Cheapest Machine Possible?

[bobber205]

Looking for a barebones machine here.

Looking to have at least 1 gig of ram and 60 gig HDD, P4 CPU or higher.
Decent other specs. All it will be used for is web surfing and some Office 2007.

With these kind of low specs, are we better off just buying from a retailer?
Looking to get 6 more machines so the building of them wouldn't be a huge exercise.

Looking to get as many parts off of newegg as possible.

Thanks for any help and advice!

 

[dmw16]

You are far better off buying from someone like dell. I've seen deals with coupons for about that price.

 

[magreen]

delloutlet.com

It's the only way. You can get a low-end machine for < $300, with Windows installed.

Even with a $30 Athlon64 cpu, you're still going to drop between $50 to $100 on the case + psu, plus at least $75 on the OS. There's just no way to touch delloutlet.

 

[JackMDS]

There are Dell P-4 on eBay for less then $100 (look for the OptiFleX line).

You probably would have to upgrade the mem and the HD.

However with the eBay price and the upgrade it should be bellow $200.

 

[coolpurplefan]

I guess I had some time to burn. I just did this for fun.

I?m going to take a crack at it just for a laugh. I?ve given you various choices here so you can choose what you want. Obviously, your choices impact the overall price.

POWER SUPPLIES:
Fortron 400 watt $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817104935

PC Power & Cooling 370 watt $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817703018

Seasonic 430 watt $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817151033

COMPUTER CASES
COOLER MASTER ELITE 335 $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119161

COOLER MASTER Elite 330 $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119115

Thermaltake WingRS $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133048

GIGABYTE GZ-X3 $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811233035

DVD BURNERS
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827118012

SAMSUNG SH-S223F $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827151171

MOTHERBOARD
ASUS M2N-MX SE Plus $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131249

ASUS M3A78-EM $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131324

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128090

CPU
AMD Sempron LE-1100 Sparta 1.9GHz $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103197

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103211

HARD DRIVES
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822135106

MEMORY
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231088

OK, the cheapest case $40, power supply $55, DVD burner $24, motherboard $47, CPU $23, hard drive $38 and RAM $23 would amount to $250.

If you can use Ubuntu Linux, then you?re all set, you?ve met your budget. If not, XP Home will cost you $90 for a total of $340.

Open Office is free.

I'd have to add though that buying one of the two other motherboards in the list and the faster processor would allow you to watch 1080p video. That would be $75 more for a total of $415 with WindowsXP.

 

[Roguestar]

What about warranty?

 

[coolpurplefan]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
What about warranty?

You raise an important point there for some people. But, I'd rather not have AOL advertisements on my computer when I install windows. And I'd like to be able to choose my own fans and have a quality power supply. The flexibility you have when building your own machine is not something I'd want to give away.

 

[Blain]

I'd also like to build a quad core rig for folding and heavy video editing.

All I neen are the...
Case, PS, MB, CPU, Memory, Video card, HDs, DVD burner and OS.
I have a power cord, keyboard and mouse.

Budget is $190... What can you guys come up with? :laugh:

 

[mpilchfamily]

Well a quality PSU will take up about 1/4 of your budget or more.

 

[bobber205]

We've got all the windows copies we need. But they're XP copies.

Which brings up an important point. We *do not* want to use the Vista install that comes on the outlet machines. At all.
Is the hardware in new dells compatible and/or stable with XP?

 

[cdmccool]

Originally posted by: bobber205
We've got all the windows copies we need. But they're XP copies.

Which brings up an important point. We *do not* want to use the Vista install that comes on the outlet machines. At all.
Is the hardware in new dells compatible and/or stable with XP?

Then order from Dell without an OS.

 

[bobber205]

But what about the hardware itself? Are we going to be able to find drivers?

 

[coolpurplefan]

Originally posted by: bobber205
But what about the hardware itself? Are we going to be able to find drivers?

One thing you can do if you build your own is to download the manual for the motherboard before you even buy it.

Then you can visit the site to see which drivers you need.

The motherboards with ATI chipsets like the 780G are easy to work with. And Asus motherboards are easy to work with.

