CPU within Rs 25,000

Buyers‘ guide: CPU within Rs 25,000

I am looking for a CPU within a budget of Rs 25,000. It should have a good processor along with a decent graphics card for gaming. 

— Ashley George, Mayank Shah, K Srinivasan 

Assuming you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, here are our suggestions for your CPU components... 

Processor

Buy the Pentium G2020. It is spiffy enough for everyday tasks such as web browsing, image and video editing, office work and gaming. 

Cost: Rs 3,500 

Motherboard

Here, go with Gigabyte's GA-H 61M-DS 2. This board supports the processor we have selected, but make sure that you pick its third-revision (mentioned on its box or on the motherboard itself). 

Cost: Rs 2,900 

RAM

Get a single stick of 4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM from Transcend or Kingston. The motherboard we've selected has two RAM slots so you can add more memory in the future, if required. 

Cost: Rs 2,000 

Hard disk

Given that you will install games, opt for a 500GB hard disk from either Seagate or Western Digital. 

Cost: Rs 3,100 

Graphics card

Go for AMD Radeon HD 7770 (1GB) from brands such as PowerColor, Gigabyte or HIS. This card is capable of handling most video games in full HD resolution. 

Cost: Rs 8,500 

Chassis and power supply unit (PSU)

Here, we suggest the Cooler Master Elite 311 chassis and the Corsair VS 450 PSU. Both are good products that will not only support this hardware, but also a better graphics card in the future. 

Cost: Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,200, respectively 

Optical drive

Pick any DVD drive that supports 22X or 24X writing speed. Samsung and LG are reliable bets. 

Cost: Rs 1,000 

This configuration costs around Rs 25,200. But if you can spend 3,000 more, you can opt for Intel's Core i3 3210 processor. The i3 chip is a better processor than the Pentium G2020 and promises smoother operations.