Building a new PC

[Girish]

So, my friend wants to put together a new PC and he asked me for help. Unfortunately, I'm not in touch with the latest happenings in the PC world, so I'm asking you bright people to help me out with it.

 

He needs the following things:

• Motherboard

• CPU

• Video Card

• RAM

• PSU

 

Max. budget: Rs.25,000

 

Any help is appreciated.

[Wolf68k]

Any store websites in your part of the world would help.

I have no idea what currency "Rs" is

[blitz]

25,000 Indian Rupees (Rs) are 600 dollars.

1 US dollar is around 55 Rs.

 

Also, is your friend a gamer? Or does he just want the computer to do other things?

[Prometheus]

Motherboard |

 

GIGABYTE P67A-D3-B3 ATX USB3

 

CPU |

 

Intel Core i5 2500k

 

Video Card |

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

 

RAM |

 

Patriot 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3 1333

 

PSU |

 

Ultra LSP550 550W

 

Total | $600 apprx. = Rs.25,000

[yoječ]

Seems like a outbalanced build for me. It begs for a much better card than the GTX550.

 

$114,99 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103808

 

$189,99 EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1472-RX GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130666

 

$109,99 ASRock 890GX PRO3 AM3 AMD 890GX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813157244

 

$39,99 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231310

 

$69,99 XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817207013

 

= $525

 

This would be my suggestion. GTX470s can be bought cheaply these days and it's quite a good offer. Phenom is a decent 4 core CPU, Asrock's a great mobo with upcoming AMD FX CPUs support, and XFX is just a great power supply with reasonable price tag.

[1st gtaROCKER]

All you need to do is take a glance at the pinned topics. There is a step-by-step guide there, including tips, trusted suppliers, differences, and lots of other helpful stuff. He's included some links too. Tis' a very good read.

Edited June 9, 2011 by 1st gtaROCKER

[Girish]

Also, is your friend a gamer? Or does he just want the computer to do other things?

Sorry, I forgot to mention this. He's a casual gamer. If the system is able to run current gen games @ medium settings, he'll be fine with it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

@yojo2: That's a good build. Only problem is that my friend is kind of an Intel fanboy. It would take me a lot to convince him to go AMD. Could you find an Intel alternative to that build?

Also, would he need any additional cooling?

[Prometheus]

since we're using newegg.....

 

Motherboard |

 

GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX

 

CPU |

 

Intel Core i5 2500k

 

Video Card |

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 470 Superclocked 320-Bit 1280MB

 

RAM |

 

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 9-9-9-24

 

PSU |

 

Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W 80 PLUS Certified

 

Total |

 

$605

 

 

Edited June 9, 2011 by PrometheusX

[Finn 7 five 11]

Also, is your friend a gamer? Or does he just want the computer to do other things?

Sorry, I forgot to mention this. He's a casual gamer. If the system is able to run current gen games @ medium settings, he'll be fine with it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

@yojo2: That's a good build. Only problem is that my friend is kind of an Intel fanboy. It would take me a lot to convince him to go AMD. Could you find an Intel alternative to that build?

Also, would he need any additional cooling?

You might mention to him that hes going to have to fork out extra if he wants the equivalent intel build.

 

 

[Carter.Slade]

As far as I know its hard to get AMD and ATI in India (except notebooks), only Intel and (ZOTAC) nvidia are widely used.

 

 

[Prometheus]

Also, is your friend a gamer? Or does he just want the computer to do other things?

Sorry, I forgot to mention this. He's a casual gamer. If the system is able to run current gen games @ medium settings, he'll be fine with it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

@yojo2: That's a good build. Only problem is that my friend is kind of an Intel fanboy. It would take me a lot to convince him to go AMD. Could you find an Intel alternative to that build?

Also, would he need any additional cooling?

You might mention to him that hes going to have to fork out extra if he wants the equivalent intel build.

I just made one.....

[Exxon]

$189,99 EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1472-RX GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130666

Many say that that GTX 470 has many overheating problems and some say it works like a charm

I should keep an eye on it in the first 2 weeks using it

[OverTheBelow]

It runs a little hotter than other cards but it's designed to withstand it, so really if you have a decent case with a couple of fans in it should be completely fine.

[Girish]

@PrometheusX: That's a good build, but way over his max budget. I'm sure he won't be able to stretch that much.

