Today, I was going through my personal archive of technology magazines and blogs, to find out the best baby (hardware in geek’s lingo) for money, for my friend and owner of this blog. After searching for a while, I was able to make the list of A-things available in the market, that can help one do the basic computing tasks, and casual gaming with the ease. Soon enough, this idea struck to my mind, to share the same information with everyone, so that no one spend their money foolishly and end up with an idiot box instead of PC.
So, I started making out what are the general requirements of a beginner programmer, or for your grand-dad, or your mom, for a PC. I figured out that the basic work that everyone does is, watching movies or listening songs. Apart from that, maintaining tasks list, viewing photos, keeping documents, surfing are other few basic activities. A beginner programmer also needs to use Oracle 9i, or Visual Studio, or some JDK on their system. These programming requirements seems heavy and costly. But, after going through the requirement specifications of these development kits, I figured out that these tasks can be done easily on a basic PC too.
Also, as my friend stated, and every one else look forward to, is that whatever amount of money they are spending on hardware, doesn’t matter much. All that they need is a PC which is jack of all trades. It should be good looking, having better ergonomics (for keyboard, and mouse), and should also play all the latest games. So, obviously budget is supposed to be big enough. Although, if one is not interested in movies, and games, budget can be somewhere around 25000Rs., but since we are looking for a budget-do-all PC, I started off with a budget of 35000Rs., with a margin of 3k. And so, begins my hunt for the list of better hardware, and choosing the best buy. Since, we are on for a budget PC, I never opted for a better performance hardware, but for a best-bang-for-the-money baby. And this is what I came up with:-
- Monitor :- In case, you are not interested in movies, and gaming, you can opt for any CRT monitor of 15-17inches. I would recommend the LG e700sh - 17inch Flat CRT, which costs around 5,500 bucks. But, in case, you like watching movies, or want to play games too, then an LCD screen is the better option for good picture quality and lesser space requirement. I would personally recommend AOC 917VW - 19 inch LCD priced at 9,500Rs.
- Keyboard And Mouse :- No questions asked. Just one recommendation. Logitech Multimedia Combo priced at 800Rs. is the best choice considering ease of use, and sturdyness. I personally used it for 2 years, for all my gaming needs, before selling it for 500bucks. Seriously, best buy for your money.
- Motherboard :- The most important and most neglected component of your CPU. If you go ahead and buy the best processor and RAM in the market, but using an age-old motherboard, then you have got serious problems. Your best-in-class processor and RAM are of no use, in case motherboard is not good enough. So, save money for it, even if that means cutting costs on other components like RAM, DVD-Writer, etc. The other point to be considered is that we rarely upgrade our motherboard, atleast not more than once in 2 years. So, expansion slots, no. of USB ports and other slots are important aspect. Here, my choice is Asus M2N-MX, which costs a little less than 4,000Rs. Its good, having enough ungrade option to future proof your system, and is really dirt cheap.
- Processor :- So, we came down to the core part of the system. I preferred AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, which costs 3,600Rs. Intel processors offer a lot better performance at this time, but considering the higher prices, they are a serious NO for any budget PC.
- RAM :- Considering the current scenario, and the upcoming trend, going for 2gb RAM is a good thing, if you can increase your budget by 2,000 Rs. Else, best choice is Kingston 1GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM. This sweet baby costs just under 1500Rs. which is quite a steal for the price, considering its performance.
- Hard Disk Drive :- Considering current memory space requirements of everything from your documents to games or HD movies, this is a major component to check out. Best buy would be Hitachi DeskStar 7K160 SATA, which costs just around 3,200Rs. People used to ask how does a faster hard disk can be useful. It really depends on usage, means the amount of data one used to save or load at regular intervals. The other point is that hard disk serves as a virtual RAM. So, all memory hungry processes like, Visual Studio, demands better hard drive. Although in case of very tight budget, you can opt for another brand or model, which may costs some 500rs less, but will decrease the performance by 10% too.
- DVD - Writer :- A faster DVD reader is a good choice. It rarely increases your budget by 200rs or so, but can dramatically affect the performance, in case of accessing DVDs for gaming or playing movies directly from the DVD. Although, it rarely counts, so to help reduce the budget, one can opt for cheaper ones, but at their own risk. I would personally prefer Samsung SH-203, which costs just 1,200Rs. Quiet cheap huh..
- Sound Card :- This one is simply an optional component. Only recommended in case you want to play games too, or in case you are a serious audiophile. For all others, onboard sound card is the best option. But in case, you love music, or gaming, and looking for a 5.1 speaker set, then Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1 Card will be the best companion of your beloved speakers. But still its a matter of choice.
- Speaker set :- Now, this depends on a lot of choices. Are you ready to spend some extra cash, for surround sound, or just happy with a 2.1 speaker set. Both has their own advantages. 5.1 sounds better, but needs better hardware and more space, and a whole lot of painstaking setup time. So, I selected the best buy in both segments. For 2.1 speaker set, one can opt for Altec Lansing BXR1121, which costs 1250Rs. and is a good choice. But if you love gaming, or if you have already opted for a sound card, then go for Altec Lansing VS3251 which is priced at 4,300Rs. Again a matter of choice.
- PC Case :- An equally important part of a good PC. If your system is running at 60+degrees, then you have got serious cooling issues to deal with. Also, performance will drop too, and chances are you may end up, harming other computer parts. Risking critical parts of your system for just some 500 bucks is non-sense. So, opt for one which provides better cooling options. Else you may have to look for aftermarket cooling solution to bring down the temperature below 50degrees. Zebronics Lava with 450watts power supply, is highly recommended.
- Graphics Card :- Kindly go for it. Although you can give it a miss, in case you are planning to stick with onboard GPU. But a drop in performance is obvious, and is much of an impact in case of watching movies. I would say, spend 2,000 odd bucks, and buy atleast the cheapest one, but go for it. Its worth every penny. For those who loves to do some casual gaming too, here is a choice. If you have opted for 17inch monitor, or low settings didn’t bother you much, then, you can opt for Sparkle GeForce 8400GS, which costs just 2400Rs. And the best thing is it can easily run Windows Vista with Aero and other effects turned on. But, sadly it gives just 5fps, in Crysis, and 9fps in NFS Prostreet, for medium settings and 1240p resolution. Although it can manage playable frame rates in lower resolution. But still its advisable to go for slightly bigger budget, in case you want the latest of the gaming action. I would recommend Asus EAH2600XT which is priced at 5600Rs, and atleast 2.5 times faster then the Sparkle GeForce 8400GS. It manages to get 26 FPS for Crysis with medium settings at 1240p resolution, which is best one can get for this price range.
OK, so the list is done. Well, it is just 1k more than our budget. But as I said, if you opt for a tighter budget, the optional recommendations are also listed. And in case, you have way too tight budget, or you need it just for surfing and maintaining tasks list, and nothing else, then try Asus Eee PC, which is really a steal for the money.
Finally, I hope that this post would have helped you searching for the best components. If yes, then do comment, else kindly tell me what else you need to know. Also, if you can find something, that’s better than the listed items, then do tell me too.
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