Advice : Mobo and GPU

[qmrneo]

My friend called me yesterday for a upgrade advice to his system. He is mainly concerned with gaming and I got the requirements are follow:


1. Gaming, movie watching and net surfing.
2. Rs 18000- 20,000 (price is concern, less is good)
3. New Delhi, India (Nehru Place)
4. Till now using Intel and nVidia.
5. Reusing parts : SATA 320 HDD, 300W Mercury ATX PSU( if possible), CRT monitor (VGA), [ he already purchased 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM].
6. I have assembled some info as below from forums
7. No Overclocking, no SLI
8. 1024X768 / 1280X1024 (17"flat CRT)
9. He want that soon (3 days)


What I assembled :

1. Processor

Intel
​

a. i5 650 - Rs 8100
​

AMD

a. Athlon II X4 635 - Rs 5000appox
b. Athlon II X4 965 BE - Rs 7000approx

​

2. MOBO
Please suggest any cheap mobo microATX.
For intel I saw DH55TC - Rs 5000 approx. My friend just need basic mobo. ps/2 port(reusing keyboard and mouse), 6 USB 2.0, ATA and SATA port (as reusing old HDD, DVD drive).

3. GPU

I am totally confused what to suggest for GPU within required (No Overclocking, no SLI), good performer for latest games and still cheap in nvidia. Shall DDR5 helps. I thought to suggest him some future proof card, so he can also play games in HD if he change his display to 1080p. Please suggest.

The price that I checked are
GTS 250 1GB DDR 3 - Rs 6572
GTS 240 1GB DDR5 - Rs 4858

Thanks...

 

[muskie32]

1. Gaming, movie watching and net surfing.
2. Rs 18000- 20,000 (price is concern, less is good)

Just wanted to let everyone know that that is about $450 US $. $452.024 to be exact (for 20,000 Rupee)


Also what is the web-site you will be buying from? Or are you buying from a store?

 

[muskie32]

For gaming i would go with the i5-750, and a GTX 460. that is about $350 + $100 US$ for a mobo. But they might charge premiums in india so i dont know...

EDIT:

Something like this?
CPU: http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Intel+Core+i5-760+2.80GHz+Processor_C30P8249.html
Motherboard: http://www.theitdepot.com/details-Intel+Desktop+Motherboard+(DH55TC)_C13P7305.html

Not sure on the video card though... They are all so pricy! You will most likely have to go with a AMD build.

 

[mfenn]

Go cheaper (much cheaper) on the CPU and spend more on the GPU. You'll also need a new PSU.

I'm thinking an Athlon II X4 635, mobo, 400W PSU, and GTS 450 should fit within the budget.

 

[qmrneo]

He will be directly buying from store in Nehru place.
i5 - 750 is Rs 9700 approx

for mobo : as I saw DH55TC is for i5 650 and 670.

and 750 is DP55KG (in CPU bench mark in Anandtech).

If I switch to Athlon II X4 635 definitely it is half the price of if 650. But I/He have never used an AMD, so not sure.
The GPU
palit 1GB GTS 460 sonic is priced at 12000 approx.....

 

[qmrneo]

Any final comments guys...as moving to store for purchase within hour or two.

 

[betasub]

Agree with mfenn - go with the cheaper CPU & motherboard option if it means you can then afford a better graphics card like the GTS450 or GTX460(768MB). This is for gaming Good luck!

 

[qmrneo]

Well got the components and assembled also as below:

1. Athlon II X4 635
2. Gigabyte 880GM-UD2H

The combined amount of cpu and mobo ~ 10750

3. Palit 1GB DDR5 GTS 450 ~ Rs 7000
4. 2 GB Kingston DDR3 1333 ~ Rs 1550
5. 550W Kingpower PSU+Cabinet ~ Rs 800.

The problem now facing is that his old SATA HDD is not detecting on the mobo. Any help guys...

 

[betasub]

Try different SATA ports?
Check settings in BIOS?
Look for compatability jumper on the HDD?

 

[qmrneo]

On the mobo thr is no SATA port. Only SATA2 ports are present.
Bios is completely confusing.

