Upgrading old rig! Best processor + MB + RAM + PSU upgrade ~20k?

S

Hello,

I'm looking to upgrade my old P4 rig to a new one, for around 20k.

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: Office, browsing, PDF, P2P.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: 20k.

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: No.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Win7 64bit.

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: I'm using my old HDD.

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. Although, I will be buying a new monitor within 6 months.

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: 500GB Seagate SATA HDD, Sony 22X DVD writer.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: Before the year end.

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: I have built one before, and this will be done by me.

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. Locally or online, either ways is cool.

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans:
1) I have an iBall cabinet, and L&C 350/400W PSU. Can I use them for the new rig or will I have to buy new ones?

2) It will be mostly for office, browsing and downloading usage. No gaming at all or graphic designing. Thus, the need for a graphic card is absent.

It'd be great if you'll could help me select my rig, or suggest variations if anything better is an option.

For those who don't have an access to the December 2012 issue right now:
Entry-Level Gaming:
Processor: AMD A8-3850
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A75M-D2H
RAM: G-Skill F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT (I was thinking of using the Corsair of the Mid-Range instead)
PSU: Corsair CX430.

Mid-Range Gaming:
Processor: Intel i5-3450
Motherboard: Intel DB75EN
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4 GB
PSU: Corsair GS 600.

Looking forward to some help!

_

I think Trinity was supposed to come out in December. So you might be able to go for a A10-5800K (think that's the right model). But that'll take a huge chunk of your budget. And I would suggest getting a new PSU and then a case too. Case is important, but not as important as the PSU.

S

_AkasH_ said:
I think Trinity was supposed to come out in December. So you might be able to go for a A10-5800K (think that's the right model). But that'll take a huge chunk of your budget. And I would suggest getting a new PSU and then a case too. Case is important, but not as important as the PSU.

Why would a case be more important than a PSU? And you mean AMD Trinity, right?

_

PSU is more important than the case. That's why I said get the PSU first then get the case

S

_AkasH_ said:
PSU is more important than the case. That's why I said get the PSU first then get the case

My bad. I read it wrong

.

Although, are Trinity boards available? And isn't it costlier?

S

Bump.

Any help, people?

V

Intel i3 3220 - 7.2k or i5 3450 -11.3k
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H - 4.2k
G.Skill RipjawsX(F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL) 4GB -1.5k
Corsair CX430v2 -2.5k
Mouse&KB:Logitech MK200 -0.7k

For upgrading cabinet look for nzxt source 210 elite for around 2.7k
If you can wait for some time then you might be able to get an AMD trinity based config.
For the things you have mentioned an i5 3450 is not required.i3 3220 or Trinity a10/a8 processors are more than enough.

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vkl said:
Intel i3 3220 - 7.2k or i5 3450 -11.3k
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H - 4.2k
G.Skill RipjawsX(F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL) 4GB -1.5k
Corsair CX430v2 -2.5k
Mouse&KB:Logitech MK200 -0.7k

For upgrading cabinet look for nzxt source 210 elite for around 2.7k
If you can wait for some time then you might be able to get an AMD trinity based config.
For the things you have mentioned an i5 3450 is not required.i3 3220 or Trinity a10/a8 processors are more than enough.

Sounds good. Thanks

! I don't mind waiting for a month or so.
When does the Trinity series come by?
And where do you suggest I get all these? Online? If yes, site names would be good.

V

Check local market for cheaper prices.
For online purchase check sites like Primeabgb,smcinternational

Trinity should be here in some time.Don't know exactly when.

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vkl said:
Check local market for cheaper prices.
For online purchase check sites like Primeabgb,smcinternational

Trinity should be here in some time.Don't know exactly when.

Got it. Great. Although, I'll need help with the motherboard selection for A10/A8.

A

setu4993 said:
Got it. Great. Although, I'll need help with the motherboard selection for A10/A8.

Which processor you bought??

