suggest me components for a new pc configuration

[majithia23]

hello friends ,

well i was going to get a pc configured for my younger cousin .

i am doing bit of research on my own also ,

but wanted to get some suggestions from experienced members also , as it would help me short list my choices .

here are my requirements , suggest a suitable hardware for it ...

graphics card -- a decent one ,should be able to play HD movies and giving a decent game play with most of the recent games ( like should be able to handle crysis , gears of wars , mass effect , modern warfare etc ... i mean it should be able to play ok and not like playing with every setting at extreme ..)

ram -- preferably 4 gigs ddr3

hd-- 250 to 500 gigs

mobo -- the best one . should have all the support . hdmi and esata .

cabinet ?

monitor -- 17" or 19" ( i think i ll go for samsung )

and a dvd drive combo .

and the Processor -- AMD or Intel .

any one ,which would work best . ( m personally no big a fan of either . have both AMD and Intel on my two machines . )

should give a good performance with all the routine tasks + handle the graphics card good + video coding + audio burning and all that ........

my budget is around Rs40,000 to Rs45,000 ( around $890 to $1000. but the prices are not the same in US and India . but just have an estimate ...)

thanks ..

[DKT27]

Intel i5, it depends on you that you wanna go for quad core or dual core with HT enabled. But I haven't heard great reviews for the dual one. And yes after top i7s and one AMD processor, it comes i5 quad core. On websites, i5 750 is Rs.11K

Kingston RAM. 4GB DDR3 will cost around Rs. 6K

I don't think that I'll go for a mobo with esata but, these motherboards with esata will cost you around Rs.15-20K. I'm thinking to go with Asus. It would be good for you.

Samsung monitors are good.

NEVER go for a DVD Drive Combo, have faced a lots and lots of problems with them in past. Go for DVD writer(read/write, DVD/CD). Will cost you around Rs. 1K to 2K.

I'm waiting for ATI 5570 to launch in India it's great. Will cost around Rs. 4K.

Don't forget PSU, you will need one around 500W to 600W PSU. Cooler Master is great. Depending on the model to power, it will cost you from Rs. 3k to 6K.

[LeetPirate]

^^ What he said. :)

Except if we're talking about value ram I never get Kingston. I never mentioned it before because I really am too lazy to explain why. :D

The short version is they use too many lower density ram chips per module, like probably rejected crap chips. I know lots of people are fans of the name Kingston but in reality Kingston memory has one of the slowest read/write speeds in the universe, their high capacity flash drives are the worst too. The higher end ram like HyperX series is good though. The problem I have with the value series is too many ram chips on the module use more power and generate more heat, that's one problem. The second problem is it becomes more difficult to synchronise modules with more chips to use dual channel unless the timings are really slack. The third problem is they won't overclock good at all, the entire module will be as weak as the weakest chip on it, more chips means greater chance of weakness.

You would be surprised to know that brands you never even heard about perform better than Kingston, like Spectek ram for example is made by Micron which is one of the best memory manufacturers around.

[mara-]

Well, what brand is your recommendation then? Some we heard for?

Cheers ;)

[Toshiro]

Well, what brand is your recommendation then? Some we heard for?

Cheers ;)

I'm Sure he's gonna say GEIL, OCZ and maybe corsair.. (>>RMA = terrible)

[LeetPirate]

Well, what brand is your recommendation then? Some we heard for?

Cheers ;)

I'm Sure he's gonna say GEIL, OCZ and maybe corsair.. (>>RMA = terrible)

When I buy value ram I look at the reviews and the operating voltage. DDR2 for instance, I look for something operating normally at 1.8v to 1.9v. I check the reviews first to limit the chances of getting bad ram. A-DATA ram is a steal of a deal, look at this 4GB dual channel kit for example. Heatsink, 1.8V and it overclocks kinda ok, fantastic reviews as well. There are also some other brands I know of, Markvision and Titan, some pretty crappy sounding names but they always seem to work since the people I make the systems for never return or complain. I never had to RMA memory to the manufacturer before, any problems usually show up early and I return it to the store I bought it from within 30 days.

For high performance ram I suggest you really read reviews for the model you want before you buy it, and I mean customer reviews not pro reviews. My fav brands are HyperX, Mushkin, G.Skill, and OCZ. OCZ has a very confusing product line and naming convention, but you get great low price deals often. Brand is not really relevant though, many times a particular product will have pretty bad reviews even though the brand is considered good. G.Skill Trident is one such case.

Since we are on the topic of memory, flash memory comes to my mind. If you need a usb flash drive 4GB or over you should consider the write speed on the device else you will be sorry when trying to copy large amounts of data. The best deal I have seen with flash drives is Mushkin Mulholland drives, 4GB for an average of 12USD with 16MB/s write speed. Compare that to other brands in that price range, the rest of them only have a pitiful 3~5MB/s write speed.

Bear in mind that everyone's taste is different so buy what you like, what I am trying to point out is that you should not pay extra money to get Kingston value ram expecting it to be any better than other brands of value ram. If you are going to pay extra for anything it should be to buy it at a store with a great return policy for DOA protection atleast.

[mara-]

OK, thanks for the info. What do you think about APACER? I can't find reviews about it.

Cheers ;)