]

Please convey the answer only in terms of performance :)
Some reviewed comparison (if any) would be awesome.
Click to expand...

We are talking of very tight tolerances' here. The Core i3 and G620 / G630 are not very apart in gaming performance but raw CPU synthetic benches favour the former over the latter.

Here are a few benchmarks -->

With the appearance of the Core i3 3220 (most prolly the only cheap Ivy-Bridge part that will reach India in force) the already narrow field is further narrowed, almost funnelled into a very specific niche where performance and price is pit against theoretic efficiency gains with a slightly improved iGP.

The AMD A6-3500 is one of the cheapest Llano chips you can land and when you look at CPU numbers prepare to be disappointed, the Intel offerings will run rings around it but when it comes to the iGP performance the Llano comes into its element but still thanks to the anaemic CPU performance does not fit in the desktop environment (until you can forgive its CPU performance). It fits the budget laptop requirement perfectly though, where its CPU is good enough, an iGP that can demolish anything Intel has at the price and very important, it can outlast Intel processors in battery statistics.

A stand alone review --> AMD A6 3500 APU review - The AMD Fusion - CPU and GPU

Here is a nice comparison -- Processors with Integrated Graphics: AMD Fusion vs. Intel Core i3 and Intel Pentium - X-bit labs

At first glance it seems fairly easy to draw conclusions based on the obtained results. AMD and Intel processors with integrated graphics cores revealed completely different advantages, which allow us to give specific recommendations depending on the planned computer usage model.

For example, an obvious strength of AMD Fusion is their integrated graphics core with relatively high performance and support for DirectX 11 and OpenCL 1.1. So, we can recommend these processors for those systems where 3D graphics performance and image quality matter more. At the same time the general-purpose cores in Fusion processors are based on the old and slow K10 microarchitecture that is why they are pretty slow in computational tasks. Therefore, if you are looking for a solution with better non-gaming performance, then you should consider Intel Core i3 and Pentium CPUs, even though they have fewer computational cores than the competitors from AMD.

Of course, AMD’s overall approach to designing processors with an integrated graphics accelerator seems to be more rational. The company’s APUs are pretty well-balanced in terms of computational performance being adequate to the graphics performance and the other way around. As a result, top A8 processors may be considered a good fit for entry-level gaming computers. Even in most contemporary gaming titles processors like that and Radeon HD 6550D graphics accelerators integrated into them can deliver acceptable gaming speed. However, things are much more complicated when it comes to A6 and A4 series with weaker GPUs inside. Their performance is insufficient for a universal entry-level gaming system that is why these processors may only suit for multimedia systems, which will be running causal games with simple graphics and previous-generation online RPG.

However, despite all this balance talk, A6 and A4 will not be a good fit for resource-demanding computational tasks. Intel Pentium processors within the same price range will work much faster. Frankly speaking, only A8-3850 looks decent against the background of Sandy Bridge products when it comes to acceptable performance in general-purpose tasks. Moreover, it does well far not everywhere and its decent performance is accompanied with higher heat dissipation, which will hardly be an acceptable compromise for the owners of computer systems without discrete graphics.

In other words, it is a real pity that Intel hasn’t yet been able to design a graphics core with decent performance. Even Core i3-2125 equipped with their fastest Intel HD Graphics 3000 works only as fast as AMD A4-330 in games, because of the too week graphics accelerator. All other Intel processors come with a 1.5 times slower GPU and perform really poorly in 3D games, often delivering completely unacceptable fps rate. Therefore, we can’t recommend to consider Intel processors for a system that will work with 3D graphics. Core i3 and Pentium graphics cores cope perfectly fine with the graphics interface of the operating system and HD video playback, but that’s about it. So, Core i3 and Pentium processors will best of all suit for those systems that need mostly computational performance of general-purpose cores and decent energy-efficiency. In this respect, no AMD APU can compete with Sandy Bridge.
Click to expand...

Now what is your usage scenario, tell us that and we can give you a better picture. Hope this helped, Cheerio!

P.S. -- Trinity will be out in a few days, the pricing on that and its performance should widen your options.
 
Although sato1986's post seems related to the thread, but still, his queries are different, and also, will involve discussion, which will interweave with discussion of my queries, so shouldn't his post be transferred to a different thread?
 
CapriAnupam said:
Although sato1986's post seems related to the thread, but still, his queries are different, and also, will involve discussion, which will interweave with discussion of my queries, so shouldn't his post be transferred to a different thread?
Click to expand...

True, if you feel he should start a new thread of his own, please tag OR PM him to state your stand. Cheerio!
 
I have a few queries.

ALPHA17 said:
Intel Pentium G630 ~3500/- OR Intel Celeron G520 ~2500/-
Click to expand...

Are these processors better than Intel Core 2 Duo processors?

Also, one of the family does not need to buy a monitor, and maybe the keyboard-mouse too, so I was thinking of investing that amount for a better CPU. So, will you recommend a better CPU, or are the suggested ones enough?

If Intel Core 2 Duo processors are better than the suggested ones, please recommend one.

