Gaming PC for 70K · DIGIT-ARC

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: Primarily playing all new games with High-res and maximum settings. And I really abhor lags, even small ones. Since I havn't played games for a while, I'll copy this bit from another post: Playing all the modern games like borderlands2,bf3,guild wars 2,metro 2033,witcher 2 and upcoming ones like gta v,crysis 3,ac 3 etc.

I would also like to use graphics softwares like Adobe PS and make Videos on it with Adobe Premiere, and use Fruity Loops for making music. (I am aware that I am being a bit non-conventional there since I am not using MAC for it)

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: About 70K, I can strech it to 75K or a bit more

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: Not as of now, but maybe in future, like after a year

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Whichever lets me enjoy games the best, I assume it would be Windows 7 64 bit

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: The optimum space for gaming. I assume 1 TB would be good as it wouldn't be too less for space and too heavy for applications.

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: No, I have a sa300 series 3 20 inches LED and it has a max resolution of 1600 X 900, so that's the resolution I will be using. In future, I may update to a full HD only if there's a vat difference in the visuals.

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor
I have a VIP Power Supply 600W but as per *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/power-sup...89-power-supply-blacklist-thread-newbies.html, I am willing to shun it, if it's really necessary

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: In about 1 or 2 weeks, or as soon as I can decide

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: No, but I have done simple things like opening/closing the cabinet and connecting Hard disks, Rams etc and I haven't opened any PC for a while. So, I'll just get an assembler.

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: Mumbai. I am open to buying stuff from online shops if I can save money and buy a better config

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: Yes, as I have mentioned I already have a VIP 600 W Power Supply and I am willing to shun it. But maybe I can keep it for a while, say a year and then buy a new one? Or would it be risky?

Anyone??

erm...here's what u can build on:
2500K+Z77 Board(with a good bios and VRM since you may OC)+8GB 1600 MHZ+GTX 660/HD 7850+HDD(any size)+GS600 PSU

Hi,
Processor- Intel Core i5-3570K -14000Rs for gaming or Intel Core i7-3770K -20000 for cpu and graphic heavy applications.
Motherboard- Gigabyte Z77UD3H -12000Rs , reliable brand with excellent feature set.
Ram- G-Skill Sniper 8GB 1600 MHz -3000Rs , 1600 MHz says it all.
Graphic Card- ASUS HD7950 -25000Rs.
Cabinet- Corsair Carbide 400R -4000Rs , Excellent cooling
CPU cooler- cooler Master 212 Evo -2000Rs
Optical Drive- anything around 1000Rs
Hard Disk- WD 2TB at 6500Rs , excellent value for money
SSD- Kingston V+2000 120 GB -65000Rs , store operating system on it and some cpu intensive applications on it.

The i5 rig is 76K and the i7 is 82K ......your choice though there isn't much performance difference between them..........I would suggest you the i5 rig.

If the following does not feel right to you ask someone reliable.

R

Intel i5 3570k-13.5k
Asrock z77 extreme4-10.5k
Cooler master 212 hyper evo-2k
Corsair hx 750w-8k
Gskill 8gb ddr3 1600mhz ram-3k
WD 1TB caviar black
Corsair 400r cabinet-5k
Sapphire amd hd 7950-23k

Total comes around 70k.

^^ I would change the PSU in that. You don't really need a 750w PSU. GS600 will do just fine. Save money on PSU and go for ASUS Maximus V gene motherboard. It's mATX but will give most atx mobos run for their money. Excellent for overclocking if you are seriously into it. You can also give i5 2500K a try. Sandybridge overclocks better usually and performance difference in gaming is almost none AFAIK(correct me if i am wrong).

P.S. @OP Yes you need to get rid of that VIP PSU for this new config. You should not trust your 'old' PSU for this new heavy config. better to go for Corsair GS600 PSU and have peace of mind. Though the wattage may look same on both of them(i.e. 600w) but trust me there are various other very important factors to be taken into consideration.

