My parents wanted a new PC (upgrading from their unbelievably shitty Windows ME Compaq box from years ago), but didn't want to spend more than $400 on it (monitor excluded, Windows XP included). I went a tiny bit over ($417), but I think overall I did okay.
I went with a barebones AMD rig to start to save money on the motherboard/case/power supply combo but get a decent kick to the thing at the same time, and I'm leaving the onboard video and audio for budget reasons. Drives are also strictly ATA to save on money. How do these parts sound to the fellow PC-builders here?
Barebones: MSI MBOX K8MM-V AMD Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64/Sempron
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856101238
84.99
Processor: AMD Sempron 64 3400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104231
66.50
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141423
99.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148013
40.99
DVD/CD Drive: ASUS 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135082
34.99
TOTAL:
$417 (w/Windows)
Building this was fun -- it was a challenge to find parts that would perform reasonably well and fit them into such a small budget.
I went with a barebones AMD rig to start to save money on the motherboard/case/power supply combo but get a decent kick to the thing at the same time, and I'm leaving the onboard video and audio for budget reasons. Drives are also strictly ATA to save on money. How do these parts sound to the fellow PC-builders here?
Barebones: MSI MBOX K8MM-V AMD Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64/Sempron
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856101238
84.99
Processor: AMD Sempron 64 3400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104231
66.50
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141423
99.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148013
40.99
DVD/CD Drive: ASUS 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135082
34.99
TOTAL:
$417 (w/Windows)
Building this was fun -- it was a challenge to find parts that would perform reasonably well and fit them into such a small budget.