Building Gaming PC for 105k

Ok so I have sold my old PC and now its time for a completely new rig. This won't be an upgrade but rather a completely new build from ground up.

1. What is the purpose of the computer? (Note: If you are planning to say multimedia, you will have to be more specific as all types of systems are capable of doing that)
A: Mainly gaming. Movies & programming with occasional video transcoding. I have a laptop for other purposes.

2. Are you open to alternate ideas/products giving similar better performance but offering more VFM/ sellers? If not- why?
A: Yeah sure but please stick to Intel and NVIDIA for proc and gfx.

3. What is your MAX budget?
A: 100-105k

4. Planning to overclock?
A: Not now. A couple of years later perhaps when extra horsepower might be required.

5. Which OS are you planning to use?
A: Windows 7 x64

6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A: 4TB Internal & 4TB External

7. What resolution will the screen run at & whats the size of the screen you want? If you already want have one and want to use it, mention its resolution and size.
A: Has to be atleast 1080p resolution and 22"-23" for screen size.

8. How would you rate your hardware knowledge from the count of 1-10? (1 being the lowest, 5 being you are somewhat in sync with the current performers and 10 being the highest)
A: 9.5

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
A: All by myself. It would be a shame if a CSE student needed an assembler

10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: Around 1st week of June.

11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: Yep. Definitely.

12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: Its a completely new build. I need every component other than a WLAN card which I already have.

13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: Kolkata. Prefer to buy locally unless absolutely required to buy some parts online.

14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A: 1) Need the following parts: Processor, Motherboard, HDD, RAM, Graphics Card, PSU, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Cabinet, UPS, 2.1 Sound System, 1x120mm fan, Wireless Router with USB port (NAS), CPU cooler, DVD Writer.

2) Already decided on certain parts but I still want to hear from you guys on what would be the best config within budget. I want a well balanced rig unlike some rigs where the graphics card is a monster and the rest of the system is bare bones.

3) Min 8GB RAM. Not going below that.

4) I might SLI 6 months later. So please recommend the PSU accordingly.

Ar you really gonna need that much of HDD space from the beginning? 4 TB Internal will cost you around 9K and 4 TB External if 2.5" will cost you almost 16 to 18K. Are you sure to spend 25-27K just for HDD?

Off the topic: In which college you are studying?

Chose a HDD as per availibility and Clius's suggestion

Or else you get get a single GPU- MSI GTX 580 Lightning at same price

thetechfreak said:
Component | Make | Price Processor |Intel Core i7 2600k| 16500
Motherboard |ASUS P8P67 PRO| 11500
RAM |G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL|5200
Graphic Card |MSI HD6950 2GB Twin Frozr II/oc *2(CrossfireX)|30000
HDD |Seagate 1TB 7200.12|2700
DVD Writer |LG 22X SATA DVD|900
PSU |Glacialtech GP AX 950 AA|7900
Case |CM HAF 912 Advanced |5600
Monitor |DELL ST2220L|8700
Mouse |Razer Imperator|3000
Keyboard |Razer Arctosa|2000
Mouse Pad |Steel Series 4HD|1500
UPS |Numeric 1KVA|4000
Speakers |Logitech Z-506|5000
| Total |103500

Chose a HDD as per availibility and Clius's suggestion

Or else you get get a single GPU- MSI GTX 580 Lightning at same price

Pretty balanced. But OP will have a tough time finding Numeric UPS and Glacialtech SMPS in Kolkata. So this can be changed to APC 1kVA and Corsair HX850 respectively. For RAM, Corsair Vengeance can be considered. Let him come clear about the storage space first. As Cilus rightly points out, spending 25k for storage at one go may not be that wise.

PS: For CPU cooler Corsair H60 water cooling kit and for 2.1 speakers Altec Lansing VS4621 can be considered. No idea about wireless router though.

