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An impossibly cheap quad core computer

X

Xee

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
2,020
My girlfriend is currently using a Sony Vaio VGN-NS140E laptop for creating and rendering 3D projects in Revit Architecture and I'm kind of amazed that she's able to get any work done with it. After trying to buy 3 or 4 year-old systems on Craigslist with no luck (they sell like hotcakes), I'm wondering if I could build a quad-core computer new with almost no money. Hence this post.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

3D work with Revit Architecture and AutoCad (2D & 3D)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$250. Yes.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Chicago, IL

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU
Mobo
RAM
PSU
Graphics Card (although integrated graphics could be an option to save money)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Possibly the case from an old desktop she has. Specs can be found here (it's the convertible minitower):

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11632_na/11632_na.html

6) Will you be overclocking?

No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

19" 1440 x 900
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-...0s/4507-6482_7-32429422.html?tag=mncol;subnav

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

If I can meet the budget, within a week

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

Only feature I can think of is the ability to support a lot of RAM. Revit consumes a lot of it and I would like to be able to add more RAM as more money becomes available.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

No. Will need to buy one. That's outside of this budget though.
 
Xee said:
My girlfriend is currently using a Sony Vaio VGN-NS140E laptop for creating and rendering 3D projects in Revit Architecture and I'm kind of amazed that she's able to get any work done with it. After trying to buy 3 or 4 year-old systems on Craigslist with no luck (they sell like hotcakes), I'm wondering if I could build a quad-core computer new with almost no money. Hence this post.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

3D work with Revit Architecture and AutoCad (2D & 3D)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$250. Yes.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Chicago, IL

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU
Mobo
RAM
PSU
Graphics Card (although integrated graphics could be an option to save money)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Possibly the case from an old desktop she has. Specs can be found here (it's the convertible minitower):

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11632_na/11632_na.html

6) Will you be overclocking?

No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

19" 1440 x 900
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-...0s/4507-6482_7-32429422.html?tag=mncol;subnav

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

If I can meet the budget, within a week

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

Only feature I can think of is the ability to support a lot of RAM. Revit consumes a lot of it and I would like to be able to add more RAM as more money becomes available.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

No. Will need to buy one. That's outside of this budget though.
Click to expand...

As you stated, it is impossible. You will definitely need a totally new case just to install any commonly available PSU because the case uses a semi-proprietary form factor for the PSU. In addition, it has almost zero airflow, meaning that any modern CPU will run much hotter than it should.

Second, forget about AMD for a CPU at this point: Most of them are actually slower than dual-core Intel CPUs in performance for most apps. Unfortunately, the least-expensive worthwhile dual-core Intel CPU, the least expensive worthwhile motherboard with at least four DIMM slots and 16GB of RAM would have already come close to or exceeded your stated $250 maximum - and that's without a hard drive (yes, you will need a new hard drive if the existing one is old or uses an IDE interface that no new system uses any more), a PSU or a new case.
 
Considering how old that case and from what I know of those old HP cases, it's probably proprietary in some way either with the front-panel connector, motherboard, or PSU. So you're looking at a new case as well.

Also, did you need a new HDD and DVD drive as well?

For $250, I don't think that'll be enough, especially if you need a case, HDD, or DVD drive as well. If you factor in the cost of OS, that's basically $350 for the PC. That's not enough.

If you can buy in the next few hours, I recommend just getting a prebuilt deal like this:
http://www.gotapex.com/content/6129...-HD-and-DVD-Burner-for-429-with-FREE-Shipping!

That's OS, a quad-core CPU, decent sized drive, DVD burner, case, and PSU for $429 shipped, only $79 more than what you're planning on buying.
 
Xee said:
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

No. Will need to buy one. That's outside of this budget though.
Click to expand...

That strikes me as odd. It's going to cost at least $100 for an OEM license of Windows 7 Home Premium. That's significant when you consider it's 40% of what you plan on spending on hardware.
 
Pretty much impossible unless you happen to be near a MicroCenter. You can get a Phenom 1045T (six core) and motherboard for $100.
 
K1tty said:
Pretty much impossible unless you happen to be near a MicroCenter. You can get a Phenom 1045T (six core) and motherboard for $100.
Click to expand...

Even sniping great used deals $250 ain't enough for CPU/board/GPU/PSU.
 
Pretty much impossible unless you happen to be near a MicroCenter. You can get a Phenom 1045T (six core) and motherboard for $100.
Click to expand...