[Ryan]

Your friend is probably going to have to extend his budget a bit. This is about the cheapest decent and yet well balanced Intel build I could put together.

 

Motherboard: MSI P67A-G43

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K

Video Card: Evga GTX 560

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB)

PSU: Corsair Builder Series 500W V2

 

Total: $644.95

 

EDIT: Swapped PSU's.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Ryan

[yoječ]

 

It runs a little hotter than other cards but it's designed to withstand it, so really if you have a decent case with a couple of fans in it should be completely fine.

Exactly. I have reference design GTX470 myself and other than it being a bit hot, there are no problems at all.

 

@Ryan: I don't want to nitpick, but the Cooler Master you posted is just a prime example of extremely bad power supply (hence the eXtreme in its name ).

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/02/16/...upply_roundup/2

 

//edit: sorry for the typo, I didn't want to nitpick, not the other way round. :K

Edited June 9, 2011 by yojo2

[Wolf68k]

Maybe it's just me but what is the point of giving a parts list from places in the USA when it seems he's not in the USA.

What I mean is, just because a part here cost let's saying $50 and let's just say the currency exchange rates says it'll lost him R100, if the store/website local to him has it it's possible that it could in reality cost a good deal more. Then when you list things like EVGA or Cooler Master, while being major brands in the USA might not be available where he is.

This is why I asked for a store in the area/country where the money will be spent to find the parts.

[Girish]

http://www.theitdepot.com/

 

Is this site good? I always prefer to purchase stuff personally, so I'm not well versed with online shops.

[Wolf68k]

That's fine, if it is in your general area. At least now we have a better idea of how much things will cost for you/him. Now when you go to a local store, if that's what you're rather do, you'll have a better idea of how much things cost and how to work around price differences.

 

After looking at the site and then comparing it to what others had posted here already, my point was just proven.

If he was in the USA and had $600 to spend then those parts list would be great...more so compared to a brief look at what I was able to come up with.

CPU: Intel Core i3-530 2.93 GHz Processor

Mobo: ECS H61H2-M2 16GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Desktop Memory (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9)

GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD6670 1GB DDR5 ATI PCI E Graphic Cards

PSU: XFX Core Edition 650W Power Supply (P1-650S-NLB9)

Total: 24575.00

 

I'm sure I'll get some static about the parts I picked from some of the others. Keep in mind folks: budget and site I had to work with.

Yes I know the mobo doesn't support DDR3 at 1600MHz, however to get a set of 2x2GB (4GB kit) and that is 1333 or 1066 cost a hell of a lot more. Also the 1600MHz should run slower to match the mobo just fine.

[OverTheBelow]

That's fine, if it is in your general area. At least now we have a better idea of how much things will cost for you/him. Now when you go to a local store, if that's what you're rather do, you'll have a better idea of how much things cost and how to work around price differences.

 

After looking at the site and then comparing it to what others had posted here already, my point was just proven.

If he was in the USA and had $600 to spend then those parts list would be great...more so compared to a brief look at what I was able to come up with.

CPU: Intel Core i3-530 2.93 GHz Processor

Mobo: ECS H61H2-M2 16GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Desktop Memory (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9)

GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD6670 1GB DDR5 ATI PCI E Graphic Cards

PSU: XFX Core Edition 650W Power Supply (P1-650S-NLB9)

Total: 24575.00

 

I'm sure I'll get some static about the parts I picked from some of the others. Keep in mind folks: budget and site I had to work with.

Yes I know the mobo doesn't support DDR3 at 1600MHz, however to get a set of 2x2GB (4GB kit) and that is 1333 or 1066 cost a hell of a lot more. Also the 1600MHz should run slower to match the mobo just fine.

Here are two problems I see where money could be saved for other components:

 

1) Power supply is overkill - a 400W would be completely fine for that setup.

2) The extra 4 gigs of RAM would be pointless for a system like this and is not required to "run current gen games @ medium settings".

 

Hell, I don't think I've ever exceeded 3.5 gigs of ram and I use my system to do alot of different stuff 16 hours a day.

[yoječ]

Not to mention that this CPU and mobo are incompatible.

[OverTheBelow]

Not to mention that this CPU and mobo are incompatible.

Ah yes, that too - I didn't look up the motherboard, but on closer inspection it only supports 1155 socket processors.

 

The i3-530 is a 1156 socket cpu.

