Rig for Native Place @ 34k

K

knoughtyd

Skilled
I have almost decided on a new rig which would be basically used for Home use at my Native in Kerala but still thought would take help from TE gurus.Budget is 34K & intended Purchase time is First Week of August:)

The Rig will be used for Basic Home use + Browsing/Video Chat + Occasional Normal Resolution Gaming like FIFA,NFS or some games on tat line but no high graphics FPS etc:p

1. Q: What is your budget?

34K

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

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

Buying an all New PC



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.

1. CPU - AMD Phenom II X2 555BE 3.2Ghz

2. Motherboard - MSI 880GMA-E45 / Gigabyte GA-785GMT-USB3

3. RAM - 4GB 1333MHz Kingston DDRIII RAM

4. HDD - Western Digital Blue 500 GB

5. Cabinet - Cooler Master Elite 335 / Xigmatek ASGARD

6. PSU - Corsair CX400

7. Monitor - Dell S1909W

8. DVD Writer - L.G. GH22NS50 SATA DVD-Writer

9. K&M - Logitech Internet Pro Set

10.Speakers - Altec Lansing BXR1221

11.Webcam - Logitech Webcam C250 / Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000

12.Mic Headset - iBall Headset + Mic

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

CPU - Intel i3 was the first choice for this rig but the greed of potentially unlocking 2cores on 555BE along with choice of Mobo,gave AMD the edge.

Mobo - Choose AMD over Intel.As there would be NO GPU,so this rig would be solely driven by the IGP and I have been bit skeptical about Intel's IGP as compared to AMD's and AMD boards provided USB 3.0 option for cheap(even though mainstream acceptance is faraway but still a goodie:p) plus Intel's future lineup of sockets would just make it unable to upgrade this few years down the line:no:

So AMD > Intel should be the right combo for this rig right?

LCD - Confused about which LCD to go for? 19" or 20":S As of now have chosen 19" coz of its lower resolution than 20" as there would be almost next to thing HD stuff played and only normal 1CD rips:p DVI bundled LCD would be good. Any idea about the price of Samsung 943NWX?

Webcam & Mic - Needed a Good Webcam needed with a Budget of around 1.5-2k included in that 34k just for the webcam:) Are the inbuilt Mics of Webcam good enough or would I require a separate?

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

Mumbai(Lamington road)

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

1. Normal Home use

2. Browsing

3.Watching Movies,mostly 1CD Rips & occasional HD Stuff

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

Monitor- Dell/Samsung

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

Going to be used to only normal sports games like FIFA etc,no high end FPS games.

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

Normal Usage Resolution is fine enough as hardly any HD stuff.

12. Q: Are you looking to overclock?

No



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

Windows 7 64 bit

14.A General Query?

As I said this Rig is for my Native in Kerala,so I was thinking of assembling & installing everything here first and then take it along with ME,when I go down there for Onam:)

So I had a query whether it would be safe to Transport it along with Me via Flight:S

As in All the Internal stuff & I/O devices along with Me in Hand-baggage(really dnt know whether they are included in Banned stuff:ashamed:) while the Cabby n Monitor in the Checkin Luggage:pIf not possible then i would have to start looking for alternatives.

Looking forward to some valuable suggestions from everyone:)

@Dark Agnel - thanks for the Buying Guide:cool2:
 
phenom II and 4GB memory would be a way too much for a basic home PC.

settle down for athlon II X2 240/250 along with 2GB DDR2/DDR3 memory.

785G/790GX/880G will be more than enough for your multimedia usages.

NZXT Gamma @ 2100 would be a better cabinet that CM Elite series.

what you save can be invested in a 22/24 incher HD display which would give the users a better experience at no performance hit.. it would serve as a better multimedia desktop for movies.

PS: Fifa, NFS will require more than onboard gfx for smooth game play.

step down to Gigabyte MA74GMT-S2 @ 2700 and invest the difference in HD4670, may cost you a couple of grands extra but it would be well worth it.

or if you can acquire a used one in that is not an issue.
 
madnav said:
phenom II and 4GB memory would be a way too much for a basic home PC.
settle down for athlon II X2 240/250 along with 2GB DDR2/DDR3 memory.
785G/790GX/880G will be more than enough for your multimedia usages.
NZXT Gamma @ 2100 would be a better cabinet that CM Elite series.
Click to expand...
I had thought about getting an Athlon but then thought I had a budget with which I could get a much better processor n more ram,then why not;)& also with the future in mind coz I dont think there would be any upgrade possible after it reaches there, so didn't wanted to create a bottleneck situation later on in future:)

& NZXT Gamma looks are a bit subjective:p Xigmatek ASGARD looks good though:)

madnav said:
what you save can be invested in a 22/24 incher HD display which would give the users a better experience at no performance hit.. it would serve as a better multimedia desktop for movies.
Click to expand...
As said above,Movies that will be viewed would be the normal 1CD rips & almost next to nothing HD stuff,so there is no point in getting a 22/24" HD monitor:p

madnav said:
step down to Gigabyte MA74GMT-S2 @ 2700 and invest the difference in HD4670, may cost you a couple of grands extra but it would be well worth it.
or if you can acquire a used one in that is not an issue.
Click to expand...
tat sounds good coz then I need not worry about the issue of IGP.Thanks for the suggestion:)
 
Go for the following as I recently helped a friend buy a similar configuration. No Discreet Graphics Card will save you from a lot of noise and trouble of having more components inside your PC, you can always buy it later if you really need. Since you can spare some cash go on any cabinet of your choice that looks good in my opinion CM310 is a better looker than Xigmatek ASGARD.

