Not to thread poop...but Dell has been running some pretty decent deals on refurb machines @ the Outlet. Check them out for cheap boxes too.
I just picked up the following rig the other day for around $550
XPS 410
Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo (the 2.4ghz ones w/ 4 meg cache)
320 gig HD
2 gig RAM
16x Dual layer DVD burner
Second DVD/CDRW drive
Nvidia 8300 GS w/ 128MB
13 in 1 media bay
Vista Home Premium
I missed the 15% coupon by a day. That would have been a sweet rig for $470.
If you want even cheaper, you can grab an Inspiron desktop like this:
Inspiron Desktop 531 Mini-tower: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ (2.30GHZ)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
System Price : $259.00
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Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
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Memory
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 677MHz (2 DIMMs)
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Floppy Drive
No Floppy Drive
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Hard Disk Drive
250 GB EIDE SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
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Modem
V.92/56K PCI DataFax Modem
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Scratch & Dent
Scratch & Dent
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Base
Inspiron Desktop 531 Mini-tower: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ (2.30GHZ)
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Media Bay
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
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Software Upgrade
Microsoft Works 8.5
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Hardware Upgrade
USB Keyboard
Dell Optical USB 2-button Mouse
http://www.dell.com/content/pr...?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh