TR Budget PC configuration of the month[AMD Based]

[narangz]

Budget PC configuration of the month
By Rajbir Singh [via Techies Realm]

Here’s the best configuration for a Budget PC for normal home/office use. For gaming you may add a graphics card for better performance. Being a budget PC, I’ve not included the graphics card in this rig.



Processor:
I’ve chosen AMD 64 X2 processor as it gives the best value for money & is excellent in performance too.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ With Heat Sink Fan- Price Rs. 5700.

Specifications Overview:

Socket- AM2
Frequency- 2.9 GHz
L2 Cache- 1 MB
Architecture-65 nm SOI
Power Consumption- 65 Watts

Motherboard:
I’ve selected two motherboards & you can select any one of them as there is not much difference either in features or in price.

Asus M2N-VM HDMI- Price Rs. 4150
Features Overview:

Socket Support- AM2+. Supports 64 bit, Phenom & Dual Core processors.
RAM-Supports DDR2 1066 MHz. Upto 4 slots.
Graphics & Chipsets-NVIDIA GeForce 7050PV+ graphics, NVIDIA nForce 630a MCP.
HDMI/DVI/RGB-High Definition Multimedia Interface for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray playback as per industry standards. DVI support for LCD monitors. Supports NVIDIA HD Pure Video.
Audio- Supports HD Audio, has 6 ports on the back & front panel support.
LAN-Gigabit(1 Gbps).
Ports- Up to 10 USB ports, 4 SATA ports, 1 IDE port.

OR

Asus M2A-VM HDMI- Price Rs. 4250

Features Overview:
Socket Support- AM2+. Supports 64 bit, Phenom & Dual Core processors.
RAM-DDR2 800 Mhz. Upto 4 slots.
Graphics & Chipsets-AMD 690G, ATI Radeon X1250-based graphics.
HDMI/DVI/YPbPr TV out-High Definition Multimedia Interface for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray playback as per industry standards. DVI support for LCD monitors. YPbPr TV out supports 1080i &720p.
Audio- Supports HD Audio has 3 ports on back & front panel support.
LAN-Gigabit(1Gbps).
Ports- Up to 10 USB ports, 4 SATA ports, 1 IDE port, 1 Floppy port.



RAM:
I prefer DDR2 800 MHz as there is not much price & speed difference between 667 MHz & 800 MHz in Value RAM category. You can buy Kingston or Transcend whichever is available with the dealer. Buy 2 modules of 1 GB RAM.

2 X 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz-

Kingston Value RAM Price- Rs. 2350.
Transcend Price- Rs. 2300.

2 X 1 GB DDR2 667 MHz-

Kingston Value RAM Price- Rs. 1900.
Transcend Price- Rs. 2000.



Hard Disk Drive:
I’ve chosen the capacity of 360 GB for the HDD. It is a minimum these days & is enough for normal use.

Specifications Overview:

Capacity- 320 GB
Interface- SATA II
Spindle Speed- 7200 RPM

Seagate- Price Rs. 3600
Western Digital- Price Rs. 3050



Optical Drive:
I am going to select DVD Writer as they are pretty much cheap these days & I prefer Sony DVD writers. You can buy IDE or SATA connector based drives.

IDE 20X- Price Rs. 1500
SATA 20X- Price Rs. 1700



Monitor:
Samsung 740N LCD- Price Rs. 9000


Specifications Overview:

Screen Size-17”(43 cms.)
Max Resolution- 1280 x 1024 pixels
Contrast Ratio- 700: 1 (DC 2,000:1)
Response Time- 5ms
Power Consumption- 34 Watts(Max)



Cabinet:
Zebronics Lava- Price Rs. 1500


Specifications Overview:

400 Watts SMPS/PSU

Front panel ports:
USB- 2 Ports
Audio- Mic & Out
Display- LCD Display



Keyboard & Mouse:
I’ve chosen Logitech Keyboard & Mouse as they are the best, in my opinion. Microsoft optical mouse has a problem of pointer jumping around the screen.

