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Building a low budget computer
O'Reilly recently ran a 2 part series on building a full system for around $500. You can read part 1 here, which deals with the main components selected, and part 2 here. Part 2 covers the assembly process.
They create 2 possible boxes, one using AMD Sempron 2500 processors and ASUS motherboard, the other using Intel Celeron D processor and an Intel mobo. This is a very realistic product selection, using very good components, including Antec cases, Liteon cd writers, Crucial memory. Both boards feature onboard graphics, which saves you a bit of money, and keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers. A full system, that is. It won't be the fastest, mainly because of the processors chosen, but if decent performance on a budget is what you're after, either system will do you very well. :: Quote :: Inexpensive doesn't have to mean cheap. The myth persists that you can't save money building your own PC, particularly a budget system. In fact, it's easy to match the price of a mass-market commercial system with a homebuilt system that uses higher-quality components. Of course, you could instead match the quality level of a mass-market commercial system by buying the cheapest components available and save a few bucks by doing so, but we don't recommend doing that. We think there are good reasons to build inexpensive systems, but no reason at all to build cheap ones.I couldn't agree more with this statement. Worth noting is the processor fan recommendation in the second article: :: Quote :: The Antec power supply and case fan contribute little to the noise level; nearly all of it is caused by the small, high-speed CPU cooler fan. Substituting a $20 to $30 quiet CPU cooler such as the Zalman CPNS3100+ or CPNS6000-Cu would allow this system to run almost inaudibly in a normal residential environment.Processor fans create most of the annoying noise you'll hear, so this might be worth thinking about for future installs. Back to top |
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