Gaming rig Build

[rahulhbk]

Hey everyone,
I'm a student who's building a gaming PC for using in his hostel. The budget for the build is $1550. It'll be made in Mumbai,India and timeframe will be July. I want to start checking out the various options and prices while i'm on holiday and finsh the build as soon as i can when i get back to Mumbai(Holidays right now 😀 ). For those who are not familiar with Indian Rupees i've added the US$ prices i saw on newegg. Since i'm unikely to get discount(Newegg don't ship here)and the extra import taxes all i guess my budget should be around $1400.
I want answers to ...well quite a few questions. But first of all here's the configuration i've decided on for the moment.
->AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ - Rs.16800 - $297
->DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - Rs.9000?? - $122
(I've heard a lot about this being good for OC)
->1GB(2x512MB) DDR PC 3200RAM - 5500?? - $??
(which brand and model do you suggest?I want dual channel and if possible low latency)
->Segate 250GB Barracuda HDD - Rs. 5280 - $90
->Samsung DVD writer 16x - 2700 - $35
->Antec Sonata 2 with 450w PSU - 7000?? - $100
->SyncMaster 798MB PLUS 17" - 6600 - $??
->Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers - 4500?? - $70

That's pretty much the base configuration that i want to go with.The total price of the above comes to be around 57380 - $714(leaving out the price of the ram and the monitor) . My questions are(in addition to those i asked above) 😀
1)Are those prices correct in MUMBAI?? Which is the best place to buy the stuff there?(If anyone from India reads this 8O ?
2)Any compatibility issues??
3)Any suggestions on the parts already listed??
4)Which Graphics card?? I guess the 6600GT is about the only choice that fits in the budget. What's the price of a 7900GT??(For Non-Indians the 7 series Graphics cards for some reason cost double of wutever they cost in USA )
5)If i do go for a 6 series card can i fit in an X-Fi sound card(Same thing applies to the sound cards double cost )?? Which models of X-Fi are avalible in Mumbai??What's the price??
6)Which Keyboard/Mouse??
7) Anything else i might have missed or should know??
8) Anf finally the most important question - Should i wait for Conroe?? The given release date is July in USA but i doubt that it'll be avalible here till september atleast. Should i just go ahead with the build and upgrade later?? Or should i just buy a lowend CPU and MOBO and spend the money on the GFX card? The Conroe's are pretty much low price from the expected prices i've seen.

Sorry for the many questions and a second topic but i'm building a PC after about 3 years and that too away from home. The college entrance exam preparations have really left me outta touch. Thanks in advance for all the help everyone.

 

[shadowduck]

It is not very practical to plan now for a system in July with AM2 coming. Prices and specs will completely change by July, and might make any advice give now outdated or just plain wrong.

 

[rahulhbk]

As i already mentioned there's no way the new processors are going to be released in India before atleast September-October. And i'll HAVE to buy a computer in July. I'm gonna start college this year actually and i'm gonna get an education loan and that includes the cost of a computer. So i'm kinda stuck with buying no matter what. That's why i asked if its possible to upgrade later and get a lowend processor now. Though now that i think of it it'll be better to get that 3800+ anywyz. That way the bank pays for it and i can sell that and add some money i've got saved up to buy a better conroe then the low end ones. 😀

 

[The_Rev]

1)Are those prices correct in MUMBAI?? Which is the best place to buy the stuff there?(If anyone from India reads this 8O ?
2)Any compatibility issues??
3)Any suggestions on the parts already listed??
4)Which Graphics card?? I guess the 6600GT is about the only choice that fits in the budget. What's the price of a 7900GT??(For Non-Indians the 7 series Graphics cards for some reason cost double of wutever they cost in USA )
5)If i do go for a 6 series card can i fit in an X-Fi sound card(Same thing applies to the sound cards double cost )?? Which models of X-Fi are avalible in Mumbai??What's the price??
6)Which Keyboard/Mouse??
7) Anything else i might have missed or should know??
8) Anf finally the most important question - Should i wait for Conroe?? The given release date is July in USA but i doubt that it'll be avalible here till september atleast. Should i just go ahead with the build and upgrade later?? Or should i just buy a lowend CPU and MOBO and spend the money on the GFX card? The Conroe's are pretty much low price from the expected prices i've seen.

