Better performance SQL query

Question

I am trying to check if there are better solution to this query question:

Find the pairs of PC models having identical speeds and RAM.

As a result, each resulting pair is shown only once, ie (i, j) but not (j, i). Result set: model with higher number, model with lower number, speed, and RAM.

I came up with:

select max(model), min(model), speed, ram 
from PC 
group by speed, ram 
having count(model) = 2 and max(model) <> min(model)

and get

        speed   ram
--------------------------------    
1260    1232    500 32
1233    1232    500 64
1233    1121    750 128

The PC table looks like this:

model   speed   ram
------------------------    
1232    500 64
1121    750 128
1233    500 64
1121    600 128
1121    600 128
1233    750 128
1232    500 32
1232    450 64
1232    450 32
1260    500 32
1233    900 128
1233    800 128

Answer 1

Improved indexing and proper keys (as well as, of course, a well written query) are the best way to achieving better performance. Take a look at the following.

[The following SQL Server-based SQL Fiddle example highlights the code listed below. This sample can, of course, be modified for other DBMSs.]

// Your table's columns were not detailed, so this example uses [int] datatype
CREATE TABLE [PCs] (
  [id]    int NOT NULL IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
  [model] int NOT NULL,
  [speed] int NOT NULL,
  [ram]   int NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO [PCs]
VALUES (1232, 500,  64),
       (1121, 750, 128),
       (1233, 500,  64),
       (1121, 600, 128),
       (1121, 600, 128),
       (1233, 750, 128),
       (1232, 500,  32),
       (1232, 450,  64),
       (1232, 450,  32),
       (1260, 500,  32),
       (1233, 900, 128),
       (1233, 800, 128);

Based on the generated PCs table, the following SQL statement returns all computers (in pairs, be they a single pair or multiple pairs) that share both speed and ram :

SELECT [PCs].*
FROM [PCs]
INNER JOIN (
    SELECT [speed], [ram]
    FROM [PCs]
    GROUP BY [speed], [ram]
    HAVING COUNT(*) % 2 = 0
) AS dt ON ([PCs].[speed] = dt.[speed]
            AND [PCs].[ram] = dt.[ram])
ORDER BY [PCs].[speed] ASC,
         [PCs].[ram] ASC,
         [PCs].[model] ASC;

To improve performance, I would suggest adding an INDEX on the speed and ram columns

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_PCs_speed_ram] ON [PCs] ([speed], [ram]);

I hope this example helps you get to the solution that you need. Good luck.