Mission: Kick Pentium 4 Get Sandy Bridge Rig

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: Heavy Internet Browsing, Will Start Learning Programming (i think so

), Multi-Tasking, Gaming......(Can't Gurantee Has I've SSC Next Year), Benchmarking ,etc

2. Are you open to alternate ideas/products giving similar better performance but offering more VFM/ sellers? If not- why?
A: Yes

3. What is your MAX budget?
A: 50K (Increased to 60K)

4. Planning to overclock?
A: Yes but just for benchmarking not 24X7

5. Which OS are you planning to use?
A: Windows 8 Beta, Windows 7 & Linux

6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A: Crucial M4 128GB SSD - 11.5K if worth the money. I don't need hdd as i already have 320GB 7200.12.

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: I want HD 1080p resoultion monitor.

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: 7.5

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

10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: End of this month

11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: Yes till Haswel.

12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: Keyboard & UPS

13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: Lamington Road, Mumbai & Will buy from other place if product is not available here.

14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A: I can skip monitor upgrade for now if budget is a problem.
B: Tacens Supero 600W is decided for psu. No Change Here.

C: No LED Monitor Please.

Then let us know the price of the Tacen Supero Pro 600W PSu so that we can reduce that amount ftom your total budget to get the actual effective amount.

BTW, although Tacen Supero PSUs have good review (none in english, I had use Google Transalator), I have hands-on experiece with one. Their build quality is no where near to Corsair or other premium brands and After sales service might be an issue. Also they come with 2 Yrs of warranty, compared to 5 Yrs of TX series.

Cilus said:
Then let us know the price of the Tacen Supero Pro 600W PSu so that we can reduce that amount ftom your total budget to get the actual effective amount.

BTW, although Tacen Supero PSUs have good review (none in english, I had use Google Transalator), I have hands-on experiece with one. Their build quality is no where near to Corsair or other premium brands and After sales service might be an issue. Also they come with 2 Yrs of warranty, compared to 5 Yrs of TX series.

It might be not as good as premium brands like Corsair but many are running high-end rig on it easily from three years without any hitch. Check my post here:

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/1523012-post23.html

BTW, Supero 600w available for 3.5K. But tell me at this price which psu can handle 6870 cf ?

Can i run 6870 CF on TX-650 V2 ?

if you want crossfire/sli future proofing get MSI Z68A GD55 B3 @ 10192

cant comment on Tacen.

The M4 is a good SSD mate (but handily beaten by OCZ Vertex 3), but I doubt you can fit it in 50k without sacrificing image quality.

MyGeekTips said:
It might be not as good as premium brands like Corsair but many are running high-end rig on it easily from three years without any hitch. Check my post here:

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/1523012-post23.html

BTW, Supero 600w available for 3.5K. But tell me at this price which psu can handle 6870 cf ?

Can i run 6870 Sli on TX-650 V2 ?

HD 6870 muti-GPU setup is Crossfire, not SLI

For having HD 6870 Crossfire, the recommended PSU is 700W. However, premium PSu like TX 650 V2 can handle it. Don't try it on Tacen Supero 600W.
So Corsair GS700 is the best choice here within budget. It is available around 5K.

Extreme Gamer said:
The M4 is a good SSD mate (but handily beaten by OCZ Vertex 3), but I doubt you can fit it in 50k without sacrificing image quality.

Looks like you still forget to check this latest firmware comparison:
Crucial M4 vs OCZ Vertex 3: New Firmware Face-Off | bit-tech.net

Crucial M4 has get very close to OCZ Vertex with this firmware & Reliability is the biggest factor i'm will not go for sandforce based ssd. I will talk to my father for increasing budget to fit this bad boys.

Cilus said:
HD 6870 muti-GPU setup is Crossfire, not SLI

For having HD 6870 Crossfire, the recommended PSU is 700W. However, premium PSu like TX 650 V2 can handle it. Don't try it on Tacen Supero 600W.
So Corsair GS700 is the best choice here within budget. It is available around 5K.

Man people are running sli / crossfire easily on this you should re check the list of satisfied Tacens Users & check their specs. If you still insist then i will better change to TX series.

