[PoeticBabble]

Hey guys, so far I just have cursory knowledge of computers and how they work so what I've been thinking of doing is just making a cheap, low-end custom to work on. Something where I wouldn't care if it fried on me or anything. I just want to get to the point where I needn't be too dependent on other people to work on my own PC. Say, if something were to happen and I need to troubleshoot to find out what the problem is with my computer.

I was wondering if any of you had an idea about where I could start? Or places where I could find some out-of-date hardware and go to town on it? I suppose newegg would be a start, but if any of you have any input I'd appreciate it.

[leroys1000]

What's the budget your looking at?

[PoeticBabble]

Oh, well, I would say nothing too high. If somewhere as low as 200-300 (maybe 400) could suffice, that would work. I'm just trying to build something that I can use to toy around with, but won't be too costly if I fry it in my little pursuit for knowledge.

[leroys1000]

Might start by looking here.
Newegg.
These are combos.
Some with cpu,motherboard and some type of video.
Check out the site for deals on memory and drives.
Make sure to check the specs on the motherboard and get the right memory.
Need a hard drive,DVD drive and a cheap case.
Make sure to also check the drive connectors on the board.
If you go IDE drives your first build,you shouldn't have any problems.
If you case doesn't come with a power supply,you'll need that too.
A floppy drive can come in handy.

[Wino]

Go to www.newegg.com as suggested above and www.TigerDirect.com, type bare bones into search window and you'll find several. Bare bones systems supply some components, usually MoBo & CPU, PSU, some RAM, Hard Drive and little else..........all which you have to assemble. Generally they come with no OS, so depending on which OS you want (presuming Windows) the OS can be had for $60 for 98SE & ME (don't recommend the latter), XPHome SP2 $90 and Vista $150 up depending on version (don't recommend Vista, either).

If you happen to live in South Texas, I'll give you an older working computer to play with that has Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux OS installed or a Compaq Presario 5050 with ME. You can always reformat and install another OS.

[PoeticBabble]

Thanks a lot. Sadly, I live over in southern California, but I appreciate the offer!

I'll let you guys know how its coming along once I start assembling everything together and see if I can screw it up and then fix it.

[leroys1000]

There are brass stand offs that come with the case that install in the
case for the motherboard to mount to.
It is impotant that you install these in the case only where they line up
with the holes in the motherboard.
Anywhere else can short the motherboard.