 

[Quiksilver]

It's possible to build a complete machine with $300 as long as your willing to use a linux distro for a little while. Or if you already have all OS discs you need. Also if it didn't include shipping charges.

Anyway...

Case: $20
Linkworld 32318-2228U

Power Supply: $20
Antec Basiq 350

Motherboard: $80
ECS A780GM-A

Processor: $60
AMD 5000+

Memory: $35
Kingston KVR800D2N6K2/2G (2GB 2x1GB)

Hard Drive: $60
Seagate ST3250410AS

Optical Drive: $25
Samsung SH-S223F

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: bobber205
We've got all the windows copies we need. But they're XP copies.

Which brings up an important point. We *do not* want to use the Vista install that comes on the outlet machines. At all.
Is the hardware in new dells compatible and/or stable with XP?

Of course. Drivers are easy to find on the Dell site, too.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Blain
I'd also like to build a quad core rig for folding and heavy video editing.

All I neen are the...
Case, PS, MB, CPU, Memory, Video card, HDs, DVD burner and OS.
I have a power cord, keyboard and mouse.

Budget is $190... What can you guys come up with? :laugh:

What about my quad core rig peoples? :shocked:

 

[Juked07]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: Blain
I'd also like to build a quad core rig for folding and heavy video editing.

All I neen are the...
Case, PS, MB, CPU, Memory, Video card, HDs, DVD burner and OS.
I have a power cord, keyboard and mouse.

Budget is $190... What can you guys come up with? :laugh:

What about my quad core rig peoples? :shocked:

Hardcore black outfit--approx $180
Plastic water gun--$1
Black spray paint to make the gun look convincing--$9

Head to a geeky friend's house and go get yourself a sweet gamer box!

 

[Roguestar]

You could buy 190 lottery tickets, that's a lot of chances to win!

 

[Juked07]

Originally posted by: dmw16
You are far better off buying from someone like dell. I've seen deals with coupons for about that price.

I hear this answer a lot when people ask for super cheap machines.. But the more spare parts you have the less this becomes true..

Suppose you have the case, hard drive, peripherals, OS, and a 200-250 budget on top. Can you beat the Dell deal?

Edit: Sorry for threadcrapping. I realized soon after posting that I should have started a new thread for PSU/CPU/Mobo recommendations instead of posting here. I was reflecting my own situation for a 2nd machine rather than being constructive at all for the OP.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Juked07

Originally posted by: dmw16
You are far better off buying from someone like dell. I've seen deals with coupons for about that price.

I hear this answer a lot when people ask for super cheap machines.. But the more spare parts you have the less this becomes true..

Suppose you have the case, hard drive, peripherals, OS, and a 200-250 budget on top. Can you beat the Dell deal?

That's not the same; what you're asking for is basically recommendations for a motherboard and CPU in that example. OP is looking for a whole basic system. The general consensus is that overall, if you are taking OS, warranty, simplicity and compatibility into account, on a tight budget, is that pre-built is the way to go.

 

[imported_jeb]

Bobber,

Just bought a refir. from Tigerdirect -

ACER -
3.2 dual core AMD,
320 GB drive,
Front 9 in 1 card reader
Front headphone/mic pluge
5 front USB ports with others on the back as well
Vista Home Prim/3 months of Norton free and other software, much of which I have taken off.

$279.95

Except for getting use to Vista after years with XP Pro I like it - very fast.

- jb

 

[gus6464]

Check these out at Dell outlet

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBO...?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBO...&c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBO...&c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22

Both are less than $300 and have Pentium E2000 with 2gb of ram and 320gb hard drives with dvd burners and vista home premium. Can't get a better deal that I don't think.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: bobber205
We've got all the windows copies we need. But they're XP copies.

Which brings up an important point. We *do not* want to use the Vista install that comes on the outlet machines. At all.
Is the hardware in new dells compatible and/or stable with XP?

The Inspiron 530, 530s and their AMD counterparts (531, 531s models) are all compatible with XP. Really, the only consumer model not compatible with XP is the XPS 420. The Vostro desktops are also compatible with XP.

Dell drivers here...
http://support.dell.com/suppor...s=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=bt