This.

Xee, do you live anywhere close to either the Chicago (on Elston Avenue, south of Diversey and east of Western) or the Westmont Micro Center? If so, you might get a discount on certain CPU and motherboard combos. However, that still leaves you trying to cram in RAM, a new case, a new PSU, a new HDD and a new optical drive within what's left of that limited budget. And most likely you will not be able to do so without downgrading all the way to an extremely shitty PSU that explodes in flames on the user on power-up.
 
Yeah ... no GPU. I think the OP said integrated was ok. They can do it at MC getting very cheap (questionable parts). IE. cheap $30 CM case and 400w psu, $20 value 4gb stick ram, refurbished $30 sata hdd...

Just save up more money. Better parts will last you longer and you won't be in this same situation again in a year XD
 
Medion said:
Tight budget, but I'll give it a try. Keep in mind that I'm taking you quite literally on the parts (you didn't request a HDD, and you stated that the OS is outside of the budget).

CPU - AMD A6-3650 - $139.98
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-A75M-D2H - Included in above CPU combo
RAM - Crucial Ballistix 2x4GB (8GB total) - $42.99
PSU - Antec Basiq 350W - $29.99
GPU - integrated into CPU/APU, and surprisingly competent.

Total in cart is $242.96.
Click to expand...

That still leaves out the case: A new case is definitely required for that PSU and motherboard, especially since the existing HP case is likely a proprietary form factor. And as I noted, a new HDD and/or a new optical drive is required if the existing HDD and/or optical drive is IDE (remember, hardly any new motherboards have any IDE ports any more nowadays).
 
E4g1e said:
That still leaves out the case: A new case is definitely required for that PSU and motherboard, especially since the existing HP case is likely a proprietary form factor. And as I noted, a new HDD and/or a new optical drive is required if the existing HDD and/or optical drive is IDE (remember, hardly any new motherboards have any IDE ports any more nowadays).
Click to expand...

Considering the cost of HDDs, an IDE->SATA adapter would probably be substantially cheaper than a new HDD.
 
This sounds like a case where getting a refurb or entry level prebuilt box is probably going to be the best choice. You can sometimes find i3 systems starting around $300.
 
Definitely go with Intel.

You're better off with a core i3 than a quad AMD. The AMD may or may not be faster in rendering, but an intel chip is much faster in real-time while working on the project.

Even on ebay though you can get old i5 750's for $125ish. Then grab a cheap H55/H57/P55 mobo and some ram. Wait for a shell shocker on a quality cheap PSU. Clock your chip to 4Ghz and you're good to go.

oh yeah you still need an hdd/ssd, gpu, a screen. sell some stuff else laying around the house to pay for those.
 
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Whats that, probably
50 Motherboard w/ integrated graphics.
25 PSU
25 Case
25 (Your going to want more ram eventually) RAM
75 CPU
40 HDD (Would have to be used)
Go on craigslist and get a screen for 20 dollars.
Probobly find a mouse and keyboard if you need them for around 10 too.
I dont know why everyone is saying you need an SSD. You don't.

No use in giving specific examples, because at this point your just going to have to look for deals/used stuff. Its possible though.
 
How about a used Dell Poweredge T110?

It is an i7 Xeon based system.

It can use regular (non-ECC) RAM

There is one on Ebay starting at $150.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Powere...0899994721?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item4166f1c461

These are pretty nice systems. I built up a file server for an office with one of these. It was the best deal out there when Dell was moving onto the Sandy Bridge systems.

Here is an IBM with a faster processor but less ram and no HDD. I would probably pick this up above the T110 as it looks like it has a video card and has a ton more ports on the back as well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Thinkst...0725131859?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item46049d5a53

Or do a search on Ebay for "quad core computer". There are quite a few others that should fit the bill. It may take a few days to snag one at the price you are willing to pay if that T110 or the IBM goes up in price.
 
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cyclone3d said:
How about a used Dell Poweredge T110?

It is an i7 Xeon based system.

It can use regular (non-ECC) RAM

There is one on Ebay starting at $150.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Powere...0899994721?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item4166f1c461

These are pretty nice systems. I built up a file server for an office with one of these. It was the best deal out there when Dell was moving onto the Sandy Bridge systems.

