Cheap Computers?

[Veggita2099]

Ususally the most expensive part about building a Custom PC is the Software. That is the reason so many of these local PC shops can't sell a computer. Big shots like HP, Gateway, ETC can offer bundled software as where a legit computer store has to charge pretty much full price for a OS. But you will get a much better PC if you build it yourself. I personally hate trying to fix a name brand PC, half the parts are insanely difficult to get to at times, as where a Custom PC generally after you unplug the IDE/floppy cables you can reach most of everything.

[Aurora]

try http://www.craigslist.com

Go to the sale section of your city...

[hearld500]

Hey, thanks for all your help guys, he's going to order it in a few days.

[Eckostyle]

http://www.ibuypower.com

[zickfun]

Box + Monitor? Or just the box?

Roughly 1/2 these prices cause these are Australian prices.

Just the Box:
Athlon 64 3000+ $200
Gigabyte K8N-S $130
512mb DDR400 $100
80gb 7200RPM HD Seagate/WD $80
16 x DVD Burner $100
Radeon 9550 Extreme $150
Generic Case + 400W PSU $50

$750

+ 17 Inch Monitor ...$150

$950

Conversion to American dollars=
$475.

This machine will PWN. any other thing for that price range. And It'll play HL2/Doom3 resonably well excluding ASF and AA.

[Skynet]

Where are you looking for those prices? I'm Aussie too

<------------- (see? )

And it's not half, it's more like 3/4

I saw on the news tonight the AU$ is about US$0.75

[zickfun]

http://www.msy.com.au

[zickfun]

Ohh Adelaide...
sorry I only know Melbourne/Sydney stores

[Sir Savant]

YOu know, he could just buy a motherboard on ebay, then buy on of those sony dvdrw drives(plus and minus), add the ram, a floppy drive, and the psu/case, and your looking at around 400 dollars, depending on how expensive your motherboard is. For cheapness, he can go buy a psu at the salvation army or something, as well as picking apart one of those cheap 40 buck pc's for the parts, then all you need is a motherboard that uses cheap ram and can take a lot, and the dvd drive, which is an awesome investment. Add linux for good measure unless you want the xp. HOw do you get the free operating system at your school?

[BlackAura]

HOw do you get the free operating system at your school?

Some schools (universities and colleges mostly) have an agreement with Microsoft that lets their students (especially I.T. students, but occasionally others) get Microsoft software either for free, or for very little cost. At my uni, I can get copies of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, a few Office programs (Access, Project, Visio), and development tools (MS Visual Studio.NET), and all I have to do is download them. That's only for I.T. students. Other students can buy the things at a substantial discount.

The catch, of course, is that they're for personal use only, they can only be installed on one machine (and I mean ever - format your hard drive and you can't re-install it), you can't give them away or sell them, and it's obviously just to get students (especially those in I.T.) used to using Microsoft software, in the hope that they'll reinforce Microsoft's monopoly position. It's the same principle as giving away free samples of drugs, knowing that they'll get addicted and be back for more, although not quite as insidious.

To their credit, my Uni also has quite a lot of Linux distributions available in ISO format. That's where I got copies of Fedora Core, Knoppix, Mandrake, FreeBSD (not Linux, but it's there too), and a couple of others.

[melancholy]

That sucks. You guys get your OS's for free at school. I had to pay 5 freakin' dollars for mine! I feel ripped off now.