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Ahmar said:
Which processor you bought??

I've decided to wait for the Trinity APUs.

S

Bump.

So, now that the Trinity APUs are available, what would be a good motherboard to support A10-5800K? Preferably A85.

I was thinking about this config:

APU: A10-5800K
Motherboard: Asus F2A85-M-LE (Actually, that's the only A85 series motherboard I've come across)
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX(F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL)

I have absolutely no clue which PSU to buy!!

V

^^That board would be fine.It has only 2 memory slots but it should be ok.For PSU take Corsair CX430v2 @2.5k.

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vkl said:
^^That board would be fine.It has only 2 memory slots but it should be ok.For PSU take Corsair CX430v2 @2.5k.

Any other motherboard for comparison?

V

ASUS F2A85-M -6.7k
It has 4 memory slots.
There are other a85x based motherboards available but most of them are above 8k as of now.

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vkl said:
ASUS F2A85-M -6.7k
It has 4 memory slots.
There are other a85x based motherboards available but most of them are above 8k as of now.

Will consider it. Although, only the memory slots availability won't be the reason I buy that. Besides, aren't the prices of Trinity and these motherboards expected to settle in in the next few days/weeks? They appear too high right now.

What are my other options outside A85? I don't think A75/A77 because they're older. Newer ones, I mean. I thought I saw an A88 somewhere.

Actually in India, for FM2 socket, FM2 A85 and A55 chipset based motherboards are available. A75 will be the sweet spot when they will be released but currently I didn't find a single A75 mobo.

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Cilus said:
Actually in India, for FM2 socket, FM2 A85 and A55 chipset based motherboards are available. A75 will be the sweet spot when they will be released but currently I didn't find a single A75 mobo.

Aren't the A85 ones newer? I thought so from what I had read :/.

I did come across a few A75 yesterday. But on checking them again now, they support FM1.

So you mean to say that if and when A75 are available, they'd be a better pair with Trinity than their A85 counter-parts?

Also, what's the difference between the A85, A55 and A88 motherboards? (Sorry, but I'm unaware of the naming conventions at the hardware end.)

V

setu4993 said:
Will consider it. Although, only the memory slots availability won't be the reason I buy that. Besides, aren't the prices of Trinity and these motherboards expected to settle in in the next few days/weeks? They appear too high right now.

What are my other options outside A85? I don't think A75/A77 because they're older. Newer ones, I mean. I thought I saw an A88 somewhere.

There are only 3 chipset for amd FM2 socket processors viz. A55,A75,A85X.There is nothing like A77 or A88.
A55 is the cheap one which doesn't have usb3.0 and sataIII.As A75 based socket FM2 motherboards are not available as of now you have to look for A85X based motherboard.Else you can wait for the prices to drop or if A75 based boards are available here.

A10-5800k price is somewhat higher for the time being.It should have been around 7-7.5k. i3 3220 and a10-5800k are priced same in US.
Wait to see if prices go down.

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vkl said:
There are only 3 chipset for amd FM2 socket processors viz. A55,A75,A85X.There is nothing like A77 or A88.
A55 is the cheap one which doesn't have usb3.0 and sataIII.As A75 based socket FM2 motherboards are not available as of now you have to look for A85X based motherboard.Else you can wait for the prices to drop or if A75 based boards are available here.

A10-5800k price is somewhat higher for the time being.It should have been around 7-7.5k. i3 3220 and a10-5800k are priced same in US.
Wait to see if prices go down.

I realized only today that the 'FM2' is the socket and that's what determines which processor's can compliment the motherboard. Sorry for my lack of awareness in my previous post. I did see the A77 and A88 motherboards. But, now I realize that they are Athlon or FM1 socket motherboards.

So A55 is out of consideration, then. I need USB 3.0.

As for A85X, are they better than A75? Or would waiting for the A75 based motherboards to come by, make sense? What is the difference between the two?

