For around 50K, I want...

[Astrix]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 939)
ASUS A8N Sli But I don't intend to use dual graphics cards. Does that make this board a not-so-good choice?
DDR400Mhz 2x512MB Please suggest a brand.
80GB Seagate SATA Barracuda 160GB if everything else falls nicely within the budget. 2x80GB would be better..?
Raedon 9600 Not sure about this... I don't want anything too expensive.
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM Already got a CDRW.
SAMSUNG 17" 793MB
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Cabinet I'd like one with USB ports in the front. Is that hard to get?
Powersafe 400W Will I be able to get this easily?
Speakers Please suggest good speakers for like 3-4k

Purpose No gaming. Photoshop, 3DsMax and Maya, but not primarily... I just want a good solid computer that gives me great performance in everything.

I'd like your comments. Thanks

[darklord]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 939) -----> Good Choice


ASUS A8N Sli But I don't intend to use dual graphics cards. Does that make this board a not-so-good choice? -----> If you dont plan to do SLi,then go for Asus A8V-E-Deluxe,excellent board that is.


DDR400Mhz 2x512MB Please suggest a brand. ------> Transcend

80GB Seagate SATA Barracuda 160GB if everything else falls nicely within the budget. 2x80GB would be better..? -----> Get 2x80 Gb SATA and make RAID,will boost performance

Raedon 9600 Not sure about this... I don't want anything too expensive. ----> For both the boards mentioned above you need PCIe grafix card so ur best bet is Geforce 6600 128 MB which costs around 8k.Excellent card that is

LiteOn 16X DVD ROM Already got a CDRW. -----> Good choice

SAMSUNG 17" 793MB
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse ------> All good ones

Cabinet I'd like one with USB ports in the front. Is that hard to get?
-----> U will get lots of variety.

Powersafe 400W Will I be able to get this easily? -----> Yes,good choice

Speakers Please suggest good speakers for like 3-4k -------> ATP3 or Creative 4.1

[Astrix]

Thanks, darklord. Revised config:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus A8V-E Deluxe
Transcend DDR400Mhz 2x512MB
Seagate Barracuda SATA 2x80GB
Geforce 6600 128 MB
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM
Samsung 17" 793MB
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers
Cabinet w/ Powersafe 400W PSU

Will I be able to get this in around 50K?

Also, I read someone saying a RAID config is not very reliable. True?

[Sourabh]

yea it will come under 50k

[darklord]

Originally Posted by Astrix

Thanks, darklord. Revised config:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus A8V-E Deluxe
Transcend DDR400Mhz 2x512MB
Seagate Barracuda SATA 2x80GB
Geforce 6600 128 MB
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM
Samsung 17" 793MB
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers
Cabinet w/ Powersafe 400W PSU

Will I be able to get this in around 50K?

Also, I read someone saying a RAID config is not very reliable. True?

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ ---------> 11-12k
Asus A8V-E Deluxe ------------> Approx 9-10k [not sure]
Transcend DDR400Mhz 2x512MB--------> 2450 each
Seagate Barracuda SATA 2x80GB --------> 3400-3500 each
Geforce 6600 128 MB -------> 7-8k
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM ---1500-1600
Samsung 17" 793MB ------6.5-8k
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard ------NA
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse ------600
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers ------3500
Cabinet w/ Powersafe 400W PSU ------2000

Total - 58,500/- max

[Choto Cheeta]

Transcend DDR400Mhz 2x512MB--------> 2450 each

lol...... my vendor gave that price for a 256MB.....

[delhibhai1000]

Transcend DDR400Mhz 2x512MB--------> 2450 each

MUST be a typo....! Even in the US,they cost like 3400/- each...!!

I can get ya Original Hynix for 4150 each or Twinmos for 4400/-

[Astrix]

I'm tying to bring it under 55k so I've decided to go in for 512 megs of RAM instead of 1 gig and a single 160gb SATA instead of 2 80 gb's. I didn't intend to use raid0 anyway...

What do you think?

That makes my config:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus A8V-E Deluxe
Transcend 2 x 256 mb DDR400
Seagate Barracuda SATA 160gb
Geforce 6600 128 MB
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM
Samsung 17" 793MB
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers
Cabinet w/ Powersafe 400W PSU

[Astrix]

It would be great if someone could post a cost comparison of the Asus A8N Sli, the Asus A8V-E Deluxe and the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum

I wonder if the MSI board is even available

[icecoolz]

That would be be an unfair comparison since the SLI supports two graphic cards and the 8V-E deluxe just supports one. Apart from that both the boards offer the same set of features.

