help me build the cheapest (decent) system possible and get $10

[j0j081]

Hi,
My friend is moving out on his own soon and he will be needing a computer. I told him I could build him one for fairly cheap, I don't mind being the tech support if something goes wrong, but to begin with I thought he was going to have closer to $500 to spend on parts. If that was the case I could have built him something similar to my computer. Now he will only have between $300-350. I'm sure this is possible to do but I don't really know what the best route to go would be. He doesn't need it to be able to play games. This will be an everyday type use computer. I would like it to have upgrade options for down the road. I have an old monitor I am giving him for free and I possibly have an IDE hdd that would work but it's only 80 GB. Also, no OS is needed. Whoever specs out the system closest to whatever I build will get $10 from me in their PayPal account. If you've done this for yourself or someone else that's 10 dollars for a few minutes work. I don't have a deadline for when I'm picking it yet but I'll let everyone know which build I chose in here. Thanks!

MOD EDIT: System builds belong in General Hardware, so I'm moving the thread. Hopefully you'll get more responses. - Zap

 

[narreth]

dell

 

[j0j081]

I think I'm gonna take $100 bucks from you just for saying that.

 

[MarcVenice]

I'd post this on the general hardware forum. 300-350$ isn't a whole lot of money.

abit ip35-e 60$, e2160 70$, 2gb of ram 35$, case + PSU 45$, dvd drive 30$, leaving 60-110$ for the videocard. Or perhaps it's better to go with a somewhat better case + PSU, so he can throw in a 'real' videocard later on, when his budget allows for it. You can get a 7600gt 256mb for 60$ AR, and perhaps even cheaper. Or look for used parts perhaps.

This is a pretty good case/PSU combo for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129024 if you can get it cheaper somewhere else it's a good deal. You cuold also check out microcenter, and see if they still have the cm 690 for 20$ http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0265143, and then throw in a 50$ corsair 450vx using the google checkout. http://www.buy.com/retail/sear...e&display=col&dclksa=1 That should still fit the budget, and in fact leave 50-75$ for a videocard.

 

[dantonic]

What's the point? you're gonna spend all this time putting this thing together, and it will be a very very cheap computer.
Just get a cheap dell like narreth suggested, and I bet you could purchase it for the same price that you could put it together after you consider things like case, psu, cd rom, mouse keyboard etc...

Plus you have 1 year warranty and tech support.

Do some math, dell could be the better option in this case. You might not get a dual core CPU for that price, but you'll get all the other stuff and a hard drive.

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I'd post this on the general hardware forum. 300-350$ isn't a whole lot of money.

abit ip35-e 60$, e2160 70$, 2gb of ram 35$, case + PSU 45$, dvd drive 30$, leaving 60-110$ for the videocard. Or perhaps it's better to go with a somewhat better case + PSU, so he can throw in a 'real' videocard later on, when his budget allows for it. You can get a 7600gt 256mb for 60$ AR, and perhaps even cheaper. Or look for used parts perhaps.

This is a pretty good case/PSU combo for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129024 if you can get it cheaper somewhere else it's a good deal. You cuold also check out microcenter, and see if they still have the cm 690 for 20$ http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0265143, and then throw in a 50$ corsair 450vx using the google checkout. http://www.buy.com/retail/sear...e&display=col&dclksa=1 That should still fit the budget, and in fact leave 50-75$ for a videocard.

remember it can have integrated video. for the naysayers I thought this would be fun. I don't really have anything else to do so...

 

[SpeedEng66]

E2180 $50 ar link

rebate

vista basic $50 vista link

nice case with psu $20 link

mobo $26 ECS PT890T

drd-r $24 Sony NEC Optiarc

Ram $37ish ram

honestly there's so many ram deals going on this could be the last thing to buy
so
mobo 26
cpu 50
os 50
case 20
dvdr 24
ram 37
hd free reuse
add on cheap v card off new egg 20


total 227 (add a little more for shipping)

if you want uber cheap there's this
http://www.surpluscomputers.co...emDetail&item=MBB10586

this has cpu mobo onboard video now add case os and mem (total around 150-200 )

 

[PCTC2]

Here's a pretty good setup.

Gigabyte 630i/7100 mATX board $73
E4500 $120
2GB of RAM $35
SATA DVD-RW $30
CASE+PSU $35-85

(You could get the E2160 and then use the extra $50 for a better case and PSU.)

 

[chinaman1472]

Well, a Dell/HP/etc. also gives you speakers, mouse, keyboard, monitor, and OS. If he's just using it for school, web surfing, and that kind of stuff, getting a cheap retail CPU is a far better deal than building your own.

 

[reallyfull]

For a little under $350 shipped I would do something like this if you're going to donate a monitor and HDD.

Everything is from Newegg except for the OS.

CD/ DVD Burner SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM $27.99

Case/PSU IN WIN IW-C589T Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail $54.99

Keyboard Logitech 967738-0403 Black USB Standard Deluxe 250 Keyboard - OEM $7.99

Mouse Logitech RX250 Black 3 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Optical Mouse - OEM $8.99

RAM WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 - Retail $38.99

MOBO MSI P6NGM-L LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce7050 / nForce610i Micro ATX - Retail $49.99 or $39.99 after MIR. This MOBO has integrated graphics but also a PCI-Express 16x slot if you'd like to add a nice GPU later

CPU Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $73.99 Includes HSF

OS Microsoft Vista Home Basic DVD System Builder Single Pack $49.99

This comes to $339.74 shipped to my address.

 

[MarcVenice]

No need for a e2140, the e2160 costs the same.

 

[reallyfull]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
No need for a e2140, the e2160 costs the same.

Thanks! I didn't even notice this.

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: reallyfull
For a little under $350 shipped I would do something like this if you're going to donate a monitor and HDD.

Everything is from Newegg except for the OS.

CD/ DVD Burner SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM $27.99

Case/PSU IN WIN IW-C589T Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail $54.99

Keyboard Logitech 967738-0403 Black USB Standard Deluxe 250 Keyboard - OEM $7.99

Mouse Logitech RX250 Black 3 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Optical Mouse - OEM $8.99

RAM WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 - Retail $38.99

MOBO MSI P6NGM-L LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce7050 / nForce610i Micro ATX - Retail $49.99 or $39.99 after MIR. This MOBO has integrated graphics but also a PCI-Express 16x slot if you'd like to add a nice GPU later

CPU Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $73.99 Includes HSF

OS Microsoft Vista Home Basic DVD System Builder Single Pack $49.99

This comes to $339.74 shipped to my address.

that sounds pretty good. I found out I won't be needing an OS either. He's gonna run Vista in the 30 day trial mode to begin with and then decide if he wants that or XP and buy it when it expires. Therefore $50 can be subtracted from that total so if you want to update anything to something better go ahead.

 

[j0j081]

unless someone gives me a better idea reallyfull is winning once my friend okays it.

 

[frostedflakes]

I think there was a Dell Vostro posted in hot deals for about $350. Dual-core, 1GB RAM, 19" widescreen LCD, etc. Really a great looking system, only problem I could find was it didn't have a DVD burner. You won't be able to do any better building yourself unless you find some really good deals.

EDIT: Nevermind, dead

http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=vostro