Suggestion for Processor & Motherboard Upgrade

I use my computer only for light work, songs and watching movies. At times, i encode a movie clip from one codec to another so as to watch it on my mobile.

I only play Zynga games like Farmville and Cityville. As I have been playing these games for over an year, the games contain a lot many things which now my PC finds difficult to handle.

I want to upgrade Processor, Motherboard and RAM as i use a P4, gigabyte 81915 board with 512MB RAM. I am using Windows XP SP3. I will upgrade it to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional. I prefer Intel processors and not having money at present to go for a costly upgrade.

I read a suggestion in Digit for i3 processor. I don't know the basic difference between i3 & i5. So I am unable to decide which one to buy. :?:

Please give me suggestion for the same

Let us know your budget 1st. But one generic suggestion...If you are in a tight budget then AMD is a better choice.

whats your budget

But for that u have to give us ur budget.

my outside limit is INR 20,000. I have come to know that Intel i3 2100 will be good for my work and i need not upgrade for next 2-3 years. Is is ok? Thanks a lot friends.

vidhubhushan said:
my outside limit is INR 20,000. I have come to know that Intel i3 2100 will be good for my work and i need not upgrade for next 2-3 years. Is is ok? Thanks a lot friends.

Fill this template and post again: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-components-configurations/128247-pc-build-questionnaire-template.html

Because we need to know what all you want in your budget.

Core i5 2400 @9.5k
Intel DH67CL @6.5k
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL @2.5k

Total --> 18.5k

Even an AMD system will be enough for your needs but since you don't wanna go that way... the above config will be okay.

vidhubhushan said:
I don't know the basic difference between i3 & i5.

i3 --> dual core
i5 --> quad core

1. What is the purpose of the computer?
A: General apps like ms office, internet surfing, listening music, watching movie and playing online zynga games

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: 20,000 preferably within 15,000

4. Planning to overclock?
A: No

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

6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A: 1TB ( have planned to purchase seagate barracuda 1tb approx. price 2700)

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: Already using Dell in2020M at 1280 X 768 with onboard graphics.

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: 3

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
A: Yes and will assemble it on my own

10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: within 15 days

11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: Yes (may be for next 2-3 years only)

12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: Cabinet, Power Supply, HDD, Optical Drive, Monitor, UPS

13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: Lucknow, yes

14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A: I will not be playing any PC games in the future as well and will use the PC for general purpose work only (plus online zynga games)

Get this:

AMD X3 440 / X4 635
Gigabyte 880GM UD3H mobo
500 GB Seagate
LG 22x DVD RW
Dell 2020M monitor
2 GB DDR-III Corsair Ram
Cabinet Bijli with 350 w FSP Saga II

If you want to save money, get some other LCD monitor, but Dell is better. You can also get 785 mobo for Rs.3200/- instead of 880g UD3H which is for Rs.5500/-

rohitshakti2 said:
Get this:

AMD X3 440 / X4 635
Gigabyte 880GM UD3H mobo
500 GB Seagate
LG 22x DVD RW
Dell 2020M monitor
2 GB DDR-III Corsair Ram
Cabinet Bijli with 350 w FSP Saga II

If you want to save money, get some other LCD monitor, but Dell is better. You can also get 785 mobo for Rs.3200/- instead of 880g UD3H which is for Rs.5500/-

He just needs proccy, mobo, ram.

I agree he doesn't need SB or even a quad-core AMD but if he wants to spend money then ...

Phenom II X4 955 BE @6.6k
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H @4.3k
Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz @2.2k

Total --> 13.1k

Or else he can go for the best system according to his needs and not what he wants to shell out...

Athlon II X3 440 @3.3k
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H @4.3k
Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz @2.2k

Total --> 9.8k

@OP for ur needs, the above phenom config will be more future proof.....

@vidhubhushan go for phenom config..

btw r u just looking for processor, motherboard and ram in 20k??

Yes, OP doesnt require a QUAD core though, but as it fits his buget, then why should he neglect it.
By the way, none of you observed that he uses an old P4 system. That means a sure generic and weak PSU. That will not be able to handle current dual, triple and quad cores. So, he also has to change the PSU too.
OP can go for this:
* CPU: AMD Athlon IIx4 640 -- 4.5k
* MoBo: GA 880GM UD2H -- 4.2k
* RAM: Corasir 4GB DDR3 -- 2.4k
* PSU: FSP SAGA II 350W -- 1.5k
Total ---- 12.6k

But as you are upgrading almost all the parts, so why should you leave back a good cabby.
* Zebronics Bijli -- 1k
Total --- 13.6k

* CM Elite 310 -- 1.5k
Total -- 14.1k

Thanks a lot friends for the information. I am really grateful to al of you for the contribution and specially for thinking of my budget n giving me suggestion in even half of it that will be good for me.

