Hmmm. Is this worth $100?

[UglyCasanova]

Ok, I am looking for a really cheap computer to mess around with. I want to play with Linux, but it won't work on my Inspiron 8200, so I am going to buy a realy cheap PC. I looked in the paper and called the few PC places around here, and only 1 person had a used PC to sell. I live in a real backwoods place.

He is a PC dealer somewhere around here, and he said the only thing he had was a P2 400mhz. It had I think 64Mb of ram, and something like a 3 or 4 Gb hd. He said he would sell it for about $100. This is more than I want to pay, but if it's the only thing around, I dunno. I am also going to this other town about an hour from here, and they have a store there that has used PC's so I'll check that out first, but do you think $100 is a fair deal for that?

How much would it cost me to fix it up, as well? Nothing top of the line or anything, but maybe a new HD and if I really want to a new mobo and cpu. I have an extra 128mb of sdram laying around here, so I guess I'll put that in. Ugh, my playing around is costing me more than I wanted it to :disgust:

And btw, this post officially makes me a Golden Member

 

[CubicZirconia]

I personally wouldn't pay 100 bucks for that. 50 max.

 

[spanky]

well... here are some ballpark figures for u:

$25 PII 400 w/hsf
$10 64mb pc100
$30 slot1 bx mobo
$25 4gb hd
$10 floppy
$15 any ol' cdrom
$10 some video card
$10 some soundcard
$30 some case w/psu

these prices i am getting from FS/FT or from Hot Deals (for the case w/psu). prices are shipped.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: CubicZirconia
I personally wouldn't pay 100 bucks for that. 50 max.

well i highly doubt u could build that for $50. but then again, i guess it depends whether that guy is selling a barebones setup or an actual complete pc. also... check FS/FT... sometimes ppl sell complete low end rigs for well less then $100 shipped.

 

[CrazySaint]

Congratz on 1000 posts! Um, if you're thinking about buying a new HD, mobo, and CPU, then WTH are you paying $100 for an PC for? You could just add about another $60 to the price of ne HD, mobo and CPU to cover the cost of the cheapest case and vid card you can find and just build a PC from scratch? Depending on what you get a new HD, mobo and CPU will cost about $160 for the cheapest parts you can find on up. In fact, ~$230 will get you a ECS K7S5A mobo, WD 20GB 7200RPM HD, Duron 950 CPU, MAXTOP CSX-8870K 350W Beige/Silver CASE, and ATI OEM RADEON 7000 32MB SDR (or a Soltek GeForce TNT2 M64 32MB RAM Retail) from newegg plus a GC68 HSF from SVCompucycle which will make a pretty kick ass Linux box.

 

[DanFungus]

Just make sure that it IS SDRAM....it could very well be EDO SIMM RAM...very crappy..very expensive

 

[UglyCasanova]

Ok, I'm thinking I may just build a new one. Here is what I'm thinking:

ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 mobo- because it supports DDR and I have an extra 256mb PC2100 I haven't even used laying around. (Will this support the Duron though? On newegg it just says Athlon XP)
Athlon 1600 XP - It's the same price as the XP 1500 which is $66, so why not?

I got the feeling this is turning into a rather nice PC, maybe I'll use this in my dorm this fall.

Video - ? What is cheap?
Soundcard - I think I may have an old SB around here, but if not what is a good cheap one?
HD - Again, good and cheap?
I'll just buy a $10 CD drive and I have a floppy.
If this is really going to be a nice PC and I'm going to keep it in my dorm a while, I think I want to get a nice case. I'll find one around here though.

 

[CrazySaint]

Yeah, that board will support the Duron, though if you're thinking about turning this into a serious PC to take to college with you, you might consider bumping up to the Abit NV7-133R motherboard for ~$90, which is based on the nForce-415D chipset, its faster and it has USB 2.0, RAID, NIC and near-Audigy level sound, so you won't have to buy a seperate sound card. Get a 40GB Maxtor D740X or Seagate Barracuda IV 7200 RPM drive (both around $78). Video card: Define "cheap", if "cheap" == ~$60 get a Radeon 7500. If "cheap" == ~$90-$100 get a Radeon 8500LE. If "cheap" ~= $140 get a 64MB Ti4200.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Damn, i've just about convinced myself. With shipping it is $216, and here is what I got:

WD 7200rpm 40GB HD ($10 more from the 20Gb, what the hell)
ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 mobo
AMD Athlon 1600+/266 FSB XP (May do with Duron which is about half the price if it works with the mobo and DDR, but then again the xp has a 266 fsb so I guess I'll stick with it.

I have 256MB PC2100 sitting here, I'll pick up a $15 sound card, a $15 NIC, and I'll need a new keyboard and mouse. Still don't know about the video. Do I want a cheap $40 card, or just go for it and get a fast card. This will be my Linux box, so not much gaming. I can dual boot XP though, and it will go in my dorm. Hmmm. Recommendations?

What am I forgetting?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: CrazySaint
Yeah, that board will support the Duron, though if you're thinking about turning this into a serious PC to take to college with you, you might consider bumping up to the Abit NV7-133R motherboard for ~$90, which is based on the nForce-415D chipset, its faster and it has USB 2.0, RAID, NIC and near-Audigy level sound, so you won't have to buy a seperate sound card. Get a 40GB Maxtor D740X or Seagate Barracuda IV 7200 RPM drive (both around $78). Video card: Define "cheap", if "cheap" == ~$60 get a Radeon 7500. If "cheap" == ~$90-$100 get a Radeon 8500LE. If "cheap" ~= $140 get a 64MB Ti4200.

Doesn't it have integrated video as well. If I can just not buy video, sound, and NIC cards that would be great. Will it give me problems in Linux though, and is there driver support? The only reason I'm doing this is because my i8200 won't run it. I don't want the nforce to do the same.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Why is the Radeon 8500LE 128mb so "cheap"? $130 doesn't sound like alot for a 128mb card, especially when compared to the prices of the GF4. If it has good performance, I might consider getting this. I just don't want to get stuck with a $130 piece of crap.

Edit: Sh!t. Newegg has it for $109. What is wrong with this card? It seems fishy.

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: dparker
Why is the Radeon 8500LE 128mb so "cheap"? $130 doesn't sound like alot for a 128mb card, especially when compared to the prices of the GF4. If it has good performance, I might consider getting this. I just don't want to get stuck with a $130 piece of crap.

Edit: Sh!t. Newegg has it for $109. What is wrong with this card? It seems fishy.

lol there's nothing wrong with the card. The reason its so cheap is that its slower than a Ti4200 which is $140-170 depending which one you get and how much RAM, so it has to be priced lower to be competetive. If you're probably going to be using this video card for the next 1-3 years then I would definitely recommend you get a 128MB card, preferably a Ti4200 if you can swing the price, otherwise get a 128MB 8500.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I am going to jump on that $200 ti4400, so I know the video card.

I am still woried about the nforce and linux. Everything should be ok, right?

 

[CrazySaint]

I haven't personally tried it, but I can't imagine what problems there would be.

 

[penzonian]

i know i'm just a newb to this forum but i've been lukin' and reading for some time now and also belong to another forum of which i have the equivelant of 'golden member' and it seems to me that anyone who has been a member of this forum for 16mons and has achieved the level of 'golden member' wouldn't have had to start this topic in the first place, he should have enough knowledge by now to answer his own question about a used $100 rig and could figure out the cost to upgrade it or build a low-end rig without padding his post count with this question. i know as a newb that you'll flame me for saying this but it is the truth. how can someone have 1000+ posts and not know the answer to such an elementry question? and why wouldn't anyone else have said this to him before a newb has to come along and say it?