as cheap as possible

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kmkrreeves1

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I want to build a cheap desktop, plan on running xp, already have dvd drive, HDD, and probably a power supply. I'd like to use amazon for most of the parts.

I think I got the cheapest case I could find, almost $30 after shipping
http://www.amazon.com/10-Bay-ATX-Tower-Computer-Case/dp/B004R7CEPQ/ref=sr_1_479?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1339391293&sr=1-479
If you can find a cheaper one please let me know, I don't care what it looks like.
I need a reasonable processor, 3ghz single core will do. I was thinking this processor and motherboard:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I63508/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=AY4DFMU3Q8PSQ

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E887YY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2E03HGVYBRQJB

If you can find a cheaper combination with around 3ghz processor, please recommend.


I haven't really looked for memory, but at least 1gb but I'm thinking 2
 
If you found a case for $30 and still need other parts, just look on Craigslist, I see $40-50 working P4 comp's all the time on there.
 
Go on craigslist and buy a cheap tower and throw some cheap upgrades at it, much cheaper that building a already outdated computer.
 
johnb35- I want it for converting vhs to dvd, and its just awkward doing it with my laptop, power and operating system aren't really a concern since the program works with xp, and isn't very demanding with resources. (you read about this when I was posting about the dell I think) why buy old tech? because I'm 16, and $300 just isn't worth it for what I need. And as for the optiplex-I'm pulling the HDD, DVD drive, and power supply (good money on amazon) and throwing the rest away, I didn't realize that case and mobo were "custom" designed by dell.

I didn't think about craigslist, but I did look and there weren't any under $200 in my area, and most were laptops without any description.
 
I guess my area is different.
I just picked up a HP 7800 for $30 with a core2duo.
Put in a hdd and have a nice sff comp that runs cool and is quicker than my Optiplex's.
 
Where do you live?
I have access to all sorts of comps, most might need a hdd.
But the same source has used wiped hdd's but I never asked about prices.
 
pentium 4, it only had 768mb ram though, 2 sticks of 256 and 2 of 128. That is the only point where it shows its age but windows xp will let me live with it for now, working on an upgrade for that after I get a video card.

I also looked at the HDDs smart stuff, and it said it had only been used for 32 hours, and I had probably used most of those, I could see that there had been 2 labels on the front, so maybe it was just booting from a server and whoever sold it assumed it had no HDD

I also like the body, you can have it flat to put a monitor on top of, or you can turn a piece of plastic on the bottom and it will stand up straight.
 
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I think what you have is a single core with hyperthreading. A dual core would be at least pentium D. Pentium 4 is solidly single core.
 
^ above. I had one of those hyper-threaded Pentium 4s. It was OK, didn't really notice a difference between the hyper-threaded P4s and the non-HT ones though. :/
 
yeah its hyper threaded, I didn't really know the difference.

New Problem- I bought a grforce4 MX 440 with AGP8x. It only had the dvi and s-vid, and I wanted the s-vid, but will probably never use it. but I needed the dvi for my tv (dvi to hdmi cable) and I was just gonna use the onboard vga for a crt monitor. I thought that would work since I did it before with a PCI card, but guess what...you can't do that with AGP simply because I thought you could. So I bought this adapter, it hasn't come in yet, but does anyone know if it will work? If it doesn't work I think I will just throw all monitors in my house in the street and run over them. Thanks for your help.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UG8S42/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A266OV4GWHSP06

And I will just resell it on amazon if it doesn't work, I do that alot. and these DVI adapters are all more expensive than I would have thought.
 
not sure if that will work. I would think that the mx 440 is your issue with DVI to HDMI though. It is a very old card. Though if you have a TV that runs HDMI, it will almost certainly have a few RGB ports (the three colour ones like on a xbox). You can most certainly get a VGA to RGB adapter that would go to your TV.
 
I'm gonna have to tinker with it, The adapter works but not the way I want it to.

When you turn on the computer, the bios and stuff shows only on the vga, the windows xp loading screen also only shows on the vga. but when it gets to the windows welcome screen it switches to the dvi. when in windows it only sees the dvi and doesn't show the vga anywhere. I haven't had much time to mess with it, but at least I know this adapter could work...

on the dvi, I have a dvi to hdmi cable to my 20" lcd tv. on the vga I have a 14" shamrock crt monitor that says 1998 on the back, so I'm just gonna assume that the crt won't take any kind of digital signal...

I'll mess with it and see if I can get it working, and the graphics card was $8 on amazon, so I just got the cheapest I could find, I didn't want it for performance I just needed the extra monitor that didn't work out anyway.

worst case, I'll just sell it all on amazon and start over...
 
ok, I need a new graphics card, preferably with dvi and vga but as long as it is dvi it doesn't matter. I am upgrading to windows 7 pro and need something compatible. can someone recommend something somewhat new and really cheap, no more than $50. I only have AGP and the original PCI and it has to be the low profile card.

I'll sell the adapter and the other graphics card, I didn't realize how old it was. And I got the first ram upgrade so I now have 2.5 gb and I plan to eventually get 4gb.

Thanks for all your help
 
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