Component Make Price
Processor Intel Core i5 2500k 10500
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 PRO 11500
RAM Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 2x4GB 5400
Graphic Card Sapphire HD 6990 39000
HDD Seagate 1TB 7200.12 2700
DVD Writer LG 22X SATA DVD 800
PSU Corsair HX 850 9000
Case CM HAF 912 Advanced 5600
Monitor Benq E2200HD 8700
Mouse Razer Imperator 3000
Keyboard Razer Arctosa 2000
UPS Numeric 1KVA 4000
Speakers Altec Lansing VS4121 3000
Total 105200

Numeric is not available in Kolkata. Get the APC 1.1 KVA from Vedant @ 4.5K. I'm currently using it and its performance is rock solid. With my Monitor and Speaker connected, it normally gives me backup for more than 30 mins, even while playing games.
For motherboard, I think Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 @ 10.7K (including 5% vat in lynx-india) is a better option. I've experience with Lynx-india and they are reliable.

Guys unfortunately my laptop hdd has crashed in the morning. Working desperately hard to fix everything now but no luck so far. Had exam in the morning. I am typing this from my Nokia 5800.

Thanks for the build recommendations so far. But i also need to fit in a good wireless router with NAS ability and a cpu cooler within my budget. My current router is dropping connections and I cant do without a router as i have 2 laptops and 1 desktop at home. And yeah I do need that much HDD space because I work with raw uncompressed videos which chews through space like nothing. Then there are lots of games and movies to store. External HDD can be 3.5", doesnt need to be 2.5". Please recommend a build with the above mentioned changes.

two internal 3.5" 2 TB HDD = 4.5K X 2 = 9K
2 X Western Digital 2 TB 3.5" External = 4.75K X 2 = 9.5K

Then you are left with (105-9-9.5)K = 86.5K

So a updated config for you:-

Core i5 2500K @ 10.8K (new price in Lynx-india)
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 @ 11K
2 X 4 GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 @ 5.4K
Msi R6970-2PM2D2GD5 @ 20K
LG 22X SATA DVD RW @ 0.8K
Corsair HX 850 @ 9K
CM HAF 912 Advanced @ 5.8K
Dell ST2220L 21.5” W Full HD LED @ 8.75K
CM Spawn with free Mouse pad @ 2.2K
RAzor Arctosa Keyboard @ 2K
APC 1.1KVA @ 4.5K
Cooler Master Hyper N620 CPU Cooler @ 2.5K
Altec Lancing VS4121 @ 3K

Total 85.75K

Cilus, thanks. But any suggestions for the router?

I like your config. I am thinking about saving 6k on the graphics card by going for the GTX 560 and putting that money behind a router with NAS. If I go for the 6970, then I have no money left for the router and its indispensable. Besides, benchmarks show the GTX 560 Hawk can beat the 6970. So I cant justify wasting 6k more for a similar performance card.

Btw how come Gigabyte Z68 mobo is priced lesser than Asus P67 pro? Is that Z68 board worse than the P67?

Btw how come Gigabyte Z68 mobo is priced lesser than Asus P67 pro? Is that Z68 board worse than the P67?

It is Gigabyte's pricing policy, so I cannot tell you why. :smile:

The thing is ASUS products are normally little costlier than their counterparts. Check the Toms Hardware Z68 mobo round up where ASUS and ECS Z68 mobos are priced over $200 and the Gigabyte one is just around $160-$180 range and till provide almost same level of performance. Its build quality is also superb.

Here is some pics of it:
*media.bestofmicro.com/,4-5-291749-3.jpg

*media.bestofmicro.com/,3-U-291738-3.jpg

*media.bestofmicro.com/4/4/291748/original/gigabyte_z68x-ud3h-b3_pwm.jpg

But apparently Gigabyte Z68 boards don't have Virtu/Quick Sync and IGPU video out. Is that true? If that's true, then its the same as a P67 board with no added advantage.

nginx said:
But apparently Gigabyte Z68 boards don't have Virtu/Quick Sync and IGPU video out. Is that true? If that's true, then its the same as a P67 board with no added advantage.

You got it pal. Check your pm.