CPU - AMD Phenom II X2 555BE 3.2Ghz Rs.4.9K

Motherboard - MSI 880GMA-E45 [it has better audio and HD4290 on-board] Rs.5.7K

Seagate 7200.12 1TB Rs.3.3K

4GB 1333MHz Kingston DDRIII RAM Rs.5K [for 5.5K you can get Gskill or Corsair kit]

Altec Lansing 2.1 VS2621 Rs.1650

LG SATA DvDRW Rs.950

CM Elite310 w/transparent sidepanel Rs.1800+Extra 120mm Rs.2000

SMPS Corsair VX400 Rs.2.7K

LCD Dell S2009W or Samsung B2030 Rs.6500

Logitech ClearChat Premium Headset Rs.650

Logitech Keyboard + Mouse Multimedia Rs.1100

Total Amount = Rs.32800 + web-cam of your choice
 
yes you probably would not upgrade that machine again but the difference between a machine sporting an athlon II X2 and a phenom II X2 would be too low when the intended use does not exceed fifa or nfs.

the difference is too low in real world scenario* to be considered as a superior product.. Bench - CPU - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Compared products are X2 255 and X2 555BE as AT did not list X2 250 for comparison... anyways the clock can be matched easily with light OC.

i would save the extra 2k and invest in a better cpu cooler which would help in long run.

the only reason you shall consider 555BE on that machine would be to unlock.. which GA74GMT-S2 can (sb710 with ACC-OD) .. if not, then an athlon II X2 250 would be a VFM move.

nfs would require more than 2GB system ram to work smoothly, believe me it lags even with HD4850 if played with 2GB on win7 with native setting of even a 17" CRT. so 3-4GB would be a good decision as already chosen by you :)

* By that i mean day to day applications and not synthetic benchmarks.
 
nfs shift is a bad game it's not playable even on a good graphics card and 4gb Ram due to the amount of lag it has.

Phenom 555BE will be a good investment as it'll not bottleneck the gfx card if 'knoughtyd' plans on using a graphics card in the future.

Isn't stock cooler more than enough if one plans to use a PC for general work?
 
Thanks alot for the suggestions guys :)

As of now I have tweaked the config a bit.Following is what I have thought of

  • CPU,Mobo & GPU Taking into consideration that I just might resist the temptation to unlock the extra 2cores(since its not gona be used by me and stability is more important) so i have decided to go with madnav's suggestion and go for AMD Athlon II X2 250 along with Gigabyte GA-MA74GMT-S2,which also lets me add a 512mb 4670 & I need not get worried about the IGP would perform. Is 4670 512MB good enough or 1GB:S
  • PSU Also have decided to go for Gigabyte Superb 460W instead of Corsair CX400 since I guess it should be enough for this rig as no further upgrade looks in any near future & also helps to cut down on budget:p
  • Cabinet Xigmatek ASGARD looks good for its features & all black interiors but Im not sure of availablitiy @ Lammy and also gave NZXT Gamma another look and guess I can leave with its subjective looks, though Xigmatek still remains the first choice. CM 335/310..hmm not much interested in these both after checking out the first two:p
  • Webcam I have decided to go for Logitech C250 after going through some youtube reviews of it been VFM & with a good Mic:)
Confusion still persists over the LCD to go for:S I have shortlisted the following as of now
19†- Dell S1909W (DVI) / Samsung 933SN (VGA)
20†- Samsung B2030 (DVI) / Dell S2009W (DVI)

Im more inclined to go for the 19" as the 1600*900 Resolution felt kind of weird on the 20":S Also would it make it any big difference if I go for a VGA LCD instead of DVI?

Also could someone reply to my question 14.A General Query ?:ashamed:
 
  • 512MB is good enough for HD4670. There is hardly any performance difference between the 512MB and 1GB version of the card unless u play VRAM hungry games like GTA-IV.
  • Well everything is 16:9. The Dell S1909W (DVI) / Samsung 933SN (VGA) are actually 18.5" ones. Not 19". Dont consider moniters with only VGA input. As u have the budget go for DVI ones. My vote is for the 20" Dell. Its a good monitor.
 
DarkAngel said:
  • 512MB is good enough for HD4670. There is hardly any performance difference between the 512MB and 1GB version of the card unless u play VRAM hungry games like GTA-IV.
  • Well everything is 16:9. The Dell S1909W (DVI) / Samsung 933SN (VGA) are actually 18.5" ones. Not 19". Dont consider moniters with only VGA input. As u have the budget go for DVI ones. My vote is for the 20" Dell. Its a good monitor.
Click to expand...
as suggested, there is not much of a difference in performance if you choose 1GB version above the 512MB.. although do not discard the 1GB one if its like 100-200 rupee costlier :p

also, i recently bought gigabyte superb 460W for my cousin and he is switching to cx400 (HD4850 at stock and E2160 to be OCed). let me know if you are interested in the gigabyte :). bought on 1st/2nd July of this month.

EDiTed:

Just realized the general query of yours :p

Im not sure about what would be the fate of your luggage over flight. but if there is a good market closer to your native then that might be an option to consider.

anyways, xigmatek and nzxt would be hard to find if the place is remotely located..in that case your idea is more feasible. just consult with those who travel often by air :p.. probably you would receiver better suggestion in General talk on this subject... if not over FE shoutbox already :p
 
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