Building a computer cheaply

Recently I order a new computer from Newegg. It's a computer that I will use for a home server and to practice installs, basically a more powerful machine than my spare computer I have now. I was looking for a few key items in my next computer, basically a computer that had user replaceable parts, common chassis size, room for expansion, plus drivers available in Linux.

At first, I was considering a small desktop computer with a Intel Atom processor the same as used in the common netbooks. After using my netbook for the past few months and seriously playing around with the smaller processors I felt like this would not be a productive for a server. The big gain of the Intel Atom is the power savings, but if the server is so low performance, I could use a 1GHz desktop I have now to use instead.

Once I figured out I wanted to use a normal processor, I decided to choose between Intel and AMD, both parties have great processors but I was looking for a good price vs performance. Searching around prices from Newegg and Fry's I finally decided upon the AMD Phenom 9950 Agena 2.6GHz. The price was just over $100, had great reviews and with the new quad core processor, should have a bit more power than the older dual core.

Choosing a motherboard was easier, I found the prices of the Micro-ATX motherboards much cheaper than the full sized ATX motherboards. I also chose off brand memory to lessen the cost over premium brand memory, still using 4GB so I will have enough to run at least 3 virtual machines. Topping off with a decent mid-tower case, 500 watt powersupply, and a 600GB hard drive I was complete. I did not buy a video card because the motherboard has built in video as well as using ATI which offers Linux support. The total amount I spent was $500 for everything but I think it's a good mix of performance, long term usability and Linux support.

After looking at the features, I wonder just how cheap could a desktop computer be built for? All of my pricing is from Newegg, they offer very reasonable prices and their shipping is usually competitive.

Let's start off with a desktop, 4GB of memory, at least 500GB hard drive, video card, including monitor.

CPU - ~$70 (Intel or AMD)

Intel - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

AMD - AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor

For the price this processor is cheap and with the 65W power offers some power saving. The down side is it might be a tad slower than a same speed 125W cpu. For the price I feel like this is a good value per dollar. If you search around you can sometimes find older generation processors like the AMD 6400's for under $50 but I personally think this might be a bad idea. For some of the older generations of processors use older socket types and finding a motherboard could cost more than using a new processor.

Motherboard - ~$60

Intel - ECS G31T-M7 LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

AMD - ECS GF8100VM-M3 AM2+/AM3 NVIDIA GeForce 8100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Both of these motherboards are the micro-ATX size, which means they are physically smaller and lack the additional features of a full sized ATX motherboard. For most users is this fine and in fact, the majority of desktop systems sold by Dell or Gateway use a micro-ATX format motherboard. While these offer on board video, even audio they do not have digital video output for DVI, the feature will cost you about $10 more in price.

Memory - ~$50

Intel - OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

AMD - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)


The Intel memory is DDR2800 while the AMD memory is DDR21066, there is more selection of DDR2800 memory but for the needs, you shouldn't have any reason to pick one over the other. 4GB is the standard I feel for most users, the price is cheap enough were you should not skip out and offers a great performance per dollar.

Hard drive - $85


Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

There are some reviews of the 1TB hard drives too slow but for the price, I think it's a great deal. If you wanted a 750GB expect to pay about $70, so for $15 more you get 250GB extra. There are some deals from Fry's also but expect the price to be similar until the 2TB drives start to drop in price.

Video card - included with motherboard

I'm skipping the video card since the motherboard has on board video.

DVD drives - $30

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive

Case - $25

Rosewill R220-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Rosewill makes very reasonable priced cases and offer a good selection of choices. There's a few choices on cases, from the basic to the extreme. I personally prefer to spend a bit more on cases since they outlast the other parts in my computer. I am using a case I bought three years ago and it's still good as new.

Powersupply - $20

Sunbeam PSU-BKS-480-US 480W ATX12V Power Supply

Again, you can choose something cheap or extreme. I think the 480W of power should be more than enough for the computer. If you intend to use more drives or a larger graphics card you might need to upgrade.

Monitor - $150

ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor Built in Speakers 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR20000:1) w/ SPDIF out

Like the case, you will have the monitor usually longer than the computer. I like the wide screen and the price difference from a 22" wide screen to a standard 19" is only $50. I think it's well worth the extra screen space for multitasking.

Extras - $40

Keyboard and mouse are usually a personal preference, but there's many choices available.

Total cost - About $530 plus tax and shipping.

With some careful shopping you can get this price even lower and find some better deals. These prices are not on sale and the standard every day prices.

You can also buy a refurbished system from the major manufactures but I like to build a computer because you have more options.

Ars Technica also has a good system guide which is aimed towards the budget computer gamer.

Ars Technica System Guide April 2009