Jaskanwar Singh said:
Component | Make | Price Processor |Intel Core i5 2500k|11700
Motherboard |Asus P8Z68-M PRO B3|8900
RAM |Gskill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL|1650
Graphic Card |Sapphire HD 6950 1GB PCIE|14200
DVD Writer |ASUS 24X Sata Black DVD|1150
PSU |Corsair GS600|4000
Case |NZXT GAMMA|2000
Mouse |Logitech MX-518|1450
Keyboard |Logitech Media Keyboard K200|400
Mouse Pad |Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control|500
UPS |APC 800VA|2800
Speakers |Edifier C2|3200
| Total |52000

if you want crossfire/sli future proofing get MSI Z68A GD55 B3 @ 10192

cant comment on Tacen.

I mention i didn't need keyboard & ups. I've monitor with inbuilt speakers so need of speakers too. What if i go for Phenom X4 955 to get ssd ?

^^ Don't sacrifice cpu for ssd. Ssd's can be added later at any point of time when prices fall.

vickybat said:
^^ Don't sacrifice cpu for ssd. Ssd's can be added later at any point of time when prices fall.

I've to increase my budget. :sad:

Here is my rig config that i've in mind:-

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 8.75K
Intel DH67CL-B3 Full ATX Board @ 5.6K
Corsiar 1333 MHz DDR3 4GB X 1 @ 1.2K
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twinfrozr II/OC @ 12.5K
Crucial M4 128GB SSD @ 11.5K
Corsair GS600 80+ PSU @ 3.8K
NZXT Gamma Cabinet @ 1.8
BenQ G2222HDL @ 6.8K
Razer Deathadder @ 1.8K
Razer Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control @ 0.4K
Xbox 360 Controller for PC @ 0.9K
Asus Xonar DG @ 1.5K
Ozone Attack Snow @ 1.5K
Logitech Z313 @ 1.5k

Total 59.55K

What do you say guys ?

^its good.

Any better suggestions like changing any parts.

MyGeekTips said:
Here is my rig config that i've in mind:-

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 8.75K
Intel DH67CL-B3 Full ATX Board @ 5.6K
Corsiar 1333 MHz DDR3 4GB X 2 @ 2.4K
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twinfrozr II/OC @ 12.5K
Crucial M4 128GB SSD @ 11.5K
Corsair GS600 80+ PSU @ 3.8K
NZXT Gamma Cabinet @ 1.8
BenQ G2222HDL @ 6.8K
Razer Deathadder @ 1.8K
Razer Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control @ 0.4K
Xbox 360 Controller for PC @ 0.9K
Asus Xonar DG @ 1.5K
Ozone Attack Snow @ 1.5K
Logitech Z313 @ 1.5k

Total 60.75K

just that much change because BF3 uses upto 6GB RAM(read somewhere)

sunny10 said:
just that much change because BF3 uses upto 6GB RAM(read somewhere)

okay increase to 8gb ram.

MyGeekTips said:
Here is my rig config that i've in mind:-

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 8.75K
Intel DH67CL-B3 Full ATX Board @ 5.6K
Corsiar 1333 MHz DDR3 4GB X 1 @ 1.2K
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twinfrozr II/OC @ 12.5K
Crucial M4 128GB SSD @ 11.5K
Corsair GS600 80+ PSU @ 3.8K
NZXT Gamma Cabinet @ 1.8
BenQ G2222HDL @ 6.8K
Razer Deathadder @ 1.8K
Razer Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control @ 0.4K
Xbox 360 Controller for PC @ 0.9K
Asus Xonar DG @ 1.5K
Ozone Attack Snow @ 1.5K
Logitech Z313 @ 1.5k

Total 59.55K

What do you say guys ?

Config. is good. But is SSD is very essential for now??I will suggest don't buy SSD now, wait for the price to come down.Instead get Corsair Tx650V2 or Tx750V2.If you're planning for GTX560Ti SLI

MyGeekTips said:
Looks like you still forget to check this latest firmware comparison:
Crucial M4 vs OCZ Vertex 3: New Firmware Face-Off | bit-tech.net

Crucial M4 has get very close to OCZ Vertex with this firmware & Reliability is the biggest factor i'm will not go for sandforce based ssd. I will talk to my father for increasing budget to fit this bad boys.

Obviously you havent done your homework. Ever since the firmware was updated to 2.15, OCZ SSDs had no problem.

Get a 60GB SSD(64GB actual but 4GB reserved for wear leveling) if you only use it as windows drive.

@ MyGeekTips

Buddy for that budget i seriously suggest you to drop the ssd and go for better parts.

