Building computer on the cheap
 

I moonlight as a PC techncian for a couple of clients. One of my clients is finally coming around to the idea of replacing her Dell-built Celeron 400 with 64MB of RAM, running Win98SE. The system has become fairly unstable due, as far as I can tell, to a combination of dust, age, and the odd spilled coffee.

I am planning to build the new machine myself. The budget is reasonably tight, around $500 or less if possible (including my labor charges). Performance is a non-issue, as she literally only uses AOL :rolleyes: (for e-mail), Internet Explorer, and Word. As long as the system can run WinXP, it'll be fine. Stability is critical, although as the system won't be taxed very hard, I suspect this won't be a problem as long as I avoid cheap no-name parts. Basically, I only need mobo, case, power supply, processor, RAM, and a HD. She has a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and I can cannibalize the CD-ROM and floppy from her existing system.

So far, the best I've come up with is a Shuttle XPC-based system. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I put a machine together on Newegg, for less then $500 just last week. Some of it may have changed since alot of the items were on sale, most notable, the memory/video card and case. But it went like this - It was for a buddy who just wanted somthing to replace his outdated Gateway.

Lite-On Case w/ 400w PSU
Abit NF7-S (On board sound/LAN)
Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
Liteon DVD/CD-R/RW Combo drive
PDP 2-3-2-5 TI Dual DDR 256x2
80GB Western Digital HD
Sapphire 9600 Pro 256MB
Round cables

Whole thing came out to $506. I said under $500 because he chose to go with the Sapphire card instead of the 5700LE I had chosen for it. It was $488 with the 5700LE. I didn't think it was possible, but it is. Very easily too. If you chose the 5700LE and decided to salvage her current CD Rom, with your labor, you could easily do it in the 500 range. I can put a machine together and have it running and working in 60-90 mins. It's easy. The whole thing was only 57 bucks to ship 2nd day to Alaska. Without the case, it was 27.

Edited for spelling and couden't remember the model of mainboard.

if performance isn't an issue and you want to spend as little as possible, i'd suggest going to http://www.retrobox.com and getting a p3 machine and possibly upgrading from there...

just a thought.

newegg is good
I strongly advise you get a AMD processor because they get much more bang to the buck then the intel chips.

DJ....depending on where you are located in MA, if you are reasonably close to Hartford, CT, you should DEFINITELY check out the CoganFairs. You can get some steals there for your client and still make some loot yourself. For example, refurbished HP, 2ghz, XP home - 300 bucks. I mean, c'mon. For an internet/email client that is HUGE!

$500 or less and not being used for gaming? It'd be really easy to go overkill on this PC.

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ ~ $50
AMD Athlon XP Mobo ~ $45
512 MB PC2100 RAM ~ $50
80 GB 7200 RPM HDD ~ $60
Case ~$30

There's seriously no reason to go past this setup. This setup has everything you need including onboard video, LAN, and sound, plus a PSU in the case, all for a little over $200. Spend more than that and it's overkill unless you want to play games or make 100 MB photoshop files.

-Lasereth

Thanks for the tips, all. I've managed to shave quite a bit off the price. It's funny, I'm so used to building machines for performance, it's really easy to start overbuilding for an application like this.

Just curious, what's your take on OEM processors? I've always bought retail for the warranty, but I've never once had a processor go bad on me. Is it worth the risk to shave a few bucks off?

I'd buy a retail CPU unless you wanna buy a third-party CPU fan. The warranty is solid!

-Lasereth

I put together a COMPLETE system on Newegg for $399 the other night...shipped.

Here's what it consisted of:

Case: Linkworld ATX Tower Case with PSU, Item #N82E16811164032 - $20.50
CD-ROM: Samsung Black 52x OE, Item #N82E16827151046 - $14.99
Case Fan: 2 - Speeze 80mm, Item #N82E16835150007 - $1.59/ea
CPU HSF: Spire MicroFlow II Model "SPA07B2", Item #N82E16835151110 - $7.99
Hard Drive: Maxtor 40GB 7200rpm, Item #N82E16822140133 - $46.50
Keyboard: LinkWorld LM601, with mouse and speakers, Item #N82E16823164002 - $15.00
Memory: Rosewill PC-2700DDR, 256MB, Item #N82E16820223005 - $38.00
Monitor: BenQ V773 17" Black, Item #N82E16824014067 - $104.00
Motherboard: PC Chips M847LU V1.5A Socket A, Item #N82E16813185002 - $49.00
- has integrated sound, video, and 10/100Mbps LAN
Processor: AMD Sempron 2200+ @ 1.5GHz, 333FSB, 256KB, Item #N82E16819104201 - $47.00


That's an example of super cheap. The parts came to $346.16, and shipping to Wisconsin was $53.27. If she's really just using for an email/internet machine, that would do the trick for her, easily. Probably be satisfactory for the next ten years!

should the cost of XP be included in these lists?

Not if your replacing one computer with another (assuming XP was on the old machine)..

I saw this and it looks like all of the suggestions left XP out of the budget. Retail, that's an easy $100.00 right there.

How about using eBay. I was able to do it (AMD 2400+, XP, 60GB, some existing stuff, Radeon 9200 - $400.00)

Mwave is also good and if you lvis in souther cali you can do direct pickups. Also since newegg is starting to get big they arnt giving the greatest deals anymore