Cheap Computers! PRICES UPDATED FOR THANKSGIVING!
Back on September 30th, 2008, PC Magazine came out with an article titled "Build It: A Sub-$250 Desktop PC".
They used a Shuttle "G7" Chassis K48 barebones kit, an Intel Celeron 430 (single core) CPU, a single 1 GIG stick of Crucial Value Ram, a Western Digital 80GB SATA2 hard drive, and a Lite-On DVD-RW burner. All the parts came from NewEgg and did not include shipping. The operating system was Ubuntu Linux, which is a free operating system if you download it from the internet.
Since Linux laptops and PCs are being returned at a rate of 4 to 1 versus Windows or Mac computers, I decided to see if I can build a little better PC for about the same price. The answer is: YES!
Now remember. The total of what everything is DOES NOT include the operating system or anything outside "the box". (Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Etc.) It DOES include the shipping charges though. (At least to Minnesota. Your mileage may vary.) I didn't use any rebates when I set these up.
I set 2 parameters that both the Intel and the AMD computers had to meet. A Dual Core CPU and 2 GIG of Dual Channel Ram. With these 2 parameters met, they should be able to run WindowsXP Home or Windows Vista Basic at a minimum.
These are not going to be speed demons of any sort. These are very basic computers which should allow e-mailing, surfing the web, and running some programs. Not necessarily games real well since these are minimalist machines. (Go check out "jsv35's Budget Builds" in the forums for more powerful computers than these.)
UPDATE! I just noticed the prices have changed since I wrote this. I will correct them at the bottom. I also noticed the Samsung DVD has been deactivated and I will put an active one in its place.
Time for the "guts" of both machines. They share just about everything except motherboards and CPUs, which is only natural since you can't put an AMD CPU on a Intel motherboard. It just doesn't work that way.
CASE - I used the RaidMax xB with a 380 watt power supply built-in. It's not THE bottom of the line case, but it is close. The 380 watt supply that comes with it should be more than big enough to power it.
RAM - I went with Kingston ValueRAM (2x1GB) Dual Channel set. It has a CAS 5 latency so it's not slow, but it's not the fastest either. Kingston are my old "stand by". If no other ram works, Kingston does.
HARD DRIVE - Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB. Same with this hard drive. I've never had a problem with a Western Digital I've bought yet.
DVD-RW BURNER - Samsung 22X DVD burner. Since the power supply has only 1 SATA power connector on it, I went with an IDE burner. Leaving the SATA connector for the hard drive. PC Mag used a Lite-On burner for their build. But I've had 1 Lite-On burner myself and it was very noisy. The Samsung burners seem to be quieter and cost the same.
VIDEO CARD - BioStar GeForce 8500 GT. This will help with better video instead of using the on board on the motherboards. Since both the motherboards I picked have the older PCI-E slot, I didn't want to trust using a card built for a newer 2.0 slot. It might not work. (I went with a BioStar video card since both of them have BioStar motherboards.)
Now that all the parts they share are out of the way, it's time for what they don't share.
INTEL SET-UP
MOTHERBOARD - BioStar G31-M7. Lately I've built 2 computers with BioStar motherboards and had good success with them. So I went with them for these builds. This is a socket LGA 775 board. So it should work with the CPU I picked out. Also a LGA 775.
CPU - Intel Celeron E1200. This isn't the fastest by no means. But it serves the purpose for what we are doing here.
This brings the Intel machine to a total cost of $305.25 including shipping.
AMD SET-UP
MOTHERBOARD - BioStar MCP6P-M2. This is a nVidia board. It serves the purpose like the Intel motherboard does.
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+. Since this is an OEM part, we will have to add a separate CPU cooler to it.
CPU COOLER - COOLER MASTER DK8
This brings the AMD machine to a total cost of $345.05 including shipping.
As you can tell, both machines have met the criteria and the cost is a $39.80 difference.
OH! How do you get both machines to around $250.00? That's easy. Take out the video card from each machine! The Intel will cost $255.26 and the AMD will cost $292.50. Each including shipping from the time I wrote this.
Till Next Time!