The board I've suggested is having all the things u r asking for. It does come with 1 DVI and one VGA output. Check the images I've posted.

Cilus said:
The board I've suggested is having all the things u r asking for. It does come with 1 DVI and one VGA output. Check the images I've posted.

Does it support Virtu? That's the reason we want z68 remember?

Specs:
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 (rev. 1.0)

No support for Virtu/Quick Sync. Can't find any mention of IGPU video out either.

That board sucks, asus z68? Check your pm.

T

Go for linksys E3000

price here and here

Hope this helps :thumbs:

And another thing is If you can find a CCIE then you'll get good discount :Fingerx:

^ Thanks man. Any other recommendations? A couple of choices at hand would be good be good for side by side comparison.

And what is CCIE you're talking about?

nginx make sure ram voltage is 1.5v

I have heard from a friend that 1.65v kills SB CPU.

If you dont plan to OC now then dont get new cooler and add its cost to the TX 850 man.

Also,to save some $$ you can get corsair RAM at amazon.

My dominator GTs at time of purchase costed 23k here and I got it for 14k at amazon,+ shipping.

It has lifetime warranty btw and on direct RMA to corsair you get full warranty.

Extreme Gamer, does Amazon ship in Kolkata? if yes then what is the approximate shipping charge?

nginx said:
Cilus, thanks. But any suggestions for the router?

I like your config. I am thinking about saving 6k on the graphics card by going for the GTX 560 and putting that money behind a router with NAS. If I go for the 6970, then I have no money left for the router and its indispensable. Besides, benchmarks show the GTX 560 Hawk can beat the 6970. So I cant justify wasting 6k more for a similar performance card.

Btw how come Gigabyte Z68 mobo is priced lesser than Asus P67 pro? Is that Z68 board worse than the P67?

well you are wrong here.
if i consider a 560 ti hawk review -
Introduction - MSI N560GTX-Ti Hawk Video Card Review | [H]ard|OCP
(look at apples-to-apples comparison at bottom)
a 6950 running at stock beats a 560 ti hawk (oced 560 ti to 950mhz) in 3 out of 5 games.

Cilus shipping charge depends on product.

There are manufacturer restrictions in shipping to India, but Corsair USA permits it.

no point getting PSU from amazon due to weight.

nginx, GTX 560 Ti is no match for HD 6970 and even non OCed HD 6950 beats the standard overclocked GTX 560 Ti in almost all scenarios. MSI Hawk version is not available in Kolkata and the twin frozer II/OC is available @ 14.2K. Now the standard Sapphire HD 6950 2 GB is available around 14.2 to 14.5K in M.D. Compuetrs and the MSI Twin Frozer version is available @ 15K. So HD 6950 is a far better choice. It also consumes less power than 560 Ti. Oced version of GTX 560 Ti consumes a lot higher power than HD 6950.

T

nginx said:
^ Thanks man. Any other recommendations? A couple of choices at hand would be good be good for side by side comparison.

And what is CCIE you're talking about?

Well!! then first tell me what's your budget for router?

And CCIE stands for Cisco Certified Internet Expert. They get good discount on Cisco products.

Look in kol hw price check to get some quotes.

ALL MSI CARDS CAN BE IMPORTED BY MD COMPUTERS. INCLUDING THE GTX 560ti HAWK

T

here are some more recommendation:
Linksys E3000 @6.3k,
Linksys E3200 @9.5k,
Linksys E4200 @11.3k,
Linksys WRT610N v2 @7.3k,
LaCie Wireless Space (1TB) @14.8k,

I suggest go for E4200 model if budget is not a pro else go for E3000. PrimeABGB and ITDeopt over priced so ignore those link. Though my given price is not accurate(lowest price you can get in market :Fingerx:

).

Asus Z68 Vpro launched in kolkata.

Nice. Thanks Shayem.

@nginx:
Select the wireless router and the storage drives first. After that we can work out with the rest of the budget for your other components.

Skud said:
Nice. Thanks Shayem.