I use Zebronic Shangrilla and a zeb 400 watt Plus (20 + 4 pin) power supply purchased around 1 1/2 years back. It has got 2 fans, one can be switched on/off and the other in front of processor that starts when it is hot. isn't that will be sufficient?

What about new i3 2100 processor?

^^ just change the PSU to a FSP Saga II 350/400W @ 1.5/1.8k. availability maybe a bit of problem if you are not open to buying online but trust me, its better to use 1 PSU for 3-5yrs rather than changing a blown up PSU every yr.

yup
just change that PSU to FSP 350W @1.5k if you have no plans for graphic card in future
and if yes, then go for FSP II saga 500W @ 2.2k

new SB i series is good
but will overshoot your budget

thanks a lot Sam and Piyush for the info. do you think my current PSU (zebronic 400 watt) will not be suitable as it is used for around 7-8 months only and at present i am using another old one since last one year as there was a problem in it and i got it repaired (under warranty).

no, buying online is not a problem with me. i do that though not very frequently.

FSP is a brand name or something else?

FSP is a PSU manufacturer
you can use your old PSU but we vcant assure you that will it be safe or not
Power supply should not be neglected in any case

I would still recommend you to go for FSP

@OP never compromise on PSU... get a good PSU to avoid burnt procy or mobo....

mailme.manju said:
@OP never compromise on PSU... get a good PSU to avoid burnt procy or mobo....

Component | Model | Price Processor | Phenom II X4 955 BE | 6.5k
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H | 4.2k
RAM | Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz | 2.2k
PSU | FSP saga II 500W | 2.2k
Total | | 15.1K

+1 ^_^

vidhubhushan said:
thanks a lot Sam and Piyush for the info. do you think my current PSU (zebronic 400 watt) will not be suitable as it is used for around 7-8 months only and at present i am using another old one since last one year as there was a problem in it and i got it repaired (under warranty).

sufficient but not safe.

vidhubhushan said:
FSP is a brand name or something else?

manufactures & sells various PSU & also designs PSU for others.

thanks a lot friends. that was really wonderful.

just one point, nobody talked about new i3 & i5 processors. what about them? can't i go for them specially i3 2100?

i3 2100 is a powerful dual core, which also exceeds ur budget a bit...
Phenom is more future proof for ur needs....

vidhubhushan said:
1. What is the purpose of the computer?
A: General apps like ms office, internet surfing, listening music, watching movie and playing online zynga games

i3-2100 SB proccy cost around same 6k - 6.5k.
But if you get i3-2100 then your config is:
* CPU: Intel i3-2100 --- 6k-6.5k
* MoBo: Intel DH67BL --- 5.5k
* RAM: Corsair 4GB DDR3 --- 2.4k
* PSU: FSP SAGA II 350W --- 1.5k
Total ---- 15.4k / 15.9k

By the way its a Dual Core proccy with HT, that means 4 logical cores and it will show as a Quad Core proccy in the System Manager too.

R

i3-2100 and Intel DH67BL B3 available at SMC international

Thanks a lot friends. you guys are wonderful.

does hd5670 graphics card work on these boards? i feel i need to then upgrade the PSU to a 400W one.

Manju, you said Phenom is more future proof. what does this mean? if i use i3, can't i use it for 2-3 years without any upgrade?

vidhubhushan said:
Thanks a lot friends. you guys are wonderful.

does hd5670 graphics card work on these boards? i feel i need to then upgrade the PSU to a 400W one.

Manju, you said Phenom is more future proof. what does this mean? if i use i3, can't i use it for 2-3 years without any upgrade?

Ya, 5670 works with these boards. Basically any motherboard having a PCI Express X16 slot can have any PCI Express Graphics card.

Manju is right about Phenom II 955 to be future proof. The reason is Intel Core i3 processor is a dual core one and performs better in single threaded applications. But now a days all the applications are getting multi threaded. Phenom II 955 has 4 cores and will perform better in a heavily multithreaded environment.

thats great buddy but isn't new i3 also supports Hyper Threading (no turbo boost) thereby making it future proof?

one more thing, new i5 has turbo boost but no HT. how it will then perform in a heavily multithreaded environment?

