TE PC Buying Guide - August 2011

[PoBoy]

H61 + sata 6g + usb3

Gigabyte Intros New H61M-USB3-B3 Motherboard

Gigabyte Intros New H61M-USB3-B3 Motherboard | techPowerUp

This new board adds to the slim feature-set of Intel H61 with third-party SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 controllers.

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-H61M-USB3-B3 (rev. 2.0)

 

[harish_21_10]

Hey guys..need your advice. My friends PC is running kinda slow and is outdated I guess. Its running on Pentium 4 processor and 512Mb DDR2 RAM with MSI 915G Motherboard.
THe motherboard supports 2GB max RAM. What I wanted to know is if memory upgrade to 2GB DDR2 will be a better option or adding a 32GB SSD HDD?

 

[yuvi161292]

Western Digital 3.5" 2TB External Hdd is available for Rs4650 on letsbuy , considering hdd prices i hav already bought one just wanted to inform those interested

 

[viralbug]

Hey guys..need your advice. My friends PC is running kinda slow and is outdated I guess. Its running on Pentium 4 processor and 512Mb DDR2 RAM with MSI 915G Motherboard.

THe motherboard supports 2GB max RAM. What I wanted to know is if memory upgrade to 2GB DDR2 will be a better option or adding a 32GB SSD HDD?

Neither would help much really. RAM upgrade wouldn't do much with such an old system. It's not worth putting in more money in a totally outdated system. Better to buy new components.

An SSD while be a total waste since your motherboard supports only Sata 1.5Gbps and will still perform slow.

 

[harish_21_10]

Neither would help much really. RAM upgrade wouldn't do much with such an old system. It's not worth putting in more money in a totally outdated system. Better to buy new components.

An SSD while be a total waste since your motherboard supports only Sata 1.5Gbps and will still perform slow.

Thanks for ur reply.

The thing is that my friend is in US and wont be back for atleast an year, so he dint wanna spend on upgrading the whole sys for now. His sisters use the PC as of now, which comprises of web browsing and watching movies. No conversions and stuff done on it. So thats the reason why he was looking at adding extra RAM, but if its not gonna make much of a difference then no point I guess.

 

[viralbug]

Get another 1gb of stick if he really wants to keep using it. Maybe he can look for used ones.

 

[harish_21_10]

^^Maybe I will suggest him to put in 2*1GB DDR2-800 RAM and get rid of the 512MB stick.

 

[PoBoy]

I am thinking of getting Giga MA880GM-USB3L for a friend. Deltapage shows "V (1GB)", does that mean 1GB mem will be allocated to the integrated graphics ? The guy has just 2GB memory ...

Edit : OK, acc to wikiped "Up to 512 system + optional 128 sideport" for Radeon HD 4250.

One more Q : Do the AMD catalyst drivers support on-board graphics like 880G ?

 

[Jakob]

You will have to install chipset drivers from gigabyte website,catalyst drivers wont work.

 

[PoBoy]

^ that's what i thought until i saw "ATI Catalyst 10.4 WHQL (880G)" here : AMD 880G Testing Methods | bit-tech.net

 

[Jakob]

Yes,i think you are right this link includes amd catalyst 11.10 drivers which includes integrated graphic drivers

ATI Radeon

 

[PoBoy]

I am thinking of getting Giga MA880GM-USB3L for a friend. Deltapage shows "V (1GB)", does that mean 1GB mem will be allocated to the integrated graphics ? The guy has just 2GB memory ...

Edit : OK, acc to wikiped "Up to 512 system + optional 128 sideport" for Radeon HD 4250.

wtf ?! "Maximum shared memory of 1024 MB" here : ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards- ASUS M4A88T-M LE

Can someone who has a MA880GM-USB3L or similar please comment.

 

[Anoop Parwani]

Are these mumbai prices? the price on the 6950 was 15200. is that right? ITwarez says 16200.

 

[DarkAngel]

^ Prices have increased in the last month due to rupee depreciation against dollar.

 

[Spy king]

Guys my friend is upgrading, and has got two quotes

AMD Phenom X2 560 BE

Asus M5a78nm- lX

4GB Trancend
Or the i3 2100 + H61 board + 4Gig ram.. the cost difference between the two is 1.2k, is it worth going for the i3 system?

 

[MegaMind]

Or the i3 2100 + H61 board + 4Gig ram.. the cost difference between the two is 1.2k, is it worth going for the i3 system?

Definitely yes.. What is the purpose of the PC?

OT : ur siggy, are u sathyabama student?

 

[Spy king]

Definitely yes.. What is the purpose of the PC?

OT : ur siggy, are u sathyabama student?

PC is mainly for general use + gaming.. a gfx card will be added later..

I have convinced him to go for the i3 rig.

What are his options with a budget of 18k for Mobo+Proccy+RAm, No hdd, Case + keyboard/mouse and Monitor? Don't want to start a separate thread.

OT: lol, I have seen that too on the the buses (I think it's Hindustan though) But no, it's from Hamlet, by Shakespeare

 

[charit]

TE - PC Buying Guide Nov' 11

Hi,

when do we get the new sticky?

charit

 

[DarkAngel]

Re: TE - PC Buying Guide Nov' 11

Nothing much has changed since the last guide. The Bulldozer was a disappointment and still not available in India.
Only change is the change in Processor, mobo, GPU pricing which has gone up by ~3%-10% due to rupee depriciation against dollar and HDD prices which has soared high and have increased by 80%-100%. have mentioned that in the thread. Rest of the recommendations stays put mostly. Will edit the prices when i get time. New guide only after the launch of new set of 28nm GPU's this December.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Re: TE - PC Buying Guide Nov' 11

Yeah, high time now.

Anyways, seeing that some of the requirements are for NAS devices, I would suggest to add that too as a category. Might save a few postings, lesser load on server.

My suggestion would be a Atom based D525, the board being this : GIGABYTE - Motherboard - BGA 559 - GA-D525TUD (rev. 1.x), as it has 4 sata ports, enough for most of us people who are starting to build one, pricing @ 4.4K is good with gigabit LAn support. For those on a tighter budget the 425 board which asingh has reviewed is good.

OS of choice would be FreeNAS, Ubuntu Server (inputs from rahul on that), and for those comfortable working with Windows, who need W7 specific features, Windows Home Server.

RAM mostly value RAM from Transcend/Corsair/Kingston, etc.

PSU, this should be a good 80 plus one as the machine runs for a lot of time, leading to each watt saved being useful. But nothing more than 350W~400W.

Cabinet, I have no idea on this one, will prefer one like the bijli as it has a fan to cool the HDDs.

HDD/ODD ~ Depending on your deployment.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Nothing much has changed since the last guide. The Bulldozer was a disappointment and still not available in India.

Only change is the change in Processor, mobo, GPU pricing which has gone up by ~3%-10% due to rupee depriciation against dollar and HDD prices which has soared high and have increased by 80%-100%. have mentioned that in the thread. Rest of the recommendations stays put mostly. Will edit the prices when i get time. New guide only after the launch of new set of 28nm GPU's this December.

Sure, mate!