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  Mid-range Gaming PC (March 2010 Update)

  Roydon Cerejo, Mar 02, 2010 1755 hrs IST

  Build a gaming PC for less than Rs. 40,000

  

Page 1 - CPU, Motherboard, Memory Page 2 - Hard Drive, Graphics card Page 3 - Cabinet, SMPS, Monitor Page 4 - Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers Page 5 - Final Build

We are back with a updated guide on mid-range gaming PC, like we did for the rest of the builds. As time goes by, we see DDR3 inching closer to the mainstream arena and by the end of 2010 it should replace DDR2 in terms of acceptance and cost. DX11 is still hot in this segment; where on one hand you have DX11 cards that have infiltrated all price brackets, but on the other hand there hasn't been any substantial usage of DX11 so far in the recently launched games. Therefore the question that arises is, is it really worthwhile buying one right now when you can get similar performance from an older and cheaper DX10/DX10.1 card.

Thankfully DX11 is not the only thing ATI has going for them. With the 5xxx series and other bonus features, like really low power consumption that leads to cooler running temperatures, Stream processing and Eyefinity support, those extra bucks seem worth it.

Most of the components have remained the same from our previous build while some have been swapped for something cheaper and some the other way around. We haevn't stuck to the Rs. 35,000 mark as we did last time, but we've made sure we don't go beyond the 40K either. So without much waiting, let's see what our new build looks like. 

Note: Cost of the Operating System is Extra

CPU and Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE/ 555 BE (Rs. 4,500 - Rs. 5,000)

The  Phenom II X2 550 continues to be the best pick in this price range and now we have a new entry called the X2 555 BE. This one runs at a slightly faster 3.2GHz, which means the X2 550 will replace the X2 545 at a lower price point. The X2 555 is available in the market for around 5K. Either ways both of them are equally good, so pick up whichever is available. 

ECS A785GM-M (Rs. 4,600)

Since DDR3 prices are falling drastically, it's only natural that we change the Gigabyte 785G DDR2 board to an ECS A785GM-M motherboard due to its rich features and low price. We would have loved to get the Gigabyte, but since its price was a little over 5K and we had to stay within budget to accommodate the DDR3 RAM, we had to leave it out. This is still a rock solid motherboard with debug LED's, DDR3 1333MHz support and plenty of other ECS special features that help you in overclocking your CPU.

Memory

Corsair/G.Skill 1333MHz DDR3 - (Rs. 2,700)

You can get either Corsair or G.Skill Value RAM for this price. We strongly suggest you go in for two sticks of 1GB memory since you shouldn't miss out on Dual Channel goodness. The other companies that you can consider are Kingston and OCZ but don't buy anything other than these reputed ones.

Page 1 - CPU, Motherboard, Memory Page 2 - Hard Drive, Graphics card Page 3 - Cabinet, SMPS, Monitor Page 4 - Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers Page 5 - Final Build

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