Being the only son in the family means that I naturally became the household IT guy. I handle all sorts of IT matters in the house, be they regular computer maintenance or simple things like helping family members transfer their pictures from the camera to the computer. So after the demise of our six-year-old desktop computer a few days ago, I took it upon myself to source for a new one, even though having a working desktop or not isn't really my concern - I use my own laptop all the time.

I was fiddling with the idea of assembling one myself. I've seen people do it and it really isn't any insurmountable task. It's like playing LEGO, throw in the cables and less the creative part. But a morning of googling later, I decided against it because 1) I don't have the luxury of time to find out what works best with what, what and what should never be used together, what price will be reasonable for what and many other complicated matters further, 2) it's probably cheaper to get a bundle from one of those shops in Sim Lim Square than buying individual DIY components separately and 3) I don't want to risk screwing up on my first attempt and burning down the house in the process. Talk about being risk-averse.

So I proceeded to Sim Lim, got voluntarily inundated with flyers (I thought they banned the flyer distribution some time ago but apparently, it's back in full swing), visited a few shops, did the necessary budgeting and eventually went with this:

Gigabyte Intel 945GCX Mainboard
Intel Core2Duo 2.2GHz E4550
2GB DDR2-667 RAM
160GB SATA2 HDD
256MB Intel Extreme GMA On-Board Graphics Card
20X Samsung DVD writer

Price: $556

Gaming PC? Not really. And because I scavenged some usable parts from the old unit and transferred them here, it looks a little less than pretty. Like this off-white CD writer that sticks out like a sore thumb on the black-and-silver casing. Oh well, no point being an aesthetic whore here, since it makes more economical sense than to garang guni it.

I hope this new machine plays nice to the household IT guy and doesn't give him anymore work in the near future.