The Truth About Space Empires IV

[Makinus]

Well, i recently build some computers from discarded parts from the office... i upgraded my wife old Pentium 166 to a new Duron 600mhz in the following way:

Previously / After Upgrade:
Pentium 166 / Duron 600mhz
32MB Ram / 128MB Ram
1.2GB HD / 1.2GB HD
2mb Video Card / Onboard video card
33.6kbps modem / 56kpbs modem (onboard)
No network card / Network card (onboard)
Windows 95 / Windows 98

The only things i left from the original were the HD (because i didn´t have any from the scrapped computers of the office) and the external cask (my wife really love the external cask), then, wityh the pieces i got from her old computer, another 1.2gb HD and one of the casks from the office (and an old 14" screen) i built the following computer for my nephew:

Pentium 166
32 MB Ram
1.2Gb HD
2mb video card
33.6 Modem
No Lan
Windows 95

I considered putting linux in the old machine, but since my nephew never used any computers i thought Win95 would be easier to him.... just to complete my collecting, these are the configurations of my other computers:

Home / Office / Notebook
Duron 1.2ghz / Duron 1.4ghz / Via C3 1.0ghz
256mb Ram / 256mb Ram / 256mb Ram
60gb HD / 40gb HD / 30gb HD
Geforce2 64mb / Onboard Card (shared memory) / Onboard Card (shared memory)
No Modem / No Modem / 56kb Modem
No Lan / 10/100 Lan / 10/100 Lan
Windows XP / Windows XP / Windows XP

I still have a lot of old pieces and Boards from the computers sscrapped at the office, but only old things like Pentiuns 100 an 166, and don´t have any HD to put in them, but i´m waiting for the next upgrade frenzy in the office so i can get more pieces (i made an agreement with my colleagues at the office that i would fix any problem and upgrade their computers if they gave me the old Boards and equipaments when they upgrade, so i really don´t need to buy anything, just wait for they to upgrade...)

[Gandalf Parker]

"The more things change, the more they stay the same"

Ive had some pocket-rules about PC tech which have held fairly true for a long time. Like when people say "should I wait for the price to come down" I tell them that prices havent come down in years. Basically its $1000 for the computer people are starting to get rid of, $2000 for the one everyone has, and $3000 for the one they want if they could just swing the cash.

Then of course I often end up in the personal server territory when talking about the left over pieces and thats where the surprises come in. If you buy one then the prices shift to $200, $500, $1000 respectively. And when they ask about filling in things like graphics/sound/harddrive I tell them to go absolute minimum since no shop can give you one too small. People are surprised that it takes far less machine to server their needs than their desktop machine. And the only things worth spending money on are CPU and memory.

[Will]

Eh, I don't know about the "$1000 for what everyone's getting rid of". I built my current one for $1300 a year ago, and that's including LCD monitor, surround speakers. Since then, it got mangled by UPS, and I built it again with the insurance check and some salvaged parts, so I have right now:

P4 3.4GHz on an Intel board
1GB PC2700 (I bought this for an AMD processor, so that's why the lower speed)
gForce 5900 128MB DDR
MAYA 5.1 Surround Card
40 GB HDD
160 GB HDD
LiteOn DVD+/- Burner
Altec Lansing 5.1 surround speakers
17" LCD screen
Epson C66 Inkjet

I also got a copy of Win2K Pro free through the CS department at school, since my tuition partially goes to pay outrageous fees for MSDN access

So, even if you factor in the cost I would have paid to buy a copy of Windows, I ended up paying around $1500 a year ago for a computer most people were paying $2500 to get from Dell/Compaq/et. al.

I also (re)built my parent's computer over the summer, from an Athlon 733MHz/128MB they got 5 years ago to a AthlonXP 3000+/512MB DDR. New case, board, processor, memory, and a cheap video card came out to a whopping $300. For a machine they most likely won't need to replace for another five years (heck, they didn't really even need to replace the 733, but something got fried on the board).

[Gandalf Parker]

Building one is always an advantage. You can usually get a gain of at least one level by doing it yourself. Im usually being asked about the price of computers, and whether or not they should wait for the price to come down on the new models. I tell them that if you do, its not the new model anymore. The computers move but the prices dont. There will just be another computer in that same price slot.

[Phoenix-D]

The note about graphics/sound/harddrive space applies to desktops, but it doesn't really apply to gaming machines.

There you 100% DON'T want to do the cheapest option unless its actually an old part that's been reduced- often the bottom of the line parts are, ah, [censored], and the previous generation works much better.

That and gaming machines typically need more graphics more and -sometimes- HD space than plain desktop machines.

[David E. Gervais]

Doh! I forgot, my brother also bought a new DVD/CDRW combo 52/32/52. the old computer has a separate DVD player and CDRW. so he saved on space and the DVD/CDRW combo only cost him 59$

Cheers!