Important Note: This article is written in June 2008. In desktop pc market things are changing very fast and hence this article will also be obsolete within a few months!  Also the prices quoted are probably highest in India (since I am in Kerala). You will be able get the computer components listed below at a cheaper price in places like Chennai and Mumbai.

I own multiple desktop pcs at home. Every year I am tempted to buy a new one because last year’s high end pc is this year’s cheap pc and suddenly it is affordable. This time I decided to go for a fairly high end system with a budget of around Rs. 60000 ($1500).  All my existing machines are AMD machines and hence this time I decided to buy everything from Intel. My current AMD machine is powered by an Asus M2A VM HDMI and when it is on my neighbours think that I am operating a drilling machine!

What is surprising is that even today it costs about Rs. 60000 to get a decent desktop pc. Another problem is that many of the top end motherboards/memory modules are not available in the market. Even the leading computer dealer in South India says that there is no demand for DDR3 and hence he doesn’t stock it!

In India, it is very difficult to find a good computer dealer. Most of them will recommend something that they stock even when you give him specific needs. When you ask for DDR2 800MHz memory, he will dump DDR2 667Mhz or lower.  When you say you want a logitech G5 gaming mouse he will say microsoft mouse is better (since it is in stock!). So finalize your computer spec and stick with it when you go for purchase. Identify atleast once replacement for every component (in case the main one is not available).

I decided to go with whatever is available in Kerala market and following is what I assembled,

Processor (Intel Q9300) - When I went for purchase I was thinking of getting Intel Q6600. But Q9300 was available for a slight premium and it offered FSB speed of 1333MHz compared to 1066MHz of Q6600. Q9300 is a 45nm chip with 2.50GHz clock speed and and an L2 cache of 6MB (Yeah, you are correct - I fell for the “dealer brainwash trap”).

Possible processor options you should check out are Q6600, Q6700 (price of which has dropped recently), Q9300 and QX9650 (which belongs to the extreme series).

Motherboard (Intel DP35DP) - I wanted to get hold of Intel MX48BT2 or MX38BT which belonged to the Extreme series and offers unmatched performance. But unfortunately it needs DDR3 which costs a lot (3 times or more than DDR2) and it was not even available in the local market! So the only option left was the Intel D975XBX2 which supports DDR2. Yet again availability was a problem and according to the dealer this board is obsolete.

Then finally I decided to go with whatever the dealer had in stock - DP35DP board which belongs to the Media series.

Memory - I had initially planned a purchase of 8GB of DDR2 800MHz. But I had to reduce it to 4GB after looking at my budget. Anyway you need a 64 bit operating system to get even the 4GB fully utilized.  On Ubuntu 8.0.4 (the 64 bit version), it is showing only 3.8GB as available RAM.

I wanted to buy a high speed version of DDR2, but it was not available. The one I bought was  Transcend JetRam 2GB.

Hard disk - For hardisk I decided to go with Seagate 7200.10 series with 320GB capacity. I initially wanted to buy 2 160GB disks to setup in a Raid 0 formation. But budget was a constraint. I have Ubuntu installed on this harddisk. If I decide to use Windows Vista in future, I will add a 160GB SATA drive. This will eliminate the need for dual boot setup on the primary harddisk. When I want to run Windows, I can just change the boot priority!

Graphics Card - This is one area where I didn’t spend much time. I wanted a new generation card which offered good performance for a price below Rs. 10000. The XFX GEFORCE 9600GT was the perfect match! It has two DVI outputs and hence can be easily used along with two LCD monitors for a dual display setup. It came with a full version windows game Company of Heros.

Cabinet (Cooler Master 690) - The leading market players in computer cabinet/chasis are mercury, iball and intex and I hate all of them. I agree they are cheap, but a badly designed chasis can bring death to your pc sooner than you think. The cooling is mostly inadequate with graphics processors and SMPS is noisy and sometimes unreliable.

Luckily I was able to get a premium chasis called Cooler Master 690. It is a huge chasis and it is easy to install components. There are two main fans which provides adequate cooling and it is relatively silent. There is no built-in SMPS.

Power Suppy (Black Diamond 500W SMPS) - Most of the builtin SMPS modules which comes with chasis is of low quality. There is a lot of noise and most of them fail before reaching the rated power load. I wanted a quiet SMPS which can drive external graphics cards and two SATA harddisks etc. at the same time. Dealer suggested Black Diamond 500W and I immediatel fell for it. It is a sleek SMPS and delivers what it promises!

500W SMPS is the minimum you should look for when you are buying a gaming PC. If it is a cheaper brand you are looking for then increase this to atleast 600W. From my experience I highly recommend Black Diamond.

LCD Monitor (Dell 22″ SP2208 WFP) - Don’t even think of CRT monitor now. LCD prices have fallen so much that you can get even a 22″ LCD monitor for Rs. 12,000 (AOC monitor) or less! I finally went with 22″ Dell which has a built in webcam. It is a premium model (response time of 2ms) and I was stunned when I compared it with a 17″ Samsung syncmaster. Man, dell 22″ SP2208 WFP simply rocks! The only downside is that it costs over Rs. 15000. SP2208WFP has 3 video inputs and it can take DVI and VGA inputs at the same time. Using a single button it is possible to switch to other displays.

You can attach upto 3 video sources to this monitor and they can be switched by using a single button on the monitor. One DVI input and one VGA input can be configured at the same time! So you can use this monitor to attach it to two different machines and can switch between them easily! No need for a KVM!

Mouse (Logitech G5 gaming mouse) - Logitech G5 mouse is one of the best gaming mouse available at reasonable price. It offers adjustable weight and sensitivity (up to 2000 dpi). If you are heavy computer user like me you should look for a gaming mouse like this one. For continuous use, mouse grip needs to be as comfortable as possible.

Keyboard (Logitech G15 keyboard) - When you buy G5 mouse, you should naturally look for G15 keyboard! This features a gamepanel LCD to show you how many granades are left and other important information. It also features a six button programmable panel. The only down side is that it is almost 10 times costlier than an ordinary keyboard!

Operating System (Ubuntu 8.0.4 Hardy Heron) - I initially thought of buying Windows Vista, but after trying out Ubuntu, I decided I don’t need it. Ubuntu is a stable and friendly operating system and it meets all that I need from an OS. You may be wondering - why is this guy assembling a gaming pc if he is not using it for gaming!  A gaming pc is a high performance pc and that is what I want and I also wanted to keep that option open - buy a windows vista/couple of kickass games and spend a week of vacation on it!

Here is the final configuration along with the prices (*as of June 2008),

I am not planning to buy a machine for next 3 years.

PS :- Choosing a desktop pc configuration for your needs is hard. If you are planning to assemble a PC and need any help, you can contact me.