Budget Gaming PC, built around HD 6770

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1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: Should be able to play all latest games with high details at 1360 x 768 and future games upto 2 years at medium to low settings

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: I already have monitor, DVD Drive, Speakers.

Total Budget- 25K for GPU, CPU,PSU, Mobo, RAM, Case & HDD.
I divided it like this
Graphic Card+ PSU- 10K
CPU+ Mobo- 7 to 8K
Memory- 1.5K
Case- as lowest as possible
Hard Drive- as lowest as possible- I don't want get terabyte hard drives with high prices right now. 250GB will be gud enough. Already have a 1 TB external hard drive.

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: No.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Win 7 and XP.

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: 250GB is gud enough.

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: I have 19 inch monitor, with resolution 1360 x 768.

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: I already have monitor, DVD Drive, Speakers.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: In less than a month

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: I have built desktop before, can assemble myself.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: Hyderabad. buying at Chenoy Trade Centre.

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: Primary requirement is to build budget gaming system around Graphic card which can play all the latest games at high details at 1360X768 and play future games upto 2 years at medium to low settings. I don't want a situation where i cannot play future games at even lowest settings atleast 2 years from now.
Thats why i am spending most of money on Graphic Card+ PSU. Cheapest possibe CPU+Mobo which doesn't bottleneck gaming performance.

I have HD 6770 in my mind. But if there is a better card which i can get in my budget (25K) then it would be gr8.

AMD Phenom II X4 955BE @ 6K
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H Rev 3.1 @ 3.8K
Corsair 4GBX1 1333 MHz DDR3 Value Ram @ 1.1K
Any Normal Big Cabinet without PSU @ 1K
Corsair CX500 V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6850 1GB Power Edition/OC @ 9K (Spring Refresh: The Mighty MSI (AMD) Radeon 7970 and Other GPU's at SMC... - TechEnclave)

Total: 23.9K. I think now with the extra money, get the better board, Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K

M

Cilus said:
Total: 23.9K. I think now with the extra money, get the better board, Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K

Great config here cilus!

He can get the X6 1055T also!

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Cilus said:
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE @ 6K
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H Rev 3.1 @ 3.8K
Corsair 4GBX1 1333 MHz DDR3 Value Ram @ 1.1K
Any Normal Big Cabinet without PSU @ 1K
Corsair CX500 V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6850 1GB Power Edition/OC @ 9K (Spring Refresh: The Mighty MSI (AMD) Radeon 7970 and Other GPU's at SMC... - TechEnclave)

Total: 23.9K. I think now with the extra money, get the better board, Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K

I was really surprised to see HD 6850 & Phenom II X4 in my budget. But Hard Disk is missing in the configuration.

Athlon II X3/X4 for 4K
Mobo for 3.8K
500 GB HDD for 4K
PSU for for 3K
4 GB Memory for 1.1K
HD 6850 for 9.1K

Another option would be get Phenom II X4 for 6K, HD 6770 for 7.2K, FSP II Saga 500W.

If Athlon II X4 are available in your locality then grab it. But AFAIK, AMD has stopped manufacturing those processors and they are no more available in market, both in street shops or in the Online shops.

Mr.V, X6 1055T is not that good for gaming. Also overclocking it is little tougher as it is a non Black Edition processor.

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Cilus said:
If Athlon II X4 are available in your locality then grab it. But AFAIK, AMD has stopped manufacturing those processors and they are no more available in market, both in street shops or in the Online shops.

if i cannot get Athlon X4 then what is the best processor at 4K price?

ask for Phenom II X4 840. that should cost 4.5k or maybe less if available.

or try this config:
AMD A6 3650 @ 6344
Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V @ 3536
Corsair DDR3 4 GB @ 1131
WDC 500Gb @ 4k [online shops quote ~5k]
MSI HD6850 @ 8700
local cabby @ 1k
Corsair CX430W @ 2348

TOTAL: 27k. you may opt for 250Gb HDD and get the config at 25k. just at your budget.

though the config given by Cilus is better. just change PSU and get a 250Gb HDD and it'll be under your budget too.