Sorry for the many questions and a second topic but i'm building a PC after about 3 years and that too away from home. The college entrance exam preparations have really left me outta touch. Thanks in advance for all the help everyone.

1) I'm afraid I don't know much about ordering from India...

2) None that I see if you go with the current set up.

3) Take a look at Corsair ValueRAM.

4) Really? Best you can get reasonably is 6 series, huh? That's too bad... Seems like a 7600 would be a great fit for you.

5) Not sure about availability in India, but put that money toward a better gfx card unless you are a total audiophile.

6) Depends on how much you want to spend and your personal gaming style... Some like finger-tip-controlled mice while others like palm-controlled mice... A lot of subjectivity creeps into mouse/keyboard decisions.

7) Not sure...

8) If you want to build now and be Conroe-ready, get a rev.304 i975x mobo and stick a cheap ($130 US) Pentium D 805 in it. They have tremendous overclocking capability and should give you great performance oc'ed to 3.4-3.5GHz on the stock cooler. You should be set for months with that little chip, and if you have that version motherboard, you'll be able to plug a new Conroe into it whenever you like.

Sorry I didn't know more about particulars in India... Hope this helps a little.

 

[mdd1963]

"It is not very practical to plan now for a system in July with AM2 coming. "

I really can't imagine anyone intentionally planning on an AM2/90nm cpu based rig over a Conroe...

Performance-wise. AM2 will be the biggest flop since the original upgrade from a P3/1.13GHz to a P4/1.4

 

[rahulhbk]

Thx rev. That helps a gr8 deal. As for the upgrade path..as i said what i was thinking that its unlikely the prices for the socket 939 chips will go down all that much with the launch of the AM2. So i'll just sell that 3800+ and get one of the Conroe's. i doubt even the 3800+ would be able to beat the slowest Conroe let alone the better ones. So i can get that...add a little money that i've managed to save up...i'm likely to take up a job and work my way though college....and then buy a good Conroe. All of them are dual core and good for overclocking from what i've seen so far so that should be good enough to last me for atleast the next year even in a worst case.

As for the RAM crucial i'll definately look for since you said but the most easily avalible here are transcend and hynix.Some Kingston modules too. How're those?? Though i doubt they'll be anywhere near the standards of Crucial.

 

[The_Rev]

Thx rev. That helps a gr8 deal. As for the upgrade path..as i said what i was thinking that its unlikely the prices for the socket 939 chips will go down all that much with the launch of the AM2. So i'll just sell that 3800+ and get one of the Conroe's. i doubt even the 3800+ would be able to beat the slowest Conroe let alone the better ones. So i can get that...add a little money that i've managed to save up...i'm likely to take up a job and work my way though college....and then buy a good Conroe. All of them are dual core and good for overclocking from what i've seen so far so that should be good enough to last me for atleast the next year even in a worst case.

As for the RAM crucial i'll definately look for since you said but the most easily avalible here are transcend and hynix.Some Kingston modules too. How're those?? Though i doubt they'll be anywhere near the standards of Crucial.

No problem, rahul. Just remember, if you want to go 939 now and Conroe later, that means getting a new CPU, mobo, and RAM... It could be a pain... Refer to my last post for the easiest Conroe upgrade path.

Kingston memory is really good too. Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, Mushkin, and/or Crucial are really the best... I could be forgetting some good ones, but those are all solid.

 

[rahulhbk]

Thanks a lot mate. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope to high heaven that there's simultaneous release of Conroe in India and that too around the time i build the CPU. i'm thinking i'll leave buying the Processor and MOBO to the last moment and get the rest as i'm unlikely to find all the parts i need at just one dealer. As for the rest well that's just about it. Except for maybe that case. I've picked it out from the various reviews i saw here and there but is it really good enough and more importantly quite and cool enough?? As you can imagine the hostel rooms aren't really gonna be big and i'd hate to sleep with a heater that sounds like a jet about to take of near my head :? And by the way know any good online shops that might sell the parts i need and ship them to India?? From what i've been finding out today mostly its the dealers who inflate the prices and not because of the customs and all....though that's what they blame it all on. So i might be able to get a 7 series card after all if i can find a reliable enough dealer. Newegg unfortunately don't ship here 🙁