 

[qmrneo]

Ok Let me put it like...

How to connect 1 SATA HDD and 1 IDE dvd drive. So on which port to connect these and what the settings need to be made in BIOS.

 

[j03h4gLund]

try a different power cable.
then try a different port.

then i would check your current bios version and check mfg website for bios update.

 

[j03h4gLund]

Ok Let me put it like...

How to connect 1 SATA HDD and 1 IDE dvd drive. So on which port to connect these and what the settings need to be made in BIOS.

and

The problem now facing is that his old SATA HDD is not detecting on the mobo. Any help guys...

do you need help configuring 2 harddrives to boot properly or do you need help with your motherboard detecting your sata hdd?

or both? (if so, which is going to be the primary with teh OS installed? the sata, or the ide?)

 

[qmrneo]

I need to configure 1 SATA HDD and 1 IDE DVD drive only on the mobo. I want my mobo to detect the SATA HDD, so I can install the Windows XP.

Also do I need to change the jumper setting of the DVD drive (right now it is set to master).

 

[j03h4gLund]

no you shouldn't have to change the jumper on the dvd drive.

go to your bios, and you should see a 'boot' tab.
go to that and put your dvd drive in boot position one.
put your sata hdd in position 2.
open your dvd drive and put the windows disk in.
save your changes in the bios and reboot

this will attempt to install windows on your sata hdd from the windows disk inside the dvd drive.

when you are completely done installing the OS, you can go back into your bios and move your sata hdd up to position 1 to allow for faster boot time.

EDIT : make sure when windows asks for the partition to install to that you select the SATA hd. You could just disconnect the IDE drive to be safe.

 

[qmrneo]

On my mobo Gigabyte 880GM-UD2H, first the DVD combo is connected to IDE and my SATA HDD is connected to SATA2_1 port.
When in BIOS I autodetect the HDD it is not able to detect and hence no windows xp install.

Do I need to make some settings in BIOS to detect my HDD except the boot priority thing.

 

[j03h4gLund]

Have you tried using a different cable / different port?

 

[j03h4gLund]

Also refer to your motherboard manual to find a compatibilty jumper like betasub said.

 

[qmrneo]

I have changed the mode to Native IDE for BIOS onChip SATA....
and the HDD is connected to SATA2_0 port.

 

[j03h4gLund]

without seeing the motherboard and bios, im afraid i can't help you.

i advise you to refer to motherboard manual and if you can't figure it out - i would try the tech support for the motherboard.

 

[Arsynic]

Ironic: An Indian outsourcing his computer advice outside of India.

 

[mfenn]

By "not detecting" do you mean that the BIOS isn't detecting the drive (i.e. it's not listed on the POST screen) or that Windows XP's setup isn't detecting it? These are completely different issues.

 

[qmrneo]

Ironic: An Indian outsourcing his computer advice outside of India.

I believe in one world. ()

 

[qmrneo]

I have gone through the manual already. There they have mentioned to configure SATA controller mode in BIOS.

In Integrated peripherals menu in BIOS the OnChip SATA controller is already enabled by default. And the OnChip SATA type tab is showing three options
1. Native IDE
2. RAID
3. AHCI

As mentioned "I have changed the mode to Native IDE for BIOS onChip SATA....and the HDD is connected to SATA2_0 port." as mobo is not able to detect the SATA HDD when RAID or AHCI is enabled.

By this setting now I am able to detect the HDD.

 

[mfenn]

I have gone through the manual already. There they have mentioned to configure SATA controller mode in BIOS.

In Integrated peripherals menu in BIOS the OnChip SATA controller is already enabled by default. And the OnChip SATA type tab is showing three options
1. Native IDE
2. RAID
3. AHCI

As mentioned "I have changed the mode to Native IDE for BIOS onChip SATA....and the HDD is connected to SATA2_0 port." as mobo is not able to detect the SATA HDD when RAID or AHCI is enabled.

By this setting now I am able to detect the HDD.

Glad you got it working, but you're still completely confused.

The motherboard detected the HDD just fine all along. Windows XP is too old to detect AHCI drives without additional drivers.