A Multimedia PC under Rs. 30,000

A few weeks back we helped you develop a bare-bone machine and a mid-range gaming rig. The feedback we received on them were extremely positive and favorable. In addition, a number of readers mailed us requesting configuration queries on how to build a good multimedia machine, within a decent budget. We have therefore come up with a solution for a multimedia PC, using inexpensive but quality components, that will give you that complete multimedia experience you desire.

CPU: AMD Athlon 3000+ Socket 939 (Rs. 3,200)
Over the last year dual-core processors, have rapidly become the enthusiast’s and power-user’s choice. This has lead to a drop in the price of single-core processors. Previous top-end single core processors are now available at throwaway prices. One fine example of this is the Athlon 3000+. The Athlon 3000, is a strong entry-level processor which runs at a clock speed of 1.8 GHz, and sports a 512K L2 cache that handles general computing and multimedia use quite easily.

Motherboard: Asus A8N-VM CSM Motherboard (Rs. 3,100)
The Motherboard is the heart and soul of a machine. It’s therefore no surprise that at any given price range, there is a large and often confusing choice of motherboards, with different chipsets and features. After an exhaustive survey, we narrowed down our choice to Asus’s A8N-VM CSM board. This is an inexpensive micro-ATX budget motherboard, based on the Nvidia’s Nforce 430 chipset with integrated graphics, therefore you don’t need to invest in a separate graphics card. It offers connectivity options, both for DVI and RGB options therefore allowing you to connect, both LCD and CRT monitors. The board also offers an excellent Hi-Definition 5.1 channel audio chip, which offers excellent music playback capability. There is a single PCIe slot present in case you ever want to upgrade to a dedicated graphics solution for gaming.

The board even has an onboard Gigabit Lan adapter, and a deluxe 8 USB 2.0 ports for expansion. With these kind of features and low price, its the perfect foundation to build your PC.

RAM: TwinMos DDR 400 RAM 512 MB (Rs. 2,750)
RAM is as essential to your system as a good processor. No system is complete, without good quality RAM. Twinmos is a well known and respected brand, and offers great performance. We choose to put 512 MB in here as against 256 MB which would will result in slowing down the system, while creating problems in multitasking.

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Graphics: (Nvidia 6150 Onboard Graphics Chipset)
Graphics form a vital part of a PC, and a number of you are sure to question our choice of onboard graphics. Here’s our reason for choosing onboard graphics: The 6150 maybe an onboard graphics chipset, but, in terms of video output and graphics display it is an extremely good solution. It has full support for High-Def video (H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 HD-Video Playback formats), and is fast enough to play older 3d games such as Quake 3. The 6150 chip is also DX9 compatible, and this makes it compatible for Windows Vista. All this functionality is available for free and will help you save around Rs. 2,500.

Sound: Onboard5.1 channel HDA (Azalia)/AC97 Audio Controller
Onboard sound has come a long way from the rather muffled output that first generation chips used to provide. The chip on this motherboard is 5.1 capable and produces crystal clear sound. The fact that it is free makes it a great deal.

Lan: Nvidia Onboard 10/100/1000
This is the standard Gigabit onboard 10/100/1000 LAN that gives a maximum transfer speed of 1000 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 is already present, most home networks are only capable of handling 100 Mbps speeds. Hence, you have the right firepower with Nvidia’s 10/100/1000 Lan.
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HDD: Western Digital SATA II HDD 160 GB (Rs. 2,750)
Built on the SATA II platform this drive has adequate storage. With its price now under Rs. 3,000 the drive is more than capable of holding quite a few movies and songs.

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-1608P3S 16X DVD Writer (Rs. 2250)
We carry forward this drive from our previous roundup as it remains amongst the best choices available at this price range.

This drive is an OEM product of Pioneer’s 111L drive and offers great compatibility with all kinds of DVD media, which can be burnt easily at 16x without quality issues. The drive is also capable of writing to DL media which can hold more data than any other media solution currently available. Pioneer also has some of the best read speeds of any DVD drives and can easily be made region-free.
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Monitor: Samsung 740N 17 Inch LCD (Rs. 11, 500)
The monitor is easily the most expensive component in a computer roundup. We could have easily selected a CRT monitor for this roundup but we chose not to. LCDs have become mainstream now and offer far more value for money. One thing to remember is that unlike CRT, LCDs have a resolution called “Native resolution” i.e. this is the recommended resolution one should work with, for maximum clarity. If you use any other resolution the picture will be less sharp and there will be a noticeable degradation in the quality of the display.

We chose to go with Samsung as this slim LCD monitor with its bright display and vivid colors is one of the best in the 17-inch class. The monitor offers a native resolution of 1280x1024 with a refresh rate of 75 Hz which makes it a pleasure to work with. Another great point for this monitor is the fact that comparable monitors from Viewsonic and LG cost around Rs. 1,000 more.

Keyboard &Mouse: Microsoft Optical Keyboard and Mouse Set (Rs. 800)
Microsoft makes excellent keyboard and mice which are sturdy and can be used over long hours of work. At a cost of just Rs. 800 this is an excellent buy.

Cabinet: VIP ATX Cabinet with integrated 300 Watt Powersupply (Rs 1,400)
There is not much to say here. VIP is a well known maker of ATX cabinets available in decent colours and well-designed powersupplies that are known for their reliability.

Speakers: Altec Lansing ATP3 (Rs. 2, 800)
Altec Lansing makes some great PC speakers that offer an excellent experience for games and movies. The ATP3 2.1 speaker system fits right into the budget category offering above average performance.
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Specification Table