Logitech Multimedia Wired Keyboard- Price Rs. 550
Logitech Optical Wired Mouse- Price Rs. 400



UPS:
UPS is a must for Indian users. UPS for this configuration must be atleast 650 VA & APC is my preferred choice. You should get around 10 minutes of backup on this configuration.

APC- 650VA- Price Rs. 3300



Softwares:
You pay for the hardware & should also pay for the software you use. Please do not use pirated Operating Systems or other application softwares. In case you cannot afford the Operating System you can use a Linux distribution for free. Ubuntu is the easiest Linux distribution & is recommended for users who want to shift from Windows. However I prefer Microsoft Windows Vista. For normal usage Windows Vista Premium is suitable. Do not buy Windows Vista Home Basic as it lacks many features like Aero & it can’t even play DVDs without 3rd party application.

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM)- Price Rs. 5200
Linux Ubuntu- Price Rs. Free

Anti Virus:
Avira Antivir Personal Edition- Price Rs. Free



Total amount:
This configuration will set you back by approximately Rs. 37000 but I assure you that you’ll get full value for your money.

Happy Shopping!

[The Sorcerer]

Zebby's power supply isnt reliable. Their after sales is bad. Rather go for a powersafe/VIP/l&c gold psu if its tight on budget.

[Pathik]

I would rather get a e2160 + a Abit IP35E + 8400M Gt. Same price, better value.

[narangz]

Originally Posted by The Sorcerer

Zebby's power supply isnt reliable. Their after sales is bad. Rather go for a powersafe/VIP/l&c gold psu if its tight on budget.

VIP sucks in my humble opinion. Anyway thanks for the comment

Originally Posted by Pathik

I would rather get a e2160 + a Abit IP35E + 8400M Gt. Same price, better value.

Ah, I see. Thank you

[hellgate]

better get a E7200 and abit IP35-E.also get some cheapo gpu for 1.7k.will beat the hell out of that AMD setup when oc'd.diff in price will be bout 2.5k

[desiibond]

1) why did you stick to the old mobos' for AMD config when 790G and 780 series mobos are available fr 5k and are far more superiour when compared to the older mobos that you suggested
2) zebronics SMPS is not at all reliable. Kobian is much better. I have a 7yr old pc on mercury cabinet and SMPS is still running without any issue. On the other hand, i have a 2yr old zebronics cabinet for which I already changed the smps twice. Totally irregular voltages
3) 740N LCD for 9K???? Dude, you get 19" for that price these days. My Dell 198WFP for 9.7k is far better than this. Moreover, you get Acer and LG's 19" displays for less than 9k.
4) I would rather get X2 5200+ instead of X2 5600+. Both are based on same architecture. Only for 200MHz speed difference (which can be cleared by little overclocking), I need not waste 1000 bucks, which I can put on other peripheral.
All in all, your config is pretty pretty pretty outdated.

Originally Posted by hellgate

better get a E7200 and abit IP35-E.also get some cheapo gpu for 1.7k.will beat the hell out of that AMD setup when oc'd.diff in price will be bout 2.5k

+1
E7200 is a terrific processor.

[narangz]

1k difference in 5200+ & 5600+? Huh?

Kobian SMPS fans die pretty early. My experience.

That model of LCD is available at that price only & you can get 19" Samsung for 1K more. I don't like LG.
Those mobos aren't availble for 5K and this config is budget config.

It's AMD config and that intel proccy doesn't come in picture.

[desiibond]

^^ Yes.

Get Acer 19" monitor for 8.5k and put that extra 500 bucks you save into the 890G motherboard and you get a lot lot lot better config.