S

Mr.V said:
Great config here cilus!
He can get the X6 1055T also!

1055T is actually slower than 955 in games due to less clock speed.(3.2>2.8)
it is not a black edition processor so overclocking is not easy.

AnandTech - Bench - CPU

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Sam said:
ask for Phenom II X4 840. that should cost 4.5k or maybe less if available.

or try this config:
AMD A6 3650 @ 6344
Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V @ 3536
Corsair DDR3 4 GB @ 1131
WDC 500Gb @ 4k [online shops quote ~5k]
MSI HD6850 @ 8700
local cabby @ 1k
Corsair CX430W @ 2348

TOTAL: 27k. you may opt for 250Gb HDD and get the config at 25k. just at your budget.

though the config given by Cilus is better. just change PSU and get a 250Gb HDD and it'll be under your budget too.

How much will a 250GB HDD cost. 2K?

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More like 2.5K, actually. Ever been to a dhaba and ordered tandoori chicken? You wont really find a whole tandoori chicken costing Rs. 150 and half tandoori chicken costing Rs. 75, will you? The half will always cost around Rs. 85 or Rs. 90. Same concept, just replace tandoori chicken with hard drives

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Sam said:
ask for Phenom II X4 840. that should cost 4.5k or maybe less if available.

or try this config:
AMD A6 3650 @ 6344
Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V @ 3536
Corsair DDR3 4 GB @ 1131
WDC 500Gb @ 4k [online shops quote ~5k]
MSI HD6850 @ 8700
local cabby @ 1k
Corsair CX430W @ 2348

TOTAL: 27k. you may opt for 250Gb HDD and get the config at 25k. just at your budget.

though the config given by Cilus is better. just change PSU and get a 250Gb HDD and it'll be under your budget too.

will the GPU in AMD A6 add to the graphics performance of Discrete card while gaming?
how much difference in graphics will be there with A6 3650+ HD 6850 and Phenom II X4 955 BE + HD 6850?

i was thinking if Athlon II X4s are disappearing from market, then instead of going for Athlon X3 or X2, better get Phenom II X4 or AMD A6 or Core i3 at 6K mark.

If u r planning to get gfx card over HD 6670 then there is no point of getting a A6 processor as the igp will be completely disabled. Only with 6670 or lower version, it will work in hybrid cf mode. So 955 + 6850 is always a better option.

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Cilus said:
If u r planning to get gfx card over HD 6670 then there is no point of getting a A6 processor as the igp will be completely disabled. Only with 6670 or lower version, it will work in hybrid cf mode. So 955 + 6850 is always a better option.

ok then no AMD APUs.

I have asked this question before in mobile phone forums , Am i going to get company warranty if i purchased online?, will support be similar to purchasing at local stores?

ajaymailed said:
I have asked this question before in mobile phone forums , Am i going to get company warranty if i purchased online?, will support be similar to purchasing at local stores?

yes. most service center guys don't even look for bill. they just check the serial number in case of motherboard, GPU, etc. most peoples here have brought stuffs online.

Still it is good to keep the bill because the warranty then starts from the date of purchase. Otherwise, it will start from the manufacturing date of the product. So keeping the bills sometimes might provide you couple of month's extra warranty

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Sam said:
yes. most service center guys don't even look for bill. they just check the serial number in case of motherboard, GPU, etc. most peoples here have brought stuffs online.

thanks for the info. I somehow am bit of afraid of buying gadgets online, that i may be cheated. Are there any list of websites which we should avoid buying at? or list of trusted & reliable shopping sites?

