Our previous guide on building a budget PC under 20,000 was by far, one of the most popular feature article on the Tech2.com website and television. To keep up with the pace of changing times, where technology gets outdated in the blink of an eye, we are back with our first revision. There aren’t any major changes that we have made, in fact we are still using the same processor and motherboard. What has primarily changed are the prices along with a few parts and the names of some manufacturers. Please keep in mind that we have carefully chosen the parts that equally fulfill important criteria such as performance, price, availability, warranty and support.
An excerpt from our previous Budget PC article that reads (and still holds true):
With computer components becoming increasingly powerful over the years, you can now have a powerful, good looking and feature rich desktop PC for as less as twenty thousand rupees. That’s exactly what we are going to do in the following article. We will be building a fully functional system that easily complies to our regular computing needs like web surfing, office applications and entertainment in the form of movies and music and can also handle multi tasking to a degree.
Processor: AMD Sempron 64 2800+ (Rs. 1,825)
At Rs. 1,825, the Sempron 64 2800+ is one of the cheapest able processors available. You may argue as to why we didn’t go for the AMD 3000+ (socket AM2) costing around Rs. 3,300. The justification to that is we are not focusing on hardcore gaming. For general computing needs as mentioned before, this processor is good enough. For the technically inclined, the Sempron 64 2800+ is a 64-bit single core processor running at 1.6 GHz with 256 KB of L2 cache. It is a socket 754 processor with its successors being socket 939 and the latest, socket AM2.
Motherboard: Asus K8V-VM Ultra (Rs. 2,450)
Asus boards are synonymous with good features and rock solid stability and the K8V-VM Ultra is no different. It’s a decent micro-ATX board based on the VIA chipset. Even though the machine is not oriented towards high resolution gaming, by adding a budget graphic card like Nvidia’s 7300GS (Rs 3500) you can still enjoy recent games at normal resolutions (like 1024 x 768 ) and just for that, the motherboard features a 16X PCI Express slot. That for a budget board is remarkable. It offers 4 USB ports at the back on the I/O panel plus additional four through the USB connector on the motherboard (they would be used to power the USB ports on the front panel of your case. For more on the specifications check it out on the Asus website here.
RAM: Corsair 512MB DDR 400 Value Select (Rs. 2,184)
We have kept the RAM size the same. What we have changed is the manufacturer. Reason? The prices have fallen. A Transcend JetRam 512MB DDR400 stick would cost around Rs. 1,850 whereas a Corsair 512MB DDR 400 stick costs Rs. 2,184. The advantage with Corsair is that, apart from a better quality chip being used in manufacturing, it also adds a lifetime warranty. Lifetime warranty doesn’t mean that the product is warranted for your lifetime, rather it’s meant for the life of the product.
We have chosen 512MB as its the bare minimum you should be looking at, using either Windows XP or Vista. Though, we recommend 1GB of RAM with a dedicated graphics card for enjoying a better Vista Aero experience. The new aero user interface is a visual delight, complete with features such as glass-like interface elements, translucent Start Menu and taskbar, Windows Flip 3D, and Live Taskbar Thumbnails.
