Need help regarding system upgrade from Kolkata,INDIA...

[satadip]

Hey guys I am Satadip from Kolkata,India...... This is my first post EVER on ANY hardware forum.....

I had a Intel/Nvidia rig ( almost 3 years old now )

Specs:
Core 2 Duo E 6400 ( 2.13 Ghz)
Intel D965SS MoBo
2x2 Gb Transcend DDR2 800 Mhz ( 5-5-5-15 )
Seagate 250 Gb x2 Barracuda 7200 Rpm
XFX Nvidia 7600 GT 256 MB 570/720 Mhz DDR3 (DUH!!)
Zebronics 500 Watt SMPS

Until now it was all clocked at stock speeds and i never in fact did want to try any overclocking ( with that Intel mobo i did not hav the provision of doing it either)... Neways, i was a average gamer giong by playing the occasional titles which ran on my machine ( COD 6 was the last 1 ).... It was not until my gf nd i broke up last week that world suddenly turned a hell lot boring and i began wishing that i could do more wid dis comp of mine ..... So i decided to go for a comp. upgrade....

Now going thru da different online reviews has made my noob brain turn into a dizzy lump of confusion...... Da basic question lingers Intel or AMD ( i will be primarily gaming or video transcoding) .... Da base configuration options available at local dealers are ( Another thing is that i have ABSOLUTELY NO MEANS of any online purchase,, gotta go by what is available in the local retailer shops )---

First of all is that am addicted to Nvidia (I keep doing a lot of CUDA Video transcoding using Badaboom, for my mobile,SONY Bravia home theatre,etc)
So please suggest me primarily Nvidia only graphics card ( It may be illogical, but i like the driver stability too ). The one i have decided upon are

-

GRAPHICS CARD:
MSI GTX 260 Twin frozr ( Till now i hav not been able to locate any sample in any of the shops, but i am still hoping )
Palit GTX 260 Sonic edition - Rs 11000
Other than that all the plain vanilla models of Zotac,XFX, etc available.. But i want to go for a factory OC`ed one....

I think i can switch to ATI if i get any killer performance bonus in games.....

PROCESSOR :
AMD phenom 2 x2 550 - Rs. 4900
AMD phenom 2 x3 720 - Rs. 7100
Core 2 Duo E7500 - Rs. 5200
Core 2 Quad Q8400 - Rs. 7600

( No other Phenom processor model in stock,, no core 2 duo above E7500 available )

MOTHERBOARD:
For AMD - Asus M4A78 EM 1394 - Rs. 4500
For Core 2 duo - 1) MSI P45T-C51 mobo ( Price unknown )
2)Asus P5 QLE mobo - Rs.4800

I will be going for a Coolermaster 650 watt SMPS - Rs. 4300
For now i am sticking to the 2x2gb transcend 800 mhz ram sticks,,, will upgrade to 1066 mhz ddr2 in 1 year or so......
I have yet not decided on the hard drive,,, please suggest any fast 500GB drive for gaming for under Rs. 4500

Now the scary part is that i am still in 1st year of college and my parents have said that they will ABSOLUTELY NOT let me do ANY more major upgrades until i Graduate ( thats another 3 years ) . So i want a configuration that will let me play games ( minimum at 1600x900 without any AA/AF at least at medium settings ) for the coming 3 years...

I am in a desparate situation here,... Need to upgrade before the end of December. Please suggest a suitable proccy/mobo to go with the GTX 260 graphics card which will not bottleneck the full performance of any of the components... I will probably not do any major overclocking,, nor be able to get any separate cooling solutions.....

Also guys another thing to notify is that i was initially plannin to go with the GTS 250 ( around Rs. 9000) and after a lot stretching managed to get it to GTX 260( Rs 11000) ,,, so i hav ABSOLUTELY no scope of extending it further to 4850x2 or the GTX 275 ( around Rs. 17000)..... Suggest anythign around the 10000-13000 price mark....

I have 36K total in hand :

Parts to purchase new :
Processor, Motherboard, SMPS, Graphics card, Cabinet, case cooling fans.

Parts i can reuse :
2x2 GB transcend ddr2 800, 250 GB seagate HDD, DVD writer, one 80 mm case fan.

Optional spending :
Dat 250 GB will not b sufficient, want to manage another 500 GB drive (I download a lot, after upgrade will need even more space for pending games like GTA 4, Stranglehold etc which i cud not play wid my 7600 GT )
I desparately need a good headphone for my N79 - around Rs.1000
My 500VA APC UPS battery has gone dead have to replace that too.

So i preferably want to spend 30-31 K on the new parts and spend the rest on the optional required ones..... But if i get any killer performance boost within my total budget of 36K then i am willing to spend it all on purchasing new parts only.....Hav to manage the rest after a few months....... Otherwise if its possible then 31K can be considered my max budget...