@nginx:
Select the wireless router and the storage drives first. After that we can work out with the rest of the budget for your other components.

He bought the storage already(he bought 2 Seagate and 2 WD external hdds today @ 15k), wonder what he will do with so much external storage.

OK, so that capped the budget @ 90k. Let him select the router then. Regarding storage space, OP had stated he works with raw, uncompressed video. I once recorded Crysis at highest settings through FRAPS and a 5-6 minute run generates a filesize of 4gb. :shock:

Just wondering what the whole game would have taken.

Cilus said:
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 @ 11K

Cilus said:
It is Gigabyte's pricing policy, so I cannot tell you why.
The thing is ASUS products are normally little costlier than their counterparts. Check the Toms Hardware Z68 mobo round up where ASUS and ECS Z68 mobos are priced over $200 and the Gigabyte one is just around $160-$180 range and till provide almost same level of performance. Its build quality is also superb.

Here is some pics of it:
*media.bestofmicro.com/,4-5-291749-3.jpg

nginx said:
But apparently Gigabyte Z68 boards don't have Virtu/Quick Sync and IGPU video out. Is that true? If that's true, then its the same as a P67 board with no added advantage.

Cilus said:
The board I've suggested is having all the things u r asking for. It does come with 1 DVI and one VGA output. Check the images I've posted.

Cilus sir - some n00b hacked your id?
You suggested UD3R- mobo pic you gave is of UD3H.

Have seen most people use at least 60GB or bigger SSD for OS and stuff.
And then without all the features and no support for even Sandy Bridge integrated GPU, a Z68 motherboard will be no better than a P67 one, if both are used with the same/similar SSD for OS?

nginx said:
Specs:
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 (rev. 1.0)

No support for Virtu/Quick Sync. Can't find any mention of IGPU video out either.

Yup, checked again- thanks- that makes it clear.

Gigabyte Z68 = Gigabyte P67 = Hence cheaper than Asus Z68.

Gigabyte engineers are drunk probably? Not a single board with display? What? They thought we want Z68 because of ssd caching?

was that RAW video Skud?

Extreme Gamer said:
was that RAW video Skud?

FRAPS records RAW video.

fraps can also do other encodes (if you have paid version- i dont know which one skud has so i asked)

T

Skud said:
Nice. Thanks Shayem.

@nginx:
Select the wireless router and the storage drives first. After that we can work out with the rest of the budget for your other components.

no prob happy to help :smile:

shayem said:
here are some more recommendation:
Linksys E3000 @6.3k,
Linksys E3200 @9.5k,
Linksys E4200 @11.3k,
Linksys WRT610N v2 @7.3k,
LaCie Wireless Space (1TB) @14.8k,

I suggest go for E4200 model if budget is not a pro else go for E3000. PrimeABGB and ITDeopt over priced so ignore those link. Though my given price is not accurate(lowest price you can get in market ).

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. I haven't looked into them in details yet but just an overview of the specs. None of these really have the "bang for buck" if you know what I mean. Paying 11.5k for a router is not gonna happen.

I think the Asus RT-N16 is a monster for ~6k. It blows away any other router within 8k in terms of sheer specs and performance. I will research on it some more but at the moment, it seems like an obvious choice to me. Let's just say I have made up my mind

Cilus said:
nginx, GTX 560 Ti is no match for HD 6970 and even non OCed HD 6950 beats the standard overclocked GTX 560 Ti in almost all scenarios. MSI Hawk version is not available in Kolkata and the twin frozer II/OC is available @ 14.2K. Now the standard Sapphire HD 6950 2 GB is available around 14.2 to 14.5K in M.D. Compuetrs and the MSI Twin Frozer version is available @ 15K. So HD 6950 is a far better choice. It also consumes less power than 560 Ti. Oced version of GTX 560 Ti consumes a lot higher power than HD 6950.

The comparison benchmarks between the 560 Hawk, 6950 and 6970 seems to vary widely depending on what site you visit. I clearly remember tkin and I were discussing a couple of weeks ago how the GTX 560 Hawk is beating 6950 and even the 6970 in certain games. So its a coin toss if you ask me. My primary reason for sticking with NVIDIA is PhysX and CUDA.