ALPHA17 said:
GIGABYTE-B75M-D3H ~4500/- OR Intel DH61WW ~3000/-
Click to expand...

Intel DH61WW is quite low-end compared to the Gigabyte mobo.. as it does not have support for 3.0 USB ports, or even 6.0 GB/s SATA ports. From future point of view, and also that these technologies are now available, Intel DH61WW does not seem good. Would you recommend a better Intel board?

ALPHA17 said:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 500GB ~3500/-
Click to expand...

Have the prices of the HDDs come down a bit? Last I asked, they were ~4000/- for 500 GB HDD.

Also, between Western Digital and Seagate, which one is better? Some say go for Seagate, and some say go for WD. Seagate is offering only 1 year warranty, whereas WD is offering 2 years I think. So, should WD be opted for?

In terms of reliability, which is better... or are they both good?

ALPHA17 said:
Cooler Master eLite 311 ~2000/- OR local Zebronic dabba ~1100/-
Click to expand...

What about Cooler Master eLite 310?

In case Zebronics is not available, is Thermaltake a good option?
Which other local cabinet brands will you recommend?

ALPHA17 said:
FSP Saga II 400W ~2000/- OR Corsair CX v2430W ~2700/-
Click to expand...

In case any of the two are not available... yes, it does happen... Indore market is quite typical. Last I had asked, the shop was not having Corsair CX v2 430 W.

So, which would you recommend in that case?

Someone had suggested me Cooler Master GX-450 W. Is that good?

What about Seasonic?

ALPHA17 said:
LOGITECH K100 desktop ~400/-
Click to expand...

I think that's just the keyboard. For combo, please recommend.

Sorry for all the questions... just want to get all things right :)

- - - Updated - - -

ALPHA17 said:
True, if you feel he should start a new thread of his own, please tag OR PM him to state your stand. Cheerio!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Can't the moderator just move the related posts to a new thread?
 
CapriAnupam said:
I have a few queries.

Are these processors better than Intel Core 2 Duo processors?

Also, one of the family does not need to buy a monitor, and maybe the keyboard-mouse too, so I was thinking of investing that amount for a better CPU. So, will you recommend a better CPU, or are the suggested ones enough?

If Intel Core 2 Duo processors are better than the suggested ones, please recommend one.

Intel DH61WW is quite low-end compared to the Gigabyte mobo.. as it does not have support for 3.0 USB ports, or even 6.0 GB/s SATA ports. From future point of view, and also that these technologies are now available, Intel DH61WW does not seem good. Would you recommend a better Intel board?

Have the prices of the HDDs come down a bit? Last I asked, they were ~4000/- for 500 GB HDD.

Also, between Western Digital and Seagate, which one is better? Some say go for Seagate, and some say go for WD. Seagate is offering only 1 year warranty, whereas WD is offering 2 years I think. So, should WD be opted for?

In terms of reliability, which is better... or are they both good?



What about Cooler Master eLite 310?

In case Zebronics is not available, is Thermaltake a good option?
Which other local cabinet brands will you recommend?



In case any of the two are not available... yes, it does happen... Indore market is quite typical. Last I had asked, the shop was not having Corsair CX v2 430 W.

So, which would you recommend in that case?

Someone had suggested me Cooler Master GX-450 W. Is that good?

What about Seasonic?

I think that's just the keyboard. For combo, please recommend.
Click to expand...

Yeah these processors are equivalent to yesteryears budget Intel Pentium dual-cores (old stocks of Core2 Duos' rebadged) in performance and draw lesser power.

Here is a benchmark run, to clear up things -- AnandTech - Bench - CPU.

If you want a marginally better processor you can look at the Core i3 series, the Core i3 2120 ~6500/- (Sandy-Bridge) and Core i3 3220 ~7500/- (Ivy-Bridge).

The Intel DH-61WW is a bare bones for the most basic setups. The GIGABYTE-B75M-D3H is a more upto date and superior motherboard in all spheres (features, performance and power efficiency). It has provision for front USB 3.0 ports (with an internal header), supports both generation LGA 1155 socket processors, supports faster memry ~1600MHz and more with updated Intel XMP.

Hard-drive prices have come down marginally to ~3500/- (and thereabouts) for a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB drive. Both companies are now offering 2 years of warranty cover on their retail drives so it is a personal call. I suggest that you avoid Western Digital Green edition drives for OS duties a regular Seagate 7200.x series OR Western Digital Blue edition drives are more reliable.

Both are equally bad when it comes to reliability, especially the last few generation of drives have had a bad rash of crashes, failures and outright bricked drivers. Although I am especially wary of Green edition drives for OS duties.

Avoid the Cooler Master eLite 310, it comes in at ~1500/- and is not much better than the local dabba's that are sold by FronTech, iBall and Zebronics which come in at ~800/- -->1200/-. Better go for the Cooler Master eLite 311 Plus ~1900/- a little expensive but can be retrofitted with fans to improve airflow and has an all painted interior so lesser chances of rust / corrosion.

Which Thermaltake model are we referring to here? Never used their OR seen them in the Indian market.

