What is a Decent PC Configuration Today?

Joel Durham Jr. has updated the 10 month old “Best Bang for the Buck” PC configuration on ExtremeTech website to reflect prices and performance of today’s PC hardware components. Looking at the configuration, I just fancied comparing it with what I have got in my own computer. My criteria for buying each part of my computer also shares a similar philosophy: spend money to maximize the price/performance ratio.

The post says:

We have pretty much one rule for this Build It project: recommend the parts that we think will grab your cash and run farthest with it.

My specification shown below may not seem to exactly reflect that philosophy but that would be because the prices in my area are very different from the prices in the rest of the world(say in USA).

Comments:

• CPU & Motherboard:
  My system is more than a month old(which converts to 4-5 months in US time). Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 was the best bet at that time. ASUS, though, was my personal preference over both MSI and Gigabyte boards; go to the website to find out more by yourself. I like the ASUS board very much but I also agree that Gigabyte is better in the performance department and P35 is the newer chipset. Even my brother has an ASUS board: P5W DH Deluxe
• RAM:
  While buying the components, I spent a majority of the time to trying to find the Kingston RAM sticks but to no avail, so I had to settle for Transcend’s :’(
• Graphics Card:
  I don’t play games. At all. I used to play games 2-3 years ago but not anymore. For normal operation, even my 6600GT used to work pretty well. Windows Vista gave a pathetic rating of 4.7 to my 7300GT. I rest my case.
• How much storage is enough storage?:
  I have humongous-ly, bewilderingly huge needs for storage though, so I have 800GB inside of my computer(SATA) and more than 1000GB as external hard drives. I am still in the process of constructing eSATA drives(hard disk + Vantec NextStar 360U2 case) for improved performance and portability. My brother has 1000GB inside and little less than that as external storage. There is one network hard drive(Vantec NextStar LX casing) and around 7-8 USB thumb drives(1GB-4GB).
• LCD Monitor:
  I have Samsung SyncMaster 940BW LCD monitor which supports a native resolution of only 1440×900. But the day I had laid my hands on my Dell laptop with unimaginably spacious screen at 1900×1200 resolution(in a 19″ monitor!), I had decided that I am not going to buy another LCD monitor unless it supports the same resolution.
• Sound Card & Speakers:
  I missed getting the X Fatal1ty model of Creative X-Fi sound cards and had to settle with XtremeGamer(I have XtremeMusic too). I have decent speakers in Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500. They are actually good for games and movies with surround sound. For MP3 songs, Altec Lansing ATP3 produces clearer sound output.
• UPS:
  An Unlimited Power Supply(UPS) unit is surprisingly missing from the ExtremeTech configuration. I can’t imagine how a computer can be used without a UPS. It’s at least more essential than memory card reader, which I would place even below a TV tuner card. I have an APC 550W UPS that interfaces well with the Windows operating systems through a USB cable.
• Keyboard, Mouse & Optical Drive:
  I haven’t come across a keyboard & mouse combination of my satisfaction yet. I buy and throw them away almost once every three months just in the hope to find something good. Logitech mice with 7-8 buttons are for the gamers, not for me. Currently I am using Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse.

  Sony DRU-830A is a top class optical drive. It just didn’t read scratchy media well(which is good as it protects the drive from getting damaged in the process) in my experience, so I went with Samsung. I don’t use the optical drive much apart from installing operating systems and reading movie DVDs. Most other stuff comes from the Internet or thumb drives. I have an external LG USB DVD Writer which comes very handy with the laptops(whose dvd drives are oh-so genteel).

• Computer Case:
  It will be ages till Antec Sonata III will be available at my place, so had to go with Antec Sonata II. Another cheaper case that I am liking very much right now is Zebronics Peace. It’s good for its cost.
• Others:
  My computer has plenty of networking options in two LAN ports, one WiFi/AP port built into the motherboard and an external ASUS WL-167G USB WLAN stick. I use Gentoo and Ubuntu as my primary operating systems. Pinnacle USB TV tuner card(records in iPod & DivX formats), Creative XMod, Creative EP-880 ear buds, NetGear routers etc are the other PC peripherals.

That’s it for my PC’s configuration. I don’t have the patience to generate benchmark stats for my PC using something like 3DMark right now(I might do it in the future now that the ball got rolling), but Windows Vista Experience Index shows this:
Processor: 5.3, RAM: 5.6, Graphics & 3D: 4.7, Hard Disk: 5.7

Currently I am happy with the configuration, but hope that the eSATA drives will fill the remaining storage needs. I have to think and come up with what could be my dream configuration but it will definitely feature an infinite sized, fast, portable and hot-swappable storage device!