To make purchase decisions easy, I will be releasing PC build guides that should be perfect for many users looking for an end solution. This series will be done once per quarter, it will cater to three price segments. The under “Rs. 35,000/-“, “Rs. 50,000/-” and Rs. 75,000/-. This only includes system builds and not peripherals and add-ons. Some products mentioned here are reviewed while some products are tried and tested by assemblers or people I know. You can get better choices with similar price range, but this guide will help you to keep realistic goals and gives a base reference. Buy what you need but waste none!
Building a low-cost PC Guide is challenging but its still manageable. Usually, people looking for this price segment either play games catering to eSports such as DOTA2, Counter-Strike: GO and the new Overwatch which requires 4GB memory and a minimum of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, ATI Radeon HD 4850 or Intel HD Graphics 4400 discrete/onboard graphics to play. Of course, you will be tempted to play AAA titles which should keep you entertained in low or medium settings.
Core System Build for Rs. 35,000/-
Processor: Intel Pentium G4400 Skylake Dual-Core 3.3GHz Desktop Processor
Yes, it is a dual-core Skylake processor BUT it does have two threads so ‘technically’ it will function as a quad-core. With a budget this restriction, you should save on other components as much as possible to make room for the graphic card. If you are in a situation where you don’t wish to buy a graphic card, you can use the onboard graphic solution to get through the day-to-day general use. But gaming? I wouldn’t count on it.
Motherboard: Gigabyte H110M-S2
You’ll have to go cheap on the motherboard as well. But you cannot afford to go down on the quality. I’ve seen motherboard be used by many system builders for a low-cost non-gaming solution but it should be fine for low-cost gaming solution as well. The main difference between the B150 and H110 is that B150 will give you more features and add-ons. This motherboard will provide two DDR4 DIMM slots, four SATA slots, 4 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 3.0. It is unlikely you’ll go multi-GPU setup for support of a single PCIe 3.0 x16 is adequate.
Storage: Kingston UV400 120GB/ WD Blue Desktop 1TB IWD10EZEX HDD
For storage, I’ll recommend two options. The Kingston UV400 SSD and the WD Blue mechanical HDD. As an end user, you will love to have quicker load speeds. An SSD gives you that advantage. Since you are getting a cheap solution, why not grab it? If you need larger storage space, just like a memory kit you can buy one later. If you can spend a bit more to get more storage, SanDisk Ultra II 240GB is also a good choice.
Not everybody’s requirement is the same. Hence I’ve included WD Blue series drive that provides a much larger storage space but with the natural con of mechanical drives. Kingston UV400 is already reviewed here.
RAM- Kingston HyperX Fury 8GB DDR4 RAM
I have the 16GB and 32gig variant of the Kingston Savage DDR4 rams. With the older systems, I’ve used various HyperX Blue DDR3 sets. While you do get from other brands, typically prefer to recommend some things that they’ve used over the years. The Savage sub-brand is savagely priced for this low-cost build and the motherboard does not support anything more than 2133MHz. Hence, the Fury 8gig 2133MHz kit.
These kits are low-profile and nicely made. There’s really nothing to say except you have a choice of either two of these to use 16gigs or just stick with an 8gig for the moment. Do keep in mind that the pre-selected motherboard provides two DDR4 DIMM slots.
Graphics Card: Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1050 Ti/ZOTAC GTX 1050 Ti OC
If you’re looking for a low-cost gaming system, I wouldn’t recommend anything lower than GTX 1050 Ti. Personally, I wouldn’t consider Nvidia GTX 1050 as a graphic card. Hence the Ti version gives a bit of a boost. The following are the GTX 1050/GTX 1050 Ti cards that are reviewed here:
- MSI GTX 1050 OC 2G Graphic Card Review
- Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1050 Ti 4G Graphic Card Review
- ZOTAC GTX 1050 Ti OC Edition Graphic Card Review
Power Supply: Antec VP 450p Power Supply
Unfortunately in this price range, Corsair sells a sub-standard power supply VS series. But as it turns out, these series are known to take down itself and another component. This is an important lesson not to rely on just the brand name. Antec so far has a consistent track record of relying on decent OEMs, if not best. It has all you need, including a single PCIe x1 six-pin power connector and an eight-pin eATX 12V connector. These have 85% efficiency rating according to the manufacturer, though it doesn’t have official certification to keep the costs down.
The alternate option that you can look out for is the new Coolermaster watt lite series. Unfortunately, this is a brand new series that’s just released and there is no reviews available for this unit.
PC Case: Antec VSK-4000B-U3 PC Case
Thought I would like to recommend BitFenix Merc Alpha USB 3.0 PC case, it’s not available here. The main advantage it has two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. Most low-cost cases either provide two USB 2.0 or at best with a single USB 3.0 with two USB 2.0 ports. Since the Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2 has a front panel USB 3.0 header, it will just be a shame not to take advantage of this. Hence this recommendation. While its not pretty to look at and the internal design is something from the late 90s, it does the job and it lets you take advantage of the front panel 2x USB 3.0 headers. Typically in such cases, you’ll only get a since rear case fan. I rather prioritize on two USB 3.0 ports than a second fan as buying a fan is cheap.
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