Here is an IBM with a faster processor but less ram and no HDD. I would probably pick this up above the T110 as it looks like it has a video card and has a ton more ports on the back as well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Thinkst...0725131859?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item46049d5a53

Or do a search on Ebay for "quad core computer". There are quite a few others that should fit the bill. It may take a few days to snag one at the price you are willing to pay if that T110 or the IBM goes up in price.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, the OP will never get the system he wanted from eBay at anywhere near the price that he wanted to pay for it. Remember, those two items are not "Buy It Now"s, but are actually auctions - which means that the item may have a low starting bid, but will almost certainly end up going way, way higher than the maximum amount that he can afford to pay.
 
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why not a dual socket 771 build? the cpu's are dirt cheap and you can get a motherboard+psu+case (all of these basically have to be matching) for about $130-$140, im not sure how bad ram is these days but i got 4gb (2x2gb) for $30 buy it now on ebay a few months ago.
 
E4g1e said:
On the other hand, the OP will never get the system he wanted from eBay at anywhere near the price that he wanted to pay for it. Remember, those two items are not "Buy It Now"s, but are actually auctions - which means that the item may have a low starting bid, but will almost certainly end up going way, way higher than the maximum amount that he can afford to pay.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. I have gotten quite a few things off of Ebay at way below normal prices because of nobody else bidding on them.

the IBM one is a Quad core i7 Xeon 3.06Ghz.

The case appears to be standard ATX as well.

The T110 when new (when Dell was getting rid of them) was only $350.

There are quite a few Core 2 Quad systems on there that were BIN prices of $250 or below... but if he can snag an i7 setup for that or less, then it is a great buy.

I've been buying stuff from Ebay for way to long to thing that it is impossible to get what you want at the price you are willing to pay. A little bit of patience is required sometimes.
 
lilfiend said:
why not a dual socket 771 build? the cpu's are dirt cheap and you can get a motherboard+psu+case (all of these basically have to be matching) for about $130-$140, im not sure how bad ram is these days but i got 4gb (2x2gb) for $30 buy it now on ebay a few months ago.
Click to expand...

Actually, most Socket 771 chipsets will not work with unbuffered RAM at all. In fact, most chipsets for Socket 771 require fully buffered RAM, not just registered RAM. And fully buffered RAM costs significantly more money than unbuffered non-ECC RAM per GB, even used.
 
This is easily done. My Phenom II x4 840 system w/16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and HD4670 was ~$200.

My opinion is to go on eBay and buy a Dell or HP barebones. One with Case, Motherboard, and power supply. That should cost about $50-100. The rest of the parts can be bought cheaply from microcenter or newegg clearance.
 
E4g1e said:
That still leaves out the case: A new case is definitely required for that PSU and motherboard, especially since the existing HP case is likely a proprietary form factor. And as I noted, a new HDD and/or a new optical drive is required if the existing HDD and/or optical drive is IDE (remember, hardly any new motherboards have any IDE ports any more nowadays).
Click to expand...

Agreed. Like I said, I was taking him literally. He needs to decide if he wants to go with a larger budget for those items, or if he wants to go a different route altogether.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I knew it would be pretty much impossible to build a rig for the price but just thought I'd run it by the forum.

I really like the IBM Thinkstation that was linked. Since it's only got about 12 hours left I'm going to watch it and see if it's possible to snag it for a decent price. If not, I looked again for used systems and found this on Craigslist about an hour away. Here's the specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.40 GHz
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Asus P5E
8 GB RAM

The asking price is $200 but the wording of the listing leads me to believe that I might be able to knock some dollars off that.
 
Did you snag that IBM?

If not, make sure that the license on that CL machine you were looking at is legit.

I find it kind of hard to believe that somebody is selling a legit copy with that computer and they are only asking $200.
 
No, I didn't get it. After tax (which they charge) and with shipping it would be well over $300. Too rich for my blood. Really would have liked to get it though.

As for the other comp, I actually negotiated it down to $175. Me and my girlfriend are going to try and make it to the lady's apartment later today. I'm going to bring along some programs on a USB to verify the OS as well as make sure the specs match up to the description.
 
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I'd try and see if you can download/install security essentials, or some other program that forces an OS validation with microsoft. The Win7 Ultimate alone is more than $175 for a new license...
 
By watching Dell Financial Services you can find dual xeon machines coming off lease.

The trick is to make sure you find the model of the unit, then google it to make sure it's a dual-cpu unit.... So far I have ordered three of them and each of them had both physical CPUs though the DFS site said they only had one.
 