Extreme Gamer said:
was that RAW video Skud?

Fraps record only RAW video only. Definitely its a full version, free version record only 30 secs of video. Check this - there's not much settings to choose:-

FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software

The filesize is big because there isnt enough time to encode the movie while the game is running. The movie frames are slightly compressed, but still require a large amount of disk space due to the high resolutions. After you have finished capturing you can convert the clips into a compressed format using a video editing program.[/qoute]

Its a 3.2 version, don't know about newer version.

my bad,I got confused between image and movie lol

you should update to 3.4.5

ironically MSI afterburner is free and supports various formats for movies(MJPG,RVT1 and uncompressed).

Never tried Afterburner but the quality of FRAPS is awesome. Real WYSIWYG.

pegasus, I gues I am the n00b here as no one has hacked my account. Actually I have mistakenly swapped the specs of these two motherboards.

Extreme Gamer, RAW video means a digital video stream on which no compression logic has been applied. You can consider it as thousands of still frames coming one by one. A 30 FPS 1 hour uncompressed video will have (30 X 3600) = 108000 frames. Now if the frame resolution is 1280 X 720 (720P) and 24 bit is used to represent each of the pixels then the size of the video will be (108000 X 1280 X 720 X 24) bit = 278 GB.
Normally the video you see in the media like VCD, DVD, AVI or MKV files are compressed by using some video compressing techniques which are popularly known as codec. Examples are MPEG1 (for VCD), MPEG2(For DVD), DivX/Xvid (MPEG4 part 2) (for mostly internet AVI files), H264 or AVC(MPEG 4 part 10) (High quality MP4 and MKV files), VC1 (WMV HD). Among them H264 and VC1 are the most advancd ones which can compress the video maximum while retaining the details. Normally these codecs work on Human Psychovisual Enhancements or Just Noticeable Difference (JND) which enables to reduce the details which cannot be observed or minimally affects the quality. But whenever these kind of codecs are applied (lossy codecs) there are some quality loss.So Video editors normally edits or enhance video upon the raw format and then use some codec to compress it.

Tkin, Gigabyte Z68 are not P67 from asus. They support all the features of a Z68 motherboard like SSD caching, Oeing of Non K processors. But for the Lucid Virtue software to work, the output needs to be connected to the Onboard output. So any motherboard without on-board display output cannot use Virtue. The UD3H one is having Onboard output and thus it supports Virtue.
nGinx, if you can find this GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 mobo, go for it. Price is almost same as UD3R model. Otherwise go for the Asus mobo as Tkin suggested.

Cilus i know what RAW video is mate

.

I was pointing out that afterburner supports compression for free unlike FRAPS.

Cilus said:
pegasus, I gues I am the n00b here as no one has hacked my account. Actually I have mistakenly swapped the specs of these two motherboards.

Extreme Gamer, RAW video means a digital video stream on which no compression logic has been applied. You can consider it as thousands of still frames coming one by one. A 30 FPS 1 hour uncompressed video will have (30 X 3600) = 108000 frames. Now if the frame resolution is 1280 X 720 (720P) and 24 bit is used to represent each of the pixels then the size of the video will be (108000 X 1280 X 720 X 24) bit = 278 GB.
Normally the video you see in the media like VCD, DVD, AVI or MKV files are compressed by using some video compressing techniques which are popularly known as codec. Examples are MPEG1 (for VCD), MPEG2(For DVD), DivX/Xvid (MPEG4 part 2) (for mostly internet AVI files), H264 or AVC(MPEG 4 part 10) (High quality MP4 and MKV files), VC1 (WMV HD). Among them H264 and VC1 are the most advancd ones which can compress the video maximum while retaining the details. Normally these codecs work on Human Psychovisual Enhancements or Just Noticeable Difference (JND) which enables to reduce the details which cannot be observed or minimally affects the quality. But whenever these kind of codecs are applied (lossy codecs) there are some quality loss.So Video editors normally edits or enhance video upon the raw format and then use some codec to compress it.