Reliable Sites : TheITwares Ecommerce , SMC international , Theitdepot - India's First IT Online Shopping Store , Shop Online for Computer Hardware - Hardwire.in , Today's Cool Deal ! , TechShop.in - Buy Tech Online Now!!! and lastly eBay India - Online Shopping Mall: Free Auctions, Shop/Buy/Sell Mobiles, Cameras, Apparel, Computers, Bollywood Clothes & Indian Products

I had ordered items from all these shops and they're very reliable and accurate. You can easily buy any electronic items from them without any hassle Or i say Trouble free shopping

Cilus said:
Still it is good to keep the bill because the warranty then starts from the date of purchase. Otherwise, it will start from the manufacturing date of the product. So keeping the bills sometimes might provide you couple of month's extra warranty

i was just giving an example. bill is given with all purchases but most service center guys don't ask for the same.

ajaymailed said:
thanks for the info. I somehow am bit of afraid of buying gadgets online, that i may be cheated. Are there any list of websites which we should avoid buying at? or list of trusted & reliable shopping sites?

online shopping has improved a lot in the last few years. i have brought more than 40k worth of PC related stuff online from ITWares, flipkart & SMCI nternational (most trusted shop).

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thankx for the info Sam and for websitesashis

Cilus said:
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE @ 6K
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H Rev 3.1 @ 3.8K
Corsair 4GBX1 1333 MHz DDR3 Value Ram @ 1.1K
Any Normal Big Cabinet without PSU @ 1K
Corsair CX500 V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6850 1GB Power Edition/OC @ 9K (Spring Refresh: The Mighty MSI (AMD) Radeon 7970 and Other GPU's at SMC... - TechEnclave)

Total: 23.9K. I think now with the extra money, get the better board, Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K

my hard disk headache got finally solved, my friend agreed to give his 250 GB HDD. So i can afford this configuration afteralll . :doublethumb:

if i can replace Corsair CX 500 V2 with FSP Saga II 500W, i can save 800. I can still spend 2000 more and still be under budget.

Shall i get better gigabyte motherboard for 4.8K as cilus says or 4GB 1600 Mhz DDR3 or 8 GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 or may be Phenom II X4 975 or HD 6870?
Where is that extra 2000 well spent to improve gaming performance.

instead of FSP Saga II 500W go for Corsair CX430W or maybe the newly released VS450W. extra warranty at almost no extra cost.

keep the board same. so either go for 6870 or 960T or 970T (it may get unlocked to 6core).

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Sam said:
keep the board same. so either go for 6870 or 960T or 970T (it may get unlocked to 6core).

Do i have to mess with settings to unlock it? would it void the warranty?

instead of FSP Saga II 500W go for Corsair CX430W or maybe the newly released VS450W. extra warranty at almost no extra cost.

would CX430W be enough power 6870?

W

get a 500W PSU for future headroom & peace of mind.you can get corsair cx500v2 for ~3200 which has better quality & after sales support along with 3yr warranty of replacement(FSP has 2yr & they repair not replace).

ajaymailed said:
Do i have to mess with settings to unlock it? would it void the warranty?

not much. just turn on a setting in bios. either pc will boot up fine and run stable or give a BSOD. the latter means unlocking failed. turn off the setting in bios and everything is back to normal. i.e. a 4core processor.

ajaymailed said:
would CX430W be enough power 6870?

yes CX430W will be enough. or go with the above suggestion of CX500W.

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Will Core i3 2100 be a better processor than X4 955 for gaming if i don't intend to overclock?, its has edge over almost all Phenom II X4 models. Am i really going to need two extra cores of Phenom in future ?

Conclusion: Sandy Bridge Has Game : Who's Got Game? Twelve Sub-$200 CPUs Compared
AnandTech - Bench - CPU

i was so impressed with low prices of quard core Phenoms that i didn't care much about Intel Sandy bridge, thought its always pricey. But seems like Sandy bridge is undisputed leader in gaming.

Can i get a decent Core i3 2100 mobo under 5K? plz suggest me decent Core i3 setup for HD 6850.

W

you can get intel DH67CLB3 for ~5200 which has usb3,sata3 & esata ports or you can get a h61 mobo for ~3300 without these features(normal usb & sata2).core i3 price is ~5900 in nehru place,delhi.rest of the config remains same.however in my opinion even though core i3 is faster it is better to get a quad core processor now-a-days especially if you are a gamer as many games in future will make use of more than 2 cores.