Will wait till the first or at max mid-January to see if the prices go down, and buy then if they still don't.

V

*i.imgur.com/E8eSW.jpg?1

A75 is fine.You have to go for A85x if A75 isn't available here in the time.
A85X motherboards would have crossfirex support and more ports.
Some costlier motherboards would have better support for overclocking.
A75 should be fine for you unless you require more ports and other features.

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vkl said:
A75 is fine.You have to go for A85x if A75 isn't available here in the time.
A85X motherboards would have crossfirex support and more ports.
Some costlier motherboards would have better support for overclocking.
A75 should be fine for you unless you require more ports and other features.

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation.

Pretty sure the A75 would suffice my needs, then. The 6 SATA ports available in the A75 would be more than enough. And CrossFireX or over-clocking is not something I'm looking for, so I guess I'll wait for the FM2 A75 motherboards.

S

My old CRT monitor seems to be dying. Will buy a new one alongwith this config too.

Thinking of a Full HD 17" LED. Although I will ask for advice in the TVs/Monitors section of the forum for that, any suggestions here are welcome. Also, wanted to confirm that Trinity will support Full HD natively without any video/graphic card, right?

Also, just came across this motherboard: GA-F2A85X-UP4.

Is it better than the Asus one?

V

Mention the budget for the monitor.
No problem with a10-5800k's IGP supporting FHD resolution.
Yes,that board is fine,has better form-factor,more expansion slots than the quoted boards.Can go with that board if within your budget.

Buddy, the Gigabyte motherboard is probably not available in India and if available, will cost you a bomb. There is no point to get a Motherboard with 3 PCI-Express X16 slots. You're not going to run 3 Graphics card with a Trinity processor. Also two Ram slots does not matter more these days as 8 GB single modules are available. Get the Corsair Vengeance 8GB X 1 1600 MHz module @ 2.7K or G-Skill RipjawX 8GBX 1 @ 3.085K. FOr motherboard, I think ASUS F2A85-M should be the maximum limit for a Trinity CPU.

S

vkl said:
Mention the budget for the monitor.
No problem with a10-5800k's IGP supporting FHD resolution.
Yes,that board is fine,has better form-factor,more expansion slots than the quoted boards.Can go with that board if within your budget.

Around 5-7k. The lesser the better. Checked the listings on Flipkart. Seems like there's no FHD monitor available in that range. Any other suggestions for that range?

Cilus said:
Buddy, the Gigabyte motherboard is probably not available in India and if available, will cost you a bomb. There is no point to get a Motherboard with 3 PCI-Express X16 slots. You're not going to run 3 Graphics card with a Trinity processor. Also two Ram slots does not matter more these days as 8 GB single modules are available. Get the Corsair Vengeance 8GB X 1 1600 MHz module @ 2.7K or G-Skill RipjawX 8GBX 1 @ 3.085K. FOr motherboard, I think ASUS F2A85-M should be the maximum limit for a Trinity CPU.

Was thinking the same thing. I'm not going to use for gaming anyway so the PCI-Express slots don't really mater to me.
And will mostly get a 8GB RAM module. Thanks

.
When can I expect other A75 motherboards from ASRock and others? I was planning to upgrade soon now and the lack of availability, combined with high prices is sort of a deterrent.

V

FHD monitors like Benq g2222hdal costs around ~7.5k.Dell st2220l~8.2k
You can get Dell in2030m~6k,20", has a resolution of 1600*900

@op get the highest speed memory you can afford if you are going for a APU

Cilus said:
Corsair Vengeance 8GB X 1 1600 MHz module @ 2.7K or G-Skill RipjawX 8GBX 1 @ 3.085K

S

vkl said:
FHD monitors like Benq g2222hdal costs around ~7.5k.Dell st2220l~8.2k
You can get Dell in2030m~6k,20", has a resolution of 1600*900

I haven't been able to find the BenQ at any of the online stores (SMC, IT Depot, Prime). Even the Dell one isn't available on most online stores. Will check the IN2030M.

avinandan012 said:
@op get the highest speed memory you can afford if you are going for a APU

Will be getting the RipjawX 8GB mostly. Fits well in the budget. It's 1600MHz as far as I know. Nothing can beat that, can it?

