Upgrade Kit
Essentially all of these upgrade kits are going to be fairly basic, in the budget of $200-250.
The first two machines are for people who want a basic cheap upgrade, the third is intended for someone who has DDR1 and an AGP video card lying around they'd wish to retain, although with DDR2 at current prices, it could be argued it's not worthwhile.
Basic AMD
Part | Model | Price |
---|---|---|
CPU | AMD Sempron LE-1100 | 40 |
Motherboard | Gigabyte M61SME-S2 | 58 |
RAM | 1GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 22 |
Hard Drive | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Optical Drive | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Graphics Card | Onboard from motherboard | - |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - |
Case | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Power Supply | 430W Coolermaster Extreme Power | 50 |
Cooling | - | - |
Additional | - | - |
Total Cost | - | 170 + Postage |
I'm assuming that the buyer will carry over their hard drive and optical drive. If you wish to purchase new drives as well, you may be better off with the complete systems on the Workstation page.
Remember that freight charges from different stores will add up - this defeats the purpose of finding the cheapest price from several stores, rather than just one.
The board features onboard video and onboard everything else which removes the need for a graphics card (which is expensive and unnecessary). If you require AGP graphics support, you could purchase the MSI K9MM-V for similar.
You could go for 512MB if you don't plan to run Windows Vista, but RAM is so cheap, it's worth spending the extra for 1GB.
The new power supply is recommended because of the fact that most current day motherboards are 24pin, whilst most older power supplies are 20pin. Whilst adapters are available, it's wise to play it safe and get a brand new quality power supply anyway.
If the machine you're upgrading still uses a BabyAT power supply, chances are it's past being upgradable (the rest of the system would be ancient), and you'll be looking at a completely new machine.
Basic Intel
Part | Model | Price |
---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Celeron 420 | 43 |
Motherboard | Asus P5S-MX-SE | 47 |
RAM | 1GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 24 |
Hard Drive | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Optical Drive | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Graphics Card | Onboard from motherboard | - |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - |
Case | Carry over from previous machine | - |
Power Supply | 430W Coolermaster Extreme Power | 50 |
Cooling | - | - |
Additional | - | - |
Total Cost | - | 166 + Postage |
Here is an Intel version of the upgrade rig, for those who prefer Intel's products. If you want to use some spare DDR1 RAM you have lying around, the Abit IP-95 is about $10 more expensive.