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whitestar_999 said:
you can get intel DH67CLB3 for ~5200 which has usb3,sata3 & esata ports or you can get a h61 mobo for ~3300 without these features(normal usb & sata2).core i3 price is ~5900 in nehru place,delhi.rest of the config remains same.however in my opinion even though core i3 is faster it is better to get a quad core processor now-a-days especially if you are a gamer as many games in future will make use of more than 2 cores.

what if i get a core i5 sandy bridge. how much that would cost me? including motherboard

cheapest i5 cost ~9k
so a H61 board @ 3.3k

so either go for the Phenom II X4 processor else jump to Core i5 2400. don't go for i3s as even with hyper threading those may feel slow as more and more games take use of multicore. moreover without any overclocking capabilities, this is not recommended.

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Sam said:
cheapest i5 cost ~9k
so a H61 board @ 3.3k

so either go for the Phenom II X4 processor else jump to Core i5 2400. don't go for i3s as even with hyper threading those may feel slow as more and more games take use of multicore. moreover without any overclocking capabilities, this is not recommended.

I wanted to follow one simple rule while buying gaming desktop. Put my money in the best possible for Graphics and cheapest possible processor and mobo which doesn't bottleneck or turn obsolete in near future. Id have to invest atleast 3K more if i am going for Core i5 rather than Phenom X4, that 3K is probably better spent on graphics card. Core i3 is indeed tempting, but if future games are gonna use more than 2 cores then Phenom X4 is best option in this budget.

^^ thats what i always suggest. processor can be overclocked easily but not GPU. but also consider what resolution you'll be gaming at or if you plan to get a bigger display. else going for a highend GPU with a low resolution monitor may make little sense.

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Sam said:
^^ thats what i always suggest. processor can be overclocked easily but not GPU. but also consider what resolution you'll be gaming at or if you plan to get a bigger display. else going for a highend GPU with a low resolution monitor may make little sense.

I have Samsung Sync Master 933 19 inch with resolution 1360 x 768. I may purchase 22 inch monitor next year or so.
but before that i may get a 32 inch or 40 inch LED TV. I hope i can enjoy gaming in big screen tv with HD 6850.

I am thinking getting Cilus original config with HD 6870, may be i have to shell 2K to 3K more but if its below 30K it should be fine.
primeabgb.com prices HD 6870 at 11.5K. Is it ok to buy there?
*www.primeabgb.com/index.php?page=s...tegory_id=132&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53

W

i am not a gamer so not sure but from whatever i read about cards suggestions here i think 6850 is a bit under powered to fully enjoy games on a full HD screen.

yes. HD6850 is a bit underpowered and with HD7XXX making an entry, it maybe wise to go for HD7850 if priced same as HD6870.

@OP, primeabgb charges high carrying charge. send smc a mail asking for cheapest HD6870 GPU they have.

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How does combination of HD 6870 and Phenom II X4 840 sound. I may save 1000 bucks there with may be negligible loss of performance compared to X4 955.

W

performance wise i doubt you would notice any difference between 840 & 955 for most of the time.for card wait for others/gamers but i think 6870 is noticeably better than 6850.

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whitestar_999 said:
performance wise i doubt you would notice any difference between 840 & 955 for most of the time.for card wait for others/gamers but i think 6870 is noticeably better than 6850.

reviews indicate there is difference of 10 to 20% in FPS in gaming performance between two cards.

ajaymailed said:
How does combination of HD 6870 and Phenom II X4 840 sound. I may save 1000 bucks there with may be negligible loss of performance compared to X4 955.

Value for Money :smile:

but finding Phenom II X4 840 or Athlon II X4 equivalent won't be any easy task. One thing about Phenom II X4s (not the 840 as its a Athlon II X4 rebadged) is that some coolers make a really annoying noise and only way to solve it is purchasing a 1.3-2k cooler. so if you can find Phenom II X4 840, go for it.

