I recently got a brand new pc assembled. Prices have been steadily dropping for pc components and it is possible to assemble a good system under Rs. 20000 ($500) in India. In other places it should be cheaper. Check out the following specifications and price. I am not an ‘expert in bargaining’ and if you are smart enough you should get the components less than the price indicated.

1. Motherboard - ASUS M2A-VM HDMI - Rs. 4000 ($100)
This is one of the first motherboards to support HDMI. This means you can play HD-DVD or Blue-rays discs. Comes with integrated ATI Radeon X1250 DDR2 800 graphics.Another important feature is that you get dual monitor support - DVI-D and RGB. You can also with the DVI version (without HDMI) and it is cheaper by about $15.

2. Processor - AMD X2 4800+ - Rs. 3500 ($85)
This is a medium range dual core processor from AMD. Depending on your budget you can choose 4200+, 4400+, 4800+ or 5200+. Price difference among 4xxx range is rather small and hence I prefer 4800+

3. Harddisk - Seagate 80GB SATA - Rs. 1500 ($40)
I normally don’t need even 80GB since I plan to use this PC exclusively for programming and related stuff. Don’t go for higher capacity disks unless you really need it in next one year. Another option is 160GB SATA which costs around Rs.300 ($8) extra.

4. RAM - 1GB DDR2 800 (2 nos) - Rs. 2200 ($55)
These days you need atleast 2GB of RAM. So go for two 1GB DDR2 800 modules. If you are into real multitasking with eclipse in one monitor and radrails in another, you can probably go for four 1GB modules. The motherboard supports it!

5. Cabinet with SMPS - 500W Mini- Rs. 1500 ($40)
Go for a 500W mini cabinet. There are too many in the market. Go with the one which has better warrant terms.

6. LCD Monitor - 19″ WideScreen - Rs. 8000 ($200)
Here your options are between a 17″ and 19″ inch LCD screens. I think it is better to go for 19″ considering the small price difference (around 10% extra). Here some of the choices are samsung, LG, viewsonic etc. Buy it after comparing the lcd monitors since each one has his own preferences. It may be a good idea to go with the one which has integrated speakers (if you not music crazy!)

7. Keyboard,Mouse and DVD Drive - Rs. 2000 ($50)
Again too many choices to list here. Go with a medium model which is good enough for regular use.

So total price = Rs. 22700 ($565). Oops! We started with a budget of Rs. 20000. Now here comes your bargaining skills. When you are buying all these together you might be able to reduce Rs. 700 atleast. Then change your monitor to a 17″ and AMD X2 processor to 4200+. Now you have an excellent desktop pc under $500!

You can get almost all the items in this list from Amazon. Those are listed below. Of course, you cannot bargain with a Website

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 10:41 am and is filed under Howtos, Tech. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.