A z68 motherboard as suggested by jaskanwar is the perfect ingredient and go for a 2600k instead. These will last you until haswell comes up. Besides you also have the ivybridge option in future. If you ditch the ssd , you can definitely add these. Or if you want to save up some cash, then 2500k is also a very good buy.

Rest of the config is fine. Alternatively, you can also go for amd 6950 based cards with 2gb vram. But your current choice for gpu is excellent for its price.

Extreme Gamer said:
Obviously you havent done your homework. Ever since the firmware was updated to 2.15, OCZ SSDs had no problem.

Get a 60GB SSD(64GB actual but 4GB reserved for wear leveling) if you only use it as windows drive.

I've heard 60GB SSD has a very poor performance comparison to 120GB SSD. i'm thinking of dropping ssd for better pc config.

vickybat said:
@ MyGeekTips

Buddy for that budget i seriously suggest you to drop the ssd and go for better parts.

A z68 motherboard as suggested by jaskanwar is the perfect ingredient and go for a 2600k instead. These will last you until haswell comes up. Besides you also have the ivybridge option in future. If you ditch the ssd , you can definitely add these. Or if you want to save up some cash, then 2500k is also a very good buy.

Rest of the config is fine. Alternatively, you can also go for amd 6950 based cards with 2gb vram. But your current choice for gpu is excellent for its price.

I think i should invest in Z68 but is the new gen3 mobo that support Kepler & Southern Islands gpu are available in India ? I was going for 6950 2gb but i seen that 560 ti was available so cheap i opted for it. Will Next-Gen GPU Offer significant performance improvement against current gen gpu ?

Jaskanwar Singh said:
Component | Make | Price Processor |Intel Core i5 2500k|11700
Motherboard |MSI Z68A GD55 B3|10192
RAM |Gskill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL|1650
Graphic Card |Sapphire HD 6950 1GB PCIE|14200
DVD Writer |ASUS 24X Sata Black DVD|1150
PSU |SeaSonic SS-850AT|6300
Case |NZXT GAMMA|2000
Monitor |Benq G2222HDL|6950
Mouse |Razer DeathAdder Black|1950
Mouse Pad |Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control|500
Controller |Microsoft X360 Controller|900
Speakers |Edifier C2|3200
| Total |60642

If i go for TX 650 V2 & MSI 560 ti instead it will save few bucks that i can invest in Carbide 400R.

^ afaik that shop in Mumbai has that 560ti for that price out of stock.

and that psu will allow you to go multigpu in future if you want.

and 6950 1GB or 2GB, doesnt matter at full HD.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...-gaming-pc-inr-40-000-approx.html#post1521738

Jaskanwar Singh said:
^ afaik that shop in Mumbai has that 560ti for that price out of stock.

and that psu will allow you to go multigpu in future if you want.

and 6950 1GB or 2GB, doesnt matter at full HD.

Okay then everything is perfect in your config just the case NZXT Gamma wouldn't it will get congested if i put this much stuff in it. Also, I will surely going to get SSD & Multi-GPU Setup in March 2012.

*www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h-HxsN0Ufo

I was known with that fact is Gamma is a good Budget case but by seeing the video i've to say it's something different.

BTW, Which is the CM Cooler is used in this rig ?

Jas, could you tell me Sapphire HD 6950 1 GB, a non Oced versioon or GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozer II, which performs better in 1080P?
I'm asking this because if 560 Ti TF II is available @ 12.5K as confimed by Vickybat, which is very attractive and even if Sapphire card performs better, is the extra 2.5K for HD 6950 is justified for the performance gain?

Cilus said:
Jas, could you tell me Sapphire HD 6950 1 GB, a non Oced versioon or GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozer II, which performs better in 1080P?
I'm asking this because if 560 Ti TF II is available @ 12.5K as confimed by Vickybat, which is very attractive and even if Sapphire card performs better, is the extra 2.5K for HD 6950 is justified for the performance gain?

560Ti @ 12.5K at Mahabir Computers has gone out of stock confirmed by jas.

^^ Yup its currently out of stock but they have confirmed new stocks on the way. Contact mahavir and ask them to get you the card as soon as possible. They had given a week's time to my brother's friend and he got msi 6950 tf III instead.

You'll surely get the card if you wait a few days and stay in touch with them.