Moreover, Take out the 800-1k from processor's price by getting 5200+ and put that in RAM and you get another gig of RAM. That makes the system even more powerful. This is why I am saying that your config is not a decent one. NOw look at this one:

1) X2 5200+: Rs.4.6k (do just a little bit of overclocking and this one easily matches 5600+)
2) Gigabyte 790G mobo: Rs.5.5k (look around the internet and you will know how powerful 790G is and more over 690G is totally outdated and is around 1.5yrs old. 790g support hybrid crossfire which means you add in an ATI card and get it work with onboard GPU in crossfire mode. Similar intel board costs around 12k I think)
3) 2x1Gb DDR2 800 : Rs. 2600 (Far better performer than ddr2 667)
4) 320gig HDD: Rs.3k
5) Sony DVDRW: 1.2k
6) Display: 198WFP: 9.7k (1000:1 typical Contrast ratio, very clear and crisp dispaly, superb 3yr onsite replacement warranty and dude, it's from DELL)
7) Vanilla Mercury cabinet: 1.2k
8)k/b and mouse: MS optical desktop: 700rs.
9) APC 500VA UPS: Rs.2.5k. No need for a 650VA for a LCD monitor as 500VA is more than enough as an LCD monitor's peak power is around 40W. (more than enough, thanks to LCD)
10) Creative Inspire 2.1: Rs.1.2k

Total comes to around 32k.

Compared to your config, here I get a superiour Graphics card with Hyrbrid crossfire support, superb 19" Dell monitor, superior RAM (800MHz compared to your 667MHz), 2.1 speakers.

Now tell me. Is your config true value for money???

Remember one thing while writing down a config. It's the balance over everything that is necessary. The config you selected has pretty inferior and outdated graphics, older RAM.

See, I take out few hundred bucks out of the UPS and put that in RAM and the result is a much powerful config.

Take out few hundred bucks out of processor and put them in Mobo and I get far far more superior board that is future proof, has superb gaming potential.

Add few bucks and get dell 198WFT and I get superb monitor that has 2" more viewing area, superb display, lot better contrast ration (1000:1 typical contrast ratio), 3yr onsite next day replacement warranty.

Originally Posted by narangz

1k difference in 5200+ & 5600+? Huh?

Kobian SMPS fans die pretty early. My experience.

That model of LCD is available at that price only & you can get 19" Samsung for 1K more. I don't like LG.
Those mobos aren't availble for 5K and this config is budget config.

It's AMD config and that intel proccy doesn't come in picture.

huh. a 17" monitor for 9k that has just 600:1 contrast ratio, has really bad 8ms response time, that doesn't have DVI port.
On the other hand, you get a 19" monitor with better contrast ratio and with DVI port etc for 500 bucks less. Moreover, you don't like LG doesn't mean that it's a bad choice.
eg: search the forums. gx_saurav listed an LG 19" display that is available for some 9.2k and has 2ms response time, 1000:1 typical contrast ratio, DVI port etc. Don't you think it's a better deal??

Clearly, better value for money it is.

[MetalheadGautham]

very poor selection of processor and motherboard.

its much much better to get Abit IP35-E as the mobo and C2D E2160 or E4500 as the CPU. This setup can be overclocked to an insanely high level with stock cooling.

[hellgate]

^^^^ better still go for a E7200 when the original config buts 5.7k on proccy.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by hellgate

^^^^ better still go for a E7200 when the original config buts 5.7k on proccy.

woops. Forgot E7200 existed and told E4500

I would be smarter and invest 2.7k on E2160, and save 3k from R7200 and get a HD3450 GPU or extend alloted budget for GPU. The overall performance would actually increase.

[hellgate]

that wud surely inc system performance.but i beleive that u sud get the best proccy that u can buy.

[desiibond]

hmm. I would say get the best proccy/mobo/ram combination that you can buy. As I said earlier, 780G will do much justice to 5200+ than 690G and the same with DDR2 800. It's a nice trade off by getting a little slower processor, get the gigabyte board with superb overclocking capabilities and with 780G.

But If you can put more money, E7200 is the way to go. Already looks promising and is set to take on the remaining AMD's market share.

