El Cheapo computer thread

[blahblahblah]

My parents old 566 Celeron has pretty much bit the dust. I've tried my best to diagnose the problem, but its giving me multiple fake signs which is making it impossible to fix the problem. They are tired of it so they want a new computer as cheap as possible.

I want to see what suggestions/recommendations you people have on the following components. The links highlighted in bold are the one's I am thinking about choosing right now.

Motherboard: They are only using this for internet surfing and what not, no high end features are needed.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-150-055&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-157-024&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-231&depa=1

Processor: There will be no overclocking

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-379&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-336&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-211&depa=1

Ram:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-217&depa=1

Case:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-156-011&depa=1

Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-122&depa=1

Optical Drive

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-135-019&depa=1

The Floppy Drive

And Windows XP Home Edition

I've got the power supply and couple of fans here so I don't need those. Mainly I want to see what you people think about the motherboard. And double check to make sure everything else looks okay. If everything checks out, I will order it tommorow.

PS - While surfing newegg, I see that they have added some instructional videos about how to build your own computer. Might be helpful to first time computer builders

http://images10.newegg.com/uploadfilesfornewegg/itemintelligence/library7.htm

PPS - The grand total for this computer (with the stuff I have listed) is 453 USD.

PPPS - For you gamers here, you can add a 9600 Pro for a 100 USD and make it an awesome gaming rig for under 600 dollars.

 

[blahblahblah]

PPPPS - What color would you call the case? It says beige, but I'm not so sure, I want color matching for the floppy and optical drive. I think I will stop posting now. lol

 

[Hazar]

The colors will all match up (hopefully).

That's a pretty good (cheap) comp. I assume your going to use the old monitor.

 

[Gunsnroses]

Not a bad eco set up, if its just for surfing, i'd cut the cpu down, to a 1800+ and cut ram down to 256megs.

Save your parents 75$

 

[Gunsnroses]

I appuald you for buying newegg.

I've spent 1500 there, and placed 500+$ in orders for friends, in the last 3 months.
They are the only way to go. My powersupply was DOA, I RMAed it, they lost it in the paper work, got it late 3 weeks. I was a little ticked off, till they credited my acccount 20$ for the orginal shipping, and the shipping back for RMA.

I asked if i could get a free shirt, they siad no, we're outa XL, So we'll send you a hate now, and a shirt later.
Ended up with 2 free shirts, a free pen, a wallet and hat.

When they screw up, they do the best they can to fix it.


Wow, that just turned into a newegg AD.
haha

 

[JFry]

Looks pretty good to me but I think you could save a good bit of money if you asked around (friends, co-workers etc) for anybody that has an old computer they wouldn't mind getting rid of. You could salvage an optical drive, floppy and possibly even a hd. Of course you know your parents best and I'm just basing this on my parents activity, having no use for burning cd's or an 80 gig hd. Still what you have there looks like it'll last a good 5 years or more for a casual user.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Tell them to buy a dell :-/

 

[blahblahblah]

Looks pretty good to me but I think you could save a good bit of money if you asked around (friends, co-workers etc) for anybody that has an old computer they wouldn't mind getting rid of. You could salvage an optical drive, floppy and possibly even a hd. Of course you know your parents best and I'm just basing this on my parents activity, having no use for burning cd's or an 80 gig hd. Still what you have there looks like it'll last a good 5 years or more for a casual user.

Actually my dad does use a CD burner. That alone is scary. I think he would like a 52 speed CD burner than the 4 speed one he has now.

The 80 GB HD 8 MB buffer a bit overkill, but it is only 10 dollars more than a 40 GB with a 2 MB buffer. That will give him some extra performance for cheap as well as doubling his storage space.

As for salvaging, the only computers I can salvage are really old ones. I don't think I want to slow their system down with a 15 GB 5400 RPM harddrive. Or a 4 speed CD burner.

I'm actually POed at the HP they have right now. It is only 4.5 years old and its pretty much dead. I was seriously expecting another 2 plus years out of the thing. Lousy HP.

 

[blahblahblah]

Tell them to buy a dell :-/

Funny, here is an equivalent Dell PC (making sure that Dell couldn't do it cheaper). (I know you are joking, but I'm going to make a point darn it).

Price $605 including tax and shipping.

- Intel® Celeron® D Processor 320 (2.40 GHz, 533 FSB)
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
- 256MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
- 40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
- Single Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW Drive
- No floppy drive
- 90 Day warranty

Dell's are such great deals, aren't they. :dozey:

 

[Gunsnroses]

Dells are great, if your going to buy a computer from a company.
Rape HP, and gateway.

But building is the only way to go.

 

[RussianEmpire]

Funny, here is an equivalent Dell PC (making sure that Dell couldn't do it cheaper). (I know you are joking, but I'm going to make a point darn it).

Price $605 including tax and shipping.

- Intel® Celeron® D Processor 320 (2.40 GHz, 533 FSB)
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
- 256MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
- 40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
- Single Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW Drive
- No floppy drive
- 90 Day warranty

Dell's are such great deals, aren't they. :dozey:

THis is the worst comp i ever saw :cheese: :rolling: :bonce:

 

[Asus]

Dells use 128MB memory, get it right.

Nice system and I like the parts you picked.
ASRock for the motherboard and Muskin for RAM, awesome.
Personally I'd be debating between the 2400+ and 2500+ if the price wasn't so close. Might as well go for the 2500+. :thumbs:

While the 2400+ may perform equally as good as the 2500+ in non-bandwidth hungry applications, an extra 3$ and you get twice the L2 cache and a little cooler chip.

 

[blahblahblah]

Dells use 128MB memory, get it right.

Nice system and I like the parts you picked.
ASRock for the motherboard and Muskin for RAM, awesome.
Personally I'd be debating between the 2400+ and 2500+ if the price wasn't so close. Might as well go for the 2500+. :thumbs:

While the 2400+ may perform equally as good as the 2500+ in non-bandwidth hungry applications, an extra 3$ and you get twice the L2 cache and a little cooler chip.

Well, Asus spoke.

I was considering the Sempron processor, but I think the extra performance with the Athlon XP is worth an extra $10 (with shipping costs). Its a shame that AMD's new value processor isn't that great of a value right now.

I found out the case is actually white (I think lol), so newegg almost screwed me up. So I replaced the one CD burner with a white Lite-on one and added a white Lite-on DVD drive.

Grand total will be 481 USD. I will order tommorow.

 

[blahblahblah]

Well, I ordered that computer. Except, I bought a black Antec Case from CompUSA for $20 (display model), changed the drives to black and added a DVD drive.

Total is 470 USD including shipping. I think that is an awesome deal.

 

[Asus]

Was it the basic Antec black case by chance? 2 USB front ports etc.

 

[bosox188]

Wow really I got my Dell for $600 (with a $100 mail in rebate making it $500) and it came with a:
P4 2.2ghz
256mb ram
integrated graphics
30gb hdd

I got it last June (2003) and I know that of course the prices are cheaper for better technology but still... very nice system for $600.

 

[blahblahblah]

Was it the basic Antec black case by chance? 2 USB front ports etc.

Yes. I thought it was an awesome deal. It beat the living daylights out of the compUSA version a mid-tower case (in quality) and was cheaper too.