Trying to build a PC for LESS than $150, help needed...

[Jabbit]

I am trying to build a PC for my fiance's parents.

Things it needs to be able to do -

Browse the internet
Run MS Office
Run Quickbooks (06 or 07, I forget)

Right now they are running an Athlon XP 1700+ with 256 RAM and a small HDD. Sucks hard.



Parts I already have

Sata HDD
Power supply
Usb wifi adapter
Pci-e graphics card (not needed, but I will put it in if no onboard video)
XP Pro OS
Maybe a CD/DVD drive, hafta check
Floppy drive (might not need either)


Parts I NEED


Case
Motherboard
Processor
RAM


Anyone have any advice?

[ayat108]

buy or get a case from a non-working computer at a pawn or thrift shop. buy a mobo, fan, heat sink, proc and power supply from tigerdirect.

you can save on software by legally getting openoffice (openoffice.org). i've been using it for years.

tigerdirect probably can get you everything for $150. might need a rebate, though. check it out.

[Jabbit]

Anyone else?

[Adionik]

Yeah.

FOR SALE section. Fuck buying new parts, you're going to PIITB because $150 ain't shit in PC world. Try finding a socket 939 or 754 and you might get lucky. Hell an FX-57-60 is still fast as shit.

[Jabbit]

Quote: Originally Posted by Adionik

Yeah.

FOR SALE section. Fuck buying new parts, you're going to PIITB because $150 ain't shit in PC world. Try finding a socket 939 or 754 and you might get lucky. Hell an FX-57-60 is still fast as shit.

Yeah I know, I am running 939 right now. And do you know how much the FXs are still going for now? A LOT!

I would prefer to use new parts for this build. I found a case, psu, MSI motherboard w/ a 4400+ processor for $175 after shipping. I was hoping for cheaper...

[smoger]

im always a windows guy, but i have to point out the fact that if you set them up with ubuntu, it DOES use fewer resources,.. so you can get away with less on the hardware side.. (maybe just throw ubuntu on that 1700 or just upgrade to the highest that that socket will accept..)

[Jabbit]

Quote: Originally Posted by smoger

im always a windows guy, but i have to point out the fact that if you set them up with ubuntu, it DOES use fewer resources,.. so you can get away with less on the hardware side.. (maybe just throw ubuntu on that 1700 or just upgrade to the highest that that socket will accept..)

Thought about that, but I wouldn't be very good end-user support. They live 90 mins. away, so I can't drop in to answer questions. I don't know it very well either.

Also, it is a MUST that they run QuickBooks on it. They use it to keep track of their landscaping business.

[Adionik]

Or just kill a bunch of processes and services you don't need anyway...which is what anyone using Windows does

[dodgeboywonder]

barebones system for 149.95 after rebate
MSI K9N6SGM-V GeForce Motherboard Case CPU Bundle - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Processor 2.60GHz Black Edition, 2GB DDR2 PC5400, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 450 Watt Power Supply at TigerDirect.com

99.99
Shuttle KPC K45 Socket 775 Barebone - Black, Intel 954GC, SFF, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, 100 Watt Power Supply K45-K1-BK-V1 at TigerDirect.com

just some ideas.
hope this helps.

[Toyota-Mopar]

case, motherboard, cpu and ram.

go to Fry's electronics and get their cpu/mobo combo they have.

Intel Celeron 430 & ECS mobo $49.99
Celerons have had a bad wrap in the past, but the current ones are conroes, they're the same as Core2s (only single core and 1/2 the cache but they are still very fast, they blow away Pentium 4s running at 3ghz). You won't be playing any modern PC games, but for just browsing and word processing, Celerons are just fine.

You can get a decent case with power supply for $40 at a local PC store.

You can get a stick of 2gb ram for $40.

For $20 remaining you can buy a spindle of DVDs.

[Jabbit]

Didn't know that about the current Celerons, thanks.


We decided to wait and make this a Christmas present. That means I'll have a little more money to put towards it and more time to find a better deal. I'll revive this thread in a few months.

Thanks for the tips!