Planning to build your own sub-50K computer? Here's how!

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The choices of computers in today's world is not really hard considering the ample quantity of manufacturers and their products.

However, having said that, it is hard to find the exact configuration of your choice on laptops or computers when you are more into games and photography.

But take heart. Here are some points that will help you build the best sub-50K computer, perfect for gaming, photography and everything in between.

- Taking the two most demanding applications this computer will be used for--gaming and photo processing--it’s clear it should have a very capable core.

- On the photography front, it should handle smooth, real-time image adjustment for at least 16MP
RAW image files workflow in an application like Photoshop Lightroom CC 2015.

- Include blazing quick components into the mix, while in the processing and graphics department pick parts that are clearly mid-range, but which are--by no means--slowpokes.

- Processor: The heart and brains of the computer, for this config we selected the very capable 3.1GHz AMD FM2 A8-7600.

- Motherboard: While there are a ton of motherboards to choose from, the compact yet feature-packed Micro ATX board: the Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H. Based on the formidable A88X chipset.

- RAM: We’ve selected a pair of 4GB Kingston HyperX Blu 1600MHz RAM sticks for a total of 8GB of system memory. 

- Graphics card: The AMD R7 240 graphics card, 1080p gaming at mid-level graphics settings even for this year’s games should not pose a problem.

- Storage: The Samsung 850 EVO is a 120GB SSD drive that uses high-speed Flash memory--a perfect location for installing your operating system (we suggest Windows 8.1)

- For bulk file storage (and for configuring the system’s swap file,) we’ll use a regular 1TB Seagate 7,200 RPM drive.

- Monitor: Acer H236HL has a full HD resolution of 1920x1080, this LED monitor has a capable IPS screen for a 178 degree wide viewing angle, a 5ms response time.

- Cabinet, power supply, CPU cooler, keyboard/mouse, card reader: Compact and solidly-built cabinet from Cooler Master, a high-quality 450 Watt power supply.

- A gaming/photoshop-spec desktop that tallies at about Rs 49,439.