[j1n M@tt]

E7200 is gud......but Intel processors always needs hi-end mobos to unleash their full potential. For AMD based systems u aways hav cheap solutions for hi-end mobos like dat of Gigabyte 780G mobo. it has the best VFM in dat range of mobos I think.....so I would prefer a 5200+ with it, and will OC it to a beast with the help of some Thermal paste and a Cooler kit

[axxo]

for budget pc one would expect a price tag be around 25k..this is hefty price.

[Pathik]

Originally Posted by j1n M@tt

E7200 is gud......but Intel processors always needs hi-end mobos to unleash their full potential. For AMD based systems u aways hav cheap solutions for hi-end mobos like dat of Gigabyte 780G mobo. it has the best VFM in dat range of mobos I think.....so I would prefer a 5200+ with it, and will OC it to a beast with the help of some Thermal paste and a Cooler kit

I would rather get a e7200 and a Abit IP35e or MSI P35 Neo F and skip the cooler kit and better paste. For more or less the same, or maybe better results.

[j1n M@tt]

when u r going for P35 mobos u need dedicated gfx cards.....where as dat 780G mobo hav HD3 series as on-board gfx for budget solution

[desiibond]

Originally Posted by axxo

for budget pc one would expect a price tag be around 25k..this is hefty price.

hehe. yes. this is not a budget config.

If you need true budget config, remove that extra gig of RAM, replace 19" LCD with a 17" CRT, remove that 5200+ and add 4200+, 320gig with 160gig and you save nearly 10k (2.5k over proccy, 5k over monitor, 1k over ram and 1k on HDD).

[Pathik]

^^ Yea, that I forgot.. Even in that case, a e2160 + P35 + 8400GT should be good. (A 8600 gt would be better)

[desiibond]

^^ Dude.

e2160: Rs.2.5k
P35: Rs.5.5k
8400GS: Rs:2.5k

4200+: 2.4k
780G: 5.5k

that's around 3k price difference. to the AMD config, add 2400XT in hybrid crossfire mode and you get a better gaming setup than with 8400GT.

anyways, for budget PC, you can't beat AMD but when you have extra cash in hand, AMD's nowhere near to Intel.

[axxo]

Originally Posted by desiibond

hehe. yes. this is not a budget config.

If you need true budget config, remove that extra gig of RAM, replace 19" LCD with a 17" CRT, remove that 5200+ and add 4200+, 320gig with 160gig and you save nearly 10k (2.5k over proccy, 5k over monitor, 1k over ram and 1k on HDD).

Intel E2160-2.5k
Zebronics NF-7050 - 2.1K
160GB HDD
2GB RAM
15"LCD-6.5k

that saves the same(6k on proc+mobo, 1k on HDD, 2.5k on monitor)

[Pathik]

Originally Posted by desiibond

^^ Dude.

e2160: Rs.2.5k
P35: Rs.5.5k
8400GS: Rs:2.5k

4200+: 2.4k
780G: 5.5k

that's around 3k price difference. to the AMD config, add 2400XT in hybrid crossfire mode and you get a better gaming setup than with 8400GT.

anyways, for budget PC, you can't beat AMD but when you have extra cash in hand, AMD's nowhere near to Intel.

+1..
But the OP has chosen a 5600+

[desiibond]

look at the title. Budget. The lower, the better.

[j1n M@tt]

^^5600+ is no gud......paying 1k extra than 5200+ for just a few mhz is a total waste

5000+ Black edition is a gud choice at 4.5k ,but u need to buy additional Cooling kit as they don't provide heat sink and fan along with Black Edition.

[desiibond]

yep. and it's better to get E7200 instead of getting 5600+ black edition, heatsink.

[Pathik]

The bottom line is. For anything above 20-22k, I wouldnt get an AMD config.

[desiibond]

^^ yaar. Make that 30K

[narangz]

Hi!

Well that was my first try on hardware & i knew i am not good in that but I tried. To know where I stand I posted it here coz i knew you guys will bash me if it's not good

However, thanks for your input

I'll ask you guys- desiibond, Pathik & others next time for configuration of the month for my site I hop you guys will help

[Pathik]

Sure dude. Happy to help.

[narangz]

^^Thanks