[Astrix]

I understand they're similar boards but I asked for a cost comparison only because

- I don't intend to use Sli (which the A8N and Neo board has)
- I don't intend to use wifi (which the A8V-E Deluxe has)

So I'll just go in for the board which is the most reasonably priced. That'd be the A8V-E Dx? I was kinda liking the MSI board.

[Astrix]

I looked around and got my answer. Should've done it earlier I'll be buying the A8V-E Dx

[Astrix]

Now my concern turns to, do I need a sound card? Or is the onboard sound good. I'm going in for ATP3 speakers.

[darklord]

sorry guys that price was for 256 MB single stick.

I misread it.

[icecoolz]

Unless ur an audiophile the onboard sound is excellent. And u will need speakers with atleast 5.1 support to feel the diff between this and say the Audigy series. So its upto u.

[Astrix]

Alrighto... I'll go with onboard.

[Astrix]

Seems I just got a budget upgrade. So I'm getting 2 x 80gb hdd and 2 x 512mb ddr ram as I originally intended to.

And I'm getting Antec 400W thing... that'd be 3k I guess?

Tell me, is the Geforce 6600 128mb not good enough for using Maya, 3dsMax? The main issue here seems to be the 128mb ... the person my dad turned to for advice doesn't think so. He suggests freaking 512mb... I told him 256mb was still realistic. Not that I'm complaining, but I don't want to spend money on something that won't make much of a difference.

Please suggest a graphics card if the Geforce 6600 128mb doesn't quite cut it. Willing to spend around 12k.

Damn, I hope the whole thing is still for less than 60k. Plus gotta buy an APC UPS

Umm, other than the graphics card, the stuff I know I'm getting for sure:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus A8V-E Deluxe
Transcend 2 x 512 mb DDR400
Seagate Barracuda SATA 2 x 80gb in raid0
LiteOn 16X DVD ROM
Samsung 17" 793MB
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers
Antec 400W

Also:
Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse

Is there a good Logitech kb + mouse bundle which you'd recommend instead of the above.

[darklord]

There is still NO card in the market that has a 512 MB of frame buffer.Maximum you get it 256 MB.

[quad master]

Originally Posted by Astrix

Tell me, is the Geforce 6600 128mb not good enough for using Maya, 3dsMax? The main issue here seems to be the 128mb ... the person my dad turned to for advice doesn't think so. He suggests freaking 512mb... I told him 256mb was still realistic. Not that I'm complaining, but I don't want to spend money on something that won't make much of a difference.

Well you can get 512MB GPU

Get your hands on ASUS A8N Sli which has 2 PCI-E x16 Slots
and insert 2 x XFX Geforce 6600GT 256MB GPU's

Thats it you got 512MB of GPU

[darklord]

There is NO 6600GT in 256 MB flavour.

only 6600 & 6800 series

[Astrix]

Are the 3DLabs Wildcat Realizm series, ATI FireGL series, and Nvidia Quadro FX series even available here? They're supposed to be the best for workstation graphics. Freakily expensive I'd imagine.

I'm going to try and look for these, and get if it comes for max 12k, otherwise the Geforce 6600 256mb (about 8k?). The Alias Maya site states the Quadro series are recommended over Geforce any day, but whatever...

[babumuchhala]

Instead of going fr 2x80GB HDD=2x3500=7000 as compared to 4500 for a 160 GB HDD. You save 2500 and could spend it on Gfx Card or increase the HDD size to 200 GB(SATA) or 250 GB (non SATA) man.

But its ur descion finally

[supersaiyan]

well u should go for a 1*160gb seagate barracuda hdd.
try to get a good gfx card. atleast a 6600gt. u can check out my config i got for arnd 38k.
1*seagate barracude hdd
asus k8v-x mobo.
gainward 6600gt
creative inspire 5200 speakers
antec true lanboy cabinet
samsung 793dbf monitor.
microsoft basic optical mouse.
snoppy land cruiser wheel

u should go for 2 512mb ram sticks rather than 1 1gb ram . the plus pt is tht u save a few hundred bucks plus if just in case 1 ram stick goes out of order the other is there. the liteon cd writer combo is good. u can opt for a floppy drive if u want.
good luck