__PAGEBREAK__
Sound: Onboard, Realtek ALC 660 6.1 Channel
Onboard audio has improved over the years with Realtek’s ALC 660 offering 6.1 channel surround sound, line-in and mic-in. As with the sound quality, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish between a sound card and an onboard audio solution unless you pair the sound card with expensive speakers. With the speakers we have, onboard audio suits us fine. LAN: Onboard, Realtek 10/100 LAN Graphics: Onboard, VIA Chrome9 Western Digital is one of the best hard drive manufacturers in the world, especially known for their Raptor hard drives. Western Digital also has a very good replacement system in place in India. Irrespective of your location in India, if the hard drive fails, WD will have it picked up and returned right to your doorstep. Optical Drive: Asus DRW-1608P3S 16X DVD Writer (Rs. 2,100) As with CRTs, the 17-inch 794MG has a viewing area of 16 inches. It has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 65 Hz refresh rate while the optimal resolution is 1024 x 768 at 85 Hz. The maximum usable resolution is 1152 x 864 at 75 Hz. Maximum usable resolution defines the resolution at a refresh rate of 75 Hz or better. Anything below that will give a flickered output. Keyboard & Mouse: Microsoft Optical Keyboard and Mouse Set (Rs. 800) Case: VIP-755B with 300 watts PSU (Rs. 1,400) If you haven’t observed, we have chosen all the components in black, making for a good looking desktop computer. The black case follows the rest, with the silver front panel further alleviating the looks. Speakers: Creative SBS 370 (Rs. 1,175)
10/100 LAN gives you a maximum transfer speed of 100 Mbps. It is fast enough to take care of your broadband internet (most users have a connection speed of 256 Kpbs or 512 kbps). Though Gigabit LAN has already been introduced, most home networks are only capable of handling 100 Mbps speeds. Hence, you have the right firepower in Realtek’s 10/100 LAN.
Via’s Chrome9 IGP is integrated on to the north-bridge and has DirectX 9 graphic support. It has a 128 bit 2D/3D engine with two pixel pipelines. Even though it has DirectX 9 support, its not capable to play the current games like F.E.A.R and Oblivion at playable frame rates. Nevertheless you can comfortably play older games like Quake 3 and Counter Strike 1.6.
PAGEBREAK
HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB, 7200RPM, 8MB cache, SATA 3.0Gb/s (Rs.1,950)
With regards to the hard drive we are moving from IDE to SATA 3.0 Gb/s, since the difference in price is only Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 and on an individual basis it doesn’t make a difference at all, especially for the advantages it has to offer, with higher throughput, lesser required voltage, bigger cache (8mb on this one as compared to 2mb on most IDE drives) and much thinner cables for better case ventilation.
We have rightly balanced the system to fit in a top-of-the-line DVD Writer—the Asus DRW-1608P3S. It’s a multi-drive i.e. along with reading and writing the regular DVD-R and DVD+R discs it can also read and write DVD-RAM discs (mostly used in camcorders). The reason why we choose Asus is that its based on Pioneer’s DVR-111. Pioneer is known to build quality drives that last long.
PAGEBREAK
Monitor: Samsung 17-inch 794MG (Rs. 4,850)
Under Rs. 5000, the 17-inch Samsung CRT offers excellent value for money. And even though LCDs are hot nowadays, there are still certain areas in which CRTs do better. They can output at different resolutions and give excellent viewing angles.
Microsoft builds excellent keyboards and mice that are sturdy and are ideal for long hours of work. At a cost of just Rs. 800 this is considered to be an excellent buy. To top it, the set comes with a three-year warranty unlike other brands which offer only one-year warranty.
Among the zillions of entry level cases and power supplies, VIP offers good quality with a reliable 300 watts Power Supply. It has a slot for front USB ports and allows you to hook up 80mm fans (the standard size) at the front, back and side of the case, facilitating good case ventilation. The fans don’t come with the case and you will have to buy them separately.
This has been our favorite for a long time. The best part—it comes with a woofer to give you that thumping bass and gives you good sound quality for the price. The satellites are powered at 5 watts RMS each and the Subwoofer is powered at 11 watts RMS.
PAGEBREAK
Specification TableComponents Model Price (Rupees) Processor AMD Sempron 64 2800+ 1,825 Motherboard ASUS K8V-VM Ultra 2,450 RAM Corsair Value Select 512MB DDR400 2,184 Sound Onboard, Realtek ALC660, 6.1 Ch. NA LAN Onboard, Realtek 10/100 NA Graphics Onboard, VIA Chrome9 NA Optical Drive Asus DRW-1608P3S 16X DVD Writer 2,100 Hard Disk WD 80 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM 1,950 Monitor Samsung 17" CRT, 793S Black 4,850 Keyboard/Mouse Microsoft Keyboard & Optical Mouse 800 Case VIP 755 with 300 watts PSU 1,400 Speakers Creative SBS 370 (2.1 Channel) 1,175