About next gen cards, yes they'll perform significantly better than current ones but they are a while away. Probable 2nd quarter 2012.

But a new card is on the way from nvidia card and perhaps the last 5 series launch. Its a new 560-ti which has 448 cuda cores as opposed to the current 560-ti's 384 cuda cores. The new one has the potential to beat a 6950 handsdown owing to higher shaders. Myabe it will also get a 2gb framebuffer. So wait a wee bit mate. :smile:

vickybat said:
But a new card is on the way from nvidia card and perhaps the last 5 series launch. Its a new 560-ti which has 448 cuda cores as opposed to the current 560-ti's 384 cuda cores. The new one has the potential to beat a 6950 handsdown owing to higher shaders. Myabe it will also get a 2gb framebuffer. So wait a wee bit mate.

Surely it would be priced higher than 6950 i think 17K atleast. So waiting will not benefit for me.

MyGeekTips said:
I was known with that fact is Gamma is a good Budget case but by seeing the video i've to say it's something different.

BTW, Which is the CM Cooler is used in this rig ?

CM Hyper 212+

Jaskanwar Singh said:
CM Hyper 212+

It looked bigger than Hyper Plus 212 it was near the size of noctua.

checkout details. (in show more)
I7 970 XFX 6970 CrossFire Gaming Rig - YouTube
i7 970 gulftown@ 150x 25 3.75 Ghz final 24/7 settings
COOLER MASTER HYPER 212 PLUS PUSH/PULL CONFIG
Asus X58 SaberTooth MotherBoard
Corsair Xms 3x2 tripple channel@ 1500
XFX 6970 STOCK IN CrossFire
Corsair 850 PowerSupply
Nzxt Gamma Case
;-)

I'm getting Agility 3 120GB SSD @ 9K including shipping cost from Amazon. Don't Know about customs but it will be no more than 1K. So should i get my hands dirty on it ? Also, Vertex 3 120GB is available for 9.5K. Plz Reply Fast.

I replied.

Finally Increased Budget to 70K for getting SSD will post my updated config later.

Finally Decided On Rig:

Intel Core i5 2500K @ 11K
Asus P8Z68 V @ 10.6K
Cooler Master Hyper Plus 212 @ 1.8K
Gskill 1600 MHz 4GB X 1 F3-12800CL9S-4GBRL X 2 @ 2.6K
OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 120GB SSD @ 12K
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twinfrozr II/OC @ 12.5K
Corsair Gaming Series GS600 600 W @ 3.8K
NZXT Gamma @ 1.8K
BenQ G2222HDL @ 6.8K
Razer Deathadder @ 1.8K
Razer Razer Goliathus Fragged Omega S - Speed/Control @ 0.4K
Xbox 360 Controller for PC @ 0.9K
Edifier C2 @ 3.2K

Total 69.2K

Good choices. At least our PM discussions were fruitful

@MyGeekTips: present prices are slightly higher than your quoted prices. So, be ready to spend ~72K.

Xbox 360 Controller for PC @ 0.9K

Where will you find that? :shock:

I thought it was 1.4k :???:

Nipun said:
Where will you find that?
I thought it was 1.4k

Using Coupon on Homeshop18.

d6bmg said:
@MyGeekTips: present prices are slightly higher than your quoted prices. So, be ready to spend ~72K.

Yes i know some of the prices are old i'm ready to spend little more money. My P4 is crying to get free.

MyGeekTips said:
Using Coupon on Homeshop18.

Yes i know some of the prices are old i'm ready to spend little more money. My P4 is crying to get free.

I would advice on staying away from HS18... Read here: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-www/145536-online-shopping-guide-feedback-thread.html

Or directly vie mithun_mrg's experience with them: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/1493848-post80.html

MyGeekTips said:
Using Coupon on Homeshop18.

Avoid them for buying PC components.

Nipun said:
I would advice on staying away from HS18... Read here: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-www/145536-online-shopping-guide-feedback-thread.html

Or directly vie mithun_mrg's experience with them: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/1493848-post80.html

Okay i will stay away from HS18 i will order from letsbuy or flipkart i've good experience with both of them. Thanks Nipun.

Both of them are very good. So, buy from them without much of thinking.

I don't know whether this thread is dead, But as HS18 was involved, check this..

MegaMind said:
I don't know whether this thread is dead, But as HS18 was involved, check this..