Tkin, Gigabyte Z68 are not P67 from asus. They support all the features of a Z68 motherboard like SSD caching, Oeing of Non K processors. But for the Lucid Virtue software to work, the output needs to be connected to the Onboard output. So any motherboard without on-board display output cannot use Virtue. The UD3H one is having Onboard output and thus it supports Virtue.
nGinx, if you can find this GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 mobo, go for it. Price is almost same as UD3R model. Otherwise go for the Asus mobo as Tkin suggested.

Umm, you are wrong again my friend, the lucid virtu no longer needs the onboard gpu output to be connected to monitor, it works even if you connect the monitor to the graphics card and it will allow us to use quick sync which is present on the cpu. At this moment virtu is supported by any Z68 mobo but mobo vendors need to license the software, gigabyte didn't license it, so you can't use it though it can be run on any gigabyte mobo. Asus licensed it, no idea about msi.

PS: Read this:
*www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=w...wyONVESfdk9hA&cad=rjaYYEJ9vP6lwUhLvwA&cad=rja

Update: MSI Z68A-GD80 supports lucid virtu as well: MSI Z68A-GD80 motherboard review

Gigabyte screwed up real good.

To gigabyte, enjoy your non existent Z68 sales.

GD 80 is a TOL mobo.

OT, is this coming to 990 chipset also?

Tkin, could you have a look of the product specification page of GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 then share your opinion.

The key letter in the model number is 'H'. The H version has Quick Sync, Virtu and IGPU video out while the R version has none of that. I would say its poor naming scheme on Gigabyte's part that's causing all this confusion.

Cilus said:
Tkin, could you have a look of the product specification page of GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 then share your opinion.

~~My bad, so it support virtu, but only in D mode, that's nice, but what if my card needs a rma(god forbid, please), the gb board will eat dust, asus mobo will not.~~
So GB UD3H supports both, but its the low end board, why doesn't the mid end(UD4) have them?

You can say that's a wrong policy by Gigabyte. Only their middle and lower middle end boards are currently supporting Lucid Virtue. Gigabyte is saying that their high end products are dedicated to gamers who are gonna use it for gaming and currently the number of software support is really low and only limited to Video editing type. So their high end products won't be needing it.

But the good thing is Gigabyte has entered in a Partnership with Lucid Logic and the following boards from Gigabyte supports lucid Logic Virtue:-

Z68X-UD3H-B3
Z68A-D3H-B3
Z68MX-UD2H-B3
Z68MA-D2H-B3

Check the Source here

Cilus said:
You can say that's a wrong policy by Gigabyte. Only their middle and lower middle end boards are currently supporting Lucid Virtue. Gigabyte is saying that their high end products are dedicated to gamers who are gonna use it for gaming and currently the number of software support is really low and only limited to Video editing type. So their high end products won't be needing it.

But the good thing is Gigabyte has entered in a Partnership with Lucid Logic and the following boards from Gigabyte supports lucid Logic Virtue:-

Z68X-UD3H-B3
Z68A-D3H-B3
Z68MX-UD2H-B3
Z68MA-D2H-B3

Check the Source here

All those low end boards, and gamers won't use virtu? I will and I consider myself to be a gamer, I don't care about high end, just the mid end(UD4).

Show us your highest OVERCLOCK - NVIDIA Forums - Page 12

the P67 can OC non k SB.

That's nice find mate. Thanks.

its not a find.i communicated about how high he could go in subsequent posts there. :))

highest multiplier on standard 2500 was 41!

Oops... the Ultimate PC Man? Didn't notice the signature at first.

yeah lol.been there since 2007 before SLI Zone forum was merged with it.i was at SLI Zone at first , hence the new join date.

T

nginx said:
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. I haven't looked into them in details yet but just an overview of the specs. None of these really have the "bang for buck" if you know what I mean. Paying 11.5k for a router is not gonna happen.