The RipjawX ran can run at 1866 MHz Speed CL10 setting without any issue. Check my signature.

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Cilus said:
The RipjawX ran can run at 1866 MHz Speed CL10 setting without any issue. Check my signature.

I read that while reading your previous post. And that's why I had to Google for the RipjawX to verify that it is 1600MHz. Got it that you're running it at CL10 now. Overlooked it earlier.

You will be surprised to know that the time needed for 9 clock cycles in 1600 MHz Ram is higher than time needed to complete 10 clock cycles in 1 1866 MHz Ram. A 1866 MHz CL10 ram does have higher speed and tighter latency than a 1600 MHz CL9 one.

i have already explained it in another thread. Have a read here : *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...-rig-around-130k-post1781015.html#post1781015

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Cilus said:
You will be surprised to know that the time needed for 9 clock cycles in 1600 MHz Ram is higher than time needed to complete 10 clock cycles in 1 1866 MHz Ram. A 1866 MHz CL10 ram does have higher speed and tighter latency than a 1600 MHz CL9 one.

i have already explained it in another thread. Have a read here : *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...-rig-around-130k-post1781015.html#post1781015

Great explanation there, Cilius

!

It's pretty amazing, indeed as to how that'd be possible. But it is!

S

Any clue on when ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M and FM2A75 Pro4 are going to be available?

From what I saw on their website, it seems they differ mainly in the number of PCI and PCIe slots. I don't need them and thus, that doesn't change my decision to buy or not to buy a motherboard. Also, what's the difference between an mATX (FM2A75 Pro4-M) and ATX (FM2A75 Pro4) form factor? Do they need different cases? I have a 5-7 years old iBall cabinet. Will either fit in the same?

One last thing, the front USB and audio slots of the cabinet broke during a repair, and got lost since. How can I restore the front USB panels atleast? I need at least 2 ports which can handle an external 2.5" HDD there. I should be able to use the mid-board USB heads for that, AFAIK. But how? Are there some panels or something like that available for that?

S

Bump!

S

I've decided my rig, and the final rig is as follows:

Processor: AMD Trinity A10-5800K
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro-M (First preference, if available)
Motherboard: ASUS F2A85-M-LE
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX (8GBx1) DDR3-1600MHz
PSU: Corsair CX430v2

My question is, will the CX430v2 be enough for this config even if I add a DVD-RW and 3-4 3.5" HDDs?

Actually Gskill RipjawX and Kingston HyperX Blue Rams overclock like charm. They can easily run at 1866 MHz speed and if tried properly, 2133 MHz is also possible. Sumon Pathak, one of the forum members has tested HyperX module and was able to run it at 2133 MHz speed with ease, at CL11 setting with 1.65 V Memory Voltage. So better get one of these two modules instead of Corsair Vengeance. They are around 3.2K.

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Cilus said:
Actually Gskill RipjawX and Kingston HyperX Blue Rams overclock like charm. They can easily run at 1866 MHz speed and if tried properly, 2133 MHz is also possible. Sumon Pathak, one of the forum members has tested HyperX module and was able to run it at 2133 MHz speed with ease, at CL11 setting with 1.65 V Memory Voltage. So better get one of these two modules instead of Corsair Vengeance. They are around 3.2K.

I'm getting the RipjawX. I said that in the previous post.

S

Finally bought the following:

1) Processor : AMD A10-5800K
2) Motherboard : Asus F2A85-M-LE (Combined price: 14,950)
3) PSU: Corsair VS450 (2600)
4) RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB 1600MHz (3082)

Bought the RAM from Flipkart, everything else locally.

Thanks everyone for the help

.