India Broadband Forum

StarK

So my friend finally decided to get rid of the 10 yr old machine...

can you tell me what specs will be fit for average non gaming purposes and the approx price?
I'm not sure which processor will be apt for him...as well as the mobo. Believe me he's never gonna do anything more than backing up his family pics and some light browsing with his comp .

meetdilip

20 years back will take you to 1989. Are you mentioning a calculator and by mistake posted this here as such a section is not available.

StarK

its 10 actually... my mistake... lol

meetdilip

I think a branded PC will suit your friend as he seems to be a basic user. Branded PCs give a better after sale support and peace of mind of basic users. Will update the details here.

StarK

i'm crying over my branded comp since 4.5 years now (compaq), dont want him to curse me , still dell is good in that regard...
anyways he's also low on cash<--read:2 small kids and he just needs a new cpu (his monitor works for him )

meetdilip

Acer Aspire IE 3218

Price : Rs. 26,958

Buy Desktop in India | Acer Aspire IE 3218 | Computers & Accessories India - Infibeam.com

newprouser

thats pretty costly for a basic user dude..

kirankumargb

Today i ordered for a new CPU details are

Quad Core 2.33 Ghz
Intel Board (some 42 ps or something is model will confirm once i get it)
2GB DDR2 Ram
500 GB HDD Sata 7200 RPM
1 GB GeForce AGP card
Frontech cabinet

Cost for this much 23,500

meetdilip

Both of us posted on the same time. Missed his post. Thought of recommending a branded one first. That was the cheapest I found after repeated search.

Processor - P4 or AMD athlon - 2 GHz

RAM - 512 or 256 MB RAM

newprouser

AGP ? y ?

it would do good to find a DDR2 compat mobo, since it will be future proof for another 10 yrs, and if necessary 1 gig ram

kirankumargb

oh sorry my mistake its been so long i am using that word AGP that now also i use the same , its not AGP anymore, will update the exact details tomorrow

ShAdOwCoN

c2d 2.0Ghz should do

Tell him to get an Alienware , they have good ...ah.... no excellent after sales support

StarK

ALL THIS FOR 23500!!?? .... i'm drooling now ! why oh why am i still stuck with this crap?!

anyways thanks for the suggestions, tho no one suggested a budget cpu (with all the stuff) with the approx price! i guess if kiran got the entire thing with a quad core for 23k and even a graphics card, the cpu should cost around ~8k only, with 1GB ram, <150gb hdd and with a duo that shadow suggested? i think he can make do with integrated graphics.

rajan1311

^^The CPU he is talkin abt is the intel Q8200. It costs 9k. Add 4% tax to all that +OS charges.

If u dont mind, i have a very different kind of a suggestion.
Its basically a net top. will cost u abt 20k to build, but will consume very little power and u can do all normal stuff like surfing IBB and all. here is the config:

Intel Atom 330(its Dual core 1.6GHZ, with HT, consumes 8W only). Ion platform(NV 9300 IGP)

Zotac NVIDIA ION IONITX-D-E Atom N330 CPU/Motherboard - IONITX-D-E by:

Rest is same as others..........
Plz note that u can not game on this, but can watch even Bluray movies on it(it is supported and will run without any probs)

Let me just detail that a bit:

Q8200(2.33GHz, 4MB cache,45nm) - 9k
Decent intel mobo - Gigabyte G41 ES2l - 4.5k
2 GB RAM - 1.2k
500GB sata - 3k
frontech cabi - 2k(not sure)
Optical drive - 1.2k(u missed it)
NV 9500GT 1GB - 3.8k

total: abt 25k + 4% tax + OS cost.

Good config, but i think it too processor heavy. I would strongly recomend an E5200 instead of a Q8200. It costs 3.5k. Its quick and overclockable. I would also suggest that u go for 4GB memory. with the E5200(2.5GHz, 2MB cache, 45nm) and 4GB memory it comes to 22k(approx, excl tax and OS)

Also, i would suggest that u w8 for a month bcos Intel released most of its processors with virtualization support. Meaning, old Q8200 does not support Virtualization(same with E5200), new ones will support it.

StarK

@rajan ya i was thinking about the atom too, but suppose the friend (its not for me rajan), decides to keep the cpu for a long time, considering that his present comp is a decade old (the same one which was having hard drive hanging probs which i posted a while back)... i think the core 2 duo will work just well enough for quite some time without feeling underpowered.
as for the mobo, is an intel board worth it, i guess they are priced higher than other boards like gigabyte since they have a brand name going.

the 22-23k model's for me, thanks for the updates! my comp's gonna be awesome soon

rajan1311

all r ok............ generally other brands have more features, like BIOS overclocking and other usefull stuff.

panchabhut

Acer has lauched Aspire EL 1600 nettop (Intel Atom 230 CPU, 1.6 GHz, 160 GB SATA Serial Hard disk, 1024 MB RAM Memory, and 945GC Express Chipset) in India.
Available at Rs.12000 without monitor and without OS.
Should be OK for the needs specified.

rajan1311

^^ Nice stuff, but i dont think that acer nettop has an optical drive, also, he needs somethinf more powerfull than an atom(cos even i did suggest it to him,the atom 330).

panchabhut

^^^
Acer eMachine Nettop EL1600 Desktop PC Features

Intel ATOM N230 Processor, 1.6 GHz
512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB
Intel 945GC Express Chipset Motherboard
1-GB DDR2 667 MHz PC4200 SDRAM, expandable up to 4.0 GB in 2 DIMM slots
160-GB Serial-ATA Hard Disk Drive, 7200 rpm
16X DVD Supermulti Double Layer (8.5 GB) DVD Writer Drive
Silver Black Housing with Front USB, Front Ear & Mic Jacks
No Monitor
Integrated Intel Media Accelerator GMA 950 graphics chipset with upto 256 MB shared memory, 2048 x 1536 pixels screen resolution, Support Microsoft DX 9, OpenGL 1.4
10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet Wake-on-LAN-ready
56K ITU V.92 data/fax modem Wake-on-Ring ready
1 mini PCI Slot (32-bit) free
Realtek ALC883 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
USB Stereo 2.0 Speakers
6 Hi-Speed USB v2.0 Ports
Aspire USB Multimedia Keyboard with 17 Hotkeys and Volume Knob
USB Optical Mouse
5-in-1 Media Card Reader
Free DOS OS
Dimension: WxHxD - 448 x 377.6 x 190 mm
Acer Powertainment software CD Pack

Cost 11999+VAT

I think Atom is enough for the above purpose

StarK

its a great suggestion, but he will feel underpowered in the years to come, thats the problem.