Looking to spend less than $500 in addition to my current parts. . .

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- Ecnalyr
  
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posted
16 years ago

Thu, Jan 3, 2008 1:14 AM

to build a decent machine.

I have a spare case, a spare version of Windows Vista Basic, 400 watt power supply, hard drive, a cheap crt monitor, dvdrw. . . basically everything but a motherboard, ram, and cpu.

Would it be in my best interest to spend less than 500 dollars on a motherboard, ram (at least 2gb), and a cpu to build my own set up - or would it be cheaper to purchase a prebuilt desktop? I know generally it is hard to build extremely low-cost computers that compete with mass produced low cost prebuilt desktops, but i'm in this price range with the extra hardware/OS lying around.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PS. If you had 500 to spend on a motherboard, ram, and cpu, what would you purchase?

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- Bob Willard
  
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posted
16 years ago

Thu, Jan 3, 2008 5:23 AM

I'd start with WinXP, not Vista. Vista has a Back To The Future feel, with the daily/hourly BSODs.

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- DevilsPGD
  
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posted
16 years ago

Thu, Jan 3, 2008 7:32 AM

If you're seeing BSODs in Vista, I'd look at your hardware and drivers very closely, Vista has proven to be the most stable OS I've ever used.

That being said, I selected my parts for this system with Vista compatibility in mind, so not only was Vista not an issue, but nor was the switch to x64.

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