P.P.S. @Binary Hero I sincerely hope that the prices you have quoted for a 7850 and SSD are typos.

R

I suggested a 750w psu so that he has the option of SLI/CROSSFIRE in future if he wants to.I would recommend sticking with an atx size board,u can go for extreme6 or gigabyte ga-z77x-ud3h instead.

Thank you, all of you.

rohit32407 said:
^^ I would change the PSU in that. You don't really need a 750w PSU. GS600 will do just fine. Save money on PSU and go for ASUS Maximus V gene motherboard. It's mATX but will give most atx mobos run for their money. Excellent for overclocking if you are seriously into it. You can also give i5 2500K a try. Sandybridge overclocks better usually and performance difference in gaming is almost none AFAIK(correct me if i am wrong).

P.S. @OP Yes you need to get rid of that VIP PSU for this new config. You should not trust your 'old' PSU for this new heavy config. better to go for Corsair GS600 PSU and have peace of mind. Though the wattage may look same on both of them(i.e. 600w) but trust me there are various other very important factors to be taken into consideration.

P.P.S. @Binary Hero I sincerely hope that the prices you have quoted for a 7850 and SSD are typos.

The price of 7850 is right but SSD should be Rs.6500.

Sorry for that.

I have a question, with above config(s), will I be able to play all games with highest graphics settings without any lag?

R

Yes u can,if the games get more demanding in future u can overclock both your cpu and the gpu to get good fps.

Binary_Hero said:
The price of 7850 is right but SSD should be Rs.6500. Sorry for that.

*www.flipkart.com/asus-amd-hd-7850-...6SYB&ref=91d7e716-4cff-4619-9e57-29caee16c917 this is the price of the GPU you mentioned on flipkart. Flipkart is well known for overpricing computer components so expect lower prices in the local market.

@anarchy0x Don't go for a 7850 rather try to get atleast a 7870. If i were you I would have tried to accomodate a 7950 for sure. Again I would like to mention if you are not going to crossfire then stick with GS600 you won't need a 750w PSU. ATX or mATX it's your choice, it won't matter much if you are not going to SLI or crossfire in the future. I have a mATX mobo and i am happy with it but if I ever decide to SLI then this small form factor could be a problem.

rohit32407 said:
*www.flipkart.com/asus-amd-hd-7850-...6SYB&ref=91d7e716-4cff-4619-9e57-29caee16c917 this is the price of the GPU you mentioned on flipkart. Flipkart is well known for overpricing computer components so expect lower prices in the local market.

@anarchy0x Don't go for a 7850 rather try to get atleast a 7870. If i were you I would have tried to accomodate a 7950 for sure. Again I would like to mention if you are not going to crossfire then stick with GS600 you won't need a 750w PSU. ATX or mATX it's your choice, it won't matter much if you are not going to SLI or crossfire in the future. I have a mATX mobo and i am happy with it but if I ever decide to SLI then this small form factor could be a problem.

Sorry bro I was talking about HD7950. Pretty Dumb of me.

V

The rig suggested by Binary Hero is fine, except, go for a 1tb hdd and try fitting in a 670 or 660ti or a 7950. Only then will it be a VFM rig..

^^ Agreed.

@anarchy0xJust remember that he meant asus hd 7950 and not 7850. Also he hasn't mentioned a PSU so skip SSD for now and add a PSU in that suggested config. Go for GS600 if you don't want to crossfire or SLI and according to me single card configurations are the best if you are not going to use multiple monitors in eyefinity. You can always add SSD later but GPU is something which you won't change for probably 1-2 years so don't go cheap on that when your primary purpose is gaming. I would suggest you to go for either GTX 670 or 7950, both of them are excellent choices. If even after skipping SSD and accommodating PSU you are exceeding your financial limit then look for GTX 660Ti- also a decent card

.