A

but finding Phenom II X4 840 or Athlon II X4 equivalent won't be any easy task. One thing about Phenom II X4s (not the 840 as its a Athlon II X4 rebadged) is that some coolers make a really annoying noise and only way to solve it is purchasing a 1.3-2k cooler. so if you can find Phenom II X4 840, go for it.

I would get even better rig if i could find Athlon II X4, may be even HD 6950. under 30K Budget. I hope i can find atleast 840.

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finally bought my system. went over my budget by 5K, but i think i bought a good one.

|11650
Power Supply|Corsair CX500V2 500W :doublethumb:

all purchased locally.
*imageupload.org/thumb/thumb_188407.jpg

*imageupload.org/thumb/thumb_188410.jpg

apparently even Phenom II X4 955 was difficult to find, entire Phenom & Athlon series (except few Phenom X2 models) are quickly disappearing from market replaced by Bulldozer and Llano. :wah:

Initially i wanted to have Gigabyte 880G but shop walla offered Asus mobo with 4 RAM Slots, 7.1 Audio. CrossfireX, for 900 more, so i bought it.

I wanted to go for cheap small cabinet but overwhelmed :shock:

after looking at size of HD 6870. my motherboard was looking puny before that. I didn't want to put too much on Cabinet, they showed me some budget CM models, probably too small for 6870 , but then they showed me big circle cabinet, i bought it.

I didn't want to put 11.5K for Mobo+CPU but unavailability of Athlon X4 or Phenom X4 forced me to. Spent 2 to 3K more there. Most of the shops haven't got FSP PSU, So had to got for Corsair. Had to spend 1K more than i expected. I just didn't want to compromise on GPU and PSU. I think i bought gr8 combination in my budget.
eagerly waiting for all your views.

grateful to Sam, Cilus, whitestar :clap2:

to help me. without discussing in thinkdigit forums i would have gone for budget 6670 card with a local zebronics PSU. I never wud be going for 6850, let alone 6870.

Cilus thread on Best money for graphics card is awesome :clap2:

, I only wish thinkdigit publishes such information for gaming enthusiasts.
power supply articles on by The Sorcerer and Ico really opened my eyes.

Now some suggestions needed for OS. I know the limitation of 32 bit, its showing 3.25 GB instead of 4GB. But i guess rest of it will be used by other components like GPU may be?

I want to get 64 bit OS but do i have get for 64 bit versions of games or softwares seperately or even normal softwares are compatible?

Some of the old games i have are not working in Win 7 but XP. I was thinking of installing XP64 bit and Win7 32bit. what say?

W

I know the limitation of 32 bit, its showing 3.25 GB instead of 4GB. But i guess rest of it will be used by other components like GPU may be?

no this is applicable only for onboard graphics not graphics card which have their own separate ram(1GB GDDR5 in your case).

I want to get 64 bit OS but do i have get for 64 bit versions of games or softwares seperately or even normal softwares are compatible?

there are very few native 64bit applications.most of the applications used on 64bit windows 7 are 32bit versions(hence 2 program file folders--one for 64bit & one for 32bit called program filesx86).

Some of the old games i have are not working in Win 7 but XP. I was thinking of installing XP64 bit and Win7 32bit. what say?

which games?btw have you tried the compatibility mode to run these games.

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whitestar_999 said:
which games?btw have you tried the compatibility mode to run these games.

oh i didn't know it was even there.

you haven't commented on my config whitestar

W

good config but take extra care of mobo because asus service in kolkata is very bad.if not in kolkata then it is ok.

congrats. well Gigabyte should have been easier to find but most shopkeepers offer Asus. enjoy :smile:

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My 3D Mark benchmark score- P4045
AMD Radeon HD 6870 video card benchmark result - AMD Phenom II X4 970,ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A88T-M score: P4045 3DMarks
i dunno how good it is compared to others.