I think the Asus RT-N16 is a monster for ~6k. It blows away any other router within 8k in terms of sheer specs and performance. I will research on it some more but at the moment, it seems like an obvious choice to me. Let's just say I have made up my mind

Hmm good choice but don't agree with

nginx said:
It blows away any other router within 8k in terms of sheer specs and performance.

. I suggest research on that more. Here is some info. Hope it helps.

More features in same price of 6k. I think Linksys E3000 will cost less cause of its availability .
The Linksys E3000 is a true dual-band router, meaning it has two separate access points, one for the ever-popular 2.4GHz band and the other for the 5GHz band(means future proof), that can work simultaneously. On top of that, it can create an additional separate wireless guest network,which means when you want to share the Internet with others but want to keep them from accessing your local resources such as files or printers. Asus RT-N16 don't have it and supports only 2.4GHz band
In NAS performance ASUS RT-N16 read@48.8Mbps & write@46Mbps; Linksys E3000 read@32.2Mbps & write@57.1Mbps
E3000 offers 60KB of NVRAM space and the RT-N16 offers 32KB with same processor and speed.
RT-N16 has 3 external removable antenna, that means you can change antenna if it fails and E3000 has 6 internal antenna, means have to send router for RMA.
RT-N16 has two USB connectors, E3000 has one.
E3000 1000Base-T LAn but RT-N16 don't.
More BAD user review than E3000 in web.

shayem said:
Hmm good choice but don't agree with . I suggest research on that more. Here is some info. Hope it helps.

More features in same price of 6k. I think Linksys E3000 will cost less cause of its availability .

The Linksys E3000 is a true dual-band router, meaning it has two separate access points, one for the ever-popular 2.4GHz band and the other for the 5GHz band(means future proof), that can work simultaneously. On top of that, it can create an additional separate wireless guest network,which means when you want to share the Internet with others but want to keep them from accessing your local resources such as files or printers. Asus RT-N16 don't have it and supports only 2.4GHz band

In NAS performance ASUS RT-N16 read@48.8Mbps & write@46Mbps; Linksys E3000 read@32.2Mbps & write@57.1Mbps

E3000 offers 60KB of NVRAM space and the RT-N16 offers 32KB with same processor and speed.

RT-N16 has 3 external removable antenna, that means you can change antenna if it fails and E3000 has 6 internal antenna, means have to send router for RMA.

RT-N16 has two USB connectors, E3000 has one.

E3000 1000Base-T LAn but RT-N16 don't.

More BAD user review than E3000 in web.

The fact that the E3000 doesn't support USB printers and has only one USB port, alone kills the deal for me. I need atleast two ports, one for printer and another for HDD.

E3000 also has less RAM and flash than the Rt-N16.

Ccan you give the details of the HDDs you bought nginx ??

Yeah sure. What details do you want? I bought 4x1TB Externals, 5400 rpm.

I'm waiting to purchase my full rig and then I will post pics together with the specs.

nginx said:
Yeah sure. What details do you want? I bought 4x1TB Externals, 5400 rpm.

I'm waiting to purchase my full rig and then I will post pics together with the specs.

Powered or non powered?

Hey nginx what do you think of opening up the enclosures of your External HDDs and making RAID 0+1 internal?

Extreme Gamer said:
Hey nginx what do you think of opening up the enclosures of your External HDDs and making RAID 0+1 internal?

Why would he then buy externals @ higher price? *faints*

Extreme Gamer said:
Hey nginx what do you think of opening up the enclosures of your External HDDs and making RAID 0+1 internal?

Are you in your right frame of mind?
Lets think for academic purposes we consider he does open up the external HDDs up...wat about the warranty then???

Please comment constructively..people can be misguided otherwise

tkin said:
Why would he then buy externals @ higher price? *faints*

Another point

I just asked what he thought of it...I did not ask you to debunk it because I know the consequences

Extreme Gamer said:
I just asked what he thought of it...I did not ask you to debunk it because I know the consequences

Ok sorry, my bad.