Thanks MegaMind for sharing your experience with HS18.

I'm bit confused to get sandy bridge now or wait for ivy bridge/price down. I will wait for few days & see what to do.

You get a massive performance boost either way.

Extreme Gamer said:
You get a massive performance boost either way.

True.

MyGeekTips said:
I'm bit confused to get sandy bridge now or wait for ivy bridge/price down. I will wait for few days & see what to do.

Get Sandy bridge :smile:

-

V

Get my desktop rig. But with some changes

CPU: i5 2500K
GPU: Nvidia 560 ti (try to get gtx 570 if you have remaining money)
Ram: 2x4GB Corsair vengeance 1600mhz
PSU: Corsair TX650V2
MB: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 v1.3 (Don't know if this is available in India, This is best all rounder and cheap | v1.3 supports ivy bridge and PCIE-3.0)
CPU cooler: CM 212 EVO ( not the 212 plus(+), this is a revised version of 212 plus)
Monitor: Buy a LED LCD display, not the ordinary TFT LCD.

P.S.. Currently am not in India to know the prices. But this will be in your budget. I have written only the basic ones, because other components depend on your taste, style and remaining amount. These basic specs can keep you solid for years to come, like you had the pentium 4 system

vicedens2002 said:
MB: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 v1.3 (Don't know if this is available in India, This is best all rounder and cheap | v1.3 supports ivy bridge and PCIE-3.0)

Not available in India.

CPU cooler: CM 212 EVO ( not the 212 plus(+), this is a revised version of 212 plus)

Same problem. Not available in India.

V

d6bmg said:
Not available in India.

Same problem. Not available in India.

Got it

but all in ebay...

MB: Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboards GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 | eBay
Don't know its v1.3
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO With Bill & Warranty | eBay

vicedens2002 said:
Got it
but all in ebay...

MB: Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboards GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 | eBay
Don't know its v1.3
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO With Bill & Warranty | eBay

Evo deal is good but motherboard is not worth the price. I can get Asus Z68 V-Pro in that price.

PCIE 3.0 wont be necessary until Maxwell.

V

MyGeekTips said:
Evo deal is good but motherboard is not worth the price. I can get Asus Z68 V-Pro in that price.

Oh yea, just checked the price when I buyed, its nearly 118 pounds that's roughly around 8.5k rupees.

Extreme Gamer said:
PCIE 3.0 wont be necessary until Maxwell.

Ivy bridge has support for PCIE 3.0. So just need to change process and GPU, if and only if upgrading.

No need to change GPU :shrug:

MyGeekTips said:
Evo deal is good but motherboard is not worth the price. I can get Asus Z68 V-Pro in that price.

Seconded. No point of buying UD4 at ~12.5K Z68 V/V-PRO beats it anyway.

vicedens2002 said:
MB: Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboards GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 | eBay
Don't know its v1.3

Warranty Void..

Asus can fix the mobo for a charge.

I've decided now i will upgrade in parts. First I will upgrade CPU Cooler as my Pentium 4 Lga 775 Prescot 90NM is getting too hot. Then Case, Monitor, etc. I will upgrade first that component there will be not any new thing coming. I will be waiting For Ivy Bridge & AMD 7000 Series.

First Upgrade CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 775): Do you know any good cpu cooler that support lga 775 + lga 1155 ? I'm leaning towards this:

*www.amazon.com/Thermalright-True-Spirit-120/dp/B005MSOH7C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321938986&sr=8-1

Good cooler.

Its a good cooler. What's your budget for cooler?

d6bmg said:
Its a good cooler. What's your budget for cooler?

Max 2.5K

Then nothing better than Hyper 212+

d6bmg said:
Then nothing better than Hyper 212+

Evo is also available at smc & prime. I will order TS120 from amazon or any other cooler on black friday deals.

V

Guys the hyper 212 evo is the updated version of hyper 212 plus. So anyone buying 212 plus should consider the evo.

MyGeekTips said:
Evo is also available at smc & prime. I will order TS120 from amazon or any other cooler on black friday deals.

A bit OT: When importing, duties would be added. So, if you buy cooler from amazon, won't it be overpriced? :unsure:

No. The import fees deposit will cover everything.

Extreme Gamer said:
No. The import fees deposit will cover everything.

I didn't understand this part. Don't want to OT this thread too much. YGPM.

Replied.