Making a New Gaming Rig. Well.... Not totally new~

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windhawk91

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Q: What is your budget?

Rs. 30,000 - Flexible (which does not necessarily mean that it has to go above this figure. I'd be glad if it could go cheaper)



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

CPU - Intel E6420 2.13 GHz @ 3 GHz

Motherboard - nVIDIA 630i

GPU - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4850

RAM - Kingston 2x1 GB @ 800 Mhz

Monitor - Viewsonic VG1930wm @ 1440 x 900

SMPS - Coolermaster eXtreme Power Plus 500W



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

Monitor - Viewsonic VG1930wm @ 1440x900 (would like it if you guys could a suggest a new monitor anyway just incase I decide to buy one)

SMPS - Coolermaster eXtreme Power Plus 500W

GPU - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4850



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.

I am planning to buy a Cabinet, CD/DVD Drive, Motherboard, CPU, CPU Cooler, RAM, and if need be an SMPS.

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, will upgrade the following soon

Monitor - To a larger monitor with 19xx x 10xx resolution

GPU - Once ATI 7xxx Series come out I may upgrade my GPU.

CPU - May/may not. Depends.



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

Mumbai - Lamington Road or ITwares or Prime ABGB. Open to online purchase.



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

No

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

Gaming

Browsing

Downloading

Programming

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

SMPS - Corsair, because its Corsair LOL.

Cabinet - Have used and had a good experience with CM.

GPU - Prefer ATI. Back in the day 8800 GTS gave me a lot of overheating problems.



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

RPG - DotA, Ragnarok

FPS - Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Crysis

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

Desktop and Gaming - 1440x900 (Will be upgrading though)

Q: Are you looking to overclock?

Yes, but only if needed.

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

Windows 7 64 bit

Linux

Looking forward to some valuable input. Thanks <3
 
So you have finally decided to upgrade. :P

Here's my suggestion:

Components Description Price (INR)
Processor Core i5 2400 9300
Motherboard Intel DH67BL(B3) 5000
RAM G.Skill RipjawsX 1600Mhz 8GB(2x4GB) 2700
HDD Seagate 1 TB 7200.12 2800
Cabinet NZXT Gamma 2100
PSU Seasonic S12II 520w 3900
ODD Samsung 22X SATA DVD 950
Total 26750

Since you will be upgrading your GPU later, you're going to need a better PSU. Upgrading your PSU now makes more sense, and all the more in your case. The CM extreme series isn't the best PSU's around and have been known for failures. Also since you have been using it for quite some time, it is better to upgrade your PSU now.
Also since you have a little more budget, you can go for the Corsair VX550 which is a few hundred bucks more. I didn't include it in the config because availability seems to be an issue I think. Check up with Prime on that front.

You're upgrade path of monitor and GPU seems great. The 7 series is looking promising and you don't need to upgrade it right now for gaming at current resolution. Save up money and get a good monitor+GPU later on. :)
As for CPU, the i5 2400 should serve you for quite some time. You may go for the 2500 as well which costs 1k more.

I haven't included keyboard, mouse and speakers assuming you already have those.
 
Yeah, haha I couldn't resist the temptation xD. Got a few questions for you:

1. Why not the Core i3 2100? Are there many games that (use/are going to use) 4 cores in the near future?

2. On the Intel website it recommends DDR3 1066/1333 MHz for the processor. Why?

3. The Intel DH67BL(B3). How is this for overclocking? Aren't there any good motherboards by MSI, ASUS or GIGABYTE anymore? I'm only asking this because AFAIK some time back Intel motherboards weren't really recommended.

4. Would a Corsair VX450 suffice for this rig? I am using it in the rig mentioned in my sig. I could remove the Corsair PSU and use it in the new rig and use the CM PSU in my old rig. Yep, I'm still going to be using my old rig too.