The Corsair CX v2430W is available at flipkart.com and Cooler Master's GX450W is also a very good SMPS albeit a lot more expensive coming in at ~3500/-.

Seasonic S12II430W ~3500/- is your only option apart from these.

The LOGITECH MK100 desktop is a basic combo for keyboard + mouse ~500/- -->700/- quid.

Hope this helps, Cheerio!
 
1. [Core i3 3220 + Discrete GPU] vs. [Core i3 2120 + Discrete GPU] :

i3 3220 is offering 10% performance gain over Core i3 2100 for a 10% price increment, and the Core i3 2120 offers 5% perfomance gain over Core i3 2100 for a 2.5% price increment.

In Layman terms
3220: 110 score for 110 rupees (Decent choice)
2120: 105 score for 102.50 rupees (VFM choice)
2100: 100 score for 100 rupees

2. [Pentium G620 + Discrete GPU] vs [AMD 3650 + Discrete GPU]

Pentium G620 wins by a big margin of 15%-20%. AMD bites dust even though it's more expensive.

3. [Pentium G620 with onboard gfx ]vs. [AMD-3650 with onboard gfx]:

The AMD-3650 makes the Sandy bridge bite huge lumps of mud. This is the only place where AMD can perform better. Gaming on IGP.
Processors with Integrated Graphics: AMD Fusion vs. Intel Core i3 and Intel Pentium. Page 7 - X-bit labs

When not gaming, pentium takes a slightly upper hand in General usage even though it's IGP is weak.
Processors with Integrated Graphics: AMD Fusion vs. Intel Core i3 and Intel Pentium. Page 5 - X-bit labs

4. [Pentium G620 + 8400GS + H61 motherboard] vs. [Pentium G620 + B75 motherboard]

The former costs same, but performs better than the latter. Hence better VFM in terms of performance. Feature-wise it mainly lacks Ivy bridge support, DDR3-1600Mhz support, and USB 3.0.
 
Thanks a lot for all the great advice! :)

ALPHA17 said:
If you want a marginally better processor you can look at the Core i3 series, the Core i3 2120 ~6500/- (Sandy-Bridge) and Core i3 3220 ~7500/- (Ivy-Bridge).
Click to expand...

Wow.. that's quite a lot of difference... of around ~3000/- for a marginally better processor :D
You wouldn't recommend anything in between? :D

ALPHA17 said:
The Intel DH-61WW is a bare bones for the most basic setups. The GIGABYTE-B75M-D3H is a more upto date and superior motherboard in all spheres (features, performance and power efficiency). It has provision for front USB 3.0 ports (with an internal header), supports both generation LGA 1155 socket processors, supports faster memry ~1600MHz and more with updated Intel XMP.
Click to expand...

So, no alternative Intel board to recommend? Gigabyte board does seem much much better than the Intel one.

ALPHA17 said:
I suggest that you avoid Western Digital Green edition drives for OS duties a regular Seagate 7200.x series OR Western Digital Blue edition drives are more reliable.

Both are equally bad when it comes to reliability, especially the last few generation of drives have had a bad rash of crashes, failures and outright bricked drivers. Although I am especially wary of Green edition drives for OS duties.
Click to expand...

Yes, I had some bad experience with Seagate hard drives in past few years. HDDs are not reliable nowadays, and with huge amounts of capacity, which makes it really difficult to take backups of data, it's quite a shame.

I was going to avoid WD Green edition, and was asking about the WD Blue ones only. Maybe I will go for Seagate.. have had experience with their ASS, and it's good. Don't have experience with WD.

ALPHA17 said:
Avoid the Cooler Master eLite 310, it comes in at ~1500/- and is not much better than the local dabba's that are sold by FronTech, iBall and Zebronics which come in at ~800/- -->1200/-. Better go for the Cooler Master eLite 311 Plus ~1900/- a little expensive but can be retrofitted with fans to improve airflow and has an all painted interior so lesser chances of rust / corrosion.

Which Thermaltake model are we referring to here? Never used their OR seen them in the Indian market.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice. I myself had chosen CM eLite 370 for my personal build, but it was not available.. the shopkeeper even told me that Cooler Master don't release such a model :O .. so I had then decided to go for CM eLite 310. Good thing I didn't.

Well, I too had not heard of Thermaltake, and it was suggested to me by a shopkeeper, as an alternative to Cooler Master cabinets :| ... that's why I asked. You can now see what kind of a market is in Indore :D... and both above incidents are of the two most reputed shops :D

ALPHA17 said:
The Corsair CX v2430W is available at flipkart.com and Cooler Master's GX450W is also a very good SMPS albeit a lot more expensive coming in at ~3500/-.

Seasonic S12II430W ~3500/- is your only option apart from these.

The LOGITECH MK100 desktop is a basic combo for keyboard + mouse ~500/- -->700/- quid.

Hope this helps, Cheerio!
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot... all that definitely helps a lot. Now, I will just note down all configuration, and go to inquire about availability and price.

Will post back, if I have any more queries, regarding non-availability, or alternatives, etc.
 
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