[Wolf68k]

Yeah ok I screwed up. The first CPU I had picked was the i3-2100 and I already had the mobo picked in the original parts list and forgot to look for a new board.

As for the RAM, that was kind of confusing the way I read the sorting list. I read the 4GB x 2kit as being 4GB x 2GB kit. However I will say this in it's defense; that 8GB kit is still cheaper than the cheapest 4GB kit @ 1333Mhz, and if he upgrades or plans to use this for video editing or 3D model making then 8GB would fare better than 4GB.

But yes this "Corsair XMS3 2X2GB 1600MHZ Desktop Ram (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)" is half the cost which means he could go back to the i3-2100 CPU.

 

The PSU, originally I had picked out the Palit GeForce GTX460 Smart Edition and then went to look for a PSU. And here again I was thinking along the lines of 'future proofing'.

 

 

Pick out all the screw ups and anything else that you want. My point is still proven; that you can't give a parts list based on the currency of one place when the money is spent some place completely different with a completely different currency.

[Girish]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

I think he would be perfectly fine with 4 GB of RAM, for now. He doesn't multitask much and is only a casual gamer. And as far as future proofing goes, he won't be looking at upgrading again for the next 3-4 years, at least. Safe to say, by then, if he wishes to upgrade again, I doubt he'll be able to use any of those parts.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention hard disk and the casing, so that's going to cut into the other parts further. I have asked him to stretch his budget which he'll have to discuss with his father. Lets see how that goes.

[Wolf68k]

Then it sounds like he might need to buy an OS too. That's 6500Rs for a retail version or 6000R for the OEM (32-bit only is offered on that web site) of Windows 7 Home Premium.

You sure he doesn't need a DVD burner? More and more mobos these days do not have IDE (PATA) ports. The mobo I picked out and the cheapest LGA1156 board they have do not have IDE at all.

[Girish]

Oh, in that case, he won't be able to use his old DVD burner. Looks like I'll have to give him the bad news. :-/

[Girish]

Bumping this to let you guys know that my friend has managed to up his budget to Rs.35000 (by dropping his plans to get a laptop).

 

Reference website - http://www.theitdepot.com/

 

Please re-suggest.

[yoječ]

6 040 INR AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-AMD+Phen...r_C30P5246.html

 

16 420 INR Sapphire Radeon HD6950 1GB ATI PCI E Graphic Cards

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Sapphire..._C45P10172.html

 

5 570 INR Asus M4A87TD 16GB DDR3 AMD Motherboard

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Asus+M4A...d_C13P9198.html

 

2 160 INR Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM SATA Internal Desktop Hard Drive (WD5000AAKX)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Western+..._C12P11259.html

 

1 130 INR G.Skill 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz Desktop RAM (F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-G.Skill+...)_C6P11092.html

 

3 560 INR Seasonic 520W PowerSupply (S12II-520)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Seasonic...)_C14P7879.html

 

= 34 880 INR

 

Fast four core CPU, graphics card with decent cooling, proper motherboard, fast 500GB HDD, 4Gbs of RAM, and high quality power supply.

 

Alternatively:

 

10 955 INR Intel Core i5-2500K 6MB 3.30GHz Processor

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Intel+Co..._C30P10442.html

 

10 150 INR Palit GeForce GTX460 Sonic Platinum 1024MB GDDR5 NVidia PCI E Graphic Cards

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Palit+Ge...s_C45P8926.html

 

7 920 INR Jetway JHI08-LF 16GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Jetway+J..._C13P11013.html

 

2 160 INR Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM SATA Internal Desktop Hard Drive (WD5000AAKX)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Western+..._C12P11259.html

 

1 130 INR G.Skill 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz Desktop RAM (F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-G.Skill+...)_C6P11092.html

 

3 560 INR Seasonic 520W PowerSupply (S12II-520)

http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Seasonic...)_C14P7879.html

 

= 35 875 INR

 

Much faster CPU, and a much slower GPU.

Edited September 11, 2011 by yojo2

[Girish]

I like the second build. Between the HD6950 and GTX460, how much difference in performance are we looking at?

 

Also, is the HD6870 better than the GTX460?

[OverTheBelow]

I like the second build. Between the HD6950 and GTX460, how much difference in performance are we looking at?

 

Also, is the HD6870 better than the GTX460?

The 6870 is slightly faster than the GTX 460, if I remember correctly. But the 460 overclocks also like a boss and usually has better tessellation performance.