5. Is overclocking even necessary or will I be able to play most games w/o overclocking at med-high settings?

6. If I do need to overclock, what CPU Cooler can I go for?

-Thanks :D
 
With the new series of Intel processors you need to get a 'K' series processor with unlocked multi OC. FSB OCing is dead now in Intel SB.

The cheapest K series processor in India is the Intel i5 2500K ~ 10.8k. Also you need a Z68/P67 mobo to OC the L series processor. The cheapest Z68 is from Intel and sells for ~7.2k.
 
Thanks DarkAngel for your input. Maybe wrong here, but can you still not overclock by increasing the multiplier and the base frequency of the CPU using a P67 Motherboard?

And again my earlier questions:

1. Will Core i3 2100 not suffice for my gaming needs? (To be more specific would I get a decent FPS while playing games like Crysis)

2. Would the Corsair VX450 support the above system mentioned by viralbug?

Thanks.
 
1. Yes, newer games use 4 cores more efficiently than before. I myself had completely decided on an i3 2100 but ended up buying an i5 2400. :P

Take a loot at the benchmarks. That's what made me change my mind. :P AnandTech - Bench - CPU

Also, the other factor was that, the i3 2100 wouldn't be that big an upgrade from your current CPU. Since you have the budget, the i5 2400 is a worthy CPU to choose IMO. :)

2. I suppose they mentioned that because this processor is ideally meant to use with an H67 chipset motherboard. The H67 chipset supports only 1066/1333 Mhz ram. I suggested the G.Skill 1600Mhz ones because the prices are very cheap and there's hardly any difference between 1333 and 1600 Mhz rams. Corsair 1333 sticks 4GB cost 1350 and 2 of them would be the same at 2700. The rams would run perfectly fine but at 1333Mhz because of chipset limitation.

3. The H67 motherboards don't overclock at all. As DarkAngel said, you need a K series processor and a P67/Z68 chipset motherboard for overclocking. (Yes Intel killed overclocking for us budget users :()

Intel boards are pretty good. The only reason people used to not suggest them is because they didn't support overclocking. Now that the overclocking scenario has changed totally with the K series CPU's and chipset limitations, it doesn't make a difference. Also this board is the cheapest one with 4 ram slots and USB3.

My Asus P8H67-M LE has USB3 but only 2 ram slots and cost me 6k.

4. Yes the Corsair VX450 would suffice.

5. Overclocking won't be necessary at all. The i5 2400 is pretty good. :D

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

As for your query about overclocking, only the K series of CPU's have an unlocked multiplier. All the other CPUs have their multipliers locked. You can increase the BCLK by a few Mhz because of Turbo, but only by a couple of hundred Mhz.
 
Ok guys, got the info I needed. Will be going tomorrow to pickup the hardware and will assemble the PC at home. Thanks everyone for helping me out. Special thanks to viralbug :D Keep up the good work man, I see that you are trying to help as many people as possible on this forum. I see your posts in many many threads :)

PS: I'll post some pics soon.
 
I have been posting so much recently only. And I happened to post a lot on your threads. :P

Thanks to members like DarkAngel, Hades., Alpha17 and others who really help a lot in suggestions.

Not just them, but thanks to the whole forum from where I have been able to gain so much knowledge. :)
 
I bought the new rig. 1 really really stupid question I have is, can I remove the default Intel Thermal Paste and use my Tuniq TX2 Thermal Paste instead or is there some new kind of thermal paste for i Series processors. I know its a stupid question, but hardware changes too damn fast these days.
 
Thanks bro. I have taken some pics. Will put them up soon. I have assembled the PC but I am having a small problem. The PC won't startup. As in, the motherboard is getting power because I can see the light but it won't switch on. I am guessing I have messed up with the Power On/Of, Power + - wires but can't be sure. Any help would be appreciated. Its my 3rd time assembling a PC from scratch so....
 
Yup as you said it must be the Power on/off wires. Check if you have inserted it in the correct pins and also look for proper +/- orientation. Though I think +/- doesn't matter for the power pins.
 
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