As an enthusiast, it’s always been my point to buy and build my own rigs. The only time I’ve bought a prepackaged pc was when I bought my laptop (little you can do there). My current rig is about 2 years old and I’m feeling it’s age whenever at every start up so I decided to build a new one. This is a canvas of what I intend to buy in the next few weeks to replace my main PC and you can use it as a guide if you’re planning on building your own rig anytime soon.

Notes:

• Prices are in Php not USD so don’t flip over.
• Prices may vary depending on your vendor. I choose Enigma and PCXpress, which are close by from my address and have about the lowest retail price compared to their nearby competitors
• Some products may not be available in your area
• I am not in anyway affiliated with the aforementioned stores.
• I didn’t include an optical drive because I have one too many
• I didn’t include software price for OS because we all know where we get them *insert evil smile here*

Here’s the component list and prices:

Intel E6550 4MB 1333 FSD C2D = 8300 (Enigma)
ASUS P5VD2-X = 3500 (Enigma)
2x 1 GB DDR2 667 Corsair = 2290 (PCXpress)
Inno3D 8500GT 256MB ddr2 = 3750 (PCXpress)
SEAGATE 320GB 7200 SATA = 4200 (PCXpress)
HEC 550W 24 pins DUAL FAN = 3700 (Enigma)
Generic Casing = 1750 (Enigma)
Creative Xfree XE233 2.1 Speakers = 1140 (PCXpress)
A4Tech X710 gaming mouse = 830 (PCXpress)
A4Tech A-shaped Keyboard = 290 (PCXpress)
17″ LG Flatron monitor = 4780 (PCXpress)

Total = Php 36770

The break down:

I chose the E6550 over the E6600 and the E6850 because it had the best performance-to-cost ratio. The former gives little advantage with a higher clock speed while the latter blows the budget. Although AMD has low power chips available on the market and I will have opted for them because of the savings it’ll bring for someone who’s pc runs 24/7, I can’t seem to find a shop close enough that sells them and the 2 sources I’ve mentioned obviously don’t have them either. I would have opted for an Intel board but those available here have integrated video, so I settled for a p5VD2-X. Gamers would prefer an nForce board over this one but that would be a hefty choice. I’ve added Corsair DIMMs over general RAM sticks out of common sense. Warranty on RAM isn’t something you should think twice about. Same logic goes for the HEC PSU. The 320GB drive is an excess for most people but if you consider the current games on the market, you’ll fill that up in no time.

For the GFX card, it was a choice between the 7300GT ddr3 and the 8500GT ddr2. The 7300 offer more RAM with ddr3 technology over the 8500’s ddr2 but in terms of architecture, the 8500 is much superior. Here’s the link to the review which I based that decision on. You won’t be able to play Supreme Commander on max visuals but you’ll be able to get it up and running at the default configuration.

The casing is your preference, spend as much or as little on it as you want, same goes for the keyboard. As for the display, the LG Flatron the least priced in the 17″ line. You can opt to change it for a same-sized LCD but you’ll have a bit of difficulty looking for one along that price. The gaming mouse is a must. Plain, old 2 button + wheel mice simply won’t cut it once you’ve been used to a 5-button mouse.

I’ll be posting pics on flickr once I get this baby up and running.