T

nginx said:
The fact that the E3000 doesn't support USB printers and has only one USB port, alone kills the deal for me. I need atleast two ports, one for printer and another for HDD.

well I just posted some point to help you deciding. You will use that, so last decision will be yours

nginx said:
E3000 also has less RAM and flash than the Rt-N16.

That'll not help much cause both give 300Mbps(max) wireless speed. But having less NVRAM can be a problem IMO.

And RT-N16 is a good router too. E3000 is preferred by advanced user who can tweak config. :twisted:

tkin said:
Powered or non powered?

Powered. They will stay at home sitting on my desk all the time. No need for portability.

Extreme Gamer said:
Hey nginx what do you think of opening up the enclosures of your External HDDs and making RAID 0+1 internal?

If I had any intention of doing that, why would I waste extra money on externals? Internal is much much cheaper and also faster. I will be buying 4TB of internal storage anyway. This 4TB of external storage is for backup and I think its a much wiser decision rather than doing RAID 10 for backup because RAID won't protect your drives from power surges or virus attacks. RAID 10 is only good for redundancy, not backup.

shayem said:
well I just posted some point to help you deciding. You will use that, so last decision will be yours

That'll not help much cause both give 300Mbps(max) wireless speed. But having less NVRAM can be a problem IMO.

And RT-N16 is a good router too. E3000 is preferred by advanced user who can tweak config.

I think you are underestimating the importance of the router's CPU and RAM. The speed is not a factor since even the cheapest N router offer 300mbps on 40Mhz. The more RAM a router has, the more number of simultaneous connections it can handle and that means downloading more torrents at one go without the router hanging up and requiring a reboot. The more processing power the router's CPU has, smoother will be its operation. This is where the Asus RT-N16 owns.

But hey thanks for laying the down the options on the table for me. Its always good to make comparisons before buying.

4x1 TB 5400 rpm ? Dude those details are like the ones salesman tell old people .. "latest model 5400 rpm it means its fastest market mein kahi nahi milega aisa cheez"//

It's Ok , build your Rig , we'll see it all together.

T

nginx said:
I think you are underestimating the importance of the router's CPU and RAM. The speed is not a factor since even the cheapest N router offer 300mbps on 40Mhz. The more RAM a router has, the more number of simultaneous connections it can handle and that means downloading more torrents at one go without the router hanging up and requiring a reboot. The more processing power the router's CPU has, smoother will be its operation. This is where the Asus RT-N16 owns.

But hey thanks for laying the down the options on the table for me. Its always good to make comparisons before buying.

happy to help

mitraark said:
4x1 TB 5400 rpm ? Dude those details are like the ones salesman tell old people .. "latest model 5400 rpm it means its fastest market mein kahi nahi milega aisa cheez"//

It's Ok , build your Rig , we'll see it all together.

I didn't quite get your post. What exactly do you want to know? If you want more details, why don't you tell me? Or are you saying 5400rpm is not good enough for external HDDs? Externals are not as fast as internals and 5400rpm is still standard spec for external HDDs.

5400 RPM is enough for a external HDD, what to expect more

nginx said:
I didn't quite get your post. What exactly do you want to know? If you want more details, why don't you tell me? Or are you saying 5400rpm is not good enough for external HDDs? Externals are not as fast as internals and 5400rpm is still standard spec for external HDDs.

No issue with 5400 RPM, USB 2.0 can't even sustain more than 30MBps, while 5400 HDDs can sustain 60MBps bandwidth, so you are already bottlenecked by interface. USB 3.0 is another story, but anyway 7200 RPM hdds require more power than USB 2.0 can provide.

Nicely summed up, tkin.

tkin said:
No issue with 5400 RPM, USB 2.0 can't even sustain more than 30MBps, while 5400 HDDs can sustain 60MBps bandwidth, so you are already bottlenecked by interface. USB 3.0 is another story, but anyway 7200 RPM hdds require more power than USB 2.0 can provide.

Nicely put tkin.