Desktop Computer Part List (Summer 2018-Pakistan Market)

     At the time of writing, 1 USD = Rs. 121.936. The prices mentioned in this post are based on the local market prices of computer components in Pakistan. Please remember that, prices vary from city-to-city within the country and shop-to-shop within a city. This is the reason why a price range is mentioned.

CPUs

     Intel Core i7-8700 for Rs. 41,500-Rs. 43,500. Top of the line processor from Intel. Always prefer a Core i7 or a Core i9 processor.

     Intel Core i5-8400 Processor Rs. 26,000-Rs. 28,000. Only buy this processor if there is a budget constraint.

Motherboard

     Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 3 for Rs. 21,200-Rs. 21,500. This motherboard has many USB ports and also comes equipped with a USB type-C port and M.2 slots etc. for future proofing.

Storage

     WD Blue 500GB Solid State Drive - WDS500G1B0A for Rs. 16,500-Rs. 17,500. Please do not buy a hard drive with rotating mechanism, it's 2018! When later in the year the SSD's prices go down, probably around November-December 2018, then buy another ~500 GB SSD. Do not waste money on a legacy hard drive.

Memory

     Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz Rs. 25,800-Rs. 32,000. Please do not buy two sticks of 8 GB each. Save the remaining memory slots for future upgrading. Memory prices will fall significantly in October-November 2018 once the Chinese memory plants become operational. Don't fall for the shop keepers trickery. A common ploy employed by shopkeepers is that 1x16GB memory modules don't work in single channel mode for the 2400 MHz+ modules. It works perfectly well.

Casing

     Corsair Carbide Series® 100R Mid-Tower Case Rs.6,650-Rs. 7,500. This is the best option, really. Don't waste money on casing, it's just a box.

Power Supply

     Corsair VS550 - 550 Watt Power Supply Rs.5,800 -Rs. 6,000. A 550 Watt power supply for an i7 8700 CPU, 4 sticks of 1x16GB DDR4 memory modules, 1 SSD and up to a GTX 1x70 level graphic cards without any over clocking and 16 hours per day usage will be enough. May be this power supply will even be enough for GTX 1180 graphic card, as the graphic card chips are becoming more and more energy efficient. Yet again, do not fall for the shop keepers ploys.

Graphic Card

     Wait for the graphic new graphic cards from NVidia. The new cards are just around the corner. Local shops in Pakistan are selling 2 year old graphic cards, the GTX 10 series, at much inflated prices as compared to the rest of the world.

Conclusion

     This system will last at least 5 years, in terms of gaming with a GTX 1x70 level graphics card. It will even perform well for 10+ years if you keep upgrading it and take care of it cooling wise. Upgrade to a PCIe-NVMe SSD down the road when the prices drop, add more memory and update the graphic card every 5 years etc. Currently, the system will cost anywhere between Rs. 118,000 -Rs. 128,000, depending on you city and the shop, with an i7 processor.

     If you'd like to collaborate on research projects, please reach out. Thank you for reading.

The Combination

Written for students who just graduated and/or are inducted in a university program, specially mechanical engineering.

Now a days, there are many different electronic products around. All virtually do the same thing and we want then all rather than the need. People waste money on cell phones desktops, then buy laptops, phablets, tablets etc. too, but still aren't satisfied.

The best combination for me is as follows, (w.r.t. CAD)

1. Buy a high end desktop, the foremost advantage of that is you can't carry it everywhere! Specially if you go for camping or a picnic, the point is to enjoy the scenic stuff nature has made for us out there, rather than carry you laptop around and do the same things you do everyday even on the camp (outings make your brain work better!). The technical advantage is that you can perform tasks with ease on a desktop as compared to a laptop. Desktops have more power (wattage), they don't heat up much, while using desktops you usually sit up so you don't develop muscle pains. Desktops have room for upgrades, for at least 4 more years (after launch), while laptops become obsolete more quickly, e.g. you can change the display (monitor) for your desktop even after 10 years of launch and replace it with a higher resolution one! You can connect more peripherals with a desktop as compared to a laptop. CAD software run very well on desktops, like SolidWorks and Key-Shot. Due to the fact that the laptop processors and memory are under clocked, they do not perform well specially while rendering specially on battery power. If you are into PC gaming as well, a high end desktop will serve you loyally for 4 5 years easy in that account as well!! Thus saving the money for consoles and stuff.

2. Then buy a feature phone like the Nokia C2-00, it runs 2 active SIMs at a time and has excellent antenna, expandable memory, Bluetooth, even has a FM radio!

3. For photography buy a dedicated camera, only take out when required. No matter what everybody says, phone camera can never out perform a dedicated camera!

4. To take along with you on business trips, buy a small tablet or mini notebook, with "Viewer" versions of your CAD software installed. It will not make the system lag and it will help you do the job of presenting your designs and ideas perfectly and you wont be carrying a heavy duty/expensive laptop around all the time! And the battery life of mini notebooks and tablets even in many time greater than a high end laptop, you can even leave the charger behind on a one day business trip to a near by city!

Smart Phones are a waste of money for me, why spend thousands of rupees on a phone carry it with you all the time. Instead buy a High End Desktop like http://3dimensionaldesigningandmanufacturing.blogspot.com/2013/10/haswell-powered-cpu-build-guide-for-hi.html, a Feature Phone, a Tablet and a Camera.


For suggestions, send an email to fadoobaba@live.com , tweet @fadoobaba, PM at https://www.facebook.com/ThreeDimensionalDesign or https://grabcad.com/fahad.rafi.butt or comment with your contact details and I will contact you!. Thank you for reading!

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