 

[p55ibexpeak]

Addicted as in brainwashed? j/k

Geforce is good if your games score higher fps on it than Radeon. You can play GTA4, Stranglehold & COD6 on 7600 GT, but as a slideshow. You either have to lower image quality or upgrade the gpu.

31,000 Rupees are about $660 US. It will help narrow parts down if you post the link to the local stores' pricelists or scans.

New games that take 10GB each or more. Ideally, you dedicate the 250GB to OS & software, and use the new 500-1TB drive for backups/downloads/files.

Your old mobo doesn't support any new 3Ghz or quad cpus so you don't want that.

http://processormatch.intel.com/CompDB/SearchResult.aspx?Boardname=dg965ss

My picks:

AMD phenom 2 x2 550 - Rs. 4900 (The Asus mobo needs 0309 may 2009 bios for the 720 cpu, but there's a chance that you get a board with older bios. plus this is a dualie at a faster ghz than the x3. It wins in games except those that use quads. i.e. GTA4. Use the stock cooler unless you overclock)

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=LhrF1K3lNfS9oKUK

AMD - Asus M4A78 EM 1394 - Rs. 4500 (it's matx with IGP. If you can find one without IGP - onboard video - and ATX and South Bridge: AMD SB710 like:

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392&cm_re=sb710-_-13-128-392-_-Product

get it)

Don't waste any more money on DDR2. These will be your last ddr2 system. Next one would best be DDR3. Throw your current ddr2 in this cpu/mobo mix. You're fine at 4 gigs.

The GTX 260 is a good card with 900MB RAM which WILL help GTA4. I have the card & beat the game many times. You can up the image quality to 100 traffic, 10x shadow & stuff. It felt like NYC. Traffic! The cops in the game can't do jack cuz they get stuck in traffic as well. Throw a few 'nades at the oncoming traffic on the left on a highway / on a bridge and see some firework. Works best if you steal the truck parked on the corner of the airport highway entry & the northern-most bridge. Or steal a Hummer and rob the subway riders (enter subway thru tunnels or above-ground rail). The cops walk down and you go to rob the next station. lol.

You only need a minimum of 500W PSU for GTX 260. Coolermaster is an ok brand. It will work. Do they carry OCZ, Antec, Enermax? These are better brands.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_260_us.html

 

[satadip]

Addicted as in brainwashed? j/k

Geforce is good if your games score higher fps on it than Radeon. You can play GTA4, Stranglehold & COD6 on 7600 GT, but as a slideshow. You either have to lower image quality or upgrade the gpu.

31,000 Rupees are about $660 US. It will help narrow parts down if you post the link to the local stores' pricelists or scans.

New games that take 10GB each or more. Ideally, you dedicate the 250GB to OS & software, and use the new 500-1TB drive for backups/downloads/files.

Your old mobo doesn't support any new 3Ghz or quad cpus so you don't want that.

http://processormatch.intel.com/CompDB/SearchResult.aspx?Boardname=dg965ss

My picks:

AMD phenom 2 x2 550 - Rs. 4900 (The Asus mobo needs 0309 may 2009 bios for the 720 cpu, but there's a chance that you get a board with older bios. plus this is a dualie at a faster ghz than the x3. It wins in games except those that use quads. i.e. GTA4. Use the stock cooler unless you overclock)

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=LhrF1K3lNfS9oKUK

AMD - Asus M4A78 EM 1394 - Rs. 4500 (it's matx with IGP. If you can find one without IGP - onboard video - and ATX and South Bridge: AMD SB710 like:

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392&cm_re=sb710-_-13-128-392-_-Product

get it)

Don't waste any more money on DDR2. These will be your last ddr2 system. Next one would best be DDR3. Throw your current ddr2 in this cpu/mobo mix. You're fine at 4 gigs.

The GTX 260 is a good card with 900MB RAM which WILL help GTA4. I have the card & beat the game many times. You can up the image quality to 100 traffic, 10x shadow & stuff. It felt like NYC. Traffic! The cops in the game can't do jack cuz they get stuck in traffic as well. Throw a few 'nades at the oncoming traffic on the left on a highway / on a bridge and see some firework. Works best if you steal the truck parked on the corner of the airport highway entry & the northern-most bridge. Or steal a Hummer and rob the subway riders (enter subway thru tunnels or above-ground rail). The cops walk down and you go to rob the next station. lol.

You only need a minimum of 500W PSU for GTX 260. Coolermaster is an ok brand. It will work. Do they carry OCZ, Antec, Enermax? These are better brands.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_260_us.html

Man, thanx 4 da reply...... Regarding the motherboard, do u think that since i am opting for nvidia gtx 260 i shud go for a motherboard with nvidia chipset (like M4N78 PRO) and not with AMD 770/780 chipset for better performance ?????......

 

[p55ibexpeak]

Mobo chipsets won't matter one bit. You're not SLIing or Crossfiring. You're going to use 1 gpu at a time. Both mobos will perform about the same. However, the SB750 is the best AMD overclocking chipset.