An i5-xxxx proccy with 4 real cores is always faster than an i3 with 2 real and 2 virtual core.
But the i3 will be a good choice too, as its built on latest tachnology unlike the PhenomII.

@op: phenom II 955 BE much better than i3-2100. firstly it is better in number of cores (4 vs. 2 phy.+2vir.). secondly, single threaded performance is almost the same. thirdly, p2 being a BE (in this case) can be very easily overclocked to very high clock speeds due to unlocked multiplier and can perform better in even single threaded apps whereas i3-2100 can neither be oc'ed nor does it have turbo boost so it would become obsolete very soon.

J

saswat23 said:
But the i3 will be a good choice too, as its built on latest tachnology unlike the PhenomII.

actually speaking.... Phenom II 955 BE > core i3-2100 in performance.

but core i3-2100 has less power consumption.

Joker said:
actually speaking.... Phenom II 955 BE > core i3-2100 in performance.

but core i3-2100 has less power consumption.

Not much...
i3 2100 vs Phenom ii 955

@manju: in that case look at this: PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs

utkarsh009 said:
@manju: in that case look at this: PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs

It states,

Model | Rank | Score Phenom ii 955 | 112 | 3939
i3 2100 | 115 | 3886

So Phenom wins....

But here phenom is almost slow...

i3 2100 vs Phenom ii 955

Which one to believe???

@manju:its simple: they almost have same performance but oced p2 is way ahead of i3-2100.

isn't as per *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/cpu-motherboards/137197-amd-intel.html intel processors are better? so, shouldn't i go for then an i3 or i5 (new sandy bridge) with h67 board?

vidhubhushan said:
isn't as per *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/cpu-motherboards/137197-amd-intel.html intel processors are better? so, shouldn't i go for then an i3 or i5 (new sandy bridge) with h67 board?

Everything depends ON the budget. You can't really compare a 10k (1090T) processor to a 16k (Core i7-2600k) processor. Can you?

I'd say go for Core i3-2100 as AMD Phenoms are due to be replaced. Having said that, Phenom 955 BE will perform better than Core i3-2100 and will come much cheaper too. But still go for Core i3-2100 because AMD is changing the socket.

Every Sandy Bridge processor is impressive, but Core i3-2100 should be actually cheaper than what it costs at the moment. You have sufficient budget to go for Core i3-2100, so go for it. Then 955 BE also has a noisy HSF which I don't like.

mailme.manju said:
It states,

Model | Rank | Score Phenom ii 955 | 112 | 3939
i3 2100 | 115 | 3886

So Phenom wins....

But here phenom is almost slow...

i3 2100 vs Phenom ii 955

Which one to believe???

Phenom 955 BE will be better in multi-tasking. 4 real cores compared to 2 hyper-threaded cores. Secondly, if you aren't satisfied with 955 BE, you can over clock it.

Another thing which you should never forget is, you are comparing a processor which costs 6.5k to a processor which costs 9.5k. More justified performance by 955 BE.

@OP: i5 overshoots your budget largely and i3 is a waste of money. go for p2. dont think that intel processors are always better. till 2006 amd was the ruler. it was then that it overtook ati and will soon get back into the race with BD and later BD fusion. currently anything below 8k on processor means amd is the way to go.

ico said:
Another thing which you should never forget is, you are comparing a processor which costs 6.5k to a processor which costs 9.5k. More justified performance by 955 BE.

afaik both of them are 6.5k and who cares about noisy hsf if you get better performance and an ocable processor. also why care about replacement. will you immediately change to ivy bridge if you go for i3? you will continue with it for at least 3-4 years. IMO definitely go for p2.

utkarsh009 said:
afaik both of them are 6.5k and who cares about noisy hsf if you get better performance and an ocable processor. also why care about replacement. will you immediately change to ivy bridge if you go for i3? you will continue with it for at least 3-4 years. IMO definitely go for p2.

All right, I got confused with Core i5-2400 for some reason.

Another reason to go for Core i3-2100 then. Why? AMD is changing their socket and Intel will keep LGA 1155 atleast for a while.

^^well lga1155 is surely not going to continue for 4 years. op should decide on the basis of when would he upgrade next. if 4 years then go for p2 and if 1-2 years go for i3-2100 but then would you like to keep h67 mobo? i would have opted for z68 chipset or at least p67.

Friends, The current setup that i have was purchased in 2005 and except for zynga games, i find it sufficient. i have till now used only Intel processors and therefore have a bias towards them. as per the suggestion of utkarsh009, i should go for amd if i am going to upgrade after 3-4 years. can't i go for i5 SB (approx 10000), h67 board (6500) and corsair 2X2gb (2400). later on i can add hd5670 too if i want.