For a Dual Core, Dell has a box at $250 in their scratch and dent/refurb section:

Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Processor (3.0GHz, 2MB)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Inspiron Desktop 570 MiniTower
500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
4 GB DDR3 NON-ECC SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
 
$250 is really, really tough.

But, here's what I'd do today if I had to build an extreme cheap computer......
(Final price includes any deductions from rebates.....)


Intel G540, retail boxed, from SuperBiiz for $38.24 shipped USPS Priority Mail (Coupon code DADSRULE for 15% off price)
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=G540BOX
Yes, I know it's a Celeron....but it's a SB based cpu, only differing from the G620 in having 1MB less cache, and the G620 is no slouch of a dual core cpu.

Then, skip on over to MicroCenter in Westmont (all parts listed below supposed to be in stock there as of this post) and pick up these:

AsRock H61M-HVS motherboard....$49.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388089

4GB DDR3-1333 MC branded memory (A-Data)....$19.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0353218

Samsung 22X DVD±RW Burner....$15.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382892

Antec Basiq 350 Watt ATX Power Supply....$37.99 (Yes, very, very basic, but tested out well by Hardware Secrets)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0257451

NZXT Classic Series Source 210 Mid Tower ATX Computer Case....$27.99 after $10 MIR
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0378074



After all those parts, you're at $190.19, plus sales tax on the MicroCenter parts. Leaves enough room to wedge in this hard drive and live within your budget.....
Seagate Momentus 320GB 7200rpm, 16GB cache SATA hard drive for $59.99.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334238


Now comes to $250.18, but tax will put you over budget, so skip eating out one night.

OR---buy an IDE-to-SATA adapter and reuse your old hard drive. Adapter is under $10.

:)
 
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You may be able to reuse the case. There are many HP models that have standard PSU bolt holes. If you can snap a pic of the rear PSU area and post it, we can tell you real quick.
 
Man i think you should check the buying selling trading section. im quite sure you'll get varying from lga775 upto lga1366 depending on the stuff your buying.
 
I'm going to give an unconventional build a try:

Motherboard: Supermicro X7DCA-L eBay $67 shipped (seller takes $52 offers)
CPU: 2 Xeon L5420 eBay $36
RAM: 6x1GB DDR2-667 ECC eBay $42
GPU: AMD FirePro V3800 eBay $30
PSU: Refurb OCZ StealthXStream 500W Directron $17
HDD: Used Hitachi DeskStar 250GB eBay $27
Optical: OEM Sony DVD drive: NewEgg $17
Case: Some crappy mid tower NewEgg $20

Total: $254...close, but still needs a CPU cooler, which is hard to locate :( closest I found are these but that puts you $50 over budget.
You could drop one of the processors to stay within budget, and then add it later. This rig expands to 12GB relatively cheaply.
 
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*UPDATE*

Well, after doing a lot of research and trying to price out a system with used components I just couldn't get it under budget. I ended up going with the Craigslist computer listed above that they said was a refurbished Dell but had a bunch of components that did not sound like a Dell at all. When me and my girlfriend got to the place we saw it was owned by a couple in their mid to late 20's.

When we were shown the computer I noticed that immediately that while the monitor and keyboard were Dell, the case was not. I had forgotten my USB with my system-spec program so I was relegated to just verifying the hardware through Windows. The only difference I noticed from their description on Craigslist was that instead of having only one hard drive, there were actually 3 installed. Everything else looked okay and so we grabbed the tower as well as the keyboard and printer they said was included in the purchase. They tried hard to get me to take the CRT monitor as well, even offering to carry it to my car, but I politely declined knowing that the cheap LCD my girlfriend has was still better than their cheap Dell CRT and I would just end up having to get rid of it. Total cost out the door was $220.

After I lugged the tower to my car and threw it in the trunk, I noticed I was covered in dust, so I knew that a dusting-out was in order. When we got back to my place, I took out the air compressor and opened up the tower to get a look. Here's what we saw:




As you can tell, it's a completely custom system (and it was dustier than it looks). It's actually an Antec case with a removable filter, a fan on top and another on the back. There's places for two more fans on the front and one on the grill. I didn't look closely but it looks like they have a small HD as the boot drive and the others are for storage. Also not in the description was the fact that they have a sound card instead of using the integrated sound.

I didn't have time to hook it up yet but so far it seems like it was a great deal for the money. I'm actually interested in how this couple acquired the computer as it was apparent neither of them knew much about.
 
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