What would your bare minimum specs be?

[cremator]

Assuming you just planned to make a browsing pc, one that can decode the latest movie clips (nothing big). And post on forums and just browse in general, what would your cheapest setup be? I'm considering building one just for backup purposes, since my main pc isn't really stable now, it'd be nice to be able to come to places and ask without spending a few hundred on another real pc. I'm talking bare minimum here, just enough to read and browse websites and watch mpgs, avis, and the like.

 

[Insane3D]

Me again. It's going to be pretty close to a few hundred even for a bare minimum PC unless you already have spare stuff laying around, or buy some used stuff. Here is a bare minimum system you could make, then maybe sell off after you got your running right.

Epox EP-8KMM3I KM400 board (onboard LAN, USB 2.0, Video, Sound) - $49 shipped

Duron 1.8Ghz - $46 shipped

Mushkin 256mb PC2100 - $33 shipped

Hitachi 40GB 7200RPM HD - $56 shipped

Samsung 52X CDROM - $18 shipped

Total: $202

 

[cremator]

Yeah, just enough to be able to boot up, with an OS. Basically an unlimited kiosk, type thingy.

 

[Insane3D]

Do you access to ANY spare parts? Do you things like KB/Mouse etc too?

 

[cremator]

Just assume you have everything you needed, except A tower, and the innards of it. You have the monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers / headphones. The actual pc components are missing though. My friend CZroe bought a 5$ unopened AGP Voodoo 3 3000 at goodwill, so it'd be cheap for me to build one, I have a 500mhz amd processor already, but I'm just seeing what others would build if they wanted just a browsing box.

 

[Insane3D]

Ahhh....ok. I edited my post above...

 

[jackschmittusa]

On my backup big now. A lot more than you need really. mid-tower (salvaged from a fire), Athlon 900 (200fsb), 512 pc133 (used), Saphire 9000pro 128, cd (used), burner (used), fd (used), 120gb Seagate 7200 8mb, used 17" monitor.
Pricewatch has barebone prices starting at $141us for case, cd, mb, cpu, ram, and hd.

 

[MichaelZ]

p3 1ghz with 256 or so ram. that would be enough for a browser box. my laptop with a p3 600 and 128 ram chokes when there's flash or a large gif on a site. some mp3 playing in the background is also needed along with browsing.

 

[Lonyo]

I would get 512MB RAM because it'll probably be running XP.
I have ~300MB used on Win2k and I am only browsing and using Winamp.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
On my backup big now. A lot more than you need really. mid-tower (salvaged from a fire), Athlon 900 (200fsb), 512 pc133 (used), Saphire 9000pro 128, cd (used), burner (used), fd (used), 120gb Seagate 7200 8mb, used 17" monitor.
Pricewatch has barebone prices starting at $141us for case, cd, mb, cpu, ram, and hd.

You ran back in to save YOUR COMPUTER?:laugh:

I've gotten rid of all my decent ones, so now my backup is pretty weak. 300mhz k6 , 128MB pc66, 60GB 'Cuda IV, win98se, TB santa cruz, and an old ATi vid card. Oh! and a 10x cd-rom (out of a scrapped compaq).

 

[Goi]

I would just get one of those Dell hot deals when they're cheap enough.

 

[Illissius]

Minimum specs I'd consider usable:
For W98 or 2000:
300-400MHz PII/K6-2
256MB RAM
I know this from firsthand experience, there isn't much of a difference between the same OS on my AXP 2400 for general usage.

For XP:
500-1GHz CPU (never tried it on anything lower than my 2400+ so this is a guess)
512MB RAM - it seemed rather laggy with 256MB, although usable

Your best choice imo would be to just buy something used, but if you want to get it new, then:

Duron 1.6GHz
Shuttle MK40VN / MN31L or Abit NF7-M
1 or 2x 256MB cheap PC2700/3200 from Samsung/Hynix/Infineon/Crucial/Kingston/Mushkin/Corsair
40GB 7200RPM HDD
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM of choice

 

[jacktesterson]

Theres always the AMD XP 2000+ processor (can be had very cheap now)....and the K7S5A motherboard from ECS....can't find a more reliable board in the price range.

 

[Marsumane]

Forget the duron. I mean i got a 2500+ for 65 bucks a month ago so im sure u can do better then a 1.6 duron. maybe a 2200+? (too lazy to look at pricewatch) Also, kingston has a sale on ram right now. $60 after rebate for a 512 stick of pc3200 ram. Get that, a decent XP processor for 50 bucks, a $40 mobo and some other cheap parts and ur set

 

[somekid617]

i would get an apple one....LOL