For 15K,

For 20K,

IMO, the 15K rig is more future proof for u, since u can OC it after few yrs if needed..
For ur needs, 20K rig would be an overkill...

Manju is correct here. But it all depends on OP too.
If you are really leaning towards Intel then better replace i5-2400 with i3-2100 in manju's config, save 3k and be happy.
The cores of i3-2100 are actually much faster than P2-955BE. Still then P2-955 makes a sense at 6.5k as its a real Quad Core. But in single and double threaded apps like games i3-2100 beats P2-955BE by good margin where as P2-955BE beats i3-2100 marginally, only in the apps where more than two cores are used.

saswat23 said:
P2-955BE beats i3-2100 marginally, only in the apps where more than two cores are used.

Phenom II X4 955 BE beats Core i3-2100 by good margin in multithreaded apps. And all new games and apps are actually multi-threaded utilizing all cores of quad core processors. This wasn't true 3 years ago.

The reason for going for Core i3-2100 should be its good power consumption and a socket which will be supported for the time being. (AM3 is being replaced) Otherwise, 955 BE is the better performer - overall.

Core i3 2100's performance should be compared with athlon x4's and not phenom 2 955be.

Ofcourse amd's prices are lower and it should be because its way behind intel in revenue generation and to be honest, it can be called as an underdog.

As ico said, amd will be changing the sockets completely both for llano(stars) and bulldozer, its wise to stick with 1155 for a while now. Gives more upgradable path as it will even support future hexcore processsors for socket 1155.

thanks a lot friends. i too have realized that its an overkill to have i5 but i have got the idea from the discussion that it will be future proof so i might be able to use it for 3-5 years. as i have not used amd and have also not got much opinion as only a few people are using it here so i thought i should stick with intel and that is why i asked for that.

does Gskill ripjaws performs better / is a good brand compared to corsair? will 400w psu will be ok if i add hd5670 to it? and why in the amd you have said FSP saga and in inter corsair? any specific reasons?

thanks a lot friends in advance

mailme.manju said:
For 15K,

Component | Model | Price Processor | Phenom II X4 955 BE | 6.2k
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H | 4k
RAM | Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz | 2.2k
PSU | FSP saga II 500W | 2.2k
Total | | 14.6K

For 20K,

Component | Model | Price Processor | i5 2400 | 9.5k
Motherboard | Intel DH67BL | 5.5k
RAM | Gskill ripjaws 2X2GB DDR3 1600MHz | 2.5k
PSU | Corsair CX400 | 2.5k
Total | | 19.7K

IMO, the 15K rig is more future proof for u, since u can OC it after few yrs if needed..
For ur needs, 20K rig would be an overkill...

vidhubhushan said:
does Gskill ripjaws performs better / is a good brand compared to corsair?

Corsair RAM will be good for u...

will 400w psu will be ok if i add hd5670 to it?

If it is Corsair or any good brand, it is more than enough...
CX400 & FSP saga II 500 can handle even 6850

and why in the amd you have said FSP saga and in inter corsair? any specific reasons?

No specific reason...
Both are equally good...
FSP saga II 500 = CX400 in performance...
CX400 has good build quality, lengthier cables...
On budget constraint get saga ii 500, else CX400

OP,
yes if you are tight on budget, then go for FSP. The only problem to avoid is due to its SHORT CABLES. So, if you aint going for a BOTTOM MOUNTED PSU CASE then you can go with FSP SAGA II 500W.

I hv recently bought Corsair SMPS CX400 for Rs.2400.

^^nice price
congrats

Nice purchase at good cost rohitshakti

tyvm manju for your immense help. i have decided for Corsair CX400, i5, intel DH67BL. and as suggested i will include Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz.

OP,
you are really confused, what to decide.

Post what you have finally decided to buy.

vidhubhushan said:
tyvm manju for your immense help. i have decided for Corsair CX400, i5, intel DH67BL. and as suggested i will include Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz.

My pleasure

saswat23 said:
OP,
you are really confused, what to decide.

Post what you have finally decided to buy.

saswat, i feel this post is about me though it starts with OP. :grin:

i am not confused now. i have posted just before your post that i have decided for
Corsair CX400
SB i5
intel DH67BL
Corsair Value 2X2GB DDR3 1333MHz

I feel this will be sufficient for me for the next 3-5 years.