@Binary Hero Yes mate that's what i thought you meant to write in the first place

. Thanks for clearing that out. It would be better if you can just edit your first post and make it 7950 so as to avoid any confusion.

+1 to the 7950. Its exceptional @ stock but on OCing, It can do wonders.

Thank you Rohit, Thetrueblueviking, Vishal, BinaryHero, Rock and Sumanpathak.
Yes, I may skip the SSD and instead get a better card, that makes a lot of sense.

Was looking at *www.hardocp.com/article/2012/08/23/galaxy_gtx_660_ti_gc_oc_vs_670_hd_7950/2 and 7950 seems to be just on par with GTX 670 (or better) and is my first choice as of now.

ok,I can be very greedy when it comes to gaming, anything better than 7950? After omitting SSD, I think I can opt for an even better card.

Also, anything I can do to get a noise-free pc?

Go for the sapphire 7950 mentioned above.

Close to finalizing-

cpu: Intel i5 3570k
mb: gigabyte ga-z77x-ud3h
psu: Corsair Gaming Series GS600
ram: Gskill 8gb ddr3 1600mhz ram
cabinet: Corsair 400r cabinet
cooler: Cooler master 212 hyper evo
gpu: Sapphire AMD/ATI Radeon HD 7970 3 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
hdd: Western Digital WD Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Is one stick of 8gb better or 2 of 4GB?

Any reliable website for checking prices in Mumbai? Yes, I will go shops but a website would be cool to get the exact budget.
I found these but findprice seems to be even more expensive than flipkart.
Sapphire Ati Radeon Hd 7970 3gb Gddr5 Pci E Graphic Card Price In India
*www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-radeon-hd-7970-3-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmd6f8qcj7rjkum

What are the differences between 7970 and 7970 GHZ? GHZ is just an overclocked version of 7970 right? That is, I can reach the same speed if I have a 7970 and if I overclock it myself?
Do correct me if I am wrong.

Prime ABGB

anarchy0x said:
Is one stick of 8gb better or 2 of 4GB?

2 x 4gb

anarchy0x said:
What are the differences between 7970 and 7970 GHZ? GHZ is just an overclocked version of 7970 right? That is, I can reach the same speed if I have a 7970 and if I overclock it myself?
Do correct me if I am wrong.

Opt for cards with custom cooling solutions. Avoid reference cards.

V

I heard that the gigahertz edition makes some noise but then it performs better; on par with the 680.. Or you can go with the stock one and oc it by yourself.

sumonpathak said:
Prime ABGB

That website seems to be a boon. Would you say that the rates listed there are competitive?

^^they are

rohit32407 said:
^^ Agreed.

@anarchy0xJust remember that he meant asus hd 7950 and not 7850. Also he hasn't mentioned a PSU so skip SSD for now and add a PSU in that suggested config. Go for GS600 if you don't want to crossfire or SLI and according to me single card configurations are the best if you are not going to use multiple monitors in eyefinity. You can always add SSD later but GPU is something which you won't change for probably 1-2 years so don't go cheap on that when your primary purpose is gaming. I would suggest you to go for either GTX 670 or 7950, both of them are excellent choices. If even after skipping SSD and accommodating PSU you are exceeding your financial limit then look for GTX 660Ti- also a decent card .

@Binary Hero Yes mate that's what i thought you meant to write in the first place . Thanks for clearing that out. It would be better if you can just edit your first post and make it 7950 so as to avoid any confusion.

No problem bro, edited it.

You can consider the Maximus V Gene............ Its a great case, and an ROG board........ excellent for OCing and gaming

A little change.....

Maximus V Gene - The best Mobo in terms of Overclocking, Sound and ofcourse Quality its a ROG series.

Ram - Of course 4GB x2 or 8GB now and a 8GB later the point is dual channel at the end of the day.

SMPS - CORSAIR SMPS-650TXV2UK better made and super quality than GS any day and for Rs 900 extra you get 5 years warranty over the 3 years for GS!!!

