A challenge for you lot

[MAS]

Right, let's see what you've got

I need some help pricing a PC. I'm building it for someone and it needs to be the cheapest system capable of running Windows XP comfortably. Aside from that, there's no requisites. Did I mention it has to be CHEAP?

I think I've got it as low as I can but I'd like to hear other peoples thoughts.

In particular, any ideas where I can get a really cheap monitor? CRT, 15inch, whatever, as long as it's not too grubby.

People dont have to price every component, just want to hear what people think are good mobos/CPUs for the job. I used to use durons but they're getting harder to get hold of.

[Rave]

In particular, any ideas where I can get a really cheap monitor? CRT, 15inch, whatever, as long as it's not too grubby.

I've got working monitors out of skips/bins before. I even found a working one on the kerb once. I gave two of them away on Freecycle.

Rich :¬)

[MAS]

Cheers Rave, ever helpful

[Spud1]

really cheap monitors eh, www.accomputerwarehouse.com - ~£25 + shipping

as for the pc

sempron athlon - ~£30
socket A mobo - ~£40
256meg Ram - ~£30
case+PSU - £15
GF4MX[ouch, cant belive i reccomend one of these piles of poo] - £30
KB+mouse - £10
sound - £00 built in

there ya go full system for a total of........£155

All parts from overclockers.co.uk, cept for the case from ebuyer.

[Mblaster]

case+PSU - £15

You really wanna trust that PSU?

Other than that, you won't find much cheaper apart from second hand.

[GingerNinja.net]

Are you willing to go for second hand as long as you can trust the person selling it to you?

If you look at my sig, you'll see the spec of my current machine - which I am about to strip down to it's core components and sell off. What I am (probably) going to keep as a single item to sell is the case w/PSU, AMD Athlon XP 1700, Asus A7N266E MoBo with onboard GeForceMX graphics and AC97 sound (it's an nForce board so can run, say GTA3 and ET at 1024x768, but not Vice City or Unreal 2), 2 x 256Mb PC2100 memory, Matsumi DVD-ROM and atleast an 80GB Maxtor Diamondmax hard drive. May also throw in a PCI modem if this is a "killer" app, but otherwise won't.

This PC is still really servicable and works fine - I just want a bastard fast machine so I've saved saved saved to get one.

[MAS]

I'd be more than happy to buy second hand stuff, especially from people on Hexus. Your parts look good, some of them are a little more powerful than I'd really need, but it all comes down to price.

I was looking at second bits but people seem to charge silly money for some of them. For example, I can get a new Sempron 2200+ for £30, and yet there are 1600 mhz Durons going on ebay for £25.

Ginger - drop me a PM. I have a feeling that the system you have is a little better than what I need but it's worth considering.

Cheers Spud for the info; pretty much what I thought but £25 for the monitor is exactly what I was looking for

[Rave]

Cheers Rave, ever helpful

Is this sarcasm? I honestly wouldn't pay for for a monitor unless it was 19" or larger. Just today two CRT monitors were given away on London Freecycle. As companies upgrade to TFTs, CRT monitors are getting thrown away in droves, they're easy to find with a little time spent looking. I have two spare 17"s and an old 15" lying around at home, all of which were free.

Rich :¬)

[MAS]

No, it was a genuine comment. If I was being sarcastic I wouldnt have used the

[Rave]

Oh right, sorry then. If you can collect from SE London, you're welcome to have one of the monitors.

Rich :¬)

[MAS]

Thanks for the offer, that's very generous, sadly I live at the other end of the country!

[Rave]

Ah well. Keep your eyes peeled, you might well find one. I can't pass a skip without having a nosy inside. I've had working computers, modems etc. before, and all the cat5e cable I can eat....

Rich :¬)

[Mblaster]

I picked up 6 desktop PC's 5 monitors, and 2 servers all for free! The company had upgraded and were going to throw them away. I think they're all PIII's (duel in the servers), the monitors are 15" CRT's.