Thank you for all those who replied, I was really busy.
Below is what I have almost finalized. Ok, I have become a little greedy and I want the Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 Graphic Card. The total comes to about 85000 and I am willing to strech it to that.

1) Will I be able to use the 7970 with the following config or will I have to buy an I7?
2) Is there any card would be better than 7970 and how much would it cost? Just curious

3) Is there anything I should do to make sure the config is noise free?

CPU Intel i5 3570k 14400
MB Maximus V Gene 15370
PSU CORSAIR SMPS-650TXV2UK 5200
RAM Gskill 8gb ddr3 1600mhz ram 3000
Cabinet Corsair 400r cabinet 5000
Cooler Cooler master 212 hyper evo 2000
HDD 1 TB 6000
GPU Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 Graphic Card 33700

R

U dont need an i7,i5 is sufficient.7970 is the best gpu out there.You are getting a good cabinet,your setup will be noise free.

Also the prices that you have mentioned are way over the actual prices.Personally i would recommend you to get a 128gb ssd and your config will be complete.

Since you have gone all the way ....rake up a little more greed and get this awesome.......GPU...Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum Graphic Card

Hmm greed has no limits

I am getting Sapphire 3 GB 7970 for around Rs 32500. Maybe I can accomodate it.

I just thought I must ask this, a friend of mine who's also into music has been insisting on me buying a MAc. But to get a config like above in MAc would be just too expensive, right? I guess

We are talking about this right?
MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with 13-inch, 15-inch or Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)

The best GPU I see there is NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory which is not even comparable with 970, right?
How much would I have to pay for a MAC pc for a config which has somethign equivalent to a 7970 GPU?

Ignore him ....! :twisted:

If you are in to sound editing and need MAC based softwares then you need a MAC,simple.Other wise No.

anarchy0x said:
Hmm greed has no limits I am getting Sapphire 3 GB 7970 for around Rs 32500. Maybe I can accomodate it.

I just thought I must ask this, a friend of mine who's also into music has been insisting on me buying a MAc. But to get a config like above in MAc would be just too expensive, right? I guess

We are talking about this right?
MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with 13-inch, 15-inch or Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)

The best GPU I see there is NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory which is not even comparable with 970, right?
How much would I have to pay for a MAC pc for a config which has somethign equivalent to a 7970 GPU?

Even if you build the above system, you can install OSX into it. There are ways to do it and its referred as "hackintosh".
I would say build a pc and install both windows and osx into it. This way, you can enjoy best of both worlds.

Ty, The Incinerator. But I am greedy for enjoying both making music as well as games, rather I need them both.

vickybat, you are a life-saver! Hackintosh seems to be the perfect thing and I will read more about it.

Buying this for the purpose of gaming and macintosh in like 3-4 days when I go to lamington road, any last-minute advice?

CPU Intel i5 3570k 14400
MB Maximus V Gene 15370
PSU CORSAIR SMPS-650TXV2UK 5200
RAM Gskill 8gb ddr3 1600mhz ram 3000
Cabinet Corsair 400r cabinet 5000
Cooler Cooler master 212 hyper evo 2000
HDD 1 TB 6000
Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum Graphic Card 36500

Looks good.

@ anarchy0x

Perfect. Go ahead with the purchase mate.

I just have one advice. Instead of going for that board for 15k, you can get something having similar quality at a much lesser price.
Gigabyte's g1 sniper boards match toe to toe with asus ROG lineup.

Consider the following and infact you can directly buy it with free shipping.

Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 Z77 Motherboard @ 11.8k

Imo, that asus 7970 matrix platinum although a fantastic card, is very much overpriced. If you are planning to play in fullhd, those extra clocks aren't going to matter that much.
I have a better idea though.

You can buy this - SAPPHIRE GRAPHICS CARD HD7970 3GB GDDR5 384BIT @ 29k

You get the same chip at a much lower price. This one can easily get past 1050 mhz and give you similar framerates in all the games that you play.

With the money saved from the motherboard and GPU, which is around 11k ,you can spend this money wisely and maybe get a beefier psu like a tx750 and even a 128gb SSD.

Maybe you can also buy a fullhd monitor and believe me, 1600x900 is not the resolution meant for a 7970. Fullhd is bare minimum and yes, the differences in visuals are worth the upgrade. Sell of your existing monitor and add more to get a fullhd one. It will be within 8k.

SSD will matter more and will give much better performance if used as a primary OS drive.

So my suggestion is to save 11k, and go for an ssd and fullhd monitor combo after selling your existing 20 incher.

Tell me your thoughts mate.

^+1
I like the idea of the sapphire + new fullHD monitor.

7970 is available at around 27K in vedant....
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/shopping/98253-hardware-price-check-buying-advice-thread-kolkata-241.html#post1790007

MSI Lightning - Rs 30500
Asus DC II - Rs 29800
Asus DC II TOP - Rs 30800
Sapphire - Rs 27200

^^ Even better option. This way, he can even save 2k more.

Ok, I have incorporated Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 SMPS but I will keep the original MB and buy a new monitor and SSD as well, but later.

My question is is there any kind of specific HD that I need? I need 1TB size but anything else like speed etc?

^^ Go for WD black. Brilliant read/write speeds and comes with a 5 year warranty.

Check below and you can directly order too. Its the black one.

WD 1 TB Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD1002FAEX) | Internal Hard Drive | Flipkart.com

Can you tell me what's the difference between the HD you suggested and this- WD Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARX) | Internal Hard Drive | Flipkart.com ?
This one is for 2 TB and cheaper, though it has a warranty of 2 years only as compared to the one you suggested.
The RPM of the 2 TB isn't mentioned in the flipkart website.

WD HDDs come in three "quality" flavors: Black, Blue and Green.

Black - Maximized performance
Green - Optimized for less power-consumption
Blue - Balance between power consumption and performance.

Basically, if you want out and out performance, Black is the way to go. If you want just to store data (as in movies, music, etc), Green will save some money. Blue is a more cost-effective performance drive, although not as good as Black.

Blacks and Blues are 7200 rpm. Green is probably variable - but runs at 5400 rpm normally.

^^ Absolutely correct explanation.

@ anarchy0x

Go for the black mate. Its blazing fast and has a much lower failure rate than green. That 5 year warranty is just too good.

Down the line, you can always add another 2tb green if you run out of space. But make black as your primary hdd.

Greens are not so reliable. If data is important its better to get the Seagate SV series HDDs for storage. A Little expensive but very reliable.

When I checked in Vedant Kolkata, Sapphire HD 7970 is available around 29K including Tax and Asus Direct CU TOP OC model at 30.8K. Vedant offers shipping to different locations but they don't have any Online portal. You can contact them through Phone.

Man, if you are willing to spend 36k for a GPU, then this is the one you must go for!

Zotac Geforce GTX680 2GB DDR5 NVidia PCI E

V2IBH2V said:
Man, if you are willing to spend 36k for a GPU, then this is the one you must go for!

Zotac Geforce GTX680 2GB DDR5 NVidia PCI E

7970 and 680 :
HARDOCP - Introduction - Fall 2012 GPU and Driver Comparison Roundup
The Best Graphics Cards: Nvidia vs. AMD Current-Gen Comparison - TechSpot

Bought my pc last week and I thought it wouldn't be fair of me to not to thank everyone who posted.
So thank you everyone for posting here.

Haven't bought the card yet due to some money problems, will buy it later, but of course, I am still glad to have a new pc as the previous one wasn't even capable of surfing.

Congrats buddy. Enjoy your new rig

Congrats (and Update signature)

Myth said:
Congrats (and Update signature)

And I am waiting for you to update the smps

arsenalfan001 said:
And I am waiting for you to update the smps

I am yet to purchase the psu.
All current items in the signature.